Tuesday Task - Maori Representation in NZ

Questions:

1. What are some of the points this article raises between the difference in how progressive the TV representation of Maori is and the representation of Maori in film?

Although it is hard to be able to share diversity through film, New Zealand has done a good job of being able to represent Maori culture through movies and being able to spread them internationally. This compared to our TV industry doesn't amount. There have been certain shows such as 'Bro Town' which back in the day was a popular show but apart from that New Zealand has been lacking in the TV series area where there are no modern-day shows to represent culture or diversity.   

2. What is an example of the last TV show that really brought Maori representation into the spotlight but that is an older show to reference now?

'Bro ' Town', was a widely known show in New Zealand that went on from 2004-2008, unfortunately, that was about the last TV series to represent Maori culture or ethnic groups.   

3. What are some examples of films that have done well and that focus on telling the stories of ethnic minorities in NZ?

Films that have done well in representing Maori culture are 'Whale rider' and 'Once were warriors'. These films became big especially in New Zealand because it was the truth and depicted what really went on outside of the westernized neighborhoods. People were able to relate more to this content rather than big-budget Hollywood films that are mainly dominated by white people.  

4. Why are US TV networks scrambling to make their programming more diverse?

There was sustained pressure from minority groups for the US to diversify their casting and TV shows. Therefore resulting in shows such as Empire, Fresh off the Boat, Black-ish, and other series that have a majority all-colored cast. They were trying to represent ethnic communities in an extreme way. Former Chief of Entertainment Paul Lee said “When you see shows now that seem to lack diversity, they feel dated. America just doesn’t look like that anymore.”. Academic studies show that ethnic diversity makes good business sense. 

5. What, according to the article is one of the biggest challenges for Maori television shows?

According to broadcaster Stacey Morrison, finding advertiser backing is one of the big challenges for Māori television shows. “Māori programs are seen as niche viewing, not commercially viable and off-putting to advertisers.” Morrison says, “It is really hard to gain sponsorship.”. Accurately representing ethnic groups in New Zealand helps to benefit the country as a whole

• But not everyone agrees, including Richard Pamatatau, a Pacific Journalism expert: “I am not a fan of Bro’town or Sione’s Wedding. I recognise them for what they are – a re-presentation of a slice of a non-white world – but they seem to herd a part of a population and invite the consumer to see all people in that way.”

• We can celebrate movies like Sione’s Wedding and shows like Bro’town, but not all Samoans will see themselves represented in those stories, just as not all Pākehā will see themselves represented in Outrageous Fortune. One movie or TV show does not equal ‘representation’, but it is a starting point.

 

Monday Task - algorithms, information and news

 Notes:

- Claimed that some platforms such as Google, Facebook, etc have a biased point of view in terms of electoral positions. 

- Facebook is more likely to give content matching the user's worldview (regardless of the diverse amount of information that they also portray)

- Whatever content you most engage with is the content that you'll be seeing the most, for example, if you comment, like, or share a post then Facebook's algorithm takes it that you want to see more of the content. 

- "These platforms are businesses trying to generate money through more eyeballs"

- Facebook has been said to be biased against conservatives 

-"Hard to decide in today's society what even is truth" 

- People providing misinformation know how to work with algorithms provided by social platforms in order to get it in front of people. 

Tuesday Slideshow Power in the media

By Kayla Lockington 

Friday - Narrative research

 Narrative research:

Task 2 - 

If the power to tell stories and shape narratives is only held by a few, what dangers lie in that?

If the power to influence and tell a story was a right only held by a few then our cultures and heritages would start to crumble into nothing but a memory. If the thoughts of one were the only thoughts being portrayed to the masses, we would all fall into the trap of thinking the same and there would be no creative differences to separate us. If this proved to be true things such as racism and female injustice may still be going on to a higher degree today. We may not have seen colored people presented in a positive light on-screen or women being more than just a 'prop'

Merata Mita. Why was her work important and how would you describe her efforts?

Merata Mita helped to pave a way for indigenous filmmakers everywhere. Stirring the balance between mainstream and 'forbidden'. She was allowing small filmmakers to be able to get the opportunity to express themselves through the media in the future. She went to extreme efforts to stand up for what she believed in, although the government was targeting her and she was a single mother raising 5 children, she never stopped trying to make a statement and prove that indigenous films are an important part of learning the true culture of our country or the ways in which people live, other than the mansions and big inheritances that we see on screen. It allows people to learn about different heritages and cultures that are crucial to the social and economic development of countries. Through small indie filmmakers, we can see the truth behind all the smoke and lights rather than getting the mainstream media from big tech companies or the big conglomerates that try to mask the truth. Audiences may be able to relate to different messages or ideas that indie filmmakers are portraying, it's a smaller directed message that can help to raise awareness to try and prevent things such as domestic violence or racism in different political scenes which a lot of the time is happening behind the scenes. 

Task 3 -

1. How are indigenous stories being funded?

Different filmmaker associations are being set up to be able to financially support indie film amkers and try help with the progression of films. An example is in 2017 when Canada formed the Indigenous Screen Office to support Indigenous filmmakers, which then helped fund 35 projects in their first year. People are becoming more aware that indie films are needing to be heard more. 

2. What are some of the stereotypes that were perpetuated in early indigenous portrayals of the native Americans?

They were shown to be dirty or less than what a normal person should be seen as. Native Americans were seen as nothing more than savages and that whoever was not a native and had fair skin, could own the (what was known as) 'the inferior race'

3. Who is one example of an indigenous voice in NZ who is succeeding at telling stories from an indigenous point of view and garnering the interest of the wider world?

Taika Waititi started off as an Indie filmmaker first producing films such as "Two Cars", "One Nights", etc. Then in 2017, he was given the opportunity to direct the film Thor: Ragnarok, and even in this big-budget Hollywood film there were still touches of culture coming through, for example, one of the characters seen in the fighting ring and had a classic "kiwi accent", which stood out from the rest of the voices but almost help to make the film better as it showed more diversity in casting. This is where even though it was a big film, indie filmmakers are still in touch with their roots and help to bring that to larger audiences consuming big tech media.

4. Where do indigenous films have a platform to be viewed currently?

At the moment the only way to view an indie film is through film festivals. Even though this is a fun experience, people are so used to having everything on demand now through the introduction of web 2.0, that no one wants to make the effort to have to physically go to a film festival or if they do it is more of a special occasion that only happens every so often. Every now and again we see a big-budget film company release an indigenous type of film but that still isn't enough publicity to help the dying breed. 

5. What in your oppinion, is the future of more authentic portrayals and representations of indigenous people on screen, moving forward?

I feel as though indie films are slowly making their way through the ranks. The demand for the truth in the media is growing and audiences are starting to take a liking to the authenticity of indie films. We can see the support when things such as crowdfunding are used to help progress a film, for example, what they did for 'What we do in the Shadows' although they had a small budget people were still supporting the film and wanting to see the end result, which ended up paying off when the film grossed over $6 million in gross sales. 

Thursday Classwork

Ideology questions:

1. In your own words, describe what 'ideology' is.

Ideology is a certain view or belief seen by an individual or a group in society. It holds the power to influence societies and impact the way people live and go about their day-to-day lives.

2. What are 2 examples from the text of dominant ideologies of the West, reflected in media?

• Dominant ideologies include beliefs about gender roles, about the economy, about social institutions.
• Consumerism is a world view that a person has more worth if she or he has more material possessions and that we are made happier by consuming more goods.

3. Thinking about 'Black Panther' which is one of your case studies for Power and the Media, what ideology is being communicated to the audience about the people groups represented?

It is representing people of color and a different culture compared to the ones that may be seen in the western world today. Audiences may not relate to it as much but it is engaging with a different standard of normal, that hopefully allows people to become more diverse compared to the 90s were having a predominant all person of color cast was never seen, especially when the producers were middle-aged Caucasian men that only saw the lens from their perspective. 

4. Thinking about ideology - Why would it be considered a powerful position to be in, if you were in a position to create media, consumed by audiences?

