Real and fake celebrities

Celebrity culture: Real and fake celebrities - 6^th September 2012

Celebrity culture is well and truly a living, breathing, existing machine. We are absolutely buried with personal information of those we adore, idolise and imitate. However technology and social media have distorted the lines between what makes someone a ‘real celebrity’. Gone are the days where those who only became recognised globally were those rare, special individuals with real achievements, real charisma and real talent. I would learn lessons, be influenced, follow the trends of my favourite celebrities. Soccer icon Diego Maradona showed us how destructive the effects of drugs can be and how easily they can derail even one with ‘the hand of god’.  Maradona ‘provoked concerns about drug abuse and prevention in Argentina, particularly among young people’ (Brown, 2010). This showed just how influential celebrity culture could be.

Nowadays you could be one of the best running backs in the National Football League and have earned a legion of supporters and rightfully so. People will see you walking down the street and exclaim ‘There’s so and so! He just scored three touchdowns last week!’ You have achieved something people have recognised you for it.

Yet there is still ten times more people paying attention to your ex-girlfriend who is only known for having a large posterior and a sex tape.

For lack of a better KPI, let’s determine the more influential individual with each participant’s amount of ‘followers’ on international social site Twitter.

The aforementioned athlete, Reggie Bush, chimes in with a decent two and a half million followers. The latter, Kim Kardashian breaks the bank with a whopping 16 million followers. This is a great example of self-promotion prevailing over real talent. ‘Significance of the ordinary’ is at an all-time high as ‘fame is (now) differently produced’ (Gamson, 2011).

Reference list:

Brown, W 2010, Sport Celebrities and Public Health, Journal of Health Communication, vol. 15, issue 4, p358-373, viewed 05/09/2012

Gamson, J 2011, The Unwatched Life Is Not Worth Living, Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, vol. 126, issue 4, p1061-1069, viewed 05/09/2012

(insert fun name) - sphere

The blogosphere has become something that is both unique and dynamic in it's ability to inform or express emotion or information. The use of magazines, books, newspapers or the news has not wavered however instead more substitutes and avenues of ways to inform ourselves have risen. Take for example the recent death of John McCarthy. An absolute tradgedy in what was a promising and young career of a Port Adelaide footballer. For a public figure, personal information can travel within two counterparts with a simple click of the button. This is quite ridiculous but also very effective. So effective in fact that the media itself refused to release the name of the player (despite the event happening half way across the world in America) because a few members of the public already had knowledge of the players death even before the family themselves.

Channels of communication extend further through such social media as Twitter and Tumblr. The fact of the matter is, it is now easier than ever to stay up to date with information (from whom you choose to receive it from) and this makes for a quite global influence.

I learnt of John McCarthy's death through twitter despite the fact that none of his relatives had any idea of the incident. This is because the telegram call (which was once perceived as the quickest way to relay information) was much, much slower than someone writing 'RIP John McCarthy' and that post being retweeted hundreds of times before it finally reached my computer screen.

Culture of mine!

An Asian background has been something that has always defined not only who I am to others but who I am to myself. It has allowed me to not only experience a very Australian lifestyle but also many other cultures as well. Being ethnic has always drawn attention (although not always good) to myself in what was a predominantly a Caucasian neighbourhood.

I could speak easily of how my mother was able to incorporate Australian culture into her way of life but even moreso, a very technological type of globalisation was achieved. 

Just the other day I purchased my mother an iPad so that she may 'Skype' with all her siblings back at home. This meant a lot to her as it allowed her to utilize media to quite literally jump across oceans and communicate with her relatives. Long gone are the days that she would have to mail off handwritten letters and wait for weeks for a response to come. Thanks to technology, the very voices and essences of her closest family may be in the exact same room as her at any time of day or night.

Are the Olympics truly a global event?

Are the Olympics truly a global event?

The Olympics are by far the most global event on the face of the planet. With that said, there is a huge gap between the Olympics and the next best thing (which is arguably the FIFA World Cup but not everyone plays/enjoys/excels at the game of Soccer).

Firstly let’s define what the Olympics are and what dictates whether or not an event is ‘global’ or not. The Olympic Games came to life as a by-product of a series of competitions that was held between representative athletes of various states around Ancient Greece.  The first games that were moderated under the IOC consisted of 14 nations, 241 athletes and 43 events. Compare it to the current Games in London where 204 nations will be participating, roughly 10,500 athletes will compete and 302 events will be held at this ‘global’ event.

Well, what makes an event ‘global’? Accessibility; the event is broadcasted to hundreds of countries via television, radio and most significantly the internet. The NBC official Olympic page itself has ‘generated 132.6 million page views’ alone. (Johnson, 2012). This shows the vast amount of people who have been able to access, view and somewhat experience the Olympic Games of 2012.

