FINAL BLOG

I am obsessed with Big Brother. Although you might not like to admit it I am definitely not alone. Around 6 million people watched the launch of Big Brother. I watch the series every single night. I follow the housemates on Twitter after they get out, and I was ridiculously excited when I met Ryan (a housemate from 2012) last year. But why is it that we care about celebrities’ lives - sometimes even more than we care about our own? 
This post is about celebrities. We use our time and effort to experience in the culture that celebrities provide for us. In this post I will be discussing the ways that people become famous, with a focus on reality television. I am going to talk about my favourite show at the moment, Big Brother, and how the people in the show become celebrities for the course of the show and then are mainly forgotten. I will also talk about the way that celebrities promote themselves through social media and are talked about through new media. People are now constructing their “personas” every day to show the version of themselves they want to be seen (Marshall 2010). The main example I will use is Miley Cyrus. Her recent behaviours and careful self-promotion have put her exactly where she wants to be - in the spotlight.

Being a celebrity is not what it used to be. It is no longer all about talent. You can become famous through creating a viral video, doing a sex tape, having famous parents, performing on YouTube, being rich, winning a talent show, being on reality TV - the opportunities are endless. This is why celebrity culture is growing so rapidly (Marshall 2010). 
One of the ways that people can become famous now is reality television. It has become a huge part of 21st century media. It is relatively new and is now shown on almost every single channel on television. 
One very popular reality television show is Big Brother. The contestants on this are the perfect example of the new kind of celebrity that is developing. For 2013 contestant Tully Smyth her fame began in the Big Brother house and caused her name to trend on twitter worldwide twice and five times in Australia. This fame will probably not last long as the new contestants become celebrities next year and the old ones are forgotten. But who cares, Tully is certainly milking her fame while it does last, and why not? She was a social media strategist from Sydney so she obviously used to post about all kinds of things but now with her 54,783 followers all she posts about is big brother.
 The housemates do receive opportunities from the big brother experience but I think that it would be hard to stay a big celebrity. Michael from 2012 is now a radio presenter but I think they all know that the most famous they will ever be is on big brother. 
2012 big brother contestant Stacey says that she wouldn’t call herself famous at all because “people who are famous have done something substantial”. I think that this is wrong because a celebrity is defined as someone who is talked about or gossiped about. Celebrity gossip is spread through many different mediums now. It is not only in magazines but it is in our newspapers, on our TVs and all through our twitter and Instagram feeds. (Marshall 2013). This means that we get our information faster. The gender of the royal baby was known by what seemed like everyone as soon as it was announced. 

Persona is defined by Marshall (2013) as “the publicisation of the self”. This is the way that celebrities promote themselves. These new types of social media are a powerful way for celebrities to promote themselves. This is successful because it feels like a personal link into their lives. Almost all celebrities use Facebook, twitter or instagram to put out the image that they want to portray. When normal people like me use social media I am very conscious of the pictures I put up or the things I post because I want to make sure I maintain a good image. Celebrities are obviously conscious even more than other people at how they are perceived online. They have a very set idea of how they want to be seen. This relates directly to the specular economy. Which is the way in which we would like people to see us online. (Marshal 2010)

I think that social media is an effective medium for celebrities to use because you feel like the information is coming from the source or as close to the source as you can get. In magazines you don’t know how reliable the story is. We have always been taught not to believe what we read in magazines so reading snippets of a person’s actual life is as close to them as we will probably ever get.

