10. Using a video or image you find online, apply three critical texts we read during the semester and discuss how they relate to and build on one...

The three texts I chose to relate to and build on one another are:

1. Croteau and Hoynes - "The New Media Giants: Changing Industry Structure"
2. Schor - "The New Politics of Consumption: Why Americans Want So Much More Than They Need"
3. Ghosh - "Con-fusing Exotica: Producing India in U.S. Advertising"

Each one starting from the first one builds onto the next topic. Although different forms of critical media and cultural studies, they do merge together in their own ways. Media Giants such as Disney take over much of the media industry and popular culture. This tremendous presence and impact on the public encourages consumption because the media always convinces people that there are better things out there. People are competing with each other, like for example, "keeping up with the Jones'". And sometimes when this gets out of hand, people forget who to give credit to. For example, American magazines show products from other cultures but sometimes do not give credit to those cultures and instead takes away the cultures' identities, like the American Express advertisement.

In Croteau, the growing realm of media is discussed. It keeps growing and corporations are buying each other out which means more smaller companies are being bought out becoming a part of giant corporations. The giant corporations are taking over almost everything. Disney for example owns ABC, several news stations, radio stations etc. This means there is a consistency in some media forms that agree with Disney or are "Disney-like" - it changes our democracy as discussed in a previous blog.

Schor discusses the "new consumerism". The American culture experiences "competitive consumption" which is according to Schor "the idea that spending is in large part driven by a comparative or competitive process in which individuals try to keep up with the norms of the social group with which they identify - a reference group. Luxury rather than mere comfort is a widespread aspiration. Because television shows are so heavily skewed to the lifestyles of the rich and upper middle class, they inflate the viewer's perceptions of what others have, and by extension what is worth acquiring - what one must have in order to avoid being 'out of it'" (185-86). Like I said, this information ties with Croteau's.

Ghosh discusses the influences on media along with the misrepresentations of racial identities. Because media is such a strong part of our culture, "the lack of any or diverse images of minority groups in mainstream media is both significant and dangerous. Even when the groups are shown, they remain narrow and cliched" (274). The media is responsible for the misconceptions of racial identities. Instead of thinking of these individuals are normal individuals, many people consider racial minorities as oriental or "exotic".