The Last Tribute

Michael Jackson, the icon and King of Pop music, recently passed away at the age of 50. Found at his home, unconscious after a cardiac arrest, attempts to resuscitate him failed. The news came as a shock to most people around the world, especially die-hard fans of his, because of how sudden the news came. There had been plans for him to hold 50 concerts starting from July of this year to revive his music career but unfortunately, it is impossible for the concert to ever take place now. It seems that his crazy and bizarre lifestyle through these past years have finally caught up to him. Still, despite all the bad press through the years, there is likely no one that can ever steal the title of King of Pop or deny the impact he made in the music industry.

Michael Jackson was a classic example of the impact Media Globalisation can have on the world. In a time when globalization is still not as rampant and when technology was still less developed, Michael Jackson took the world by storm with his radio friendly hits and eye-catching dance moves. He was a music and pop phenomenon. His fans were not limited to only the western society, but the whole world. Regardless of age, gender or race, he was able to capture the hearts of the world. Language had not created any barriers or communication breakdown between any of his fans. Even if they did not fully understand what he was singing, people still idolize him because of the presence and charisma he has on the stage.

However, it was also because of Media Globalisation that eventually brought down the popularity of the once popular pop icon. News of his series of eccentric behavior, starting from the alleged case of pedophilic act, spread quickly worldwide, which served to swiftly bring down his popularity. With the decline of his popularity, it did not seem to help him in the least, and only resulted in even more bizarre behavior and actions that never stopped. Gossips and bad press seemed to be the only things that were surrounding him before he passed on.

It is a pity that a once so iconic and admired figure would fall down to such a state. From his once glorious past, all he has left behind now are his family, the remaining die-hard fans and lots of debts. Media globalization had been one of the factors that had affected his career, both in positive and negative ways. It had created conveniences for many but also no longer give people the chance to err. It is neither good nor bad though as fundamentally, the life of a person is decided by the person himself. It is after all, just an influencing factor. It is the individual that make their decisions in the end.

high or low?

This Heineken television commercial a few days ago and is a strong example of an advertisement with high context. The commercial first shows a group of ladies walking to a walk-in closet filled with clothes and shoes and proceed to show them screaming and squealing excitedly to show the importance fashionable items such as this are to women. While screaming, shouts can be heard from the room near the ladies. The camera switched to the walk-in refrigerator filled with Heineken bottles with a group of men shouting and reacting in the exact same way as the ladies had when they first entered the walk-in closet. Without saying anything in words or verbally, the commercial had successfully planted the idea of how the Heineken beer is important and loved by guys, just as much as how ladies love their shoes and clothes.

I find commercials and advertisements such as this a whole lot more eye catching and memorable as compared to low context advertisements, such as the ones Dell frequently advertise on Today newspaper. In fact, most electronic goods, especially computers, follow the low context way of advertising their computes, showing only specifications and price of the advertised products with barely any form of ‘extra’ information to make it stand out. The only thing they are likely to show in such advertisement are most often just words like ‘discount’ which straights out just tells the readers what they have to offer, leaving no room for imagination like what the Heineken commercial had done.

However, I feel that there is no better or ‘right’ way for the advertisements to be shown though. What matters really is where the advertisement is shown, the products and the market they are targeting at. Although advertisements that are high in context are often more entertaining than the low context advertisements, it will likely not be well-received if it is shown in countries where the people are used to interpreting information for just what they see and read. In such cases, using a high context advertisement might most likely only cause confusion to the viewers. Low context advertisements though boring, tend to be a whole lot more informative and likely to be a better way of advertisement for non-lifestyle products, mostly electronic products, where specifications would likely take precedence over standing out from the crowd.


