For the week of March 17th: Blogging Chapter 7 (Motion Pictures) & Chapter 18 (Mass Media and Governance)

Chapter 7:

I enjoyed reading chapter seven as I feel I gained a new perspective on the movie industry. As a child and young adult I have vivid memories of going to the movies with my family to see the most recently released films. I found it interesting to learn how documentary films were first introduced when in 1921 the explorer Robert Flaherty went up to the Arctic to film the life of an Eskimo family which resulted in a 57 minute film. Then to read how this particular genre was used during World War II as propaganda films created by the Nazis and even the U.S. is interesting.

As an aside, recently my son was introduced to Frank Zappa and we’ve heard the song “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow” many times. I didn’t realize that the lyrics of this song were based on the Robert Flaherty’s story Nanook of the North since Zappa speaks of Nanook in this song.

My question is as I am a strong proponent of independent films I am wondering if as Hollywood continues to evolve will we see them seeking out more film festivals in search of artistic creations which have the potential to be the next blockbusters?

One “fact” from this chapter to remember is that Toy Story which came out in 1995 by Pixar was the first movie produced entirely by computers. And in 2006 Disney bought Pixar from Steve Jobs making him the largest shareholder at Disney.

Chapter 18:

In chapter eighteen I enjoyed reading how Helen Thomas progressed in her career and earned herself senior reporter status in the White House press corps. Her success as a female journalist at a time when the profession was male-dominated is an important historical milestone for women establishing careers in the field of media and journalism.

In this chapter they discussed how past presidents have influenced media coverage. For example Theodore Roosevelt’s famous “fireside chats” which were broadcast on Sundays in time for coverage in the Monday edition of newspapers. My question is will President Obama choose a particular medium to address and influence U.S. citizens and if so is it via the Internet?

A “fact” to remember about this chapter is that through trial balloons the media is used in order to see how the public will respond to potential information that political leaders are considering unveiling. Now that I know this happens I’m not sure this makes me feel any better about our politicians.