Name: Nicholas L Bomber
Date: 11/10/14
IRN# 9008827577
Approved Essay Title: History of American Television or Motion Picture

Subtopic 1): historical development of the medium Description of the concrete Experience: I have lived with the television and watched it since I was very young. I can attest to the fact that it is has been the greatest and most influential invention of the 20th century with the exception of the internet. My parents have been changing the television sets since they bought the first one in the 1970’s. Its development has really played a great role in most people lives. The quality of what is being aired on the television has really developed since the medium was introduced in the society. I always see the television as a good source of the most broadly-shared images and messages of the history. Advancement in technology has really transformed the ways of communication. Last month I asked my grandmother what it was like growing up without the television. She told me how they used to tell each other stories since it was the only way of keeping them busy on their free time. She also told me that they had messengers who used to deliver messages to the different communities. Introduction of the television has really changed this for the better. Viewing time and saturation has increased over the years. The television mass rituals have also become very strong and show no signs of weakening its hold. There have been introduction of new types of delivery systems such as satellite, cable and cassette signals over the years. Generalizations/Principles/Theories: The television has developed over the years from the big bulky television to the slim and better television sets. I am happy that I have seen the development of this medium first hand. I will live to tell my children of how my parents had a small black and white television that used to air very few channels. I believe that the television provides a relatively restricted set of choices for a virtually unrestricted variety of interest and publics. Most of the programs being aired on the television today are designed to be watched by nearly everyone in a non-selective manner. The development of this medium has created a very being interest for it since it is a both a source of entertainment and an educational medium. The television is the only medium that has provided me with an environment into which I was born in. Testing and application: I pay cable television because it offers a variety of programs to choose from. I believe that the television is still in the process of developing and our children will use different sets form the ones we are using now. I can also predict that the near future will bring forth the wireless television where by the aired content and the graphics used will be of very high quality. Subtopic 2): Role of the medium as an expression of the storytelling tradition Description of the concrete Experience: We all live in world that is created by the stories we tell. I know that most of what I know and think about was not acquired through personal experiences but I learned it through the stories I hear of, see on the television and sometimes read. As my grandmother told me last month they used to tell each other stories since it was their only way of passing time during their free time. She also told me that story telling has adapted to each successive medium that has been introduced, form the circle of the campfire to the silver screen and now to the computer screen. Now the television tells the stories of others which is a little bit the same as what I was told by my grandmother. The only difference is that, I am a passive audience and the television is not an audience it is the story teller. The television tells me stories inform of movies, advertisements and the news. Many of the movies aired by the television today are inspired by the true stories of the past. I was not there when some of the historic things happened but I can tell about them just from watching them on the television. I watched the movie: Lincoln in the year 2012. I was able to relate what was being told in the movie and what happen. This movie covers the last four months of Abraham Lincoln’s life placing a lot of focus on his efforts as a president in January 1865 to have the thirteenth amendment of the constitution of the United States passed by the House of Representatives. All the actors of the movie and the directors of the movie helped to tell the movie as it was. It was very inspiring to see the legislative and presidential processes as they were in the early days. The movie gave me a ring of authenticity and research that it had me scrambling for the history books in the library to see and check on the things I did not know of. The television gave me the true accounts of what happened in 1865 an year when even my grandmother who is oldest person in my family was not yet born. Men who built America is another Series that I watched on the television in the fall of 2012 on the History Channel. This miniseries has four parts that tells the story of how America came to be industrialized and the superpower of today. It showed me the influential builders, dreamers and believers who transformed the United States from the inside after the harsh civil war into the economic giant and superpower it is right now. I knew of Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J. P Morgan and Henry Ford before I saw the docudrama on the television but I did not know some of the inside events that lead them to become the legends they are today. This documentary held all my attention for six hours. I watched and listened to all the details as though I was listening to someone telling me a story. The television has for a very long time now acted as a storytelling medium. I enjoy watching the television not only for leisure but also for educational purposes. I know if the television was no there I would not have known most of the stories I know of today. I can conclude that television is a form of digital story telling that has a modern expression of the ancient art. Generalizations/Principles/Theories: Television to me is a Transmedia storytelling medium that is powerful and is an immersive persuasive tool since it creates an emotional connection with its audience. I usually see it as the most effective way of connecting the old and the new generation audience and consumers. I enjoy watching good stories on the television since it helps me to shape my way of thinking and my way of life. Form my experiences with this medium I can tell that this is a major transformation in the way we as a society socialize and in the way which most stories are told. I like very many people in my society are engaging now in digital storytelling and in this case it can be said to be watching the television. The stories told in this medium sometimes give me an opportunity to look in the mirror and see and discover that I am not alone. I know that this form of storytelling connects societies through shared experiences and developing tolerances by understanding another person’s story. Testing and application: Growing up through the television age has been a wonderful journey. I know understand the events that took place in the ancient age and even in the current age just by watching the television. I know and believe that this medium that some people take advantage of will be able to tell our children and their children the stories of what happened before we were born and after were we born.

