Hello everyone!

Welcome to my first blog entry! My name is Sarah Alexandra Claus and I am from Baltimore, Maryland. I am a senior at Towson University with a major in Public Relations. I am currently working as an Event Specialist for Chef’s Expressions and I hope to continue this job full-time after I graduate in May! I enjoy planning weddings and special events. Being part of the team that makes a couple’s dream wedding come to life is such a rewarding experience!

I am currently enrolled in a media criticism class, which looks at the pervasiveness of mass media. This class has been very interesting so far and I am learning a ton! Many people, not unlike myself, never fully consider how much media shapes our lives. The media surrounds us every day and plays a huge part in our everyday lives.

Why Media Criticism?

In media criticism, we examine the ubiquity of mass media. I have only been in this class for three weeks so far, but I have learned the importance of being media literate.  Media criticism is defined as a systematic study of media “texts.” This class teaches us the tools to evaluate these “texts.”

Once a person develops media literacy skills, they will then be able to look at various media such as television shows, advertisements and fashion, and be able to decipher the meanings behind the image.

Culture is the symbols of expressions we use to communicate society’s norms, values and beliefs. Therefore, it is essential to the development of our identities. Culture can be affected, however from various forms of media text.

An important form of media text is television. Television has the power to entertain, inform, interpret information, socialize, educate, persuade and inspire. It provides us with a constant and steady flow of information, and its messages are fragmented and disjointed. In addition, television acts as a kind of hegemony, a type of power the elites maintain over the masses that avoids overt force.

Another part we are studying in media criticism is semiotics, a text-centered theory. Semiotics can be defined as the study of how social production of meaning is constructed through a system of signs. Signs are embedded in all texts, they are a way to understand the meaning of a text and they are used to understand how reality is socially constructed.

This may be a little difficult to understand so I will try to break it down. There are three different forms of signs. The three forms are symbolic, iconic and indexical. An example of a symbolic sign would be a red octagon shaped sign. When a person sees this, they would automatically know it means stop. The sign has an arbitrary connection to its meaning. 

An example of an iconic sign would be the sign outside of public restrooms that indicates them as male or female restrooms. The sign resembles what it stands for.

And lastly, an example of an indexial sign would be smoke. The smoke would indicate that there was a fire. This means that there is a casual link between the sign and its meaning.

The Big Bang Theory

From left to right: Howard Wolowitz, Sheldon Cooper, Leonard Hofstadter, Penny, Rajesh Koothrappali

The Big Bang Theory is probably one of my favorite television shows. For those of you who do not know about the show,  it is a comedy series about four young scientists (Howard, Sheldon, Leonard, Rajesh) who know all about the world of physics, and one girl (Penny) , who gives the physics world a real spin.

From a semiotics standpoint, there are multiple facets about The Big Bang Theory that I could use to illustrate how television has the ability to socialize us. In the show, the four male lead characters are portrayed as ultra-intelligent “geeks” lacking normal social skills. They are contrasted against Penny, the female lead who, while portrayed as the “ditzy blonde” is shown to have superior social skills and common sense.

The male characters are the embodiment of people that are “book smart” and Penny is the embodiment of people that are “street smart.” These characters represent the idea that there is a fine line between people that are “geeks” and people that have high social skills.

To get an idea of what I am talking about, here is a link to YouTube, which features a conversation between the characters Sheldon, Leonard and Penny. This is the beginning of episode one in season one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh-5ynIgFd0. In this scene not only do you get a sense that Leonard and Sheldon have limited social skills, but you also get a sense that Penny is definitely not on the same academic scale as Leonard and Sheldon.

Moreover, if you watched the clip, you noticed the comments Sheldon and Leonard made about the stairs. This is the first tip that they are ‘”geeks.” You would also notice the awkward first encounter they had with Penny. 

Additionally, you would have noticed the clothing choices the characters wore. Leonard and Sheldon don’t exactly keep up with the latest fashion trends. Leonard typically wears a t-shirt with a sweat shirt and jacket over top. Sheldon usually wears clothes that are a little more “out there.” If you saw his plaid pants you’ll understand what I mean. You’ll then notice that Penny’s ensemble was very trendy and up to style, giving off a much different vibe than Leonard and Sheldon.

If you don’t already, I would highly suggest watching The Big Bang Theory. It it very entertaining and you will laugh your socks off!

Thanks for Reading!

As I stated earlier, media literacy is important, as it is crucial that we better understand how saturated our culture is with media. This was my first blog assignment for the semester and there will be many more to come! Stay tuned!