Friday 16 November 2007

Questionnaire Results:

6 M
6 F

1)
Strongly Agree : II
Agree : IIIIII
No Specific feeling: I
Disagree: II
Strongly disagree:

2)
Eastenders : IIIIIIIII
Hollyoaks : IIIIIIIII
Casualty : IIII
The Bill : IIIII
Doctor Who : II
House :
Spooks :
All of the above : I
None of the above :

3)
Eastenders :
Hollyoaks :
Casualty : III
The Bill :I
Doctor Who : IIIII
House : IIIIIIII
Spooks : IIIIIIII
All of the above :
None of the above : I

4)
Eastenders : IIIIIIIIII
Hollyoaks : IIIIIIII
Casualty : IIIIIIIII
The Bill : IIIIIIIIII
Doctor Who : III
House : III
Spooks : IIIIIIII
All of the above :
None of the above :

5)
Eastenders :
Hollyoaks :
Casualty : I
The Bill :
Doctor Who : III
House :
Spooks :
All of the above : I
None of the above : II

6)
Strongly agree :
Agree : II
No Specific feeling : IIIIII
Disagree : III
Strongly disagree :

7)
Doctor who (old) : II
Magnum P.I : IIII
Seven Dials of mystery :
Coronation street: IIIIIIII
Eastenders : IIIIIIII
London's burning : IIII
All of the above : II
None of above :

8)
Doctor who (old) : IIII
Magnum P.I : II
Seven Dials of mystery : II
Coronation street:
Eastenders :
London's burning : II
All of the above :
None of above : III

9)
Doctor who (old) : I
Magnum P.I : IIII
Seven Dials of mystery : II
Coronation street: IIIIIIIII
Eastenders : IIIIIIII
London's burning : IIIII
All of the above :
None of above : I

10)
Doctor who (old) : IIII
Magnum P.I : I
Seven Dials of mystery :
Coronation street: I
Eastenders : I
London's burning : I
All of the above : I
None of above : II

Thursday 8 November 2007

Pictures including graphs and mind map







































Questionnaire...

1) How far would you agree with the view that programmes in todays society are becoming less and less intellectually stimulating?

Strongly Agree Agree No specific feeling Disagree Strongly disagree



2) Which of these would you consider ‘Lowbrow’? (unsophisticated or uncultured)

Eastenders
Hollyoaks
Casualty
The Bill
The virgin queen
Doctor who (new series)
House
Spooks
All of the above
None of the above
Never seen any of them

3) Which of these would you consider ‘Highbrow’? (cultivated and cultured)

Eastenders
Hollyoaks
Casualty
The Bill
The virgin queen
Doctor who (new series)
House
Spooks
All of the above
None of the above
Never seen any of them

4) Which of these would you consider socially up-to-date? (have plots in line with the world around them)

Eastenders
Hollyoaks
Casualty
The Bill
The virgin queen
Doctor who (new series)
House
Spooks
All of the above
None of the above
Never seen any of them

5) Which of these would you consider socially out-of-date? (with plot lines that don’t keep up with modern society)

Eastenders
Hollyoaks
Casualty
The Bill
The virgin queen
Doctor who (new series)
House
Spooks
All of the above
None of the above
Never seen any of them


6) How far would you agree that many programmes around in the 80’s-90’s were intellectually stimulating?

Strongly Agree Agree No specific feeling Disagree Strongly disagree



7) Which of these would you consider ‘Lowbrow’ (unsophisticated or uncultured)?

Doctor who (old series)
Magnum P.I
Seven dials of mystery
Coronation street (in the 80’s/90’s)
Eastenders (in the 80’s/90’s)
London’s Burning
All of the above
None of the above
Never seen any of them

8) Which of these would you consider ‘Highbrow’? (cultivated and cultured)

Doctor who (old series)
Magnum P.I
Seven dials of mystery
Coronation street (in the 80’s/90’s)
Eastenders (in the 80’s/90’s)
London’s Burning
All of the above
None of the above
Never seen any of them

9) Which of these would you consider socially up-to-date? (have plots in line with the world around them)

Doctor who (old series)
Magnum P.I
Seven dials of mystery
Coronation street (in the 80’s/90’s)
Eastenders (in the 80’s/90’s)
London’s Burning
All of the above
None of the above
Never seen any of them

10) Which of these would you consider socially out-of-date? (with plot lines that don’t keep up with modern society)

Doctor who (old series)
Magnum P.I
Seven dials of mystery
Coronation street (in the 80’s/90’s)
Eastenders (in the 80’s/90’s)
London’s Burning
All of the above
None of the above
Never seen any of them

Thank you for your time!

