Group Work Reflection

We were working together pretty well. I felt like we did well working with each others ideas and perhaps seeing how they flow together and make sense of the section that we were focusing on. However, I still felt as though looking back at the essay may have been a little bit overwhelming. The group I was in was a little bit quiet and I did feel as though I had to make the effort into getting others to participate when everyone got silent. I think that working with others' ideas can offer a different view ad help us understand or look at the text in a different way that helps us understand the text and help us write better essays.

One Pager Analyses

1. (Analysis of Ad) 

What interested or grabbed my attention was the fact that they said that workers are becoming more roboticized and that people are materializing their fears. I feel that machines are slowly taking over jobs and other processes that humans do the work for because they rely on that work in order survive and make a living. I see how the media proposes such ideals as a method used to bring in consumers and maintain them with new products once old ones become defective. The fear that machines are becoming more human is real because as technology changes, so does the way we access jobs, people, and etc. It's like people are forced to having to adapt to the new standards and use of technology in order to survive or make a living. I think that Stein uses so many references instead of being blunt in her essay to show different audiences how it relates to them because not everyone necessarily thinks in similar ways about her essay. This groups ideas works with my own groups ideas because Apple is providing a false image that they are going to give freedom and control through personal computing when in actuality consumers are still being brainwashed that the production of new technology in place of the old will solve all problems.

2. (The Rhetorical Context of the 1984 Ad)

What intrigued me is the part of this one pager that said that this new breed of ads is effective in grabbing and keeping the consumer's attention and requiring them to decipher obscure symbols and narratives. I think that Apple has constructed the ad from a consumer perspective that portrays the idea of a major shift in new technology allowing the user to have full control of what they do. A question that I thought of was, are the consumers really making their own decisions in using this new technology or are they still being strongly persuaded/brainwashed into believing the ideals that the MacIntosh Ad is trying to present? The question that this group raised is advertising a reflection of society or is society a reflection of advertising?. I think that Stein includes this quote in order to think about the intentions for which advertisements have towards presenting them to consumers for self-gain. I think that society is a result of advertising because in some way or another they were influenced by an ad or some form of media the ideals that they are presented with will some how change their lives in one way or another. I see this groups ideas working with our groups ideas because the way in which the MacIntosh ad is presented shows that consumers are just an object to which technology is an extension of the underlying forced conditions of technology.

Ideas or Concerns
I am still unsure of Stein's stance on the MacIntosh ad. She talks about the ad and uses so many references that it's hard to see or define exactly how she feels and her purpose in the ad.

How does the reference to Blade Runner relate to the 1984 MacIntosh ad?

An idea that I thought of in analyzing the one pagers is perhaps Apple is wanting to overthrow IBM and become the new "big" company and become the new "IBM"  in which consumers are being brainwashed through false pretenses into using Apple technology.

Tentative Controlling Purpose
I think that advertisements work in order to construct people's thoughts which subjects them to the restraints of the technology.