Miley Cyrus is my favourite person maybe ever. She is also an incredible example of persona and creating an image for herself. She is big on social networking and understands the importance of connecting with your fans through these mediums. She, along with many other celebrities, uses twitter to promote her songs. She got people excited about her song by using a #cantstop hashtag until it was number one on iTunes. She has recently been the target of a lot of talk and whether the talk is negative or positive her song has been number one on Billbords top 100. In her documentary “The Movement” she talks about the way that everything she does is “thought out in her mind” and “every decision goes into a bigger plan”. Her VMA performance shocked everyone but this was all part of the plan. 
Music has always been very important to her, but that is not the key to her success. There are loads of good singers who have never been heard of. Miley has something else that makes her special. She has a famous dad that she claims helped her to understand the world of celebrities. She has been in the entertainment business since she was a child. Although she has an incredible voice and great talent, the key thing about her is that she knows that there is a lot more to being a celebrity. She talks about how knowing who you are as an artist is more important than your “sound”. She says that you can’t be sure how a song will go so you have to be a good artist and constantly think about “what separates me from everyone else”. Her hair chop was the start of the change into the artist she wants to be and wants to be remembered as. 
It is interesting because although she wants to be remembered as her own unique brand she wants to be what Brittany Spears was to her and in turn what Madonna was to Brittany. She sees herself as a part of this music history. She knows exactly who she wants to be and is very focused and confident. I find that impressive especially because she is a girl who is pretty much the same age as me. 
Miley does not want to be forgotten, like most celebrities are. She said that she will always “do something different” and is always “pushing the boundaries”. This is really what it takes to be noticed in 2013.The goal for many celebrities is to last in a world where new celebrities are being created every single day. 
Her recent music video “Wrecking Ball” has reached 100 million views in less than 7 days. This is all through the way that she has promoted herself and the way that she is being viewed.

In 2013 there are many ways that you can become a celebrity. For most, this fame does not last a long time and they will soon be forgotten. That fear of being forgotten is why celebrities are so focused on doing things that haven’t been done before and thinking outside the box. Celebrities are now focusing not only on their talent but also on the way that they present themselves. I do think that for the most part you do have to have some kind of talent to be a long lasting celebrity. But talent is not all there is to fame anymore. It is nowhere near enough to just be a talented actress or singer or reality television star. You need to be able to create an image that people will remember. This image can be created through the way you dress, the way you act and portray yourself in social media. I think that social media is becoming the most important way that celebrities are promoting themselves and making sure their fame lasts as long as possible. 
I think that Miley understands what it means to be to be a 2013 celebrity. She said recently “you’re always gonna make people talk, you might as well make them talk for two weeks rather than two seconds”. I think she’s got that all covered.


References:
Marshall, P.D. 2013 , Persona Studies: mapping the proliferation of the public self, Journalism, June 4. online edition.

Marshall, DP 2010, ‘The Specular Economy.’ Society, 47, 6, pp. 498 – 502, 
“The Movement”, 2013, < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Haa6xa4ImyQ>

Big Brother, < http://www.bigbrother.com.au/>

The Conversation, 2013, “Reality starts have their uses for big business”, <http://theconversation.com/reality-stars-have-their-uses-for-big-business-16984>

BOLLYWOOD

Bollywood movies are a massive part of the culture in India. They are characterised by their unique musical numbers. They are reflective of their culture and religion. Over time Bollywood has become more modernized due to westernisation. The people who are making the films are trying to please a larger audience and a more western one. Bollywood films are now using more modern themes and even using the English language. The traditional music from Bollywood movies has recently had more of a rock base to attract younger audiences but this does not reflect their culture. 

One of the big issues of this is not only a loss of culture but it makes these films harder to relate to for the original audience, in this case the Indians. If everything becomes more ‘westernised’ then cultures, values and stories will become diluted. It is important that the Indian traditions are still kept and this kind of music is an important part of the Indian culture and tradition. It is strange to think that this culture could be at all diluted when Hindi is the 4th most spoken language in the whole world.

A westernised movie with hints of Bollywood in it is ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. It was directed by a British person and co-directed by an Indian. It was set and filmed in India. Klein discusses the way that there is a ‘partial erosion of the boundaries that once separated Hollywood from local Asian film industries’ (Klein, 2004). This movie is a good example of this occurring in other cultures too.  It is a good example of Hollywoodisation and also two different cultures coming together to create something. I loved this movie and I think that it really shows one of the positive sides of globalisation. Two cultures working together to create an Academy Award winning movie.  

Obviously there are positives and negatives to the Hollywoodisation of films. If they work together with other cultures they can create things that otherwise would not have been thought of but there is a massive risk that there will be a loss of culture.

References:
Klein, Christina 2004, ‘Martial arts and globalisation of US and Asian film industries’, Comparative America Studies, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 360-384. 

CELEBRITIES

I am obsessed with big brother. Although you might not like to admit it I am definitely not alone. Around 6 million people watched the launch of big brother. I watch it every single night, I follow them on twitter when they get out and I was ridiculously excited when I met Ryan (a housemate from 2012) last year. But why is it that we care about celebrity’s lives sometimes even more than we care about our own?