Monday 29 October 2007

Media Studies Work

cELLO, this is my media studies independent research thingy-me-bob! I'm researching critical things and so on. I will do the whole TV dramary goodness I believe. Well, that was fun, I feel like we've shared something special...

My question will be something like:

'To what extent are television drama's being made less intellectually stimulating in the modern society?' (better worded though)

An answer would consist of:

Drama's today consist of a variety of programmes, from the least intelluctually stimulating programme, such as Casualty to a higher-brow drama like house.

However, it is a popular opinion that dramas nowadays are more 'dumbed down', and it is a common sterotype to sit in front of the t.v and switch off to the world and all sense related. I will now take a closer look at how accurate a stereotype this really is. It is certainly true to say that there are many t.v dramas which require little or no thought process to view, such as casualty , the bill or many soap operas around such as hollyoaks. On the other hand, however it is equally true to state that there are many dramas on television which are very complex in their plot lines and general dialogue, such as 'House', 'Spooks' or 'The virgin queen'. This would seem to suggest that dramas today are becoming more and more intellecually stimulating and would suggest that my original question has been proven wrong.

However, when looking at a drama such as 'House', then one could argue that very few of its audience have the right extent of knowledge required to understand the in-depth medical examinations and problems that arise during the show. This may lead to suggest that in actual fact a seemingly high-brow program will require the same amount of concentration and knowledge as any other drama around, because one is simply watching the happenings on the television without implementing any thought-processing skills, due to the fact that it would be impossible to actually understand the complex medical issues without being a leading doctor! Contrary to this, dramas such as spooks require you attention throughout the whole of the episode, because of the intricate plot-lines, this leads on to suggest that there are definitly dramas around today which can be undoubtedly called 'intellectually stimulating'.

On the other hand, when observing dramas from the past, one would struggle to find one specifically intellectually stimulating. Dramas such as doctor who, despite being popular are not up on social or political events. For example, the woman in the series is simply the damsel in distress - not in keeping with the steadily rising view of equality for women and feminism. As doctor who has made a come back in the recent years, they have had to keep it on the social action pulse, by using the women in the series' as key roles, and making them just as important as everyone else, a change from the older series. Whilst looking at statistics from t.v shows in the 1980's, i can deduce the kinds of programmes favoured by the public, ergo, i can find out whether more intellectually stimulating programmes are being watched as time goes by. In 1981 the only dramas in the top 10 watched were 'Magnum P.I' and the 'Seven Dials of Mystery', both of which were not entirely intellectual. Over the years, to 1985, the most popular dramas to watch were soap-operas. These, despite being in line with social developments to make the plot lines appear more realistic, they did not require an extrodinary amount of brain power to follow, in fact they were designed for people to join in watching them half-way through, so they would have to be fairly easy to follow to gain extra audiences.

As time progressed to 1990, then despite soap operas being the most popular programmes watched, more intellectually stimulating programmes such as inspector morse start climbing up the top 10 most popular programmes watched. Again, in 1995, despite no-brainer programmes being extremely popular, the vast majority of britons enjoyed socially stimulating programmes, as shown by a panorama special on Princess Diana pulling more viewers then any other programme at the time.

Websites to back me up are:

Guardian paper
Wikipedia about gregory house
MSNBC
(in case you need to know half the words in the article)
Something
Something else
T.V is good!
Dumbing down?
TV dumbing down - is there anything good on TV?
Guy rips into spooks
Guy is nice about spooks
Eastenders
appreciated eastenders, yet it's all about working class
TV isn't dumbing down, it expects us to instead
magnum P.I and it's vietnamy goodness
私を助けなさい!

Key media theory: Dumbing down/ tabloidisation
I believe mine is inductive

Righty ho...

I'll look at:

- Spooks - Very high tech, socially up to date, have to be thinking to watch it (intellectually stimulating)

- Eastenders - Low brow, but very socially up to date, tackles modern issues.

