What Early Discovery had the most Impact on the Development of Mass Communications?

   In a modern society, information goes faster than people. To get to know what's going on in this world, all you need is either a computer or a smartphone or any electric device that access to the internet. We are now living in a world with well-developed mass communication. But if we go back to thousands of years ago, before we had the great high technology, how did people communicate then?

     But first, what is Mass Communication? According to Wikipedia, "Mass communication is the study of how individuals and entities relay information through mass media to large segments of the population at the same time." But the first media I can think of, is book. Which lead to my answer to the topic, I think paper is the early discovery had the most impact on the development of mass communication. 

    The invention of paper was call on of the " Four Great Invention of China". Before the paper was invented by Tsai Lun, people used to write on shell,stone, skin of the animal, bamboo and silk. Those materials are either too heavy or expensive for everyone to have, which make it impossible for people to own a book. Ever since the paper was invented, there were more books been handing down, more people get educated, and people started to write letters. This great invention changed people's life. 

   Without his invention, we wouldn't be able to have books, newspapers and magazines. If we do they might be dead heavy but expensive. As these are the important steps of the development of modern mass communication, paper is the most important discovery. 

Ageism: Representations of the Elderly in the Media

    Ageism in defined as "prejudice or discrimination against a person's age". And I believe the media is somehow ageism.

    People are afraid of getting old, either physical or mental. The media kind of pose a negative attitude about old. There are signs in ads show that "stay young" ,"look young" "anti-aging" makes people think "old" is some horrible and everyone should avoid it. I have to say that the media is really ageism, there are new young fresh singers, actors and models replacing the old ones every single year. And the mainly media, such as TV shows, dramas, movies, music, magazines are all targeted to young people. Both the society and the media world give too much attention to the young people instead of the elders.

       And, there are stereotypes of the elderly in the media for sure. The elderly usually present in a way that is disable, needed help and care, has poor sight and hearing, unable to use the new technologies and don't want to either, and obstinate about their own opinions. It's kind of disappointing that the society posing this kind of attitude instead showing love, care and respect. 

Is the Media Homophobic? Representations of Gays and Lesbians in the Media

    

  I personally don't think the media is homophobic in United States, at least the homosexuality is wide acceptable in the media now. The recent TV shows and dramas are all involved about gay and lesbian characters. And the media is posing a positive attitude about them. Comparing the earlier media, recent media is now more diverse about the sexuality orientation.  Here are some examples about gays and lesbians from the recent media.

                

                     Pretty Little Liars: Emily Fields

Brokenback Mountain

Gossip Girl: Eric van der Woodsen

Katy Perry's MV: Firework

     The homosexuality was not highly accepted in the earlier media, but somehow they were still presented in the media. As I doing the research about gays in the earlier media, I found this ad which the word "gay" was highlighted in the ad but it had a total different meaning:

1940's: Jester Wools, "I've robbed the rainbow." At the time, the word "gay" solely acted as a substitution for "happy."

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/15-ads-that-changed-the-way-we-think-about-gays-and-lesbians-2012-10?op=1#ixzz2zIoxkAwD

     

      And then in the 1950s, it's became more revealing about the gay rights

http://youtu.be/hieKgQNQpMA

1955- Guinness advert - "Men and women shouldn't live together"

     In the recent media, the homosexualities have been treated almost the same as heterosexualities. 

2012: Amtrak, "Ride With Pride." Brands now see equal rights as more than just charitable moments, and the gay community is just one more target market.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/15-ads-that-changed-the-way-we-think-about-gays-and-lesbians-2012-10?op=1#ixzz2zIvPApKW

      Some people think the media is still homophobic because the media is not "all about gays". My perspective is that the gays and lesbians are still the minority of the society, I think it's normal that media is more about heterosexuality than homosexuality. But that's not how we judge the media is totally homophobic. From my point of view, the media in U.S is not homophobic at all. 

Gender Bias in Media

Gender Bias in Media
 
       Gender, differs in male and female. Gender is a way of telling how individuals are suppose to be, and what they should do. Everyone is able to define their own gender since they were kids, and the stereotypes started to give people the perspective of what a man and woman are like since childhood.

      Clearly there are lots of gender stereotypes in the media. Men are usually shown in an image of a strong, powerful person who should go out to work and make money. And the same time women are usually shown in an image of a beautiful and soft person who should take care home, babies and cook. These stereotypes formed our society and made people really accept that how the men and women portrayed in media are what men and women really are in reality. 

        The gender bias in media could be harmful too. In media, women are presented as a sexual enjoyment for male audiences, and shown in slim body figures and unrealistic beautiful. And the standard of beauty in stereotypes marginalizes most women.  But, no one looks the way that are presented in media. Women are presented in those ways because of photoshops to make them look unrealistic slim and beautiful.

           

HOW IS THE "OTHER" IN THE MEDIA

Who is the "other"?
    In media today, we use the word "other" to define the people that are different. Although every one is different but the there always is a majority group and a group of people that are different than the majorities, such as women, homosexual, people from other countries, etc. And the word "Other" is used to exclude these groups of people from the majorities as well. There are some certain stereotypes of "other" that we could always see through media.

The Stereotypes of the "Others" in Media
    Stereotypes are defined as the images of our minds, they contain certain image trigger preconceptions and prejudices, so people could use their prejudices to interpret and fill out the message. When we think about a certain group, we usually have an image of how they are like. And the media plays a huge role of framing the stereotypes of these people. For example, there are lots of movies talking about Chinese Kung fu, and they left the image of "most Chinese people know Kung fu and it's still huge in China". I remember when I first came abroad during high school, me and other four Chinese girls were the only "others" in the class. We had all been asked questions like" Can you play some kung fu for us?" But, none of us had ever learned or known that much about kung fu.

    Same as Kung Fu, all other kinds of different culture or people are framed into a certain stereotypes in the media as well. These stereotype are formed because of the majorities' less knowledge about them.  

    "Don't judge a book by its cover. We shouldn't judge anyone simply by their gender, nationality, religion and so on. What we see in the media are not all real.