Celebrity gossip is now not only in magazines but it is in our newspapers, on our TVs and all through our twitter and instagram feeds. (Marshall 2013). I think that celebrities promoting themselves through Facebook, twitter and instagram is effective is because you know the information is coming from the source, or as close to the source as you can get. In magazines you don’t know how reliable the story is. We have always been taught not to believe what we read in magazines so reading snippets of their actual life is as close to them as we will probably ever get.

Along with these new sources of information there is a new kind of celebrity. It is no longer all about talent. You could become famous through creating a viral video, doing a sex tape, having famous parents, being rich, winning a talent show, being on reality TV and the opportunities keep going.
Persona studies are defined by Marshall (2013) as “the publicisation of the self”. This is the way that celebrities promote themselves. An obvious example of this is my favorite celebrity of all time, Miley Cyrus. She has recently been the target of a lot of talk and whether the talk is negative or positive her song has been number one on Billbords top 100. Her recent music video “Wrecking Ball” has reached 100 million views in less than 7 days. This is all through the way that she has promoted herself and the way that she is being viewed.

I think that Miley understands what it means to be to be a 2013 celebrity. She said recently “you’re always gonna make people talk, you might as well make them talk for two weeks rather than two seconds”. I think she’s got that all covered.

References:
Marshall, P.D. 2013 , Persona Studies: mapping the proliferation of the public self,Journalism, June 4. online edition.

GAME

Every Wednesday morning I either play Mario cart or Skylanders. The 6 year old boy who I nanny is absolutely obsessed with playing these games on his Wii. He even makes me continue to battle and race him after the TV has been turned off and we are walking up to school. Besides this I don’t play a lot of games other than iPhone ones at the tram stop like Subway Surfer and Plants vs Zombies. 

Games are a very specific type of media with many characteristics that are specific to games only. There are, of course, some similarities to radio, film and television. One of these is that the user is a prosumer and participates in the making of this media type. A critical difference between them and games is that the user has the ability or possibility to “simulate virtual worlds" (Rassens, 2005) which the gamer can contribute to and explore. The user has the opportunity to influence the events that occur and also possibly be a character in the plot of the game. 
The way that games can connect people and at the same time let people run different lives and sometimes live in different worlds is something that is pretty unique to this kind of medium. It forms a “specific type of participatory media” (Rassens, 2005). The user is able to make “strategic choices about alternative paths and, in the case of adventure games, alternative actions’’ (Rassens, 2005). When I play Mario Cart I am able to choose the character I want to be, the car I drive, the world that I drive in, what kind of race I want to participate in and then which way I want to drive. Exploring this world is called “reconfiguration” (Rassens, 2005) and is a specific characteristic of these games.

Obviously each game has its own unique way that the user interacts and maybe even contributes. In some games, including Mario Cart, you can play multiplayer allowing two people to help “shape the stories” (Rassens, 2005). 

Games are a very unique kind of media. While they do have some aspects in common with other forms of media they are characterised by the possibility of being a part of the virtual world created for you.

References:
Raessens, J. 2005, 'Computer games as participatory media culture', Handbook of Computer Game Studies, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass

BLOG BLOG

The big difference between high school and university is how the information is fed to you. In university so much of the learning is on you to do, “students are expected to take responsibility for managing their own learning” (Robertson 2011). At university we even take the things that are fed to us for granted. We skip lectures and sometimes tutes even though they are beneficial and entirely for us. I think that I learnt better and maybe worked harder at school where everything was explained and what we had to do was broken down into understandable pieces. Although school learning was easier for me, university life is more relevant. In real life you do not get fed information you have to go out there and find it for yourself.

Image source: blogger.com

There are many ways of researching and learning at university. One of these, is blogs. This is a growing practice. This is the first blog I have done for university but I have found that each week it does increasingly help me to learn. For a start, this blog makes sure that I do the readings and it makes sure that I understand the content. This blog not only helps me to learn and improve it could also potentially be helping others in their learning and self improvement. This is one of the most significant perks of blogging, its public nature allows people to interact through comments and learn while helping others learn. “Blogging can be a medium for reflective writing which in turn can promote learning” (Robertson 2011). The thought of other people in this unit reading my blog also inspires me to work harder and motivates me to work to the highest standard I can achieve.