(Credits: YouTube and the respective uploader)

Jaguars, Cougars and Pumas. Meow~

A few weeks back, I came across an interesting article in Urban on Cougars. No, I’m not talking about the feline animal, but the term that has been coined to older females who date younger men. This scenario is unlikely to be unfamiliar with everyone, especially with the emergence of some high profile older women-younger men coupling in the entertainment industries in recent years. There was the highly-publicized and talk about romance between Nicholas Tse and Faye Wong nine years back, and more recently, the very successful relationship between Demi More and Ashton Kutcher. Be it in Asia or Hollywood though, all these romances have always raised eyebrows because of their unconventionality.

Recently, the creation of a new reality show in the US, The Cougar, which features a 40-year old mum of 4 being pursued by a group of 20 young men in their 20s, seemed to hint that Americans are fast catching on to this idea. However, this still seem to be a touchy topic when taken to the Asian context, as can be seen from the article. There were individuals, high-profile women who are dating younger men, who rejected the interview from the writer because they felt this topic was ‘too sensitive’. Even the men were uncomfortable discussing about it.

So what really is the problem with this coupling? Why are couplings with much older men and young women readily accepted by society but couplings with older women and younger men (even if the difference is only by a few years) stared and fussed at? Is this kind of relationship wrong just because the culture and value passed down from history states that the men in the relationship need to be older then the women?

These are some questions I feel society, or at least the people who still cannot accept this coupling, should ask themselves. Personally, I feel that age does not matter in a relationship because eventually, it is the emotional aspect that ends up more important than the physical and superficial factors. Seeing my parents, who is an older woman-younger man pairing, stay loving even after all these years further strengthened my views on this. It’s also because of this that I never felt there was anything wrong about such pairings and realized it is all just a matter of people’s views and opinions being influenced and imprisoned by the problem called Culture.

I strongly believe that society should try and break free from all the norms and values they are tied down by from the past and learn to accept not only for this situation, but also other controversial and unconventional subjects, to create a more accepting and open society for themselves and the future generations. If that happens, then less prejudices, which is often a common source for hatred, will exist lead to a more pleasant and harmonious society.



(Credit: The Straits Time, Urban, 29/05/09)

We Got Married!

While browsing through youtube a while back, I came across a Korean reality show called ‘We Got Married’. Basically, the show pairs two celebrities together and whether familiar or not, the paired couple would have to start their pretend married life together. Four to five couples are usually shown in one season and it is interesting to see how different the different couples react when they start this show together. Some jump straight into the act like a real married couple and live sweet, ‘fairy-tale’ like lives together, while another may quarrel over petty issues, much like some younger couples these days. One couple in particular stood out for me because of how ‘real’ their relationship evolved over the episodes.

Engagement

In the above video, it shows the engagement process between the couple. They clearly felt awkward with each other’s presence because besides not knowing each other well, there is a six-year age gap between them (the woman is older), which is not a common coupling in the more conservative Asian society. Still, they tried making small talks and conversations with each other in an attempt to get to know each other better and make the ‘marriage’ work, which is pretty much like how couples that are in the initial stages of dating are like. The couple still do not know a lot about each other and so some form of ‘wall’ or awkwardness might form, but through small talks, they would slowly get closer and more comfortable in each other’s presence.

Management

This was filmed around two months after the start of their fake marriage. To manage and maintain the marriage, the woman had flown over to Japan to find her ‘husband’ because he had to stay there for a month for work commitments. As he was with his band mates, she took the initiative to take care of them by cooking food they requested the day before, and also tried bonding with them so as to close the gap between her ‘husband’ and her. In the later part of the episode, she had even went to his workplace (the recording studio), at his invitation, to see how he is like at work. Although not much verbal interaction can be seen in this episode, because they still felt a little awkward, the underlying intentions in their actions showed how they are trying to make this relationship work.

Disengagement

Their stint in the show lasted for seven months, and the video above showed their last words to each other before they officially ‘divorce’. At the request of the woman, they gave messages, through the camera, to the future spouses of the other, and through that message, it can be seen how much they have progressed from being near strangers to someone they know like the back of their hand. Their parting was on amiable terms, with them sharing a hug even at the end, and although not said out, it can be seen that their friendship was there to stay even after the separation.


(Credits: YouTube and the respective uploaders)