Different Perspectives the Media Uses

So, usually what we are supposed to do is find an article and write a summary and then tie in our course material and personal opinion. Well, I've been having a hard time finding a particular article to write about so I'm going to do something a little different and hope I don't receive a failing grade... so here it goes!

In my favorite class today with my favorite professor (media with Professor Kevin Maness), we learned about some pretty interesting things such as Gerbner and the Cultivation Theory and the "active audience." The active audience is when the reader affects media messages that are sent. We then learned about different media perspectives that the media uses. The only one that we were able to cover was "uses and gratifications." Uses and gratifications is broken down into five aspects: cognitive, affective, tension release, personal integrative, and social integrative. As we were going over the points in class, I find if funny how scarily true every point was and got a kick out of it. I could not help but think about magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Us Weekly,People, and many more.

1. Cognitive

This means learning the "how to's" and the "I go here to learn about/do...." Especially Cosmo, this is full of how to do everything from make-up to fashion to.... let's just say, many different ways of exploring what do to with your significant other. The magazine and online edition is filled with aritcles on how to wear your hair for the upcoming season and quizzes to see if you are way too picky when it comes to guys.

2. Affective

This refers to emotional satisfaction. For example, when I am in a happy mood, I tend to listen to "happy" music and when I'm sad, I want to listen to depressing music to make me even more sad (tell me you don't do that too). Grabbing one of these magazines could help with putting me into the mood of motivation. Hear me out! On Usmagine.com, there is an article on Kim Kardashian wearing no make-up. This article already has over 100 comments within a span of a few hours. Take a look. Doesn't she look "normal" as in, you have gone out looking like that and/or have seen others look like this? I know I have done this. This pictures confirms that even if you make millions of dollars doing nothing, you still look like everyone else.

3. Tension Release

The term is pretty self-explanatory - it means relaxation. Magazines and their online addition are forms of entertainment and relaxation. What could be more relaxing than reading People magazine at Starbucks or just sitting in the sun reading up on celebrity babies and Lady Gaga telling her fans 'don't have sex' (oh please Gaga, stop digging yourself a deeper hole....)?

4. Personal Integrative

This concerns people finding help with issues of personal identity. This is why these kinds of magazines are selling because women are trying to find their identity through famous people by mimicking what they wear, where they live, what they drive, and many other aspects of living.

5. Social Integrative

This is the same as personal integrative but, obviously,deals with society and not individuals. These magazines tells people that we need to worry about petty things like who is dating who, how to get a guy, how to tell your friend she just does not look good in that shirt, and so much more. It's almost as if it's more crucial to know if Lady Gaga is really a girl than... world hunger.

So, here's my different blog and I hope you liked the mix up... especially my professor and

the TA's. This may be my last post and I would like to thank all of my faithful readers. You guys

have really helped us become the best blog team in our class! I have enjoyed this experience...

in a way. I wasn't too happy about this project at first but I have learned to appreciate it more.

sARAH