Freedom of Expression

The title of this documentary is called Freedom of Expression:Resistance & Repression in the Age of Intellectual Property. The documentary is based off the book by Kembrew McLeod and is narrated by Naomi Klein. 


"In 1998, university professor Kembrew McLeod (Associate Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Iowa) trademarked the phrase "freedom of expression" - a startling comment on the way that intellectual property law restricts creativity and expression of ideas. This provocative and amusing documentary explores the battles being waged in courts, classrooms, museums, film studios, and the Internet over control of our cultural commons. Based on McLeod's award-winning book of the same title, Freedom of Expression charts the many successful attempts to push back this assault by overzealous copyright holders. Freedom of Expression is an essential tool for educators, activists, filmmakers, students, artists, librarians, and more. " -IMDB

This documentary strongest arguments starts with peoples own rights to express what they feel. Sometimes we express too much and go a little bit too far and get ourselves into trouble. In this news article it shows a perfect example of how a household brand Costco got in trouble with copyrights.

http://www.insidecounsel.com/2011/08/23/ip-gray-market-goods-spell-trouble-for-companies 

This article clearly shows how companies can get themselves into trouble with really not even doing that much wrong. 

SOPA agrees with limiting the Internet and helping get rid of piracy, but a lot of people in the United States do not like SOPA because of how strict it is and really limits Internet use. People were outraged to see that some organization really wanted to limit the Internet's use .

Chairman Smith of the United States House of Representatives has some words about supporting SOPA.

Chairman Smith:  “I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy. It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products. 

“The problem of online piracy is too big to ignore. American intellectual property industries provide 19 million high-paying jobs and account for more than 60 percent of U.S. exports. The theft of America’s intellectual property costs the U.S. economy more than $100 billion annually and results in the loss of thousands of American jobs.  Congress cannot stand by and do nothing while American innovators and job creators are under attack. 

“The online theft of American intellectual property is no different than the theft of products from a store.  It is illegal and the law should be enforced both in the store and online.

“The Committee will continue work with both copyright owners and Internet companies to develop proposals that combat online piracy and protect America’s intellectual property.  We welcome input from all organizations and individuals who have an honest difference of opinion about how best to address this widespread problem.  The Committee remains committed to finding a solution to the problem of online piracy that protects American intellectual property and innovation.”

 Chairman Smith's Words Supporting SOPAThese are all comments that are supporting SOPA and how SOPA should be passed so the United States gains money back again. 

No Logo

The title of this documentary is called No Logo. The main argument around the document is how different Logos from companies are more famous and more well known than others. Also in this documentary it shows how other companies get back lashed for their logos and brands. Brands like Nike, Banana Republic, and Puma are all trusted brands with very good reputations. Another brand that just went through some heat not to long ago was BP ( British Petroleum).

Naomi Klein who wrote the book No Logo and worked on the documentary dives into the background of Nike. She finds out that at the base of this very successful company that the leader uses cheap labor outside of the United States. This makes this a multinational company which many people are against. For example WalMart  uses sweat shops and is the main culprit of the disgruntled shoppers and citizens of the United States. Many people do not shop at WalMart because the people who make WalMart's clothes are literally only making a dollar a day. This is why WalMart can keep their prices so low is because their labor is malnourished and work about 20 hours a day. 

Back to Nike, Nike uses outsourced offices but only to lessen work costs. The employees are not in sweat shops and don't work 20 hours a day, it is just plain cheaper to make sneakers in China rather than in the United States. 

  

Films love to contradict brands and logos of major brands and companies. Films like to point out how great of a product something is and while the company is doing the exact opposite for example McDonald's Adult Happy Meal comes with a pedometer so it could show how many steps people take in a given day. This is an awful way to advertise healthy behavior where as this is a video of what a person needs to do to burn off a Big Mac from McDonld's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mGQEOZAxiM 

After watching the video it clear shows how much effort a person has to give out to successfully work off a Big Mac. McDonald's has been advertising on television for years about how much healthier it is. While in reality McDonald's is still not healthy at all. 

