The Arts/Media Level - Lecture #7

Test #2

Functions of Art/Media

1. information - selective reporting and algorithms

2. evocation - emotional reaction and messaging about death

3. persuasion - outgrowth of 1 and 2; cognitive motivation that move people to do something

Representation implies Interpretation

everyone is a storyteller, even in arts and media. they are making decisions about what to include, what not to include, how something looks, which words they want to use to tell their story based on who they’re talking to. it is not random or accidental; it’s been curated and well-thought

Is photo/video more “objective?”

not necessarily:

• selective pressure - recordings are done in a particular time and place and presumably didn’t get the entire scene

• selective presentation - cutting down footage to the TLDR based on what is important and what is not; curating

• outright falsification - lying and manipulating things digitally

What about technology?

• can decentralize/democratize - everyone is a reporter with a phone

• isn’t agenda-free; motivation matters (getting likes vs informing others) which affects the information they seek out and the story they tell

The Falling Man

Richard Drew’s photograph that people complained that they didn’t want to see that over breakfast but it illustrates the reality of the situation

Influences on Death-Related Interpretations

who said what to whom with what effect?

Who = source

sender of communication faces source constraints

sender of communication faces source constraints)

1. knowledge/experience base: saying things based on what the receiver so that they connect with it

2. motives: what they are trying to communicate and what imagery they are using

   • shock: to protest contextual constraints, establishing uniqueness, empowerment through defiance, and sometimes community (being alienated together)

   • console/comfort: “talking/writing cure" showed experimental design to demonstrate that people who spoke or wrote about their trauma helped them deal with it and provide comfort

     • trauma - death in the way of our purpose so deal with it by talking to people that wouldn’t normally talk

     • inhibition over time when social supports start to shut down

     • adaptation if psychological work has been done

     • community expressions

     • social media: can be an outlet but there are downsides like trolls and “grief tourists”

     • journaling/private writing: creates the story of what was lost in terms of before, during, and end of life

   • threaten: lullabies from Scandinavia were threat songs to kids saying death will take them and be rewarded which functions as “safe catharsis” to the caregiver to vent emotions

   • sell: insurance, smoking, drunk driving, “death-ploitation” - this isn’t always about selling something but about changing a lifestyle or behaviour to dismiss claims of irrelevance

Whom = audience

recipients have motives and message can be jarring. clash of sender’s motives and receiver’s motives are important

What = message

referent constraints: what to say about death to an audience

• private: what brings meaning to you, specific to the individual

• public: shared understandings of examples are needed for them to understand and connect with you; needs a common ground and shared understanding of the symbols being used

contextual constraints: who is around, what should be said, and what are the expectations

• unpatriotic: especially during wartimes not going along with dominant opinion will make people protest but there are consequences for that

• “heresy”: if a religion endorses a belief about what happens when you die, if you don’t agree and are a follower of that religion then that is heresy

• preserving victims’ innocence: a mass shooting victim will be portrayed on the media in a positive light and the offender will be framed as evil (to make the bad look worse make the good look really good)

• rules for suicide reporting: things aren’t newsworthy UNLESS they’re a public figure, public place/disruptive is hard to make sense of so journalist provides a narrative, part of homicide like suicide after familicide, story-licious in a way that can raise awareness like familicide → DV

What effect = conseuqence

suicide contagion - Philips

suicide rates in an area will go up after media coverage of suicide in that area and the individuals that do it after the person covered did are demographically similar. this is not specific to suicide events which makes it a double edged sword because raising awareness could also increase attempted suicide (think 13RW)

“mean world” syndrome (Gerbner): looked at news and fictional sources to see how death and violence are portrayed in the media, found that it’s usually not realistic and this gives people the idea that the world is more violent and threatening than it actually is. if there is unrepresentative portrayal then people feel the world is more unsafe than it actually is (since there isn’t representative information)