Reflexivityy

As many responses to Steph’s post, such as PBandJelly21, e388, and anon136 read,””I am sad to say I know only the basics of the conflict with Israel and Palestine.” To tell you the truth, this holds true to me as well. I wish that I was more involved, or even paid closer attention to international news and conflict.  Steph  illustrates, “as a relative newcomer to the finer nuances of this struggle – embarrassed to admit how little I’ve previously known of the Palestinian side,” I think we are all learning something new here that we maybe have never thought about before. On occasion, when I watch the news, I realize how constructed it is. The international flow of news is somewhat misleading. We, as Americans, form impressions on distant places based on the news media. I feel as though, the media is a poor medium for dealing with complex issues. The use of news discourses, or the means by which individuals and groups map/reproduce/contest sociocultural relations, only give us a slight view to the “window of the world.” We can never truly tell what is going on because the news feeds off of its ratings, and clearly anything unexpected or violence related is taken to the extreme. It seems as though only the negative sides of the story are shown to get a rise out of the news reader. Steph is actually doing something about this matter. She has gone to Israel/Palestine and has seen with her own eyes what is really going on. Taking a non-violent stance is what we all need to do. Likeboldcolors says, “I too hope for some non-violent compromise, but feel like I am missing a lot of the important details to understand how this might be made a reality. I would love to hear both Israeli and Palestinian voices to know what people on the ground there feel would work.” Compromise is sometimes hard to do. If we work together with a purpose and common goal we can achieve solutions!

Babelbabelbabel..BLAH

In regards to Babel, I believe that this course was carefully planned out around it. The movie haunts us; we watch it one day, then a month later, what do you know, it’s back on again! Finally, another good chunk of time later, we finish it. Watching Babel in increments illustrates the way in which the writing process works. You take steps, ask questions, target an audience, everything is done through phases, just as the movie was. It took us this long, as both students and writers, to make it this far in class, and it took us the same amount of time to watch Babel and fully understand what the movie is trying to say. On the Serendipity post, Steph says, “Nonetheless, semiotics is an excellent framework for developing genuine critical thinking (as opposed to simple regurgitation). The core transferable skill is the asking of questions.” That right there, is our main goal as writers.

The movie Babel is all about connections. Connections made clear through the characters, and also drawn by the audience. Steph’s Junior’s have been asked a number of times to blog about Babel; to post what we like, dislike, our reactions, or any other thought that came across. Steph has been trying, so hard, to connect our class with her freshmen class and the honors class, having us, her juniors, start a conversation. Just like the odd connections between the characters, Steph is relaying messages using the wiki as her medium, intertwining her classes. Shininginthewind says, “Our Class is about being able to communicate to an audience and to make sure we as writers are understood by the readers.” Relating Babel to the title of our course “Writing as Communication,” I immediately thought of the wiki. We talk about Babel more so on the wiki rather than in class. When in class, we simply just watch. “The fact that this movie brings all these different situations together is similar to how our goal of writing to formulate a essay that wraps together the topics of media, function, context, and content,” says Kmb04. I couldn’t agree more!

Questions

The topic i choose for the library research assignment is Women in the Media. Many magazine ads or tv commercials expose images of women who are being objectified; this is  crucial in selling certain products to an audience. Over the decades, women have been more explicitly dressed and exposed to our society, why has there been such a change? The images sent out to the audience can sometimes cause a stir, a misrepresentation. How do women view these ads? Is sending obscured messages out to women of all ages good for their mental health concerning weight and health? Girls always think they are “too fat.” They see a commercial with skinny Victoria’s Angels models, for example, and want the body represented. Does the media send messages of unrealistic body type to the viewer? These are some questions I thought of when researching which I hope to find out!

Writing & Culture as forms of Communication

The title of this course being “Writing as Communication,” means what it means. Most of us, being students, have been taught how to write to a specific audience in the form of written texts in which we are able to send messages to our audience. That just there displays the ritualistic model of communication. As writers we want our message made clear.

