number 1

 

Define the term “Culture Jamming”. Visit Adbusters (https://www.adbusters.org), and share your impressions of the website. Then, explain how advertising can act as a form of cultural imperialism.

 

number 2

 

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Culture Jamming is one way to disrupt or expose a social movement.  Sometimes is can be a reaction opposed to social conformity. By disrupting ones thoughts about a popular advertisement is a way of culture jamming.  It has been traced back to the 1950s.

Adbusters has a culture Jammer Network and it states:

“We are a global network of artist and activists aiming to change the way meaning is produced in our society. Join us and help diffuse the fog of mental pollution!”

In my opinion, they are saying that advertising is a form of brainwashing.  If this is the case, then so is television.

Cultural imperialism is the separation of advertising amongst people. Advertising is designed to get people into their business.  This is still a form of influence towards people.

https://www.adbusters.org/

http://www.rebelion.org/hemeroteca/petras/english/cultural_imperialism.htm

Several Hollywood films during the 1980’s depicted the cold war, which was nearly over. Give an example of a popular Hollywood film from the early to mid 1980’s that reflected the cold war. How did this film reflect the feelings of Americans at the time? How did it reflect the media’s biases of the time?

 

 

number 4

 

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In 1984 the film Red Dawn was released. In the 1980’s, many of the cold war films were action packed and pro America. “They aren’t whining and passive. They’re furiously aggressive. They’re action melodramas first, with political subtexts (the value of God, country, family) that aren’t boringly spelled out but efficiently represented in the iconography” (Canby, 1985). Red Dawn was your typical war movie, except for one thing… The war took place here, on America Soil; in Colorado to be exact. The film is based on Russian troops invading the United States, and a group of teenagers acting as guerrillas to save the country. 

Cold War films of the 1980’s typically involved revenge. “The action of these melodramas, more often than not, is prompted by a need for revenge, the simplest, most visceral of emotions, and one that need not be plausible to be dramatically effective” (Canby, 1985). Americans wanted to seek revenge for the past few decades. They Cold War was coming to an end, and Americans sought out victory in an emotional sense. The drawn out tension and loss of lives needed to come to an end, and typically films of the 1980’s let American’s envision that dream.

Majority of the movies often took place over seas. Red Dawn was different because it took place in the United States. The film was not as successful as other overseas films, but it still resulted in the defeat of Russian forces. “American audiences prefer not to fantasize about mayhem so close to home -that sort of thing isn’t as much fun to watch” (Canby, 1985). The media bias at the time blamed Russia for a lot of the ongoing issues. By defeating Russian forces in Red Dawn, there was an emotional victory for many.

Canby, V. (1985, December 7). Revenge fuels cold war movies of the 80’s. The New York Times. Retrieved March 17, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/08/movies/film-view-revenge-fuels-cold-war-movies-of-the-80-s.html?pagewanted=all

Provide an example of the last time you were on a team that accomplished its goals extremely well. What caused it to be so successful? Provide a second example of a team that you participated on that failed to meet their goals. What was the cause of that failure?

In your response post, comment on the given example of failure and offer a suggestion to increase the likelihood of success.

 

number 6

 

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The last team I was on that accomplished a goal was my intramural football team. We set out to win the fraternity league and we did. We did this through, hard work, practice, and coordination. We had good team leaders and we all worked really well together and were in sync. An example of a team I was on that failed to meet our goals was my team in dodge ball league. We lost our first game in the playoffs and it was a huge disappointment. We worked really hard and practiced however, we had two of our best players not show up to the first round of the playoffs. They were expected to be there and they never came. When not everyone on the team participates or pulls their weight the team will fail, and that is what happened. With everyone participating and doing their share, we would have been that much closer to success.