Month: November 2021

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Joe Rogan & Narrative Paradigm

Humans are natural storytellers, it is in our nature. Each story or narrative we communicate comes from a background of reason, whether it be through facts or experiences. Our life has shaped us in order to create our own narrative. A well-known narrator is Joe Rogan. Joe Rogan has a number of occupations and hobbies. He is a UFC commentator, a comedian, former TV personnel, and now most well-known from his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. With over a thousand episodes, hours long, Joe Rogan has done a tremendous amount of storytelling. He has had a number of different types of people on his podcast from musicians, politicians, doctors, comedians, etc. However, despite him sometimes not having a professional connection to the guests’ fields or occupations, he has an ability to connect with others by listening to them fully to better shape his understanding. Over the years viewers have been able to shape his beliefs or values after informing and educating himself on a number of subjects, always being civil with his guests. He is a great storyteller and can represent humans’ natural urge to narrate.

The Narrative Paradigm Theory can help us better understand why we act or communicate a certain way, rooting from our experiences and culture. Fisher defines narration as, “Symbolic actions—words and/or deeds—that have sequence and meaning for those who live, create, or interpret them” (299). Narration can be linked to our lives through our character, motives, and actions we take regarding decisions and conversations. Fisher uses the term paradigm as, “A conceptual framework; a universal model that calls for people to view events through a common interpretive lens” (299). In basic human communication, we are natural storytellers. We make decisions off these stories based on logic and past experiences in our lives. When we find ties in others’ stories, it is called narrative fidelity. Fisher defines narrative fidelity as, “Congruence between values embedded in a message and what listeners regard as truthful and humane; the story strikes a responsive chord” (302). This is when stories coincide with the speaker to listener, allowing the listener to respond and relate to the story.

In episode #1512 of the Joe Rogan Experience, he sits down to have a discussion with Ben Shapiro. Ben Shapiro is a well-known conservative news figure. However, Joe Rogan is somewhat moderate with his opinions, oftentimes being very neutral in his belief. The beauty of this podcast, however, is that Joe always brings on an array of public figures with beliefs far different than his or very similar. He is always willing to listen and discuss with his guests on the show. Although Ben and Joe are almost polar opposites, they are still able to relate to each other in certain aspects. This is where we can see the narrative paradigm theory come to play. On every subject, they can come together and relate in some aspect. Narrative fidelity is seen on topics such as immigration and big pharm, as they relate to logic and past conversations with individuals. They both have backing to their arguments, making them seem more valid in their views. Joe Rogan is a natural storyteller, which makes interaction with his guests so desirable to watch. Although world peace is nearly impossible, I believe if we take more time to understand other peoples’ narratives like Joe, maybe we could make a start.

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Black Mirror & Media Ecology

In Netflix’s award-winning series, Black Mirror, it focuses on implementations of the future and their consequences, usually pertaining to technology. The show does not particularly focus on a particular storyline, however. Each episode is usually completely different, introducing new characters and their stories. In the episode “Nosedive,” it focuses on society and the rankings you must obtain in order to live comfortably within it in order to have freedoms. So the main character, Lacey, is trying to raise her rankings in order to attend her friend’s wedding. In order to raise her score, she must rate every interaction she has with others in person and on social media. However, the ranking can be easily manipulated depending on the circumstances people face. For example, giving someone a coffee can boost your rating while cutting someone off in traffic will most likely lower your rank. The main goal is to obviously obtain 4 or 5 stars. With having that ranking she will be able to buy houses in a nice neighborhood or attend the wedding with the exclusive 4 stars. We see Lacey’s journey in this episode and how technology and media can be harmful.

In the Media Ecology theory, we are able to study how media environments can affect a society. Dretzin says that media ecologists,  “seek to understand how people interact with media and how those interactions shape our culture and our daily experiences” (309). This can help us understand how quickly media changes and how adaptable one can be to let it create change in one’s life. In Marshall McLuhan’s book, Understanding Media, he mentions how advancements in media can change our symbolic environment, which is, “the socially constructed, sensory world of meanings that in turn shapes our perceptions, experiences, attitudes, and behavior” (309). Meaning regardless of the channels of media or technology messages, it can inflict change. We absorb new information through a number of mediums, from TV, books, and newspapers. However, McLuhan states that a “medium shapes us because we partake of it over and over until it becomes an extension of ourselves. Because every medium emphasizes different senses and encourages different habits” (311). This can explain why one may use one technology more frequently than another daily.

This episode, as well as the whole series of Black Mirror, can represent the presence of the Media Ecology Theory in our everyday lives. We can see a rapid advance of technology in this episode as well as the mediums they use. As the society develops, the whole rating system begins to determine their quality of life, they must adapt and use that system to change their attitudes and beliefs. In the beginning, Lacey thrives in the rating system. You can almost feel a sense of “fakeness” consume in her interactions with others as this channel of technology begins to affect her. The fakeness seems to “work” and holds peace within the society. However, on one particular day leading up to the wedding, Lacey begins to struggle in her interactions. She just has a bad day. From bad interactions on the road, and frustrations with other parties her score begins to rapidly decrease to nearly one star. She loses most of her privileges, does not make the wedding, and ends up in jail just after one poor day of interactions. I think this can help us understand how media and technology can affect us and our environment. This future seems plausible and can warn us to not get so caught up in different channels of media to sway our character.

