The Influence of Media in Brazilian Families Essay -- Television, Tele

This essay explores the representational meanings in my collage work Media and Me. This work, which the main theme is the Television, was crafted in two parts – which is reflected on the structure of this essay. In the first part I address to the influences of television in my homeland, Brazil, through family representation in Telenovelas. The essay will examine how this influence might be linked to cultural changes in the structure and identity of Brazilian families, including mine. The other part of the collage explores the use of internet to access television and how it is affecting the television industry. I will therefore, go through some of the technological, cultural and economic effects caused by, highlighting the struggle of broadcasters with online competition and user-generated content (UGC). The influence that telenovelas in Brazil impose on national identity over the years might be linked to profound cultural changes (Porto, 2010) and also linked to my family and myself. This is because of the everyday presence of this genre in the lives of most inhabitants of this country and the portraying of their culture and, in conjunction with other social factors, could have lead to those changes. The images of families on the collage identifies one instance, due in part to this influence, how the standard family size abruptly shrinks in the last four decades (Gorney, 2010). The pictures of novelas ¹ showing a large number of family members coincide to those of my parents and grandparents, and contrast to the ones below of smaller families and my own. More specifically, for instance, my paternal grandfather had eighteen siblings while the one sister. What now is called the modern Brazilian family might be linked to the ... ... of the series Family Guy broadcasted – accessible to USA audience only – on the 20 november 2011 by Fox Network was already available for viewing on the next day at the Megavideo website. While in the UK, BBC Three is still exhibiting last year's season. I have used pictures of programs I watch through this and other related websites. This essay covered different aspects of Television represented in my collage: its role in the family identity and structure, and as an industry struggling to survive the upcoming technology. Through this art composition, I tried to represent the conception of media illustrating Television as a medium technology but also as part of a cultural, social and economic sphere. Moreover, I explored how it affects me by connecting those aspects covered with my own experiences, being them with my family or in the new ways I use this medium.