Blog Post Week 2: #1 Media Literacy

Criminal Minds Wednesday 29^th June (was previously recorded) A&E HD “All that Remains” Season 8

 

Completing an AP equivalent of media studies in the past has allowed me to evaluate TV using media literacy. If there is a program that requires Media literacy it has to be Criminal Minds. As a fan of thrilling crime dramas, I have watched Criminal Minds for many years and it has without a doubt changed the way I observe and interpret dramas. I used to watch it without any awareness of the possibilities that may occur. Adapting to the way the drama is structured it has opened another avenue of the way I watch TV in general. Every episode follows Todorov’s narrative structure, the equilibrium is where the crime occurs, disequilibrium is where the team aims to solve the crime and the resolution is when the culprit is arrested or quite frequently shot. In the newer episodes they follow on from each other similarly to the thrilling series ‘24’ inviting the audience to watch the whole series. The episode I watched was from season 8, it followed the Todorov narrative rather than a continuous one. 

The pace of Criminal Minds fluctuates; it is often slow and could become fast at random moments. So it is important to keep track of what is going on because if you miss an important quote from the intellectual Spencer Reid, you may end up feeling lost as the episode moves on. Sometimes media literacy doesn’t come useful, that was exposed when I watched this particular episode of Criminal Minds. A man’s two daughters disappeared with one dead and the other missing. He was accused of the committing the crime, we then find out that it was actually one of the missing daughters who killed her sister in an effort to jail her father. Plot twist? Yes. Boredom? No way! It shows how excellent Criminal Minds is written by the executive producer, Mark Gordon. I had the knowledge of media literacy and created many theories in my mind as to who the killer was. Yet, I was wrong and was surprised by the final outcome. This adds more excitement to the show than it has already. What impresses me is the innovation of Criminal Minds, every episode is different and to be unique for ten straight years is nothing short of remarkable.

Blog Post Week One: Viral Media 6/22/16

As an Englishman I thought it’d be best to write about the events of the ‘Brexit’ UK Referendum which occurred over the past week. The whole world has been shocked with the British public’s decision to leave the European Union. It all began in January 22^nd 2013 when (former) Prime Minister David Cameron says that the UK are opened to renegotiate the UK’s relationship with the European Union allowing the public to vote giving them a "simple choice". Last year on the 27^th of May, the Queen revealed the ‘European Referendum Bill’ which allowed the Referendum to occur. With further negotiations taking place with Brussels at the EU summit the Referendum was set to take place on the 23^rd of June. The British Public voted and the final outcome was that the UK has left the EU. 51.9% voting to leave and 48.1% wanted to remain. The result went viral on social media throughout the world, everyone questioning why on earth did the UK leave? This result has negatively affected the economy, society and possibly the future of the UK. One of the huge effects was the currency. The British Pound Sterling had decreased down in its value by a huge 10%; that was before the Stocks had opened. 

You don’t need a P.H.D. to know that the fairly obvious choice was to vote ‘Remain’ as the effects was clear. However those who voted out didn’t have an idea at what they were voting towards. Due to national pride many people voted ‘out’ due because they didn’t want the issue of immigration. Speaking from a British perspective I never knew that we had such clueless people in the UK let alone 17,410,742 of them. This will affect the youth in the future as everyone, including myself, voiced their opinions through many social media platforms particularly Facebook and Twitter. What I found remarkable is the amount of people who regretted their vote. They had no knowledge of what they were voting for and have quite possibly ruined four nations; England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. But hey let’s look on the bright side at least were geographically part of Europe, if I’m clutching on straws. In the long run it is a dark day to be British.

Questions:

What do you think of the UK Referendum?

Do you think that the public have made a mistake by voting to leave the European Union?

What do you think of British people after this? 

BBC's Coverage of the UK Referendum: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-32810887

The Start

Welcome everyone to my blog! This blog is created specifically for the Journalism 40 college course I shall be taking in the coming weeks. Eyebrows must be raised as to why this blog is named “Rio de Journo”. Since we are in an Olympic Year (held in Rio de Janeiro this year) I thought about giving this blog a “Samba” theme to it. Now that I have cleared that up I hope you all enjoy reading my blog and it should be a great several weeks to come… and who knows maybe I could continue following the conclusion of the summer semester.