Media and its beneficial effects on the less privileged

My last and final entry would be on the power of media and its beneficial effects on the less privileged people.

Just this month, there was the president star charity show. These fund raising shows aim at helping the disabled, lower income families and even orphans. Though there has been a lot of commotion about the NKF staff misusing the funds, it doesn't seem to have affected a huge percentage of singaporeans. People are still donating generously to help these people.

The media has been a great help to these people. Without the media, I believe that many people wouldn't even bother to help the less fortunate. Maybe it's even right to say that many wouldn't even be aware that people are in such situations. Thus I feel that using the media to spread the idea that the more privileged people should help out, whether it is by volunteering at homes or just donating a small sum of money. No matter how small the amount of money it would still be helpful to them.

Another show that caught my attention was this series on channel 8. 心晴大动员 Life Transformers which is hosted by Christopher Lee and Quan Yi Fong. For this week's episode, the 2 hosts and a group of volunteers helped to clean up and redecorate a house that housed 4 adults and 2 children. And out of these 4 adults, only 1 adult is working and he is supporting his 3 other siblings who are mentally disabled. The 2 children are his nieces. The volunteers then helped to clean the very very dirty house and the hosts helped the adults to get jobs to support themselves.

I don't know if you would understand my description but I personally felt very affected by this show. It was disturbing in a way as I can't believe that such situations existed in Singapore. And the very fact that only 1 adult is working to feed 5 mouths is pretty sad.

Which brings me back to the point of how media helps to increase our awareness of the less privileged. With shows like this, some might say that it's to gain the pity of the viewers, but for me it justs makes me feel like going the extra mile to help people like them by volunteering whenever I can.

Thus to conclude my final post, I would like to say that I'm grateful for the media for increasing the awareness of the less fortunate and I hope that more people would volunteer to help these people whenever they can! (:

Learning A Third Language

In today's society, learning a third language isnt such a huge deal. In some schools, learning a third language is actually compulsory. But does learning a third language benefit us in any way? Well for me, i believe that learning a third language is beneficial to a person in many many ways.

I have been learning japanese for almost 1 and a half years and I think I have benefitted from it. I am able to use the language to talk to my japanese friends and also learning the language has allowed me to understand japanese shows.

Learning a third language will allow one to widen their social network. With the knowledge of another language, one will be able to talk to a wider range of people without having a communication barrier. Besides that acquiring a new language would reduce the possibilities of miscommunication between people who speak different languages.

Knowledge of a third language will also allow people to enjoy more media that are available in that foreign language.Through these shows we are able to enjoy a different kind of entertainment and at the same time learn about the different cultures that others might have.

Thus i believe that learning a new languagae is beneficial to a person indefinitely!

Media - Good or Bad?

We had a discussion about media on monday during lecture. I guess it can be said that many will have mixed feelings about it. I for one believe that there are advantages and disadvantages to media, depending on which aspect of media you talk about.

Advertisements. A widespread media. Advertisements help people to be updated with what is being sold in departmental stalls. It also helps people to know what is the 'in' thing to use nowadays. Like advertisments for laptops allow people to know what model is the latest and its functions.

However, there are disadvantages too. It would make people very materialistic. For example if a teenager were to see their favourite celebrity advertising a product, they would definitely want to get the product that is being advertised. Thus advertisments do make people more materialistic.

TV shows. Many different TV shows are being shown on TV now. And with cable, many are able to watch a huge variety of channels. People are able to get to watch shows from Korea and Taiwan. There are documentaries from Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel and Discovery and Travel Channel. There are movie channels like Star Movies and HBO. With TV being such a common commodity in every household, I'm sure that many would have access to these shows. TV can educate and allow people to know more about what's happening in other countries without traveling out from the comfort of their homes.

Though there are many advantages, there are still disadvantages. With TV programs, people are more exposed to many different cultures making them think that certain behaviours, that are frowned upon in our society, are acceptable. Youngsters might think that tattoos are "cool" with shows like miami ink. Some might think that plastic surgery is the only solution to get rid of their "ugliness" with shows like extreme makeover.

That's what i think of the media today. People can rely on media for entertainment and education but they have to understand that too much is unhealthy - to anyone regardless of age.

(:

Fedex Advertisement

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VRrR-WJLWA

Today i'm going to talk about the above Fedex advertisment.

This advertisement has very little use of words and it plays about with the common stereotype of dogs being a man's best friend and its loyalty to mankind. It starts off showing a man hiking with his dog and the man unfortunately falls into a "hole". The man then sends the dog to get help. But it turns out that the dog meets another dog and fell in love with that the other dog. And in the end the man has to get help on his own even after injuring himself.

The aim of the advertisement is probably to show that Fedex is reliable and also more reliable than dogs who are supposedly the most loyal animals around.

I like the way they used dogs in the advertisement and the music does play a huge role in creating the ambience for the advertisement.the use of words is minimal but it is essential to get the gist of the advertisement since dogs cant talk. The background that they used is also very unique in a way. It is not everyday that you see people doing advertisements in the green fields of mother nature.

This advertisement really caught my attention. First the music attracted me then the use of dogs and seeing them fall in love at first sight made me laugh. And it being used to advertise Fedex delivery made it really interesting.

But it all boils down to each individuals perception in the end. And each individual might have different points of view of whether or not this is an effective advertisement, What do you think about it? (: