Documentaries

Reid Tulley

Media Lit. 3:15

3/16/2009

Legalize Drugs?

I recently viewed two documentaries which were located at onlinedocumentaries4u.com.  These two documentaries concerned the use and effects of narcotics such as marijuana, heroin, and pharmicudical drugs as well as discuss the possible outcomes of legalizing such drugs.  The two documentaries have conflicting veiws about the subject as well as show the evolution and transformation of the general beliefs society holds to be true over the past forty or fifty years. 

The first documentary titled “Narcotics-Pit of Despair” offers a perspective of how society viewed and responded to drug use during the 1960’s.  The film was released during 1967 and follows the downward spiraling life of a respectable and “normal” high school boy as he becomes increasingly involved with the wrong crowd of drug users where he eventually becomes a heroin addict.  This film’s intention is to scare or intimidate the audience about the evil world of drug use.  They complete this task by labeling a young man a drug dealer whose only objective is transform unknowing and innocent youngsters into drug addicts.  The film ends with the young man being released from rehab and returning back to his life of drug addiction with an ominous ending title stating that “there is no ending” to the story of an addict’s life of drug abuse. 

The second documentary concerns the strengths and weakness’s in legalizing most drugs, excluding heroin and cocaine, for legal recreational use if acquired from a licensed distributor.  This film follows the life and trials of an undercover police officer who becomes addicted to illegal drugs but vows to destroy private dealers who produce dangerous and illegal drugs after he cleans up from his own addiction.  During the events of the story the positive and negative effects of the legalization of drugs are discussed by a panel of analysts who have opposing views and beliefs concerning the subject.  This gives the viewer an unbiassed interpretation of the subject by providing them with a variety of opinions from a number of people.  The most interesting thing about these two documentaries is the transformation of the publics beliefs and acceptance concerning drug use.  The first film, “Narcotics- Pit of Despair”, exemplifies the general publics perception of drug consumption during the 1960’s which is a uneducated, stern, and stubborn belief that drugs are pure evil and lead to nothing but trouble.  This film was produced to intimidate and scare young adults of the dangers of drug use.  While the second film, “If Drugs Were Legalized”, offers a variety of very knowledgeable and credible opinions which either support or oppose the legalization of narcotics and offer possible outcomes of the situation.  The actual plot of the film concerns the negative as well as the positive outcomes of the legalization of certain narcotics.  In this documentary pharmicudical drugs produced for recreational purposes are intended to deplete illegal drug trade and provide a safer more controlled way for people to engage in drug use.  The drugs are sold by a licensed distributor and the substances are produced, tested, and invented by a “respectable” medical research company.  Eventually revenue becomes the main focus of pharmicudical companies, due to the consumeristic society we now live in, instead of the desire to help people who are sick.  

After viewing these films and observing the negative and positive effects of legalizing narcotics i have reached the personal conclusion that the legalization of drugs would ultimately have a negative effect on society.  While legalizing drugs would almost destroy the illegal trade, production, and consumption of most drugs it will never eliminate the illegal actions of drug addicts nor will it eliminate the negative effects of the drugs.  Such an act of legalization would cause drugs to be more accessible and detrimental to the general public.  This would create more drug users while increasing the amount of injuries people obtain from drug use.  

merchants of cool

Advertising to me is the over complication of simple and what should be common sense idea's.  Like what do teenagers like?  Or how do we appeal to men?  These are all things that should be common sense to anybody who has grown up.  Every time i see something of this nature i become frustrated with the lack of knowledge advertisers appear to posses.  Maybe it is the process of analyzing advertisements that i despise. A good advertisement to me shouldn't have to be analyzed.  The idea's, products, or whatever is being advertised should be more than obvious to the people they are advertising to right? But its not my analysis of advertisements that should be interesting. It should be the creation of advertisements.  I don't care about past tense ideas like they did this because.... I want present and future tense when i talk about advertising.  Like how are we going to portray this idea and  why we would say this.  Advertising is much more interesting when you are creating it than it is when you try to pick apart and analyze the common sense of someone else.  A good advertiser knows how to connect with the common knowledge of the general public by appealing to their common beliefs.  They must also appeal to these common knowledge in a very strait forward and easily understandable way.  Why would i want to analyze such simple concepts? I already know (or at least i should if the advertiser is doing a good job) what they are trying to accomplish and say.

