HCRHS Media Lit

"Ahh, it's good to see The Bechdel Test used where it is most applicable: as a lens through which to expose a misrepresentational trend in modern film overall rather than specifically. Vocativ took nearly fifty of this year's top grossing blockbusters, sorted them by whether they failed or passed the test. Turns out movies that passed were significantly more financially successful than not."

"MORE than a decade into the 21st century, we would like to think that American parents have similar standards and similar dreams for their sons and daughters. But my study of anonymous, aggregate data from Google searches suggests that contemporary American parents are far more likely to want their boys smart and their girls skinny."

"The man who served as executive producer on such blockbusters as "Django Unchained," "Silver Linings Playbook," and "Reservoir Dogs," Weinstein is no stranger to controversy, and often gets behind films with a social conscience. It's with a similar agenda that he tells Piers Morgan of his pledge to stay away from egregious gun violence in future projects, in the process, answering critics who suggest his verbal attacks against the NRA stand in dark contrast to many of the movies he's helped make."

"To the uninitiated, Reddit looks like a mess - text links, comment threads, points, upvotes, downvotes. At best, posts seem contextless - at worst, totally random. But spend some quality time with "The Front Page of the Internet," and you'll find it's an essential resource, a self-correcting marketplace of ideas that's nearly impervious to marketers."

"he British actress Emma Thompson tossed her shoes across the stage and slurped a martini, Dean Martin-style. Jennifer Lawrence wore her hair almost West Point short, while the actor Jared Leto and the composer Alex Ebert put up their flowing locks in loose chignons. Diane Keaton wore a man's tuxedo to accept Woody Allen's lifetime achievement award. Even the annual Miss Golden Globe, Sosie Bacon, the daughter of Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, was nudged aside by a new feature, Mr. Golden Globe: Amy Poehler dressed as a sullen teenage boy. It was a gender-bending Golden Globes, or at least, the hosts made an effort to celebrate gender equality."

"The New York Times unveiled a major redesign of its digital offerings Wednesday. But the redesign has also embraced a controversial shift in journalism: Some posts on the site that look like articles are reported and written by people working for the paper's advertisers. The practice is sometimes called "native advertising" or "branded content," with the idea that there is actual content - maybe in the form of an article, perhaps a video - created by or for an advertiser."

"Critics and audiences have also praised its subversive plot, which focuses on the relationship between two sisters and turns Prince Charming into The Villain. But there's another argument to be made against Frozen's villain, and it has to do with the implicit notion that there was something wrong with the Prince Charming fantasy in the first place. The assumption is that it needed correcting because providing girls with idealized images of romance and romantic partners is inherently bad for them."

"Many digital publishers have placed it at the heart of their business strategy - but there are concerns over transparency"

"The New York Times' long-awaited redesign will grace our computers next week, complete with updated typography and responsive design. Wednesday, Jan. 8 will also mark a shift in The Grey Lady's advertising model, as the new and improved design allows for the Times to display sponsored editorial content, or "native ads.""

"We analyzed the top 50 biggest box office movies of 2013 to see if they passed the Bechdel Test, which evaluates whether a movie has two or more women in it who have a conversation about something other than a man. It's named after cartoonist Alison Bechdel, who wrote about it in her popular comic Dykes to Watch Out For. (Bechdel actually credits her friend Liz Wallace with the rule.) The three-part criteria for a movie to pass: It has to have (1) at least two women in it, who (2) talk to each other about (3) something besides a man."

"A CALL TO MEN believes that preventing domestic and sexual violence is primarily the responsibility of men. Although historically it has been almost entirely women who have been at the forefront addressing this issue, we think it is essential that men play a primary role in the solution. To do that, well-meaning men…men who, for the most part don't see themselves as part of the problem…need to get involved."

"What the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski. "

"Just before the holidays, late-night comedian Conan O'Brien poked a little fun at local TV newscasts. In doing so, he illustrated some serious issues about the compromises journalists make in understaffed newsrooms. O'Brien has aired similar montages in the past, capturing repetition in local stories about such topics as Cyber Monday shopping, restaurants that serve political-themed food, and the news that actor Mike Myers and his wife were expecting a baby. The compilations are popular fodder for Internet discussions, where viewers attributed the homogeneity to "consumerist propaganda," "controlled brainwashing," and "corporations spitting out prefabricated copies of fake news." The truth is less conspiratorial. Each story O'Brien featured was supplied by a syndication service that distributes scripts, video clips, and fully-produced news packages to local stations. The self gifting story came from CNN Newsource, which claims 800 affiliates. (CNN is part of Time Warner, which also owns the TBS cable channel that airs "Conan.") You're almost certainly watching syndicated content when your local newscast shows video of national or international stories. Stations also rely on Newsource for sports highlights, business and consumer reports, entertainment news, and stories CNN categorizes as "Caught on Camera," "Animals," "Kickers," and "Easy to Tease.""

"Yes, it's that time of year again--just after the holidays.  Magazines in particular feature cover stories on losing weight.  And weight loss advertising seems to be everywhere, especially in these new year's publications. Presented here are some resources, ads, and activities that will encourage young people to use "critical thinking skills" as it relates to these persuasive forms of advertising.  Since teaching ad technique and awareness is in most state's health teaching standards, these ads are perfect for use in classroom settings."

"In a recent strategy meeting with our team, we watched Simon Sinek's landmark TED talk, "Start with Why." Again. If you haven't watched it, you really should. It's 17 minutes of marketing common sense. Simon lays out a simple, yet powerful, observation that the companies, leaders and brands we hold up as innovative, market-shaping and successful, start with "why" -- why they are in business, not what they are selling."

What did the world search for in 2013?

"This summer The Onion ran a satirical piece purporting to be an op-ed by CNN's managing editor, Meredith Artley, titled, "Let Me Explain Why Miley Cyrus' VMA Performance Was Our Top Story This Morning." Her explanation for why CNN filled the top news slot with the story "Miley Cyrus Did What???" (this was the actual headline; no need to satirize it) instead of reporting on Syria or the unrest in Egypt: "It was an attempt to get you to click on CNN.com so that we could drive up our web traffic, which in turn would allow us to increase our advertising revenue." According to Thomas E. Patterson's new book "Informing the News: The Need for Knowledge-Based Journalism" (Vintage, 233 pages, $15), this kind of thinking is alas, not fiction, but the sort of logic that drives much of mainstream journalism today."

"We've compiled a mage-list of 40 viral videos (in no particular order) that summarize life on the Internet in 2013. And even though some of the year's most watched YouTube videos were ads (Dove, WestJet, Kmart and Volvo) or music videos like Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball, we left those off to make room for some classics from the everyday man."

"The conclusion she's arrived at while researching her new book is not, technically, that we're not talking to each other. We're talking all the time, in person as well as in texts, in e-mails, over the phone, on Facebook and Twitter. The world is more talkative now, in many ways, than it's ever been. The problem, Turkle argues, is that all of this talk can come at the expense of conversation. We're talking at each other rather than with each other."