What the so-called 'beauty' in nowadays society is.

http://tw.twent.chinayes.com/Content/20130626/kh8jt94meaw88.shtml

Christine Kuo, an actress in Hong Kong. Because of her weight raised steadily, the spokesperson concert had been cancelled by local slimming company.

http://tw.on.cc/tw/bkn/cnt/entertainment/20150529/bkntw-20150529080055371-0529_04111_001.html

Janice M. Vidal, a Hong Kong singer, who always be reported on the gossip because of her raised weight.

We cannot deny that nowadays Hong Kong are constructing the concept of ideal women in the way of thin is beauty. As we all can see, there are different kinds of advertisement encouraging the women to slim they body. Mostly, the slimming company would invite some famous stars as their spokesperson. Those female would wear sexily so that they can show off their slim body confidently. In the case of Christine Kuo, Annie Lau, another actress in Hong Kong, would replace Kuo’s work of spokesperson because of Lau’s slimmer and fitter body. We can see that how a company makes use of the celebrity effect in this case.

Besides, we cannot ignore that our mind would be,also, changed by the media like magazines or tabloids. In the case of Janice, even though she performs well on her singing skill, her image was affected due to the tabloid gossiped.

As advertising is everywhere, it can construct the images of women, who should be as fit as the stars on the printed ad, firmly to our minds. The motivation behind those advertisement is to increase company’s income. That should be a kind of result on market-oriented economy.

Thank to market-oriented economy, there are not only the slimming company, but also other feminine products ; and, not only the local cases, but also the cases in Western that we can see the result on how market-oriented economy affect us to construct the images of women.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_World#Miss_World_Organization
The winners of Miss World

For example, Victoria Secret calls its model as angel that also showing the slim and fit body of female in its video clip; meanwhile, all the beauty pageant’s candidates we see on the TV are, almost, owning the slim and fit body. To large extent, the meaning of beauty is equal to slim and fit. And, that is an ideal women’s body that the concept constructed by different kinds of media.

http://www.playbuzz.com/stephanies15/can-you-name-these-victorias-secret-angels
Victoria's Secret is the largest American retailer of women's lingerie, and those models are slim and fit to wear its products

The camera never lies. But the photographers can !

“No picture no truth”, a popular phrase spread between the teens in Hong Kong, is meaning that a matter is truth if it can be shown through the picture. This is same as the phrase “The camera never lie” to express how the media images control our thoughts on every matter.

We cannot deny both phrases are well said. Yet, it is not an exactly correct statement to realise the truth. In my point of view, media images should be a part of the external reality. The external reality would be comprehended as a BIG CIRCLE that involve with different sizes of SMALL CIRCLE. Those SMALL CIRCLEs are not only media images, but also the auditory sense, the olfactory, even the feeling of others’ perspective, and so on.

There is an unforgettable example for me to explain my viewpoint. Last year, Hong Kong occurred Umbrella Revolution. One day, I got into a restaurant for lunch. The television there was playing the news report of the conflict the day before. An uncle told the strangers how worse the campaign was after he saw the report. At the same time, there was another customer who had taken a newspaper refuted the viewpoint of the uncle. He took the viewpoint and the photos from the newspaper as an argument.

Umbrella Revolution, 2014

All I want to explain is that a situation can be separated to different points of view on different media images to different audiences. Television is a medium to express the information of the situation. At the same time, newspaper is a medium to express the information of the situation as well. Recently, there are amount of opinions argued that bias existed in Hong Kong TV news report, especially in the largest broadcast television network, because of the stability maintenance. However, the pity is that TV are the most convenient and easiest way of the older generation to get the information. As seeing is believing, their mindset was controlled by incomplete report. Because of those incomplete report, it caused people, who are not in the scene, had different opinions.

Although the camera never lie and the picture can show the situation, the photographers can lie! Thus, I cannot make a conclusion to what extent the media images are detached from the external world. After all, it is related to the people who want to present the truth they saw with what kind of motivation they have.

To a large extent I agree that mobile technologies blur the boundary of private and public space.

Some day, my foreign exchanged friend said she found a funny phenomenon in Hong Kong. she discovered people keep walking fast on the street but also keep their eyes on checking mobiles on the street as well. She saw people would like to do their personal stuff with their mobile on the public, like watching the TV drama on MTR, sharing the location their were reaching on Facebook, taking a selfie causally on the public, and so on. She found that Hong Kong people entirely integrated their cell-phone into their lives. That’s totally different with her home, Italy.

Somehow, I thought her view was definitely true. The improvement of mobile technologies nowadays affects not only our way of communication but also our criteria of personal space.

As convenient as the mobile technologies development these days, we limitlessly communicate with the others through our mobile devices. And, the importance of virtual community keep affecting us.