- House - High tech, high brow, socially up to date, yet might not have to be so intellectual to watch, seems as a bit too medically, can go over your head.


And:
- Doctor Who - Not low brow, not high brow, socially out of date, didn't keep up with feminism.

- Eastenders - Low brow, but very socially up to date, tackles modern issues.

- Magnum P.I - Low brow, socially up to date.

As the Oxford dictionary states, Highbrow means...
According to the Oxford dictionary, Lowbrow is...

To start my research, i decided to use the internet. I went onto google and typed in 'Highbrow dramas' this didn't return any helpful results however, because it was too wide a topic. It was not to no avail, however, this search returned a valuable site discussing whether t.v is worth watching for firstly the social aspect and secondly the mind-numbing programming. It argues that even the low-brow dramas such as eastenders give something to talk about over the water-cooler. It also argues that television is not rotting for the brain, in fact some of the new programmes become more like shakesperian literature than unintellectually stimulating rubbish!

I also interviewed people from around the world what their views were on the current - and past - british shows. Amongst these views are such that there is an element of both sides in the arguement, some programmes have become more intellectually stimulating, such as spooks or house, whereas some programmes have stayed at the bottom, such as eastenders. These views helped me form a balanced arguement, not biased due to only gathering data from England.

To gain a wide perspective on the issue i am looking at, i decided to create a questionnaire which i could then give out to a fair selection of people. The results of this questionnaire were shocking. Many more people agreed/strongly agreed that programmes are becoming less and less intellectually stimulating then disagreed. The real surprise came later, when i compared the amount of highbrow programmes people said were around today and the ones they said were around in the 1980's. The results were astounding, there were 15 more votes for highbrow programmes around recently than from 20 years ago, where the same amount of votes were that there were no highbrow programmes, as there were saying that doctor who was highbrow. These results were less focused then i would have ideally liked, because a large proportion of the people asked were not of the age to have watched the programmes from the 80's. This was not much of a problem, however, because the age we live in allows us to get these kind of programmes on dvd box set.

Additionally, i looked into newspaper archives to try and

"mass culture follows a steady declining path toward lowest common denominator standards." In fact, he argues, the exact opposite is true: "The culture is getting more intellectually demanding, not less." San Francisco Newspaper! BOOYAH!!!

Media Magazine:
December 2006
51-54
Sara Mills argues that T.V is dumbing us down. She entwines it with the hypodermic syringe theory, that people don't want to watch trash TV because they worry how it will affect its audience. She says that the middle-classes can watch shakespeare and not want to murder someone, yet a working-class person who watches jeremy kyle is thought to turn into the unintellectual people on the show. The powerless aren't trusted.

'The dumbing down debate'
"Dumbing down is the idea that todays society is becoming less intellectual and that everything - newspapers, television education, exams and so on - is becoming more easy and simple year by year. The comparison is usually with some vague notion of the good old days when society, and its education system, its media and people in general, were somehow more intellectual, more serious and everything was more in-depth. think of a grumpy middle-aged person saying 'things aren't what they used to be... you didn'y get rubbish like this on the telly in my day... exams weren 't so easy when i was a lad..."

"dumbing down seems to me a way for certain people to dismiss elements of today's culture that are new and different, and that they often just don't like and don't understand."

My practice exam did kinda suck. The main problems were that i didn't go into enough detail on all the questions, i did it properly on one of them, but the rest i messed up! I will also not mention the fact that i only gave questionnaires to 12 people.


Sopranos, good show, intellectual, backed up by Stephen Johnsons 'Everything bad is good for you' :

Prior to multiple threading, television episodes contained one or two main characters and one storyline. With the additional “collection of distinct strands” to the episodes, the public became willing “to tolerate more complicated narratives” (67, 72). This allowed the audiences to comprehend more storylines and characters as well as linking different episodes, improving their cognitive skills. In television shows like The Sopranos multiple threading is a common tactic used to provide information to the audience in an interesting way. Johnson explains, “The narrative weaves together a collection of distinct strands-sometimes as many as ten, though at least half of the threads involve only a few quick scenes scattered through the episode" (67). He believes that due to the rising technology in pop culture the audience is conditioned to comprehend the increasingly difficult plots developed with multiple threading.