When producing the media whatever ideology you believe in or the views that you see are socially acceptable can be portrayed in the type of media you produce. Unfortunately, up until this point people who have produced media have been white males who only saw the world as plain black and white where minorities would have never been seen on-screen or any other type of culture would have never been brought to audiences if it was not seen as the 'normal way of living. Women were never the main character but rather another prop on the side, as the world has progressed females have slowly risen in the ranks where they are now seen as more than just an object where now they are the main characters and also seen as heroes. It now imposes the idea onto audiences that this can now be seen as normal in the film industry. 

5. If movie-making is essentially storytelling, the point of view and underlying world view of the storyteller is important in how people are represented. Give some examples of how we see dominant ideologies changing in society as a result of diversity in the top ranks of those creating film/ media and becoming the storytellers? (give detailed examples)

As I said before with women in the media and how it has slowly progressed over time. We now see it in many examples where women have risen through the ranks. They have now seen as heroes an example is 'Captain Marvel' where a woman is seen to be in a powerful position and saving the world, compared to when they are shown as weak or the damsel in distress. Females have started to own their own sexuality, especially women in the music industry where instead of being sexualized they are portraying themselves in a hyper-sexualized way in order to sell but also making a statement, women rappers are now dominating the industry with examples such as Nicki Minaj, Doja Cat, Cardi B, etc. 

Power in the media essay

 Essay 

"To what extent do people today have the power to represent themselves" 

People today have an unprecedented amount of power to represent themselves through the media and free speech platforms. Big tech companies such as Google and social media giant, Facebook, have a hegemonic dominance over content in order to decide what is shown at what is not. Influence is huge and can be easily passed on through powerful names, enforcing different ideologies onto audiences, sometimes tainting the image of some groups in society and the way they are being portrayed. An example of this is the Black Lives Matter movement, where audiences were sick of seeing people of color shown in an aggressive or dangerous light on-screen or through the media. In 2011, more than half of the films fell into the lowest level of cast diversity of less than just 11%. However, in 2020, 28.8% of films had the highest level of cast diversity with 50% or higher. Just under 10% of films in 2020 fell into the lowest level of cast diversity, clearly showing the changes being made to adapt to audience preferences. Stuart Haul's Representation theory implies that the subject has a single fixed meaning against which accuracy can be measured. Haul points out that this can not be so. This can be seen to correlate yet also contrast with George Gerbner's Cultivation Theory. He believed that long-term exposure can shape the way you perceive the media and influence how audiences conduct themselves. 

Pew research center did a survey and found that 72% of U.S. adults say that social media platforms are having too much of an influence on today's society. Similarly, 59% of people think that certain types of media should be banned or censored to stop different messages from being misunderstood, for example, the covid pandemic showed how different information was twisted into something to either scare people further or give wrong news. Platforms such as Twitter began really as a tool that allowed those in social circles to essentially "shout out" to one another, but it has increasingly become a broadcast platform to reach the masses. Some 47% of the population thinks that the government should be regulation major technology companies more than it is now. Regulation can be seen as a good thing but censorship may be argued against. Rather than silencing someone's right to free speech, it could be edited or just the post that was seen as offensive could be taken down. An example of this is when Twitter permanently suspended Donald Trump's account. As of this, within the weekend, nearly every link to his account was taken down and him being banned from social media giant Facebook. The people who hold the power here are the ones creating the content as well as the ones regulating it. Social media is still a massive evolving phenomenon and the problem is now whether it is having a more positive or negative effect and influence on the masses 

Although the control of the media is slowly becoming more accessible to the wider population, companies such as the big 5 (Disney, Sony, Warner Bros, Paramount, and Comcast) still have control over smaller subsidiaries and the media that goes out to audiences. Through the proliferation of technological convergence, big monopolies such as Disney now have more control than ever through the introduction of streaming video on demand (SVOD). Not only does it make it easier for audiences to access the media but also cheaper than having to go to the cinemas which are on the rapid decline. Fans can now 'binge' their favorite show or movie series without ads or interruptions. This as well as the introduction of web 2.0 gives audiences the freedom to express their opinions about certain aspects of the media they are consuming, audiences now becoming 'prosumers' catering to their liking. An example of this was with the release of Stranger Things, and a fan page was created on Facebook so that people could talk freely and express their thoughts on the show. Instead, it was a platform for hate speech that ended up having to be taken down because complaints were made by the actors saying that what people were putting online was hurtful and started to affect the ways in which actors played their roles. 