Subtopic 3): characteristics of genre Description of the concrete Experience: The different genres of media that I enjoy watching are: Movies and Documentaries. When I watch movie it’s always filtered through my own capabilities and experiences. I did not grow up with a lot of pets so some of the violence against animals shown in the movies and the documentaries does not bother me a lot. I like watching action movies such as the expendables, fast and the furious and the James bond just to mention but a few. I believe ones movie or documentary preferences depends of how one lives and his or her reactions to what is being shown in them. One of my best experiences in watching movies is when I went to watch a comedy movie in the theater with my friends. It was very funny that I decided to buy it and go watch it again at home alone. However the experience in the theater was better since everyone was laughing at all the jokes which made it more enjoyable but when watching alone it became boring since I had no one to share with some of the jokes. Watching movies and documentaries is my favorite way of passing time. I have been a horror movie fan form the time I started watching them. Some of them scared the crap out of me when I was young teenager but I kept coming back for more thrills. I came across a study of watching horror movies in 2010 that increased my interest in them. The study suggested that watching horror movies is not only good for one’s physical health but also the mental health. I have watched these movies both at home and at the theater but the best place to watch them is at the theater while wearing the 3D visual glasses that added the thrill and makes the movie more and more interesting. The experience of watching Documentaries is different from that of watching movies and comedies. This is because the documentaries contains true narration of the events that happened and nearly all of the images shown are the true images but movies are dramatizations of both fictional and true stories. My two best documentaries are: The men who built America and the wild cat. One of the best Wild cat documentaries I watched was: The big cats. This documentary showed how some of the lions sometimes go for days without eating anything. The lions looked very thin and weak. I really felt bad to see how God’s creation was suffering due to the unpredictable Mother Nature trends. The documentaries are educative while the movies are entertaining. The documentaries depict the real event that took place with very few dramatize part while the movies I have watched are always dramatize and always use graphics to show some of the factious part of the movie. Another good documentary that I always watch on the cable television is: Inside Africa which shows how different African countries have picked themselves up since their independence and hard time to become great economies with a great vision. I remember watching the documentary on the aftermath of Rwanda’s Genocide which was a very trying moment for the country. The true events of the genocide were narrated and dramatized in a way that made leave everything that I was doing just watched what happened. I will admit that the documentary change me somehow. I asked myself why I always complain of very small things while there are other people in other parts of the world who go through real tough situations. I saw how Rwanda rose up from it doom days to grow into a successful economy in the African continent. Reflections: I have watched very many media genres for as long as I can remember. All of them have different feature and characteristics. The thrill and experience from watching these media genres is also very different. They are a good way of passing my free time since they are very entertaining and educative. The documentary of Rwanda was really inspiring and could not be compared to any movie that I have ever watched.