Simulacra and simulations

I did not agree with this authors point of view or his ideas.  I'm sure more people than he thinks are aware of what is real and what is not real.  His writing is slow, dry, and poorly supported or explained.  His ideas are difficult to grasp and i believe he does a horrible job of commuicating what he is trying (or at least what i thought he was trying) to say.  His examples are poor.  However they are well explained, they are explained in ways that are difficult if not impossible for people who he believes to be blind of such things to understand.  I don't like how people like this author always view the "general public" as being stupid people who are easly manipulated.  They have to be somewhat smart to buy the products.  Screw the man!!!! right?

Response to Corporations

Screw the man!!! right?  Before we jump to the conclusion that every single corporation is a group of evil men who are out to destroy the world and rape its inhabitants of all of their possessions lets look at t fro the other side of the spectrum.  Look at how much immigration we experience. Thousands upon thousands of people migrate to the U.S. and i highly doubt it is to start being manipulated by the corporations who have power over them.  They come here to get involved in these corporations because these corporations are what makes the American dream so appealing. Corporations make huge amounts of money yet enjoy the freedom of the U.S's market place which is the American dream right?  To be rich and successful? That's why all of these people immigrate here right? So the people who own these corporations are the embodiment of the American dream because they incorporated each others success to produce more results to become even more rich and successful.  Where would we be without corporations?  We would be working towards them because that is the American dream.  If you are going to accuse corporations of being evil for supplying us with necessities then lets look at the evils of other things like the church, government, COLLEGE.  If me spending thousands of dollars to blog isn't evil manipulation what is? If the church convincing people that they need them to live and that not believing everything the church says can be punishable by some unseen, unspoken, and unknown, hierarchy of god and heaven and hell isn't manipulation beyond what corporations are accused of doing, what is?  The act of collecting an offering, to me, is saying "we saved you from the evil so pay us." So before we screw the man who produces products that we want and need lets accuse the people who are really manipulating us by convincing us we need their products when in reality they are playing off of our weakness's to make gain.

Media consumption log

Awaken at six thirty to the sound of my alarm clock and start getting ready for work. Around seven i arrived at work and witnessed a barrage of stickers in the locker room advertising for everything from mustard to ski boots.  I believe stickers are one of the best forms of advertising especially for small business's.  If you have a cool looking sticker that grabs the attention of people it is also stating that the person in possession of the sticker supports your company or product. They are also cheap to produce and easy to distribute. Who doesn't like getting free stickers?  I worked lift 8 which is the farthest lift on the backside of the mountain.  I have to say there is not too much media to be consumed on the backside of purgatory save for the rich ski team kids who have sponsors.  The ski team puts advertisement for these sponors on their jackets.  Advertising on athletes is probably a great way to advertise.  It says the company supports the athlete while the athlete supports the company or product.  Around four i started to get off of work and drive down the mountain.  I stopped at serious texas bbq to eat where i bombarded by advertisements of athletics, food, as well as various advertisements in the table top.  Thats a great way to advertise as well as contribute to local business's.  After eating i went home where i checked my facebook and e-mail account on my computer.  It occurred to me that pop ups seem to be a thing of the past.  Now there is just a large amountof small advertisements that are spread out throughout the page.  Maybe this is due to the general dislike of pop ups.  If your product appears on a pop up advertisement does that mean that people will begin to view your product negatively?  Almost in a way that the general public or potential customers holds disdain against products that appear on pop ups.  That could very well be the cause for less pop ups or maybe pop up blockers are more advanced now and we just don't realise how many pop ups are being blocked.

Bassnectar

I Just got back from the Bassnectar concert at the abbey and i think that was the biggest dance party Durango has ever seen!  It was super sick and the audience really seemed to dig the music.  What i liked about Bassnectar the most is his incorporation of hip hop beats in his techno/electronic music.  I think he uses a pretty even match of the two. Techno really isn't my favorite genre of music but i can appreciate musical talent and Bassnectar undoubtedly has talent.  

