As a journalism major, I have always been interested in telling stories. I have always wanted to go into news because I think that what's going on in the world is incredibly important and I want to help more people be accurately informed and help them develop the skills to interpret and understand the news in our current media environment as well.
This class has really opened my eyes to entertainment media and has made me take a harder look at the best way to impact people through digital media. Seeing the impact that telenovelas have on Latin American societies and how they not only entertain but engage in political commentary and have an influence on the political atmosphere in society has made me question and reconsider how I want to be telling stories and sharing the news.
While I am not saying I have decided to join the world of telenovela production or even television show production in general, I am saying that I think that the media, outside of the news, have a unique ability to touch people and make them engaged and passionate citizens. I think we have blurred the line between traditional news and entertainment, which is how we ended up with news hours that are filled with commentary instead of facts, which in turn has created the confusion of what is and what isn't actual news, or facts.
We are increasingly becoming disengaged from the news for a variety of reasons which I find incredibly frustrating and is part of what has made me really reflect on everything we have learned in this class in relation to my future.
I think part of why telenovelas and other forms of media are so effective in getting people engaged and can create political commentary is that they function off of human connection. People cannot and will not be engaged with things that they don't care about - facts alone do not make people pay attention to an issue. This class has not only been very interesting but has made me learn to take a more critical and analytical look at the media around me, especially for forms of media that may on the surface seem to be just entertainment. Things are never quite what they seem.
I definitely agree with the importance and uniqueness of political expression in telenovelas. think the political expression within some telenovelas is a rarity almost singularly within telenovelas. They are able to keep their episodes airing with new and current political news and commentary. It's crazy to me that they can air an episode commenting on a political leader's speech within a day or two of it actually happening. This is something we may never see in the United States as this sort of production isn't really used and there's normally a lag between filming, editing and airing content. It would be interesting to see people who are doing research on the history of latin american countries and turning to telenovelas in order to measure public sentiment that might normally be erased by their government.
ReplyDeleteI would agree that this class has opened my eyes to entertainment media and the power that it can have on people. Obviously, things created for entertainment can have subliminal messaging or underlying meanings, but that is different from the power of a telenovela. As we have learned throughout class, telenovelas hold so much cultural power that they can influence an entire country. Whether for better or worse, it's really interesting to witness. New forms of media definitely deserve a more analytical and detailed look. Who knows, maybe the new wave of delivering news and information revolves completely around entertaining people? More interestingly, maybe it already is about that but most people don't even realize it.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree with your point here. I think that we as a society have become confused with the concept of "fake news." The fact is, we can turn on any news station, get one idea about a topic, and then change the channel for the complete opposite idea. Taking this class has been eye-opening to see how telenovelas influence and impact the Latin American culture, through political stories like Olegario's. In addition, attention was drawn to the autism community, when their favorite characters and stories have autism. This goes back to what you said about the "human connection."
ReplyDeleteEntertainment media in general has a far stronger grip on people in a much different way, then the actual news media in my opinion. I especially think that the commentary entertainment plays a huge role in the 'human factor' of engaging media. Take any popular social media figure that does this type of content, eventually people stick around for the person, they feel involved in something greater than then themselves, and a part of a community which gives the creator so much more influence.
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