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Communication Theory

How Social Media Can Express Our Own Agenda

As technology continues to rapidly advance, so does the evolution of various social media platforms. With just a click, we can express our feelings and opinions through a post. In a report published by the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute, Dr. Alecia Swasy, researched how social media can shape the news agenda. For years, the only way an agenda could be set is through what the news published or reported. To this day, the news has a clear bias or agenda they want to display, like Fox leaning right for example, however, they do not have as much influence on opinions as they once did before. As apps like Twitter and Facebook have become accessible to virtually everyone, people all have the ability to voice their agendas to the world.

When studying the Agenda-Setting Theory, it enables us to see how the media, for example, can shape public agenda. McCombs explains media agenda as, “The list of issues emphasized by the news media at a given time” (368). These are what issues are explained on a day-to-day or weekly basis. However, there is sometimes limited space to explain issues, whether it be airtime or space provided for an article in a newspaper. This means journalists have to decide what they want to publish or not. With everything, the media chooses to publish, takes agenda-setting. McCombs defines that through the process of agenda-setting, “Over time, the media agenda shapes the public agenda” (368). This is powerful, especially when the news was our only way to access information. Agenda-setting enables the media to have control over our perception of reality. The media must go through three levels of agenda-setting in order to influence the public: Telling us what to think about, listing what attributes are important when pertaining to issues, and connecting all of the issues together. Although agenda-setting is mostly studied over how it influences public opinion, McCombs also mentions how the “Media priorities also influence people’s behavior” (373). The media’s influence is unmeasurable, but can also be seen through the behaviors and emotions of viewers.

With social media being widespread, it is now hard to tell whether media agendas or personal agendas are influencing the public. Dr. Swasy says that, “23 percent of those who use a social network such as Twitter or Facebook are now getting their daily news from those sites.” A lot of this news on social media may not be coming from accredited news outlets, but rather “influencers” or public figures. It is becoming harder and harder to tell what information is real or fake, as much of this news comes from personal agendas. In the Agenda-Setting Theory, it mentions how the news agenda may be limited on the number of issues reported. However, with social media, the number of issues reported is nearly infinite, with search engines like Google. Dr. Swasy mentions, “how journalists have acted as “gatekeepers” who control what does or does not get covered in mainstream media outlets.” There is no “gate” in social media now that it is accessible to every voice. However, we are able to see ties between media agenda and social media agenda as to how they can both affect behavior. For example, during the beginning of COVID-19 when lockdowns first started, we saw a shortage of toilet paper. This was pertained by the fear embedded into the people through the news and social media. I believe the Agenda-Setting Theory will always be prevalent in a society as it is natural in human behavior, however, I believe it should be further researched with the new influence of social media.

Categories
Communication Theory

How Trolls World Tour Reflects Culture

In the recent sequel of the iconic children’s movie, Trolls, Trolls 2: World Tour, we are able to see reoccurring characters as well as some new ones as they face off in a music battle amongst the trolls. The protagonist, Poppy, for example, is the queen of the Pop trolls. However, at the beginning of the movie, she discovers that her tribe is not the only one to exist in the world of trolls. She discovered a number of tribes dedicated to different kinds of music. There are several tribes from Techno, Country, Classical, Funk to Rock. Most of the tribes are have good intentions and enjoy celebrating their music. However, the Rock tribe is not fond of the other tribes. The Rock tribe leader, Queen Barb, believes that rock music is superior and that she must destroy all of the other tribes in order to make Rock the dominant tribe. Although this is an animated film, it addresses social issues pertaining to the importance of diversity and inclusion, teaching a lesson to both children and adults.

In the Co-Cultural Theory of communication, we can see a lot of these elements in the movie Trolls that are represented. In almost every society, there is a dominant culture present. Orbe defines the dominant culture in the U.S. as, “the empowered group of relatively welloff, white, European American, nondisabled, heterosexual men” (449). This specific group has an advantage in many ways compared to a member of the various co-cultural groups. A co-cultural group may be often disdained by a member of power in the privileged, dominant culture group. Orbe explains co-culture in the U.S. as, “marginalized groups such as women, people of color, the economically disadvantaged, people with physical disabilities […] and religious minorities” (449). As co-cultures try to assimilate and adopt ways of the dominant culture in order to survive and thrive they obtain several ways of communication orientation. Orbe describes communication orientation as, “The combination of a co-cultural group member’s preferred outcome and the communication approach he or she chooses to achieve that goal” (450). Co-cultural groups often use these methods of communication practices when interacting with the dominant culture.

In Trolls World Tour, Queen Barb believes that the Rock tribe is the dominant culture amongst the other musical tribes. She believes that through oppressing the other tribes, or co-cultural groups, she can make Rock the most superior tribe and that all the other tribes should adapt to the ways of the Rock Tribe. She could be considered as a “rock supremacist” as she believes that only her opinions and beliefs are valid, and everyone should accept that. Throughout the movie, she goes through battles and attacks the different tribes. However, the protagonist Poppy, believed her Pop Tribe was superior at first. That was until she discovered the other tribes existed. She began to stereotype before she visited the other tribes, as she expected everyone to enjoy the same type of music. She exposed them to Pop music, and over time realized that was not the best way to gain peace amongst the other tribes. She adapted her communication practices and listened to all the unique sounds of the different tribes and began to embrace them. At the end of the movie, all the tribes come together and perform, which can teach us how we should celebrate everyone’s culture like the trolls represented with their music. We can see a lot of the elements in the Co-Cultural Theory at work in this film. I think Trolls World Tour does a simple, yet complex job at explaining the importance of diversity amongst a society.