I have different experience when watching the different genre of the media. I have note that they are very different in how they present their content. Some like the documentaries involves narration of the event while the movie involves full dramatization of the events. Even though they are different they are all a good source of entertainment. Generalizations/Principles/Theories: I usually watch different type of movie and documentaries to measure the experience and level of inspiration they give me. Horror movie are very scary since they always raise my level of adrenaline. Comedies movie on the other hand very harrarious an always keep my mood up. I always feel happy an entertained when I watch them. Documentaries give me a different thrill from that watching all these types of movie. it give me both an educative an entertaining experience which I hard to explain sometimes. Sub Topic 4): effect of corporate ownership on trends in the medium. Description of the concrete Experience: On November 3rd 2014 as I was going this assignment i decided to met my longtime friend James who works and partly owns a local television station in my local town. I wanted him to explain what corporate ownership means and how recent media trends have affected it. I could not understand how he came to be co-owner of a television station knowing how hard and complex it is to own and control the media business. James first told me that the television business has really developed and evolve over the year an there are new trend that nee new way of management. He told me that the media companies of today are very concentrate than in the pat forty years thus the ownership rule e by Washington are loosening in a continuous manner. One thing that I learnt from him is that local and small television stations are lowly getting gobbled by bigger companies which change their corporate ownership. This change has a lot of effect on these small independent media stations. James told me that when they get gobble they sell off their independence which mean that they are not given a fair chance in the market. James also told that the new owners bring new rule and sometimes force the acquire station to adopt them. He told me that corporate ownership change not only has negative effect but also positive effects on the mall channels. He gave me an example of their which has really grown after being acquired by a bigger station. He told me that the merge ha really opened opportunities such as: having a wider range of audience, having the opportunities to work with very big corporation in advertisements and having easy access to external finance. I learnt a lot from him that day. I learnt that a significant share of the media markets in the America has a very great effect on educating an informing the citizen by ensuring that all programming is assorted and diverse. This ensures that all the sectors of the society are catered for in equal proportions. James told me that the change of the corporate ownership of the media station has really ensure that all the media station are not controlled by the wealthy and political elite who sometime conspire to brainwash the general population. Reflections: I have never known that change in the corporate media owner has effect on the trend of the television. James gave me a firsthand insight on this subject which was very inspiring an informing. This meeting with James gave me a push to do an online research on corporate ownership in order to understand it more. I decided to keep researching because it seemed like a rewarding business to venture in just like my friend James did. Generalizations/Principles/Theories: I can say that the development of the television is one of the many contributing factors of the noted changes in corporate ownership. Technological advancement is one of the most recent trends that involve putting several technologies into one media product. Some of the Media companies have decided to work together in light of this. I note that the recent trends in the media have led to a decrease in the number of multinational companies that control the mass media. I have slowly come to understand what entails this business. I have looked into this subject for more than even time just to get informed about it and to see if venturing in this business will be profitable. Subtopic 5: influence of the medium on a particular culture. Description of the concrete Experience: Like many people I know I am sad when I see school children turning against their friends, teacher and friends. Just recently a high school student carried a gun and killed four of his friends leaving two critically injured. I believe that this behavior can be connected to the violent behavior being shown in the media. The television has had a significant influence on the culture of the society I live in. I have no personal expertise in understanding trauma or mental illness but I believe that some of the unthinkable violent activities being carried out by the children and the parent in the society of today are mainly influence by what they see on the television. Last Friday as I was walking in my neighborhood I witnessed a fight between very young teenagers who were calling each other bad names of adult nature. I know and recognized the two teenagers and I ran very fast to break up the fight but what I saw not what I expected. I saw people cheering the fight and no one bothered to help me break it up. I was not able to break up the fight since both young men turned to me. This fight reminded me of some of the fights that I was personally involved in as I was growing up. I remember very well we everyone had a Television star’s name to how powerful we were. This is a true depiction of how the television has influence our culture and our way of life. I can also remember some students used to call the teacher and their parents very disrespectful names some of which they picked from the movie they watched on the television. This I not what our culture has taught. This behavior shows how the culture of television is slowly coming in to replace our traditional culture. Generalizations/Principles/Theories: I remember the night when I saw the fight between the two teenagers in my local town; I kept asking myself where we are going with all this. I really wondered how a small television box could have so much negative influence in our lives and come to replace what we have grown up knowing. I have not done a lot of research on the influence of the medium on my culture but I know some of the signs of being influenced by it. I understand that most of the young people are not old enough to see how too much television is affecting their lives. Testing and application: I decided to talk to all the teenagers at my church when we went for our weekly attendance. I did discourage them from watching the movie but told them to ensure that they do not let what they see on these movies decide for them how to live. Subtopic 6): influence of a particular culture on the medium Description of the concrete Experience: When I met with my long time friend Bob, I asked how our culture has influence the media. He quickly answered the question by telling me that the owners of the media station always regulate what is being aired to the final audience. Bob told me that they value the audience and thus work very hard to ensure they give them what they want. Bob told me that before anything I aired a team of employees go through it to see if it is okay to be view by the targeted audience and if it does not meet the requirements then it I scrapped off. I know understood how this culture we all hold dear and value so much dictates all the activities of the media. Bob also told me those programs are always rated to avoid the cases of young children viewing adult content on the television. Generalizations/Principles/Theories: For a very long time now I have only focused on how the television influences our culture and not looked at how our culture influences the television. Bob made me understand both scenarios in a better way. I now know why all the programs and movies aired on the television are usually rated. The values that we hold and believe in are supposed to be respected by everyone. Our culture is our way of life which should not be changed by anything including the media that we trust so much as an authority for information, entertainment an education. I love watching the television since it is a form of entertainment. I am happy to know that the television respects our culture and that our children and siblings do not watch movies which are full of adult content which are highly influential.