This is the first blog I have done for an educational purpose. At the start of the semester I had a lot less understanding of how a blog could possibly aid my learning. But I have learnt a whole new style of writing along with a lot about globalisation.

Who knows maybe someone is learning from my blog in another country right now?

References:
Robertson, J. 2011 ‘The educational affordances of blog for self-directed learning’, Computers and Education, vol. 57, pp. 1628 – 1644.

PROSUMER

I am a prosumer. Right now I am a prosumer of blogger.com. This is because as I write on to it along with an estimated 31 million people blogging in the United States (Bullas 2012). Without us these blog sites would not be worth hundreds of millions of dollars (Bullas 2012). “Prosumption involves both production and consumption rather than focusing on either one” Ritzer 2005.This is the same in almost all social media sites. Without the user they are literally nothing. What would instagram be without a constant feed of pictures?

Image source: Apple 'N' Apps

There are many examples of prosumption in social media. The infectious nature of prosumption means that the amount of users and people using the sites the stronger the site will become. Facebook had only 100 million users in 2008 (Bullas 2012) compared to the 1.15 billion users that have an account making it one of the most popular websites existing.

Although I understand that all of these are examples of consumption and production, social media is not the first thing I think of when I think of these two words. To me these words have more association with consuming and producing material things such as food or clothing. These things have also turned more towards prosumption as online stores such as gumtree and eBay have developed, they would also be nothing without the user. In the offline world there are food stores such as McDonald's. Ritzer (2008) discusses how this is an example of prosumption “among other things, diners are expected to serve as their own waiters carrying their meals to their tables or back to their cars” this means that the customers are part of the service.

There has been a substantial growth in prosumption in recent times “early years were dominated by production, especially in the factory. Much more recently, the focus shifted to consumption” (Ritzer 2005) this has now lead on to focus on prosumption and has brought in many positive and negative aspects. For example this growth of prosumption has lead to a huge loss in jobs of people such as ticket collectors.

Who knows where prosumption will go from here but there is no doubt that it is a growing and continuing practice being fuelled by us all.

References:

Ritzer, George and Jurgenson, Nathan 2010 ‘Production, Consumption, Prosumption: The nature of capitalism in the age of the digital ‘prosumer’,Journal of Consumer Culture, vol. 10 no. 1, pp 13-36.

Jeff Bullas. 2012. Blogging Statistics, Facts and Figures in 2012 – Infographic. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.jeffbullas.com/2012/08/02/blogging-statistics-facts-and-figures-in-2012-infographic/. [Accessed 25 August 13].

MUSIC (OR NOT)

I don't download music. I have no music on my iPhone or iPad or iPod or iTunes. I'm almost ashamed to admit it because I am probably one of the only people who doesn't. This is not because I am strongly against music being downloaded or think that this illegal behaviour is wrong but I have just never been into doing it. I instead spend hours and hours watching TV shows that I have downloaded. It brings up a lot of the same issues as you start to think about peoples property and how easy it is to 'steal'.

Sitting in my room watching Geordie shore on my laptop, it's easy to forget that I am breaking the law. It helps because I know that people all over the world are watching it with me before it comes onto TV where we can legally watch it. Because so many people do it, I start to feel far less guilty. It's kind of like how when you're little swearing is the worst thing in the world until you hit an age where everyone is swearing and it doesn't feel wrong at all anymore. Safety in numbers.

Even though I have this attitude I do feel intimidation would work as a tactic to change my mind. “Most individuals are frightened when they are taken to court by a large company” (Martin, B Moore, C and Salter, C 2010). I am no exception to this and if I received a letter in the mail threatening legal action I would be far less inclined to continue my downloading habits.

However while I do think that this would be effective in stopping individuals but would be less effective on a larger scale in stopping the general population. I don't think that companies have the time or resources to effect the masses with these threats so intimidation is only a short term solution. In the same way that people don't feel guilty about downloading when everyone is downloading they will not feel the threat of being punished unless everyone is being punished.

I don't personally know anyone who has been punished for downloading and therefore it's never occurred to me that I will be punished.

No matter if it's music, TV or pictures people will continue to download and share things until there is a long term solution on a larger level.

References:

Martin, B, Moore, C and Salter, C. 2010, ‘Sharing music files: tactics of a challenge to the industry’, First Monday, vol. 15, no. 12