"In one sense it is easy to understand why Ms Klein and her camp feel as they do. The word “brand” is everywhere, to the point where Disney chairman Michael Eisner calls the term “overused, sterile and unimaginative”. Products, people, countries and companies are all racing to turn themselves into brands—to make their image more likeable and understandable. British Airways did it. Target and Tesco are doing it, while people from Martha Stewart to Madonna are branding themselves. Britain tried to become a brand with its “Cool Britannia” slogan, and Wally Olins, a corporate-identity consultant and co-founder of Wolff Olins, a consultancy, even wants to have a crack at branding the European Union" - The Economist .

Mean World Syndrome

After watching the video I completely agree with how Americans act towards violence.
First of all media violence has been in an all time high with violent video games and cyber bullying. An example of a violent video game would be the video game Doom which caused two teenage boys to kill their own class mates in the "Columbine Murders" and then they eventually committed suicide. Cyber bullying has also been a very big act of Internet violence because people would bully a person to the point where they take their own life because they don't think their life is worth it anymore.
Branching out more a lot of violence now is due to racism. Now a days a lot of Caucasian people judge African- Americans, Muslim-Americans, and Latin-Americans because the color of their skin and stereotypes of how they are violent people, extremists, and sketchy people due to the fact that the media shows that image of them.

The media shows these people has terrorists or rapists and this enhances peoples beliefs in these people because the media is showing how "bad" these people are. Now to me I am from New Hampshire where there isn't that much racial diversity but I have been taught to treat everyone with respect no matter what skin color they are. Granted there will always be racist people in the world but the fewer the better. Even though there are Muslim extremest out in the world doesn't mean all of them are and not all African- Americans are  murders. There are a lot of good African- American people like Martin Luther King Jr. who wanted peace for everyone and I guarantee not all Muslims are extreme.

To change the general public view of these "people" the media really has some cleaning up to do. They have given the minority races a really bad reputation because whenever they are in the news its only for bad things. Whenever a Caucasian person does something wrong it isn't in the Breaking News section while if an African-American did something wrong than it would be in the Breaking News section. If we eliminated racism in America there wouldn't be this racist media view. The media wouldn't pin point the minorities as violent people.

To me everyone is created equal. Even after 9/11 I was racist towards Muslim-Americans I will admit that but I don't think a single sole wasn't a little bit racist a week after the attack. For the most part I am a non racist person and will is completely fine with different races that inhabit the United States. I have the most problems with Caucasians if it makes any difference, I deal with them everyday and they can be very snobby and uptight and think they are better than everyone else. This attitude will change over time if the media changes its view and stops pointing out minority races in the news and all over TV.

Micky Mouse Monopoly

Try to imagine a world without Disney. A world without magic, whimsy, and optimism. Disney transformed the entertainment industry, into what we know today. They pioneered the fields of animation, and found new ways to teach, and educate. Starting out in the 1940s Disney has changed the media due to the fact of how interesting and fascinating Disney was to everyone. Mickey Mouse was Walt Disney's first character and he has been the trademark for the company ever since. Ever since I was a little kid I have been in love with Disney. Disney Channel on TV is one of the largest television networks for children in the world. They have Disney Original movies and have plenty of television shows for any children to like. This is Disney's selling point is its amusement parks. DisneyLand in California and DisneyWorld in Florida. I've only been to one of those amusement parks but every time I go I have an amazing time. "To all who come to this happy place; welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past .... and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams and the hard facts that have created America ... with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world" Walt Disney.Also another huge project Disney has is its cruise line with their own private island. This brings in a lot of revenue due to the huge success of Disney media mogul and how successful it is. I have had the pleasure of being on a Disney Cruise and it was the greatest cruise I have ever been on. We started the cruise in Miami and cruised to the Bahamas and their own private Disney Island that is populated with carnival rides and water rides for people to play on. 

I believe that Disney will continue to being the biggest media mogul in the world and the most successful one. Because they use the media to their advantage. They attract young children as their main customers because boys and girls watch Disney Channel and they are the ones that want to travel to DisneyWorld or DisneyLand. This makes their parents bring them there on a vacation to fill their needs. 

Disney will far go into my kids generation and one day I will be bringing my kids to DisneyWorld. With each new generation it is a new cycle so Disney does not actually lose revenue they only gain revenue. "Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world" Walt Disney. Disney was absolutely right because even though he has passed on the imagination is still there and there are people who work for Disney now still have a mind for imagination and will only let DisneyLand and DisneyWorld grow for the future.

DisneyWorld will still be one of my favorite places in the world and Disney itself is one of my favorite companies that I have ever known.