Social Contexts of Media Viewing

I am answering question number 2: 

Social context plays a major role in how we consume and interpret different types of media. For instance, the social context that we are currently immersed in and the social context of say the main character of a movie or show can influence what we get out of the media we view. For example, when I watch "Beyond the Lights" a movie about a girl who rises to pop-star infamy, and how all the fame and "flashing lights" begins to rapidly affect her mental health and sanity, to the point that she almost commits suicide. Then a handsome young police officer saves her from falling and from the destructive world around her. While I have no idea what its like to rise to fame with my beautiful pop-like voice (yet ;)) it opened my eyes to the possible pressure and social anxiety that celebrities are under. And I could also relate it to the social pressure I feel to succeed in school, career, and life. Constantly having to be "on" can affect any human being and make anyone feel like they can't be themselves or make mistakes. Comparing this movie to say "Allegiant" which takes place in a completely different post-apocalyptic social context, where a girl fights against a apathetic and tyrannical group of people to her city and the people she loves. None of us know what its like to live in a post-apocalyptic Chicago but it can teach us to speak up against oppression and not just blindly follow leaders because they say you should. Our social contexts and realities compared to the ones in movies can influence how we view and relate to that media.

Social context of where we view movies also influences our experience of that media. Using the two movies I mentioned previously, I watched "Beyond the Lights" on Netflix and I watched "Allegiant" in theaters. With "Beyond the Lights" I was at home on my laptop. I'm a multitasker, so usually when I view media at home I am doing others things like, looking up things on the internet, scrolling through social media, etc. I'm not "fully" immersed in what I am watching and that influences what and how much I experience from that media. I still know what the movie is about and what is going on, I just do not commit my full attention to it. But with "Allegiant" theaters are specifically designed to completely immerse your senses and attention in the atmosphere and setting of the movie. This article talks about how temporarily impairing sight and peripheral senses can change the focus of audiences senses which can ultimately give them a whole new experience compared to just watching a movie on a TV. The dark room with dim lights, the film playing out on a giant screen along with the bass and clear crisp surround sound of all the blasts and explosive action really changes the entire sensory experience of a movie compared to watching it on a laptop with speakers. That's probably why you get those intense feelings of power and strength after walking out of an action movie. You weren't just watching a movie you were dipped and engulfed into a different world which can be  a very visceral experience.

Sniping into America's Hearts and Minds

Chris Kyle played by Bradley Cooper in The American Sniper

American Sniper is an all-American red, white, and blue tale of a brave hero, Chris Kyle, who leaves his home, and family to join the United States military as a Navy SEAL, then travels overseas to fight the good fight to help defeat the evil Middle East, and defend our freedom and liberty. This movie received various acclaims and nominations, while capturing and uplifting the great American spirit that so many love to see and hear about.This film, directed by Clint Eastwood, depicts and brings light to the harsh reality most veterans face in war and at home, audiences have taken the film as propaganda as a way to further American based ideologies and hegemony. Eastwood in an interview with Loyola Marymount University School of Film & TV in Los Angeles, stated that because he directs the film in a way that illustrates the drama and stresses of what war is like for military personnel and their families, he believes his film, if it has a message, to have an anti-war message. His interpretation was not a black and white painting of good-versus-evil, but he depicted a very real story of a veteran who, named a hero, had his struggles. An "anti-hero" if you will.  For me, his depiction of war helped bring awareness to the stressors such as, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, and the extreme anxieties that follow and plague military veterans who have come back from war, which I believe was Eastwood's one intention of the film. But many pro-war and pro-gun right-wing advocates have deemed the film and Chris Kyle as a "National Treasure". (No joke, there is a corn maze in the shape of his face in Loganville, Georgia) So instead of using the film to bring awareness to the harsh reality of war, it was used as an avenue or "hypodermic needle" to inject American exceptional-ism back into the minds of the audience. To remind viewers who the real "good guys" always are in war, the United States of America. (I don't know about you, but I am imagining a Captain America-like character holding and aiming a sniper rifle wearing red-white-and-blue with a American flag cape) Viewers clung to this message so tightly that when critics began to post quotes from Chis Kyle's memoir book American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History, that bring Chris Kyle's morality under question, they were demonized and called anti-American and were even sent death threats and wishes. The hypodermic model of media effects, although it has been proven not applicable, still effects audiences on some ways due to the fact that people with agendas will always find a way to use different types of media to further that agenda. But now with social media and full access to the internet we can now search and get the full truth and reality of different situations, even if they are "based on a true story".