Post Class Post

We started off class by continuing with our last Jenkins' reading. We focused on ‘media convergence’ specifically on Startrek. It is about how media nowadays now a day’s branch out in all sorts of areas – Startrek was a popular movie that was re-depicted in all kinds of ways. And this is where we differentiated between ‘satire’ and ‘parody’. We talked about our participatory culture and use of these two was to ‘recreate’ a media. Jenkins argues that are culture has been ‘a turn back toward a more folk ‘ culture understanding of creativity’. That more and more media is easily represented and able to be shown to the world easily through the web. YouTube is a great example of what Jenkins is talking about. We can be this ‘unknown’ person in the world and put together something like the ‘StarTrek and Nine Inch Nails’ video and let others easily have access to it – comment on it – participate in my idea; hence ‘participatory culture’.

Additionally we focused much on what Karl Marx has to argue about his ideas of the ruling class. Marx claims that our consciousness is constructed – that our ‘social being determines our consciousness’. For example my consciousness has been constructed through the environment I grew up in, the media that surrounded my environment, my social standing, my parents, the people I hung out with etc. It makes sense therefore that he also says ‘the ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas’. We further discussed the ‘binary oppositions of the American Ruling Class’. One of the examples was between ‘fast’ and ‘slow’. I was thinking of the example of means of transportation. The ruling class can own cars, if not multiple and afford plane tickets etc. whereas the lower class may only own one car if that, or take buses and trams. Whether one was better than the other is everyone’s personally opinion I believe. Ideology yet tells us that faster, newer, many…is better than slow, old, fewer…hence I believe majority of people would, I believe if they had the choice, choose what society, hence media tells us is better. Who would want an old computer over a new computer?; A slow car over a fast car?; One house over two houses? I think you know what I’m getting at…

AHC – Geena Krueger