Blog Evaluation

I had never used a blog before taking RTF 305. I feel that using a blog in this class helped me to learn about new media that is taking over the Internet. Blogging is an informal way for someone to express his or her opinions. I feel that it gives a person the opportunity to make their work creative and enjoyable while still focusing on a given topic for this class. The technical aspects of blogging were not complicated for me because I would like to think I am fairly tech savvy and know how to navigate the Internet. Some of the concepts for the blog were difficult at first. Especially when we were asked to give a specific example. But, overall I did not have very many problems with blogging.

I thought that the blog prompts involving commercials or YouTube videos were the most interesting. For example the blog post in which we were asked to provide an example of a commercial that was powerful and interesting to an audience. I felt that the HEB commercial I used was perfect and this blog post was my favorite. I would suggest blog use in future RTF 305 classes but not necessarily other UT courses. I feel that blogging is very casual and would not be appropriate for many classes. Although, I believe that it worked well for this particular class.  I think the only thing I would change about blogging in the future was the amount of it that was done. I feel that it should be done once every two weeks instead of every week because it got slightly monotonous after a while.

 Yes, you can use my blog in a paper or report

Globalization and Hybridity

Globalization is the process of interconnectedness among cultures, nations and people. An example of globalization is hybridizing. This is where interaction or mixing occurs between two separate cultures over time and a new culture is formed. In the sense of media hybridizing, it where one idea is taken from a certain place and adopted somewhere else for better use. Examples would be genres or scripts in movies. When two ideas are hybrized then globalization is occurring because the two products are now connected through cultures, nations or people.

            An example of globalization and hybridizing from a media source would be taking a foreign film not made in the US and bringing it to the US for further money making. An example of this would be the movie Slumdog Millionaire. It was not an American made movie. It is actually a British movie that was brought to the United States. Most Americans would just assume this was an American made movie because it became so popular here through globalization and hybridizing. The ideas for this movie were started in the United Kingdom and then brought to the United States for further profits. When this transfer occurs it is an example of hybridizing of products for further benefit to the original creator.

HEB grabs audience attention with mystery

HEB Commercial

The advertisement that I found to be powerful and persuasive was one involving HEB and Eva Longoria. In this commercial, Eva walks into the produce store and using her sex appeal tell the employee to make the something “disappear”. The whole mood of the commercial is very mysterious and keeps the viewer guessing.  Throughout the commercial the employee slips little facts about the store in smoothly to where the viewer hears them but they do not take away from the entertainment side of the commercial. I think this advertisement is powerful because it holds the viewers attention until the very end and it is just an overall interesting commercial that keeps you thinking.

One of the advertising appeals discussed in professor Straubaar’s lecture was sex and affiliation. This is the idea that a person’s gender can represent characteristics in a commercial or advertisement. Another appeal discussed was aggression and dominance. I feel that in a lot of ways this commercial incorporates both of these appeals. Eva uses her sex appeal to get what she wants in the store. She has a confidence and mystery about her that is appealing to employee. I also think she shows dominance and aggression by being powerful over the employee and telling him exactly what she wants done and when he needs to do it. The aggressive side of her is not so much violent but just confident. She knows she’s an attractive woman and uses that to her advantage.