Also backed up by times online:

Out of the box

— The more I think about the ending of The Sopranos the more I like it, mainly because, like many others, I am still thinking about it. Reader Myrna Shaw, for example, berates me for last week suggesting the family could have survived their “last supper”. “They each take a wafer of bread with a red centre, which none of them puts into their mouths, but all three stick their tongues out to receive it. Remind you of anything? Yes, the screen goes blank. Signifying bloody ETERNITY and not a cop out.” Actually it’s onion rings, but her point stands. The best case for the massacre theory, however, is made on a YouTube video “ The SopranosFinale Explained”. Check it out.

I think i will Andrew, i think i will

Tuesday 8 May 2007

PS3's - the computerised Hitler

We have all heard the hype over these new fangled PS3's, and quite frankly i'm becoming suspicious over whether or not people are getting TOO excited over it.

Have you ever noticed how when you mention the fact that PS3's cause cancer, then all you get is laughed at. I never get taken seriously these days! I suspect that actually, all these people buying PS3's and talking about PS3's are actually hired by sony themselve to try and quash the inevitable leak of their dirty secrets.

Here are a few juicy ones to get you started:
-If you zoom in on the window of the plane on 9/11, you will notice a PS3 smiling viciously out of the window.
-It has been proven that PS3's are rapidly becoming the main cause of cancer.
-World hunger has trebled since the release of the PS3.
-Have you noticed that they don't need to be plugged into your mains? They run on evil, pure evil!
-Run out of blood in your fridge? The PS3 has been up in the night drinking it all and feeding it to vampyric apple macs.

DO NOT PANIC!!! There is a solution. In anticipation of these horrors, Microsoft have come through with the counter-measure for this breed of pure evil. Xbox 360's are the saviours for these dark days. They convert the electricity from your mains and turn it into peace, love and happiness, which oozes through your house spreading joy to every corner.

So go on, buy an Xbox 360 today, and become a famous hero of the ages as one of those patriotic people who weren't afraid to take a stand for what is right and to take down those PS3's that were threatening democracy in the free world.

Bloggers of the world UNITE!!

We all like a nice blog now and then. A time to get something off your chest, to voice your views, or maybe just to tell the world just how many presents you get for christmas. But lately, bloggers have been drifting apart. There have been rifts forming in the blog world, people are forming into clans - the orange clan and the apple clan. After many vicious comments and a few scathing remarks, there have been emotional casualties on both sides, has this war not gone far enough? Can't we call an end to all this tear shed?

I call for a bloggers convention, where apple people and orange people can get together and maybe, just maybe, find a common ground. Or, at the end of the day, then isn't it obvious which one is better? I ask you, is it possible to get apple juice in a can? I DON'T THINK SO!!! In fact, what is so good about apple juice anyway? Can you water plants with it? Is there a appling can? NO!!! And why is this? Because it does not contain the right plantoflavins that a young sapling needs.

In fact, forget that idea! I don't want to be anywhere NEAR an apploneon. And, if all this is not enough... what kind of computers do you think these apple supporters use? AN APPLE MAC!!! I think this is proof enough that these people don't know whether they're coming or going. I call for a cull on all apploneons. Why has Blair not got involved in this already? Is HE an apple sympathiser? In fact, i think i recall him eating an apple once or twice on T.V! HE ISN'T EVEN ASHAMED OF IT!!!

Though fear not, my fellow orange tree, the end is not nigh. The labour party have already declared their orange affiliations, and are not going to turn back quickly. In fact, i think this is why we innocent people with the wool pulled over our eyes think that it was Tony Blair who sent the troops to Iraq. We have been fooled into thinking this, when actually it is his labour 'friends' who have persuaded him to do this. Though, before you go thinking that this means he is innocent, this is not the case. The only reason this has happened is so that the labour party are able to be a pure orange forest, and so they have uprooted the infiltrating apple spy amongst their midst.

In conclusion, i think that us faithful few of the orange supporters should all get together and wage war on these pitiful apploneons and wipe them off the face of the earth once and for all!

ORANGE TREES OF THE WORLD UNITE!!!! (and bring some orange in a can whilst your at it, i'm thirsty)