Media Studies: Mass Communication And Media Theory Essay

Introduction

Media is an important medium of mass communication that has developed its presence in the globalised world. With the development in the technology the medium of communication has also changed and media has become an important part of our daily life. It has positive as well as negative impact on the viewers which depends on the views and ideas of the people utilizing it in their daily life. After a hard and struggling working schedule of daily life there comes the need of entertainment and social communication in human life to comfort their mind and relax to give rest to the continuous working brain. Entertainment is a medium or concept through which the human body and brain gets relaxation from their daily working schedule. To understand communication through media it is important to understand the role and function of media (Fourie). The biggest role and function of media is to provide entertainment to its viewers. Here in this essay two different aspect of media has been discussed that is important to study to know the role of media in daily life of human being and what is the effect of globalization of media and communication in the culture and identity of the human being. By studying the materials provided for the course it can be understood that the major role of media is to provide entertainment but with the globalization of media, the entertainment concept has been developed and new ways of communication has been developed through information communication technology. In the present days, people have become use to this technology that has changed the concept of mass communication and has provided new theories for media and mass communication in the globalized world. The body of the essay has been divided into two parts to analyze two different aspects of media studies and mass communication. The first segment studies the role and function of media that is entertainment and the second segment studies the globalization’s impact of media on human identity and culture of the society.

Question 1: The role and functions of the media

1.1 Entertainment
The word entertainment is a noun that means to divert and hold the attention of the viewers through some activity. In the role and functions of media chapter from the course material it is known that entertainment is a part of media that works mainly in the case of films and television. It is known from the theory that the most important function of television and film is to entertain the viewers. People take the concept of entertainment in a narrow way and think it only to be a way of attracting the attention of the viewers. But in actual sense, the word entertainment has a broader meaning than only being a way of attracting viewers. To know the actual meaning of entertainment it is important to understand the 5 motifs of the entertainment (Cilliers et al.). Entertainment shows leaves various impacts on the viewers, it spreads broad knowledge among the viewers. Some of the entertainment shows presents the reality of the society to the people watching it. Hence, the meaning of entertainment is much broader than that of only attracting the viewers. Here in this segment a study is made on the most popular Television drama series “Generations” that is watched by around 6million people in South Africa and is one of the most entertaining shows of South Africa. A deeper analysis has been made on the show to understand the 5 rhetorical motifs of the show and know how this TV series has become the most entertaining show of South Africa.
1.2 Generations
Generations first premiered in SABC 1 in the year 1994, is the most famous entertainment show broadcasted in South Africa. This soap opera was produced and created by Mfundi Vundla and was broadcasted on SABC 1 on the weekdays at 20hr00. This was the most successful drama that has celebrated Dreams and hopes of South Africa for having a better future. But due to some conflict of nonpayment of money to the cast, the show was banned that left a negative impact on the producers, broadcasting channel and even on the viewers. In this section the rhetorical motifs of the entertainment show has been studied to know the success of the show for understanding the broader concept of the entertainment. The five rhetorical motifs of the daily soap opera “Generations” are discussed in the following points:
1.2.1 Identity in relation to Generations: This Show is chosen for the analysis because this is one of the most popular TV series of South Africa that telecast the drama that represents the regular life of human being and the reality approach of the society. This soap opera shows how human life has changed due to generation gap and how globalization has affected the lifestyle of the people. This show represents the real life story of human being or it can be said that it represents the present identity of the generation of the globalized world that makes it popular among the viewers. Therefore this TV series has been taken into consideration for the study of role and functions of media.
1.2.2 Impact of the show on viewers: This TV serial leaves several impacts on the life of the viewers. It attracts the attention of the viewers and influences them to have a changed lifestyle that is portrayed in the show. As the TV serial is about the present generations that is influenced by globalization and technology, it also changes the mentality of the viewers and furthers develops their thinking to follow the ideas communicated through the show. The conflicts related to the cast problems and the boycott of the cast left a negative impact on the viewers and also led to a huge loss of the producer. But the show came back with a new name but was unable to catch the attention of the old viewers and lost popularity due to the problems. But at present the show has again gained its old popularity and proved to be the best local television series of South Africa.
1.2.3 Survival in relation to Generations: Generations began in the year 1994 and continue to be the best TV serial for a number of years. But due to some conflict of nonpayment of the casts, there occurred some problems with the team and the show was stopped. People thought that this was the end of the show. But the show was again started in December, 2014 with a new name Generations: The Legacy, in a new channel Television Jamaica. But is the beginning of the second chance the show failed to gain back its older popularity due to unsuitable timing of telecast. But later on with the change in the time of telecast, the show gain a market share of 60% which a grand success for the show. Hence, it again proved to be a continuous series that can survive for a longer period and is able to entertain the viewers for a long time.
1.2.4 Reality prospect of the show: The show represents the reality of the present society. It shows how the new generation is influence by the globalization and what are the present lifestyle of human being in the society that further influences the society and the culture of the viewers. The show as well as the conflicts related to the show presented the real status of the present generation to the people that influences the lifestyle of the new generation and is able to communicate the message of portrayal of the actual situation of the society. Therefore this show is much popular among its viewers and is able to gain 60% of the market share.
1.2.5 Knowledge delivered by the show: As the show portrays the actual situation of the society, it communicates the knowledge of the present generation and the thinking of people about the present generation. This show is able to communicate more knowledge about the lifestyle of the present generation and influences thinking of the viewers. This TV soap is quite successful in communicating knowledge about the society which further makes it popular in the market of entertainment.