This Weekend

Its friday again and its time to get formal! if you all don't know about formal fridays it rolls around just about this time each week and is a little chance for grungie, dirty hippies like myself to clean up and look somewhat accepltable to society. Though my tie usually ends up on my head or a door knob after a good formal friday i know i looked damn good doin whatever it is i did. Oh yea and there is supposed to be over a foot of fresh comin to town this weekend so buck up and play in the snow!!

Another Friday

TGIF! There is a big concert schedule this next week, lots of good bands, lots of venues. Slightly Stoopid is playin with my favorite band the supervillians tomorrow in alb. Nappy roots on tuesday and bassnectar next saturday! Damn thats alot of shows to attend! Screw homework long live music!

weekly entry #2

WE NEED SNOW

Richard Tulley

1/26/09

Sotosky 3:15

Perfect Pleasure?

The cigarette industry is a multi-million dollar a year industry.  The cigarette companies spend a huge amount of money on advertising each year.  Though they are limited in the areas and ways they can advertise due to the passing of the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act by congress in April, 1970 (Wikipedia, sec. 4.4).  This act banned the advertisement of cigarettes on radio and television.  This leaves cigarette companies with little areas to advertise.  Consequently the companies have spent millions to develop advertisements which will suit the small places where they can advertise like magazines and public places like gas stations and sports like nascar.  The ad i have chosen to deconstruct is taken from a magazine that appeals to a younger audience.

This ad is for Newport cigarettes which are produced by Lorillard Tobacco Company.  Newport cigarettes are the most popular brand of menthol cigarettes.  This ad’s target audience would be fun-loving young adults.  This is made clear by the young people who are featured in the ad and by the environment the people are in.  It is unclear if the ad is meant to be for a male or female audience.  I believe it is created to appeal to both sexes.  The ad features a young, hot, and smoking girl dancing with a hansom young man in what appears to be a club or music venue.  The young girl smoking could be implying to women that smoking is not unhealthy nor does it deter men from dancing with you. She appears to be having a great time with her male companion who obviously does not mind the girl smoking.  The crowd surrounding the girl appears not to care that the girl is smoking either.  This is contradictory to society because it is now illegal to smoke indoors whether it is a club or any business.  Now you have to be at least fifty feet away from any exit to smoke.  Though the pretty young women could also be appealing to men who think women who smoke are unattractive.  I don’t think any guy would turn a dance with that girl down whether she is smoking or not. 

The slogan in the ad, “fire it up”, is a short and catchy saying that is popular in a few different ways.  This jingle could have been formed by taking the lines from popular songs and placing them in bold, bright, colorful font.  The songs the slogan could have been taken from are “Light My Fire” by The Doors which was a hit song in 1967 but is still a very popular song today.  The connection could be seen through the young people dancing in a club because they enjoy the music.  “Light My Fire” is a very popular song that a young couple of smokers would enjoy dancing to.  The Label on the, “Newport Pleasure”, suggests that it is a pleasure to smoke newport cigarettes

This ad was constructed by a team of highly paid professionals to make the unappealing activity of smoking look like a very appealing activity which many young, fun-loving, good looking people enjoy. In reality smoking has become more of a rejected habit in society which is looked down upon as being detrimental to your health and unattractive to the opposite sex.  But this ad makes smoking look almost fun and cool and accepted by good looking young people.

This is the ad i will be analyzing for mondays class.

First blog post

This is my first blog entry to the world. Welcome to my mind!  I have not decided what to make this blog about yet but i would like to comment on some current events that stand out to me.  Recently I was sitting in my american history class and we where discussing the civil war and how it affects us today.  How it affects us today?  The answer to me is obvious,  we went from trying to own black people as slaves to electing one to run the most powerful nation in the world.  I have faith in Obama just as i had faith that the rightous cause of the civil war would prevail.  We have come a long ways since the emancipation proclimation was passed and i have faith that Barack Obama will lead us even farther into the future.

I'm not much for blogging mainly because i feel people don't need to know my personal thoughts, feelings, actions and beliefs, unless they know me personally.  Why should these people i don't know and probably don't want to know be immersed in my life or my thoughts?