Radio (Shows portrayed in films)

On radio, the media can have messages being relayed to the certain parts of the world. Radio have been developed over periods of time as it would be made easier to listen to. The radio stations have different forms of media that are relayed. There can be a radio show, music stations, news reports, and even a talk show. Like many other forms of media, radio can have huge influence on the political standpoint as well.

What happen is that there are talk show hosts who would voice their opinions and often times have partisan bias. There are cases which demonstrates the political leanings of the hosts as the shows are geared towards the listeners with the similar political views. Some of the portrayals of how radio shows are done can be seen in movies to show the audience what could be the behind the scene of the shows. Although the portrayals by the films may not be entirely accurate, it does show how the hosts can be passionate about what they do on their radio talk shows.

In the movie called “Talk Radio”, a radio host named Barry Champlain ranted about how the media tends to have its fixation on the negative part of the world. This leads to Champlain’s rant on how the media then feeds on the fear of the people to get the attention they would sought after. Once the rant was over, the radio host receives phone calls and some of the callers began to make some sarcastic comments in regards to the show. In another segment from the film, “Pump Up The Volume” where the radio host named Mark Hunter made a commentary about the news regarding a kid doing something that got him into trouble. Then the host rambles on why what the kid did was stupid and starts stating how there are detriments to suicide in a very psychotic manner. Lastly, in the movie called, “The Fisher King”, the host named Jack Lucas serves as more of a shock jock who negatively answers the phone calls he receives and often times didn’t offer a helpful advice to the callers.

Of the three film segments, the clip from “The Fisher King” comes off as more realistic because these kinds of hosts known as “shock jocks” does often times tends to be patronizing to the callers in order to attract listeners. Then there is the fact that the segments from “Talk Radio” and “Pump Up The Volume” looked as if the actors were overacting so they can try to increase the tension of the scene. In “The Fisher King”, the portrayal of Jack Luca’s radio show was on target as it also features the sound effects the host would use to patronize and even cut off the callers before they could finish what they’re trying to say. More often than not, the shock jock would also say something controversial so the listeners would tune in and at times, brings publicity to the radio station.

At the same time, the segment from “Talk Radio” is the one I enjoyed the most because it came off as if the host was putting up quite a show and it sounds interesting. If would have listen to Champlain’s radio show had it existed in real life. It’s a fun and interesting segment and how the callers respond to Champlain’s rant are hilarious. In a way it can be realistic as there are political pundits such as Rush Limbaugh and Al Franken who would do the same thing with their rants, at times getting too passionate in certain degrees.

“Shouting Fire” (Comparing the case of Almontaser and Churchill)

In the later part of the video “Shouting Fire”, there is a segment where a teacher named Debbie Almontaser who was forced to resign under political pressure. What happened is that there is a claim on how Almontaser was trying to promote her religious views. Then later on, there was another issue in regards to the concerns of Almontaser’s religion and ethnicity. The concerns came up due to the problems with terrorism and how it is believed that in Almontaser’s interview with a newspaper, she was trying to invoke a religious uprising. The newspaper would leave about parts of Almontaser’s comments to make it look like she was also denying the existence of the terrorist attacks on 9/11. As a result of the interview, it led to controversies in which Almontaser was eventually pressured to resign.

The situation regarding Debbie Almontaser has similarities with the incident that lead to the firing of Ward Churchill. They were both educators who were dismissed from their respective jobs as a result of the media controversies that happened due to what they said. Both of what Almontaser and Churchill said also has certain subject matters regarding the terrorist attacks on 9/11 as well. While there are similarities between the two cases, there are certain differences in the situations among the two educators.

One of the main differences is that Almontaser didn’t say something that can be considered controversial. In fact, Almontaser was answering questions given by the reporters and some of her quotes were taken out of context to make it look like she was advocating the Islamic uprising and denying the existence of the attacks on 9/11. Churchill on the other hand, while his speech was taken out of context as well, he didn’t help his case when then professor of the Boulder University used “Eichmann” in the speech and came across as arrogant and brash. Another difference is that in the video “Shouting Fire”, Almontaser happens to be portrayed much more sympathetically while Churchill seemed to be much more bitter and defiant. I generally side with Almontaser more as she did received much more unfair treatment and she doesn’t come across as someone who meant ill will which in contrast to Churchill whom as mentioned before seemed more negative and outspoken which makes it difficult to sympathize with him. This shows while each case is similar and that free speech at certain points doesn’t apply to people due to political problems, there is difference in which how certain individuals would be viewed.

My Reaction to “Shouting Fire” (Ward Churchill)

When it comes to free speech, often times it depends on how it can be exercised since there are individuals who get into certain kinds of troubles for doing so. In the video “Shouting Fire”, Ward Churchill was a professor of the Boulder University who made a speech which likens the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks to “Eichmann”. It led to controversies in the media which eventually lead to Churchill losing his job as a professor of Boulder University due to the negative publicity it attracted. In the video, there is an interview in which Churchill made attempts to justify what he said and why he used “Eichmann” in the speech he made at the time.

In my personal opinion, I believe that while Ward Churchill has a right to free speech, at the same time he deserved to lose his job as a professor of the Boulder University as well. The reason is that Churchill used his position as a college professor which allowed him to be able to influence many young people who attended his class that time. It doesn’t help that in the interview, Churchill came off as somewhat arrogant which to me isn’t going to help his case further as the impression does shape how a person is seen. It also looked as if Churchill was trying to impose his views to the people watching the video which would make it seem like he was showing how he was right and everyone else are wrong.