In the time before the invention of smartphone, people would like to share their lives matter with a virtual identity on the online forum or talk to the others with a faked name or nickname on ICQ. The conception of virtual community was obviously different with reality that people could share without responsibility of their real life identity.

Thank to the appearing of Facebook, a upsurge of social networking platforms boomed to our lives. And, it is different that we have to put our personal information on these platforms. (Someone thought that’s  encroaching on his life so he put a fake information to sign up those platforms’s account. Yet, he could not enjoy the fun on those platforms because no one accepting his friend’s request.) Even though we can set the personal information as private, we have input it to the developers.

Besides, our changed value that we are willing to do sharing. In order to gain ‘Like’, users would like to announce different kinds of thing on those platform. For example, if a couple break up, they would make a status change on Facebook and announce it to the others.

To a large extent I agree that mobile technologies blur the boundary of private and public space. We are willing to provide our information to the application developers and share our thing to the other in a virtual community. At the same time, we have more chance to communicate with and understand our friends. It is not a definitely answer that whether it is good to us or not.

Medium is the message !!

I agree with the statement declared by McLuhan that "Medium is the message".

Generally, people realise Media as mass-media, such as the radio, television, press, and so on, which can forward the information to the public. Thus this, people can understand what is happening on the world. Yet, they only emphasis on what information they can get, they neglect that our lives are surrounded by every things, Media, that delivering the message to us.

The Form of Message

In my comprehension, McLuhan's meaning of media is not only on the scale of mass-media, but also on a larger scale that every technologies, innovations, even, our consciousness can be deemed as media. As McLuhan theorised that Media are the extensions of man, the concept of Medium should be a form of message rather than an expression of content.

I understand that Medium itself embeds the message and it affect the way that we live. Maybe let me explain in the ways of clothing, shelter and entertainment -- some basic needs of us.

Clothing

As for clothing, I will wear formal dresses when I am going to attend an interview. But I would not wear the same dresses when I am going to sleep at home. It is the unwritten rule that we will follow in different occasion. In different places, we wear different clothes and it will encode a message to the others, the receivers, and they will decode the message that what kinds of a person we are. Same clothing itself has different forms of message.

Shelter

For the place we live, house provided a message that we had to organise our clansmen and live together so that we could enlarge our force to forestall the enemy in the past. Nowadays, house is providing a totally different message that it is a place we can get along with my family and take a rest from work. The function of it is different and the form of message is different as well.

Entertainment

It should be the easiest realised that Media, the forms of message are changed in our lives. For example, we, nowadays, are willing to communicate with the others through texting on our smartphone rather than dialing or writing a letter. We are willing to receive the news feed on Facebook and the news app rather than on television.

Our behaviours are obviously changed by Media. Clothing is not only for getting warm and shelter is not an organisation any more. As now I believe that Medium is the message, and I can keep an closed eye to my life and keep analysing on how media affect us.

Student: Lo Hing Lun, Austin

How Social Media Influence On Our Ways Of Communication.

Nowadays, the advent of tons of social media entirely changes our habit. When my friend didn’t answer my phone call, I can find him/her on Facebook or Whatsapp instead. When I just wake up and open my eyes, I would like to scroll my Instagram and see the news feed around my friends. When I feel bored, I would like to go to Youtube to listen to the music or watch some video uploaded by the other Youtube users. It is undoubted that social media seems like a big part of our life.

According to the popularisation of social media, people, netizens in he global village, are simply getting closer with each other. Place and time limitations are no more hindered us to communicate with the others. Moreover, we have more chances to enrich our social interaction skills. For example, we can meet the strangers over the world through the “SHAKE” function of Wechat and get along with them. Social media allow us to enlarge our circle of friends that we are offered an ocean of platforms to meet new friends and can keep in touch with our friends handily.

Even though the social media are popular with us, they also lead to some demerits on communication.

The barrier of media users are also getting serious. Nowadays we can use Whatsapp not only to send text messages, but also to organise the chatting group. Not to mention it can send images, video, user location and audio media messages and the functions of blue ticks. It is undeniable that a small society can easily be organised on social media. Yet, it doesn’t mean a good friendship can be organised as well. The so-called ‘Friend’ on Facebook isn’t mean that they know each other in the real life. And, seriously, smartphone addicts are being common nowadays. They deprive their chance to communicate and interact with others in the real life which might let the family relationship and the friendship get worsened as well in the long run.

As there is no rose without a thorn, we cannot identify a correct answer that social media will let people understand each other better or let people more detached from each other. Nowadays, the conception of ‘’Public Space’’ is blurred on social network. And we are not clear to recognise our ‘Front’ space and ‘Back’ space to the others. With this in mind, we have to figure out our private area, to set a standard that stop being a formal one, on the platform and cultivate self-restraint when using social media.

Student Name: Lo Hing Lun, Austin