However, it does not account for every individual. Not everyone has a television or a computer. Some do not even have radios. Although not completely ‘global’ yet, the Olympics is definitely in the process of being ‘both a globalising and urbanising phenomenon.’ (Short, 2008).

References;

Johnson, G 2012, NBC reports increase in Olympics viewers, date viewed 4^th of July 2012, <http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/olympics_blog/2008/08/nbc-reports-inc.html>

Short, J 2008, Globalisation, cities and the Summer Olympics, City, 26 Nov, p 321-340

Global Media Empire

My Global Media Empire

My amazing Global Media Empire (GME) will follow the mould of none other than the very successful Rupert Murdoch and his ‘massive media Octopus’ (Marquand, 2011). News Corporation immigrated seamlessly from it’s roots in Adelaide, South Australia across the Pacific Ocean to it’s current headquarters in New York City. The reason I would choose to take a similar path to News Corp is that they provide a true example of globalisation. Not only does their influence expand overseas to other continents but they maintain a strong effect on many different people and personalities.

It would resemble a big corporate building with artistic flair (similar to the design of SBS located in Federation square). Offices would be designated into separate departments within the building and will be located close to relevant workplaces (eg. Studios would be located nearby the TV, Music and Radio and Magazines).

Of course, being a realist I understand I would need to fund this operation. Major revenue would be obtained from products such as the sales of books, newspapers and magazines (both domestic and international editorials) and careful management will ideally lead to high market-share and consumer/viewer ratings. There is ‘power in expanding global markets’ (Osborne, 2009) and this is exactly why taking a company abroad will produce a better chance at stronger revenue. It’s the old schoolyard rule; the bigger you are, the more power you have.

Osborne, B 2009, Communication and Empire: Media, Markets and Globalisation, Canadian Journal of Communication, Vol. 34, Issue 3, p535-537

Marquand, R 2011, Rupert Murdoch: his empire under attack, a media potentate stumbles, Christian Science Monitor, 15 July, p1

Globalisation - What’s missing?

Equality. Something that will never be achieved, ever. Why? Greed. Putting this bluntly but the simple fact of the matter it’s all about money. In this rat race there are consequences, not necessarily for those that are chasing cheques but for those that get stepped on along the way. 

Let’s look at it like this –

You are reading this through the use of the internet which obviously someone is paying for. Obviously someone’s paying for every service or item you are provided (you, parents, etc.) For the sake of argument let’s say right now you’re sporting a Sean-John tee, Tommy Hilfiger jeans and some Nike high-tops (not exactly fashionable), three relatively notable brands. To produce these, there was a youth in a Honduran garment factory, a child in Siapan and a little boy in Pakistan respectively slaving away at those for an average of US .24 cents a day. How much would you have had to pay for any of these items of clothing roughly? Take .24 cents off of that, plus the cheap cost of materials and you’ve got the profit.

Now imagine being one of those boys who can’t afford things like the internet. How would you know about world issues? The media ‘has played a crucial role in the acceleration of globalisation’ (Hardenbergh, 2005). But how is it global when not everyone has access to the internet (media)? This is just one example of many that a large majority lack access to.

Hardenbergh, M 2005, The Media and Globalisation, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, vol. 49, issue 4, p519-520 

Globalisation

Globalisation - What is it?

Globalisation is a term that carries several different definitions depending on the way in which it is utilised. In my own opinion I find that globalisation is a process of economic and international integration. It is a link between worldwide social relations such as putting into contact two or more cultures.

To try and explain, I believe it is a mutual understanding which results in the connectivity through political and economic issues and processes. However it has largely become a term related to the economy. Although most people tend to view globalisation as a marketing strategy or a tool of trade, there is also the globalisation of such matters as traditions and culture. It is not always an economic term but can also be translated to a sociological context as well. This leads to different beliefs, practices and influences that can become present in places where they had not existed before.

Personally, I think that the term however has become so overloaded with meaning and has become that riddling that there is now a widespread confusion as to what the simple definition of globalisation is. Giddens and Held’s interpretation are both commonly used but if there was a gun to my temple and I was told to explain it in three not so simple words, I would go on to state that it basically refers to ‘intensified worldwide connectedness’ (Ampuja, 2011). 

Ampuja, M 2011, 'Globalisation theory, media-centrism and neoliberalism; a critique of recent intellectual trends', Critical Sociology, p. 281-301

A bit about myself

Hey there, my name is John Kim and I'm 19 years old. Currently reside in Wheelers Hill and I attend the local Burwood campus. This is my second year at Deakin and I'm currently completing an Arts degree. For my assessment of ALC215, I have created this blog to express and discuss the many issues regarding the idea of globalisation.