To be fair, the thing is that Churchill does have a point in regards to how the media use the word “innocent” and how certain actions by the United States in foreign countries as well as in the past generally gets glossed over. However as mentioned before, because Churchill was a college professor at the time when he made the speech that cost him his job, it seemed that he might try to impose his beliefs on his students whether it happened or not, it doesn’t help his case either way. In the end, the problem with Ward Churchill wasn’t the fact that he exercised his right to free speech; it’s the way he done so and the boundary he crossed which led to the publicity that Boulder University didn’t want. These shows how there are certain limits to certain rights as the action being made to exert it is what can result in the outcomes that happened.

TA Album Review Part 4 (Cuddle Fuddle)

“Cuddle Fuddle” started out somewhat slowly before it began to pick up the pace few seconds later. I would describe the song as an electric ballad as it much slower than rest of tracks in the album. This song is nicely done as the organ makes a good compliment to the electric beats that goes along with it. Despite being an electric ballad, the song is four minutes and thirty seconds long, yet it felt as if it ended too soon. The ending of the song came off as abrupt which makes it a bit unsatisfying, making it the only problem I have with “Cuddle Fuddle.” Still an enjoyable track and it doesn’t become too repetitive, making it relaxing despite what I felt to be a very disappointingly abrupt ending to the song.

From the way I listened to the song, the lyrics starts out on how the person made mistakes and became frustrated but became too busy to stay mad. Then the person calmed down after being complimented as stated “Then you applauded when I was loving,” leading to guilt and realized what he had done. Later the person goes on to tell about the tough times he had been through and wanted to be forgiven as the lyrics states, “Oh my God, just please don’t ever let me go. Yeah, sometimes we’re high and sometimes we’re low,” in order to demonstrate how one can soar up high only to get struck by the realization of reality from time to time. He then goes on to try to convince the girl he loved to stay with him and that everything will be better. There is also the part in which the person would try to remind his girlfriend about all the good times they had and wanted it to happen again. However, by the end of the song, the lyric then states, “And I don’t wanna go, oh, wherever you go,” which signals the end of the relationship despite the person’s best efforts to convince his girlfriend. Afterward, this is when the song came to an abrupt end, making it feel like a cliffhanger without a conclusion.

“Cuddle Fuddle” is a decent song and after reanalyzing the lyrics, I realize that perhaps the abrupt end was done as a symbolism. When it comes to the cliffhanger without a conclusion, it can show how some things can never be finished.

Rating: 3 1/2

TA Album Review Part 3 (Sleepyhead)

Another song from the album that I happened to like was “Sleepyhead” which happens to be the final track. It is a good way to wrap up the album and may have been one of the more interesting songs as well. The distorted music and the chanting in the background helped this track stand out as it makes it the most different song of the album. The chanting was actually a song called “Óró Mo Bháidín” by Mary O’ Hara which is sampled for the background of “Sleepyhead.”

When it comes to the message from the lyrics of the track outside of the sample of “Óró Mo Bháidín”, there are many different interpretations that can be made. From the way I heard it, the lyrics from the second verse seems to have been describing the pain the person have gone under. Then toward the end of the verse, “You were one inch from the edge of this bed,” there was a struggle in which the person would try to wake up from the pain. However, by the end of the verse, the person fell back to sleep as the lyric states “I drag you back a sleepyhead, sleepyhead” indicating that in the end, the tiredness of the person have finally overcame him despite his efforts to wake up from the painful slumber.

While “Sleepyhead” may not be my all time favorite track of the album, I do consider it to be among the top. The song is pretty catchy and can get stuck in your head even just from listening to it once or twice. It is a good song with a nice use of a sample from Mary O’ Hara’s work which can make it a somewhat haunting track. Then the music of the track becomes distorted so at some point it would become difficult to make out the lyrics, but it’s still worth multiple listens. One of the tracks that can seem fresh no matter how many time it gets played; “Sleepyhead” is a good trippy song that can be fun to listen to. This is my take and the interpretation of the song.

Rating: 4

Source:

TA Album Post Part 2 (Better Things)

As I listened to each of the tracks from the album, one song that stood out to me the most was “Better Things”. At first, the song would start out with a silly monologue by one of the artists stating that this is their fifth song and hopes that the listener will enjoy it. Almost immediately afterward, the song plays with a fun upbeat tempo that makes me feel like I want to party. While all the tracks are generally up-tempo as well, “Better Things” is the song that I didn’t get tired of listening to in few replays and doesn’t get repetitive as well.

When the open monologue that was played before the song starts, after stating that it’s the band’s fifth song, the band member also said, “Now this would be our best song you have ever heard,” to me it means that this song is what they written for fun and when it comes to the last bit which ends with “The dirt bikes going on stage. Thank you.” it signals the somewhat more carefree nature of the song in which one should not worry about certain things too much as some of the song lyrics may reveal.

One example is the chorus in which the singer is trying to tell a girl that she’s driving him crazy because she was worrying too much. Then he tells her not to worry too much as things can get better as stated “Better things are coming, I swear there’s truth in that” although it came off as a desperate attempt to calm her down as the girl does have a reason to be worried. As the song went on, the singer goes on to tell the girl about the places and things that could happen if they believe. As the lyrics have the singer saying “I believe in believing the things that we don’t see”, this shows the situation in which the singer and the girl would escape into the fantasy land where things are ideal by relaxing. This would demonstrate the carefree nature of the song. This is how I interpret the meaning of the lyrics of the song as it music does seem to emphasize the joyful nature, making it a nice listen.

Rating: 5