John Carey’s “Communication as Culture” comes from the basis of the ritual model of communication. Communication becomes culture centered when people work together to create shared beliefs. “Communication is a symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired, and transformed.” New and sometimes hidden meanings are acquired in everyday social life.

The Ritual model of communication is seen in both “Writing as Communication” and “Communication as Culture.” The Ritual model comes from the social constructionist paradigm. In class, we also tend to use the Transmission model of communication, sender to receiver, or the “idea of communication as the transmission of signals or messages over distance for the purpose of control; characterized by the desire to increase the speed and effect of messages as they travel in space.” For example, Steph (being the teacher sends) us (being the students) information whenever we have discussions. She uses the chalk board relaying her ideas to her audience. However, checking the wiki for homework assignments is a ritual act on the students behalf. The information held in the wiki determines what is needed to be done.

Babel for the 80th time

Cultural text and context is everything in relation to Babel and the subject matter of this course.  Babel’s plot summary had alot to do with the various forms of communication that is actively present in today’s world. At points, there was a language barrier that restircted verbal communication amongst the characters. One must know that there are other ways to “get the message across.” Waving, smiling, body language, or a simple head nod is a form of communication that can also strike up a conversation. “If the world is constantly changing, then we know that the dimesion of time or history itself is always a factor.” This is an important statement in the sense that, yes, the world is changing and new signs and symbols are always being created. Take for example, in class Stef likes to write random comments and draw arrows across the blackboard connecting our thoughts and ideas to try and make sense of what we are communicating. We some times have miscommunications with the arrows all over the place, or about homework assignments. In Babel, there were many indications that miscommunication was present. We had to evaluate and try to realize what was being said in order to understand the form of communication. This movie was shown to us on the first day of class to open our eyes to the world around us. Everything is made differently, if it was the same, how boring would that be?

And again…

This time around, after watching a little bit more of the movie Babel, my feelings remained the same. However, I did realize some major connections between the characters, and how everything in this world is somehow interrelated. I think this movie was a great way to introduce the class to the semiotic method, I wish we could have finished it!

On our first day of class, I found it hard to piece together all the parts and connections of the characters, since there was a lot happening all over the world. A single gun shot connected everything and everyone,  it was all  down hill after that. There was a need, and in some cases, a lack of communication that these desperate characters had to cope with and overcome.

Chieko, the young Japanese girl who I wrote about in my first post, helped me see just what she is going through being handicapped in a judgemental society.  Seen through her fristrations and peer pressure, she drinks, pops pills, and somehow ends up at a rave… all in the interest of a boy. The scene was so surreal. It would go from loud music, lights flashing everywhere, people dancing, to Chieko’s point of view, a silent dance party. It’s hard to imagine a life without sound.

Babel: guess how long this took me..

What does watching Babel have to do with the subject matter of this course?

On our first day of class I found myself wondering why we were about to watch a movie to help introduce some of the main concepts of Comm 375. I figured we would go around the room and tell a little something about ourselves and look over the syllabus. This was a unique way to tie in these concepts and take a closer look at how alike we are even though we think we’re different. ”Babel” was all about the ways in which we are connected in the world and how it is sometimes overlooked. A clash of cultures was one idea that came to mind, and how it was sometimes hard to communicate between them. For example, a girl in Japan having alot on her mind (dealing with rejection, the death of her mother, the lack of relationship with her father, and the most visible, the issue of being deaf. “As a conceptual framework, semiotics teaches students to formulate cogent, well-supported interpretations. It emphasizes the examination of assumptions and the way language shapes our apprehension of the world.” In this case, there was a barrier of communication. A young boy approaches her and she doesnt respond because she couldn’t hear or see him. When he realizes she is deaf, he immediately backs away to his friends who are laughing.  Communication can have many forms: it can be verbal or non-verbal,  such as eye-contact, touching, or waving. This is what the Japanese girl used to grab the attention of the boy. She used signs and symbols both individually and grouped into sign systems or seminotics. It includes the study of how meaning is constructed and understood. There is not always a barrier of communication, you just have to realize how to break through it and be open to new experiences!