Module 8 Archives

Red Dawn’s Motives

The propaganda piece I chose is John Milius’ 1984 film, “Red Dawn”. This fictional film is about a hypothetical invasion of the United States by Russian and Cuban soldiers. While the events that take place in this film are not completely impossible, the chances of them actually happening are slim to none. This film was used to incite fear of Russians, Cubans, and anything or anyone who was affiliated with communism in right-wing conspiracy theorists.

The creators of this piece obviously had a biased view and agenda when making the film. This becomes apparent in a variety of ways. One of these ways is how the invading soldiers are portrayed. We definitely see the invading Russian and Cuban soldiers being cast as unprovoked villains. There is also a part of the film where captured American civilians have been put into a detention camp inside a drive in movie theater where they are shown a propaganda piece themselves in an effort to convert them.

It is obvious that the director had hoped to stoke the tensions and fears of individuals who were already scared due to the Cold War era, and prey upon this with every opportunity in this unrealistic and purely fictional film. I feel that they probably succeeded with their targeted demographic, but flopped with others.

“My Perception of Social Media”

My perception of social media has not changed much since taking this class, for the most part anyway. I was already well aware of the benefits and capabilities of having a strong social media presence and marketing strategy. However, I have learned of new various tools and methods to employ in my own personal strategy. I very much plan on using these tools in my management and strategy when it comes to the professional business accounts of Hermann Brothers.

Two main things I’d like to touch on. The first is blogging. I had no idea how useful of a tool blogging could be, or how it really even worked in the first place. Taking this course, along with Intro to Digital Video, has forced me to utilize WordPress and become an amateur blogger. By using this feature, in conjunction with the reading of the required textbooks, has taught me a lot and given me the drive and desire to keep blogging, even after I am done with the college courses.

In this class, I have also learned of many new social media platforms that I was not previously aware of. I have also learned about how they work and the benefits of using them. I am particularly interested in a few of these applications including, but not limited to, Twitter, Flipboard, and Pinterest. I am very excited to play around with these a little more once I have some more free time on my hands.