Tons of Tricky Topics to Try and Test out....But what to choose!?

Today’s class in Mass Communication was quite enjoyable. Despite numerous technical difficulties that were encountered, discussion was lively and important. Conversation about the final essay and blogs was helpful and encouraging. I am now aware that there are so many topics I can chose from. Before, I was limiting myself to mainly advertisements. I also met with Ian Reilly today. He was helpful and reassuring. Both Mark and Ian said to review my blogs and find what I have been passionate about, what intrigues me. I definitely have some reviewing to do. Today in class though I came up with a possible topic for my essay being, television and how it is not simply a means of communication, but a way of life. I still have to work out the fine detailing but I drew a small web link with ideas. It goes something like this:

Television
→ not just a form of communication, but has created a way of life? An alternate society
→ life has grown around TV, into a televison
-commericals & advertising everywhere
- entertainment is incorporated into everything i.e. halftime shows?
- people have become addicted to it, its lighting is mimicked on other products, ipods, cellphones, street lights? That glowing light.
→it has turned into so much more than just a form of communication
→ has created a need for consistent knowledge
- is being put on buses and trains
- has created an alternate time, schedule for people
→ has taken away silence
→ what we wear- similar to that on tv, we judge by what we see and can relate to what was on the television
→reality vs. not, fantasy
- cloning! We are cloning things. Why? Because we are able to accept this non-reality world based on what we have learned from television?
→We are a living TV show?
- much of what people do, say, how they act, can be related to television
- PR people attempt to show the good, create the ultimate happy place, similar to televsion, live in perfect societies? Unreal scenarios are created, we hide the truth, do not face reality

This is basically what my web looked like. It makes sense to me. I have to do a little background checking on when particular times items were invented, this was just a bunch of my random ideas.

Mark and Ian said to write about what interested me, so that is firstly what I have to acknowledge. I am also interested in the idea of photographs and political cartoons. These are just a few things that interest me and that I feel are an important part of society.

Digital photographs for example are leading civilization into a completely false world, one where humans cannot always trust what they see. For this topic, perhaps I could look at the motives behind photographs. Are they simply for communication purposes? Or has society developed them into brainwashing tools? Within almost every type of photography there includes the possibility of photo manipulation. It is very hard to trust any image you see now a days. Within glamour, politics, economy, elections, sports, world wonders, space etc, it could all be a lie. I am not sure if this would actually make a valid topic or if it would be more of an opinion/conspiracy type situation. I do feel that there is so much more to photography though. Perhaps to write about a subject like this I would have to use a photograph and analyze it, illustrating the image’s fabrication and the message behind it, why it is false, the reasons it is bad or good, etc.

The other topic that is of interest to me right now is political cartoons. I feel that a political cartoon would have lots to expand on and many secret meanings and messages behind them. Like television ads and commercials, a lot of thought goes into them to get across a particular message. A lot of the time people simply take them as comic relief and at face value. However, there is so much more put into them.

Those are my ideas right now. I hope to narrow them down very soon!!!