Philosophy homework

PHIL 197 – Journal Example Journal Part 2 Date : 1 6 April 2011 Time : 10:15am /44 Minutes Station : Yidio.com/GSN (Game Show Network) Title : 20Q Genre : Game Show Reason Watched : I haven’t ever heard of this show before and I think it could be an interesting show. I have a tendency to think shows like this would be really interesting to deconstruct because I now will watch this show with the mindset of how reality was being presen ted, instead of for primary entertainment. Thoughts/Comments : Interesting how the “randomly” selected audience had a gap between the sexes selected, in the first random selection there was three males and five females and the second selection had two men and six women. Some of the questions seemed more gender specific, which brought four men and two women to compete, but eventually it was down to a male and a female. Mr. Q seemed to chew out the contestants as they were introduced, maybe to burn down some of the confidence before they were going in front of the audience, acceptable for a computer to insult the careers and lifestyles of “simple humans” . I wonder how much of this show was edited because near the end of the program the screen went black and t he text read, “P ortions of this program not affecting the outcome of the competitio n have been edited or recreated.” While watching it seems pretty seamless, but you never know when shows aren’t exactly live. Grade : C+ I think the concept was interesting, though the selection seemed really stunted and I felt that the computer would win fro the start, which it did. Also, compared to all the other game shows the prize of $20,000 seemed like a smaller amount. Date : 16 April 2011/ Aired 14 April 2011 Time: 12 :00 pm/ 32 minutes Station : C-Span video library online/ C -Span Title : Presidential Remarks Genre : Educational News Reason Watched : I think it’s a good idea to be updated in the political state of this country. Even though I think reelection is awhile away, it’s important to see what Obama has to say about his hope for reelection as well as what he thinks about the current state of th e economy. Thoughts/Comments : The venue might have been preselected because it is in Chicago, which is his hometown and had a lot of support over his initial election opposed to being in a republican state . Although it is known that many presidents write or have speeches written ahead of time, facial expressions and body language aren’t as predictable or known of head of time. I noticed Obama biting his lower lip whenever a topic was brought up that he had originally gone against, such as the war in Iraq n eeding to defend the right to democratic elections and the money spent in support of that being reasonable , it made me feel a little suspicious . The music selected at the end of the speech was extremely American, it was a country song called “Only in Ameri ca ” which really did sway his ideal message to presidency having such lines like “One kid helps pay the rent/One could end up going to prison/One just might be president/Only in America/Dreaming in red, white and blue” (Brooks And Dunn). Grade : B -. This s eemed like a lot of presidential campaign messages with the flags and the extra boost of patriotism but I did enjoy his jokes and Chicago Bull’s hat that he put on after the speech. Obama seemed to control the audience’s emotions to follow his lead, which helped him look far more successful than anyone could imagine , almost like he had the support of the whole arena . Date : 17 April 2011 Time : 6 :00 pm / 25 minutes Station : Netflix/Online Title : The Twilight Zone: Obsolete Man Genre : Sci -Fi & Fantasy Reasons Watched : The last time I watched this show I was a little kid, but I only saw random episodes out of the numerous series and I always enjoyed how realistic the show seemed. Thoughts/Comments : The episode begins with Rodney Wordsworth, a librarian, being punished by the state and the announcer says, “Rodney Wordsworth will soon be eliminated because he’s built out of flesh and he has a mind.” These obsolete people follow and obey the dictations of the state officials, representing the people and gov ernment in today’s society. Despite being an official of the state or an “obsolete” citizen, we all die the same, which is the true message of the episode.

However, once the tables are turned the official becomes obsolete, because he cracked under pressure believing he would die at the same time of Wordsworth, the he is sentenced the same way for being cowardly. We need to realize that the most worthy civilians aren’t recognized as they should be for the work they do, even though in the end we are all subj ect to the same fate. Grade : A. Not only was this really entertaining, it was shocking to see how advanced the Twilight Zone really was, these ideas and thoughts seem to be debated all of the time with little to no solution in sight. As representatives th ey are blinded toward the “little people” and this episode takes that idea and turns the tables to prove that we are all human, sheer brilliance . Date : 17 April 2011/ First aired 17 March 1987 Time : 6 :30pm/ 22 minutes Station : The WB’s website/Online Titl e: Growing Pains: The Awful Truth Genre : Drama, Comedy Reasons Watched : This show always has one of those take away morals which are fun to look at from different perspectives. I think this show will be interpreted by me differently now because I am much o lder than when I watched this on TV for the first time. Thoughts/Comments : This show seems to enforce gender roles; Carol is cleaning the living room while Mike and Ben are bickering. The children seem to naturally divide to speak to their parents, Mike w ith his father and Carol to her mother . Love seems to dominate all negative emotions, and even when children are snooping and digging around when they shouldn’t it is completely understandable. Grade : B. Fairly entertaining and funny, a nice bit of cheesy television never hurt anybody. Date : 18 April 2011 Time : 6:45 pm/ 1 hour Station :Online/Kgw.com Title : KGW News Channel 8 Portland Genre : News, Broadcast Reasons Watched : This is a local news channel; generally this is the most watched in my house as well as being something I reference for local information. Thoughts/Comments : For local news this all still seems very distant to what I would consider local, life is so much more exciting on the news than what I actually go through in a day. I never run i nto six year olds driving cars, never witnessed a shooting, never saw someone spit in the face of a bus driver. From the news reporters in the studio to on the street, they were predominately Caucasian and very few of the interviews involved individuals th at were not Caucasian, either this is a reflection of Portland or the news channel itself. Grade : C. Unfortunately this seemed just to be the news, but almost like watching a clip from a television show. I do wish it was more local (sure these are local s tories, but something about people I knew – the real local) and not so dramatic, they only report the news that makes people glued to the television, the drama and violence, not the news that lifts spirits and makes us feel good about ourselves. Date : 18 April 2011/Released 06 October 2006 Time : 8:30pm/ 138 Minutes Station : Online/Surf the Channel Title : The Queen Genre : Biography, Drama Reasons Watched : Although a huge fan of the Royal Family and the history of England, I’ve never watched this and I feel it is going to be a very wise decision to do so. I am pleased to see that it is classified as a biography; hopefully it remains as accurate as that serious title gives. Thoughts/Comments : This was a really great movie, though I don’t know how much of it is true because at the time of Princess Diana’s death I was just six years old and I don’t remember too much. I did feel this was seamless enough that it could have been 100% accurate, with the closed doors behind 10 Downy Street and Buckingham palace how would I know any different? The British public was forced to see a much different reality from inside Tony Blair’s office and with the Queen, prompted by the media and didn’t know the full story of either side. Unfortunately the media really constructs awf ul messages to push political members and figureheads to act a certain way, to “please” the people and to gain a profit. Grade : A , I think this movie justified both sides of the tragedy very well and gave the Queen a sense of humor and life that might not be seen as often as it should be, the messages were reflected in another cross -cultural perspective and I respect that a lot.