A clear example of the audience controlling different parts of the media is in the film 'Song of the South, released in 1946, directed by Wilfred Jackson, whom may I point out was a middle-aged Caucasian male at the time of the production of this movie. In this, there is a picture of cackling crows shown in a rather discriminatory racist light. They are seen to be talking like a person of colour and seen to have adopted 'baffoon'-like behavior, as that was the only thing people of a different race were seen to behave like. It was a mockery of culture and as time went on people started to voice their opinions about this, forcing Disney to completely remove this offensive scene from the original movie. It is not just people of colour and minorities being shown in a stereotypical way through the media. It is also how women are now being used in music videos as objects, a typical "trophy wife" where male singers almost are objectifying women, thinking they are nothing more than something to stand there and look pretty or making the males look in power, a dominant gender. Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze Theory puts this into perspective, saying how women no longer want to be accessories on screen. Everything was being made where the female viewer must experience the narrative secondarily, meaning their opinion is not as important as the male audience. Big-name artists such as Chris Brown or Kanye West have used women in ways of promotion where they are almost promoting sexualized content aimed at men. Over time women have started to take rank where they have started owing their femininity and using it to sell the content of their own. Lil Kim revolutionized women in music and started a new era in the late 1990s, dominating the billboards and paving a way for future female artists/rappers. 

Independent filmmakers are starting to rise through the ranks as we now have access to so many streaming platforms that allow user-generated content. One of the biggest online phenomenons to be introduced to the public was Youtube released in 2005 and now has over 2.1 billion users. This has given indie filmmakers the opportunity to get their films recognized on a low budget. People have not only started to become involved in the way films are being made but are starting to make their own films. The industry is a forever growing market and gives people the power to represent not only themselves but already established conglomerates, in whatever light they chose. Through web, 2.0 people can influence the opinion of the world on something through the click of a button. 

Monday Lockdown Classwork

 Youtube case study:

- how much content is created every day?

• 300 hours of video content uploaded per minute, it would take nearly 50 years to watch every single video that was uploaded in a day 
• "Represents over 20% of the time spent on connected television"
• Over 500 hours uploaded every minute 
• Over 1 billion hours watched every day

- Who acquired Youtube and how much was spent?

• 3 ex PayPal employees created the idea, Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jar Vet Kareem. 
• The first video uploaded to Youtube was a short video of Jarvez Kareem, one of the co-founders, standing outside the elephants' exhibit at the San Diego Zoo 
• Youtube is the 2nd largest search engine 
• In 2019 Youtube generated $15 billion in revenue. 
• YouTube had to pay $170 million to settle lawsuits and other expenses. 
• Google spent $1.65 billion on the purchase of YouTube 

- how was allowing people to monetise channels, a major shift in the industry?

• Over 2 billion users visit Youtube every month
• There are creators who are making millions and millions of dollars every month from posting videos an example includes Dude Perfect who literally do fun stunts and get paid millions to do so - 56.6 million subscribers on YT.

- how were algorithms used to Youtube's advantage with subscribers?

• lead on to people basically "never leaving the app" 
• Videos were suggested to you based on what you had watched previously and who you’re subscribed to.

- name some of the ways Youtube has changed and added aspects to their channel to increase audience/subscribers?

• Youtube at first had no traffic therefore was changed into a dating site where people were enticed with money and other methods. 
• They tweaked their technology so that anyone would be able to upload videos and share them online for the world to see. 
• Just one click Youtube's "Big Bang Moment"

- why is content moderation hard for Youtube?

• Content published isn't always accurate 
• Content moderation has been seen to be quite the challenge

The diversity report

Notes:

- shows that 54.6% of the top films of 2020 were released solely via streaming subscription services, a major departure from business as usual.

- The global home and mobile entertainment market increased to a record $68 billion over the course of 2020, up 23% from the $55.9 billion in 2019.

- The U.S. share of this global market stood at nearly 44% in 2020. Latino and Black adults, in particular, consumed online content at higher levels than other groups.