Question 2: Globalization

2.1 Concept of Identity
The modern internet identity is often referred as social identity that enables the user to set up a profile in the online websites and communities. The phenomena consider the presentation of the individual. There are even several users that prefer to use their real name in their online profile. There are even many users that prefer to be quite anonymous that would help them in identifying by pseudonyms that reveal several personal details that are identifiable. The online identity system also helps in determining the relationship of the user to a specific group that is a section of the online system (Claypoole and Payton). There are also several users that are quite deceptive about their identity and at the same time are quite hesitant to reveal their information online. This self concept is influenced by the emerging technologies in various subject fields. The online effect is a countable example that refers to the concept of uninhibited behavior that is rising on the Internet as a result of audience gratification
2.2 How Face book has contributed to online identity
Several internet activists and scholars gathered at the center for internet and society to discuss the concept of online identity. In the discussion it was found that face book had an immense contribution on the prospect of online identity. According to the scholars, in today’s generation face book has became much more vigilant to enforce the policy of real name and they have also taken up initiatives to close done the accounts of the users that provide their identification depending on stage names. There are several negative aspects of using the stage names as it originally hides the information of the user and sometimes there are even users that provide incorrect gender information in order to gain attention in the social world. Face book has also claimed that the requirement of the original names is to make sure that the surrounding community is safe. The officials of Face book also stated that it makes quite easy for the harassers and the stalkers to figure out the people that are online when they login with their legal name but it is difficult to figure out users with fake name as it is quite sure that after they complete their harassing activity it is quite sure that they would simply get detached from the social media.
2.3 How politics can be formed as a result of Internet identity
The political and social notion helps in understanding and recognizing an individual. The internet identity is shaped as per the relationship with others, feeling of self worth, self esteem, self respect and many other positive constraints that help us to recognize who we actually are. In today’s generation, the political movements depend on the aspects of sexuality, gender, culture and race. It is really important to make sure that every individual must provide their original identity to support the politics of the country as there are many chances that individuals can create fake identity and post their vote during election (Holt). It is important to make sure that the creation of the internet identity must be authentic so that individuals are unable to post illegal votes with the help of an Internet identity that is not valid. If we emphasize on the concept of internet identity then the concept of politics can be easily formed much effectively in all aspects with the help of Internet identity.
2.4 The concepts of democracy and the Internet
There were many factors that increased the net turnout during the elections of a democracy along with the list of successful voters that were registered during the campaigns. Some early studies also predicted that the internet would wash out the political activity by replacing the engagement of physical individuals with social withdrawal technique. Later the internet scholars realized the impact of internet that stressed on the political aspects. The election commission stated that the online information seeks all the civic messages that are used as resources in the web as a forum and a resource that influence the engagement of civic ethics. These effects are largely found in the synchronous models that are auto regressive and at the same time provide valuable confidence in the findings. Hence we can easily state that internet is impacting on the political activities that among the groups which are already active in the government. Individuals must participate in the political activities like sending emails to the government officials, creating a political contribution for the country or signing a government petition online.

Conclusion

This essay is all about understanding the concept of mass communication and media theories in relation to the present media in the globalized and modernized world. For completing the study two different aspects of mass communication and media theories have been studied. The first segment talks about the main role and function of media that is entertainment and how entertainment can be understood in a broader way. An analysis of the entertainment aspect of the TV serial Generations is made to understand the concepts of rhetorical motifs of entertainment and to know how the serial is able to present all this motifs to its viewers. The serial influences the society and the present generation by portraying the present situation of the society and the lifestyle of the present generation. In the second segment a study is made on the globalization aspect of media and how information communication technology has been changed with the influence of globalization. It impacts of the new technology on the society and identity of human being has been discussed that shows how society has changed in the present age and how new technology of mass communication has influence the livings of human being.

References

Cilliers, Christo et al. Media Studies: Mass Communication & Media Theory. Pretoria: University of South Africa, 2007. Print.
Claypoole, T. and Payton, T. Protecting your internet identity. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. 2012. Print. 
Fourie, PJ (ed). 2007. Media studies (volume 1): media history, media and society. 2nd edition. Lansdowne: Juta.
Holt, R. Dialogue on the Internet. Westport, Conn.: Praeger. 2004. Print.