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CMNS Midterm Exam

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Question 1

Representation, as used in cultural industries in the media, refers to how the media portrays

groups, gender roles, and other issues by presenting them from a particular point of view.

The clip does not represent gender roles in a traditional way but challenges and undermines

traditional gender roles set by society. Conventional gender roles provide the idea that women

should remain at home and be in charge of household duties such as cooking and cleaning.

Traditional gender roles also dictate that men have the primary responsibility of being the

providers of the family and that it is their responsibility to seek jobs and take care of the family.

The man from the clip dresses in what can be considered a women’s attire and performs

household duties such as cooking by preparing breakfast for Lucy. Lucy seems to be the provider

of the family and goes out to seek a job with her husband, wishing him a happy job-hunting day

(Read and Know English Course, 2020, 0.31).

The clip uses humor to represent gender roles in a non-traditional way ignoring conventional

gender roles and stereotypes. The representation from the media can be used to shape the societal

attitudes and perceptions of an audience toward traditional gender roles. From the representation

of the clip, women are shown that they are capable of taking responsibility for being providers,

while men are equally capable of doing household chores.

References

Read and Know English Course. (2020, April 18). I love Lucy Breakfast. YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhaKsgjbt1o
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Question 2

Walter Benjamin argues that the sense of perception by humans is not solely determined by

biological factors and makeup but is also influenced by technological factors and historical

circumstances. Walter Benjamin is trying to point out that human perception can be influenced

by social, cultural, natural, and historical circumstances of our world (Walter, 1968).

Human perception was originally experienced through immediate sensory experiences, such as

what an individual saw, heard, or touched, grounding the perception to the immediate physical

environment (Walter, 1968).

Walter Benjamin argues that human perception was transformed with the introduction of film

photography technology. Film photography enables capturing moments and reproducing them in

ways that were not possible before. Film photography changed human perception by introducing

a new way for how individuals experienced and perceive the world.

Film photography transformed the human perception of time. Sense of time was originally in line

with immediate sensory experiences by individuals. Film photography introduced a new way of

capturing and preserving images, preserving the past and allowing it to be revisited and

experienced repeatedly. Film photography transformed the perception of humans by creating a

new experience of the world for them.

Film photography, as argued by Walter Benjamin, is an example of how technological factors

can shape human perceptual experiences of the world.

Film photography created a medium that allowed people to capture and reproduce visual images.

It allowed humans to perceive the world through images, and their perception was no longer tied

to immediate sensory experiences. The innovation of film photography allowed people to view

and experience the world with greater clarity.

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References

Benjamin, Walter. Illuminations: Essays and Reflections. Ed. Hannah Arendt. Trans. Harry

Zohn. New York: Schocken Books, 1968.

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Question 3

Google is a platform that is widely known and used for its search engine capabilities, while

Facebook is known as a social media platform. However, when it comes to the digital advertising

market, Google and Facebook are considered to be the most dominant players in the market, and

hence they are major competitors. Google and Facebook compete for targeted audiences online

using various digital advertising strategies.

If Alphabet, a parent company of Google, buys Facebook, a combination of two of the largest

players in digital advertising would ultimately lead to increased market concentration. The

combined force would have greater power and dominance in the online advertising market,

leaving little or no room for competing players. It would be extremely hard for smaller

companies to compete with Google and Facebook combined.

The acquisition of Facebook by Alphabet would solidify its position in the digital advertising

market. Google would save a lot of the costs they initially used to compete with Facebook in

digital advertising. The acquisition would have eliminated Google’s main competitor in digital

marketing and provided Google with ready resources to expand its digital marketing dominance

after seeking expertise from Facebook.  

However, the merging of Google and Facebook could raise concerns for user data and privacy.

Both Google and Facebook handle big user data, and if Alphabet was to buy Facebook, a

combination of Google and Facebook would have unlimited access to users’ big data. Too much

user data would raise issues of how the company would use this data with data breaches and

maintaining data privacy. The deal would have to undergo a lot of regulatory scrutiny from

regulators due to the large amounts of user data that would be available to the company.  
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