Final Post
The semester is over and on to my next class for the summer
session. This class has been different than other classes that I have taken
at the Master’s degree level. Some of the reading was a bit confusing and as the semester went on they started to make
sense and penetrated my thick skull. I have a new outlook on how I view items such
as images for example.
I found myself fascinated by
Marshall McLuhan and how far ahead of his time his outlook and predictions were. Even though, we were assigned one video to view
his theory. I found myself on you tube
for hours looking for other videos and interviews with him. I found myself
entertained by how smart he was and how every single person who conducted an
interview with him could not match wits with him. His view on the world was so
much different than anyone during his era
and was even more intrigued by his analyzation of the presidential debate in
the 1970’s. His lecture on the medium is the message was spot on and make you
sit back and think he is correct.
There were two other assignments
in the class that I enjoyed and learned a great deal from, and they were the dissection
of the alcohol advertisement and the literacy guide module. The literacy guide
assignment came at a good time for me because I am currently trying to teach my
kids how to save money. If it were up the then, they would spend it all and
keep asking for more. I was able to put together a learning guide for kids and
how to save money and banking basics. The dissection of the alcohol add was
fun. I was able to find a Corona Beer ad to direct. After going completely the
parts of the assignment and answering all of the questions it is amazing how
many addition pieces are in a beer commercial. For the longest time I thought
the commercial was about the beer. I was not correct in my thoughts. The beer
is a small part, how it makes you feel, how and where you may want to go. The commercial
has you hope you were the one into commercial or at least into a location where
the commercial was filmed while cracking open a cold beer on a nice tropical
beach.
The media aspect of this
learning experience is what intrigued me in this class, and I do find myself
paying more attention to the pictures and advertisements. The reason is that I have learned that they
are more than about the image or the product they are selling. I will continue
to be fascinated by influential people like Walt Disney, Milton Hershey and now
have added Marshall McLuhan to the list of people that keep my coming back for
more.