3. War Photographer

We talked about the war photos in the class and i wanted to share this film which is about this subject. It is about the war photographer James Nachtwey.
''I have been a witness, and these pictures are
my testimony. The events I have recorded should
not be forgotten and must not be repeated."
-James Nachtwey-

2. Ordinary people in extraordinary situations - REALITY TV!

People in a place, there are cameras everywhere, millions of people watching you...
Why are the reality shows so popular?
Millions are watching these programmes (Big Brother, Survivor, Popstar) all around the world and they are always popular...
Reality TV offers many opportunities for tv channels, advertisers, radio channels, internet sites,magazines and even news! In short, it offers cross-media and cross-marketing potantial.
People talk about the programme everywhere, they vote for the one who they support, they create fan clubs, newspapers, tv chanels, radio channels publish what happened in the programme and these programmes are also advertising spaces for companies.
What happens in the shows are generally fabricated situations. For example, there is a gay person, an agreesive person, a sensitive person in most Big Brothers. It causes sensations and people get curious about it. Also, many of them involve dramatisation. Maybe there is a disabled competitor and most of the people support him/her.
While the reality tv offers many opportunities for media, it also gives chance to people for being famous. Beren Saat, who performs Bihter in the popular tv series Aşk-ı Memnu, is a good example of this. She became famous after the show Türkiyenin Yıldızları.
Reality tv is not real, it is generally a scenario. It is constructed by media and for media... But the events in reality tv have immediate and considerable effect on our lives.

1. The Enormous Radio

Last week we read The Enormous Radio which was written by John Cheever. The story is examinig the American families of 1940's and the dream of perfect American family. Jim and Irene Westcott are the main characters of the book. Their dream was to have a house in the suburban country sides and have a life without any problems that are caused by lack of money and quarrels. They could hear the voices of their neighbors with their enormous radio. While their dream was being a perfect American family, the radio revealed the problems and hidden truths of the American families. Irene became curious about their neigbors' problems and secrets so she became addicted to the radio. As she became obsessed with the radio, she felt depressed instead of appreciation. She started to interrogate her own marriage and she could not stop listening the radio although it depreesed her. Their marriage became miserable and filled with a lot of problems.

The reason of their marriage problems was not the radio. They were far from perfect American family and Irene failed in hiding the problems. The radio only revealed their hidden problems. John Cheever reveals the truth that perfect American family does not exist by showing the truths with the help of the radio.

When i read the life of the author of story, John Cheever, i learned his addiction to alcohol. The story is a study of an addictive person and it is also a story of an addictive person, Irene! In my opinion John Cheevers' obsession to alcohol may have effect on his work.