Notes and examples of politics in media platforms
1. Notes of the lesson: Politics and Persuasion in Entertainment
- Broadly we can influence or persuade audiences in many areas: social media, Broadcast News and events, Film and Animation and Television.
- How messages in moving image are used? Subliminal or masked content Overt/Propagandist intentions Persuasive/Commercial targets Documentary/Investigative Independent / Personal struggle, observation or experience
- Under the topic of politics in film and media the key areas include: Political persuasion / Commercial persuasion / Race / Gender / Equality / Disability / Ethics
- How do politics shape what is being made in media? Documentary film / Cinema / Television / Games / Advertising
2. Examples of politics affecting media
In this day and age have seen a trend of incorporating striking political issues into media. In this essay, I would like to dig into two parts, Film, TV shows, which have been affected by political arts obviously.
Firstly, speaking of film and streaming shows, For example, In 2019, the euphorically intoned question on everyone’s lips that defined the tiny world of cinematography was: Have you seen Parasite yet? When it comes to the social and political connotations of Parasite(2019), the director agreed, “all the responses of distinct audiences were the same, which made me understand that the theme is universal.” Then, he declared conclusively: “Essentially, we all live in one and the same country called ‘capitalism.” The story of a family of never-do-wells who, thanks to their smarts and trickery, manages to insert itself into the way of life of a bourgeois family Parasite, highlighting the social inequalities.
Besides, South Korea’s nine-episode Netflix show, Squid Game (2021), is a bonafide hit, including some key areas, such as Race, Gender, Equality, Disability, and Ethics altogether. The show follows a chauffeur, Seong Gi Hun, who, after a failed business venture, attempts to crawl out of debt by entering a deadly tournament with over four hundred other participants. Winning the six lethal games, means a big payday. Losing means death. Squid Game is contextualized in Korean economic, political, and social history, the idea of economically vulnerable individuals having to fight to the death is nothing really new. Watching Squid Game made me realize just how prevalent these power dynamics persist throughout history and in different cultures and societies. Socioeconomic disparity, competition for resources, individualism over community, aspirations for upwards social mobility — all of these features of society are key characteristics of the global capitalist world we live in today, which has much of its roots in the imperialistic and industrial Victorian Era. That is why countries around the world can appreciate death game storylines no matter which country provides it to them.
Netflix’s currently streaming Alice in Borderland (2020) sees jobless gamer Alice, played by Japan’s Kento Yamazaki, transported to a bizarro Tokyo where he has to fight to the death in a survival tournament. Suzanne Collins’ dystopian book series
The Hunger Games (2008), the 2012 movie adaption of which helped launch Jennifer Lawrence into superstardom, featured children from impoverished ‘districts’ being forced to fight to the death for the amusement of the upper class.
To sum up, political art is an indispensable part and inspiration to cinematography to some extent, giving the audience a deeper reflection of our social class.