- All four job categories showed progress in 2020, but women and people of color are still underrepresented in critical behind-the-camera jobs. Women made up just 26% of film writers and just 20.5% of directors. Combined, minority groups were slightly better represented as directors at 25.4%. Just 25.9% of film writers in 2020 were people of color.

- For streaming platforms, films featuring casts that were 21% to 30% minority had the highest ratings among white, Black, Latino, and Asian households and viewers 18–49.

- In 2011, the first year tracked, more than half of the films fell into the lowest level of cast diversity — less than 11%. In 2020, however, 28.8% of films had the highest level of cast diversity — 50% or higher. Just under 10% of films in 2020 fell into the lowest level of cast diversity.

- In 2020, nearly all of the films with a female director also featured a female lead (94.7%). Films directed by minorities had the highest level of cast diversity. And 78.3% of films directed by people of color featured minority leads.

- White film directors were more than twice as likely as minority directors to helm a film with a budget of $100 million or more — 6.4% versus 2.8%. Men and women were equally likely to direct a big-budget film in 2020 — 5.7% and 5.6%, respectively.

-Women and people of color were more likely to direct films that fell into the lowest budget category of less than $20 million. For films directed by people of color, 72.3% had budgets less than $20 million, compared to 60% for white directors. It was about the same for films directed by women. Of those, 74.3% had budgets less than $20 million, compared to 59.2% for men's directors.

Power in the form of censorship

"Should social media companies and big tech have the right or the power to silence voices on their platforms?"

Social media companies and big tech companies should have the power to be able to silence voices on their media platforms. Pew research center did a survey and found that 72% of U.S. adults say that social media platforms are having too much of an influence on today's society. In a similar way, 59% of people think that certain types of media should be banned or censored in order to stop different messages from being misunderstood, for example, the covid pandemic showed how different information was twisted into something to either scare people further or give wrong news. Platforms such as Twitter began really as a tool that allowed those in social circles to essentially "shout out" to one another, but it has increasingly become a broadcast platform to reach the masses. Some 47% of the population thinks that the government should be regulation major technology companies more than it is now. Regulation can be seen as a good thing but censorship may be argued against. Rather than silencing someone's right to free speech, it could be edited or just the post that was seen as offensive could be taken down. An example of this is when Twitter permanently suspended Donald Trump's account. As of this within the weekend nearly every link to his account was taken down as well as him being banned from as well social media giant Facebook. The people who hold the power here are the ones creating the content as well as the ones regulating it. Social media is still a massive evolving phenomenon and the problem is now whether it is having a more positive or negative affect and influence on the masses 

Power in the media

Notes

Stuart Hauls representation theory:

- implies that the subject has a single fixed meaning against which accuracy can be measured. H points out that this cant be so.  

- The media gives meaning to events, they decide whether it is a positive representation or not. 

- "Representation isn't an after occurrence it's a constitutive one"

- "Has no obvious meaning until it has been represented"

- Media producers who are in power try to fix a particular meaning to a certain thing in the real world. 

- Hegemonic meaning/ representation 

The mean world syndrome:

- People base judgments on the media even when there are present facts such as crime rates dropping, the perception people have is taken from the violence shown in the media. 

- How one kind of story blends into another to create and reinforce a distinct sense of the world. 

George Gerbner's Cultivation Theory:

- sociological and communications framework 

- media tends to repeat representations of people or groups of people over and over again, effects build up slowly over time. 

- May does not believe the intended message if only seen once for example violence amongst people. See it repeated in different media forums 

- accept it as realistic 

-The cultivation of the effects of the media can change the dominant ideologies of society.  

Media ecology essay

Media Ecology

Essay

The relationship between media and audiences is changing drastically. Media ecology aims to describe how diverse media environments shape today's society and our everyday lives. The theory's overall core is how the content's communication isn't as nearly impactful as the way it is being consumed. It focuses on media, environments, and environments as media, with an explicit concern for their evolution, effects, and forms. It is the aim to increase awareness of the complex relationship between technology and humans. I agree with the fact that media is constantly changing and the way it is being consumed can have an altering effect on audiences. The way audiences consume media is an ever-changing phenomenon that has been introduced to different generations. New ways of consuming media are being introduced daily. In the last year, 4 new streaming video on demand platforms have been introduced, which I will explain in detail later on.

Marshall McLuhan came up with the media ecology theory in 1964 and was officially coined in 1968 by the media theorist Neil postman. McLuhan was the first to suggest that studies should be focused on the type of media rather than the message being communicated. "Our behavior in media has been changed by the medium rather than the media", in this sense the medium is the technology on which the media is being consumed on whether it is a smartphone, laptop, TV, etc, it is almost like the middle man that gets forgotten about between people and what they are consuming digitally. It suggests that the environment inevitably affects our perceptions, feelings, values, and beliefs.

Fragmentation shows the trend of the increasing choice of how audiences consume media in terms of different platforms or channels, for example, linear TV, streaming video on demand (SVOD), or things such as social media platforms i.e Instagram or Facebook. In 2020, 95% of teens have access to a smartphone and 45% say they are online 'almost constantly. In today's date, nearly half of the teen population aged from 13 to 17 say they use Facebook (2004), less compared to platforms such as Instagram (2010), and Snapchat (2011), which were released later. Surveys were used to determine different social standings and somewhat 40% of these respondents have said that social media has had a positive impact because it helps them keep in touch and interact with others. An increase in fragmentation amongst households has occurred because of the COVID-19 pandemic that was introduced to the world in 2019. People used devices to escape from their reality and used things such as laptops and smartphones to work from home or for young kids to go to school virtually. This is where McLuhan's theory may be criticized or challenged in terms of the way we consume has a larger effect than what we consume, because, in terms of COVID, the content being consumed by young minds will have a longer-lasting effect in the future rather than them looking at the screen. Nuclear families no longer watch linear TV together, but rather watch their own platforms on their own devices. While 42% of families in the USA were nuclear families 50 years ago, just under 22% are being shown as your typical family figure.

In 2019 a survey was conducted to measure how many adults still went to cinemas in the USA. It was found that 14% of adults said that they go to the cinemas at least once a month or more, around 46% said that they would go to the cinemas maybe once or a few times a year. This shows the slow decline of the use of cinemas. People state that they go for the experience that you can’t get at home. Streaming videos on demand has changed the ways in which we consume media, it also relates to the concept of fragmentation. People are now able to subscribe to different streaming platforms such as Netflix, Youtube, Neon etc. In the last 2 years alone, already 4 new streaming services have been released by monopolies in the media industry, Apple TV, HBO Max, Peacock, and Disney+. Because of the massive range that is available to watch media and the development of technology, kids are able to watch whatever they want freely without regulatory boundaries unless parents are aware and change settings so that kids are only able to see certain content. Between 2019-2020, the number of global subscriptions increased by 26% reaching 1.2 billion subscribers in the year 2020. In this year the Film and TV industry experienced unprecedented growth. Disney+ has already gained over 100 million subscribers since its launch in November 2020.

Audience demand constantly grows and spending on content production continues to ramp up. In 2020 there was a record-breaking $220.2 billion spent on making and acquiring new feature films and TV programming. Disney has encountered some issues with certain actors who are paid off box office sales, where Disney releases films in both cinemas and on Disney+ so people don't have to necessarily go to the theatre to watch a new movie, which is causing certain actors such as Scarlett Johansson distress as the recent release of Black Widow was released on Disney+ in July 2021 and was only a couple days later after the cinema release.

A version of the Fandom theory was first seen in the 1960s when the first-star trek was released. Henry Jenkins was the one who released this theory explaining different fan cultures and communities built around the shared enjoyment of a particular movie or TV series. An example of this is when a fan page was made for Stranger Things, released in 2016, but fans were so critical to characters and actors that it started affecting the cast and the people helping to make the series so it was shut down. This is an extreme version where simple fandom has been turned into extreme criticism and involvement. The way people interact with the media is drastically and almost rapidly changing. In the early 1930s watching TV was a rare commodity that wasn't seen as an essential part of life, compared to now in 2021 we have had massive reliability upon technology and media. Without online websites and the introduction of web 2.0 in 1999, people would still be relying on paper newspapers to get their information or daily news. Now we are able to actively engage with others online as well as have our input in the world by creating websites, uploading our own media, and streaming others. Has this changed the world we live in for the better or for worse?