Television and Fun :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A few decades ago television consisted of a small number of channels, today however there are more different channels than one can watch in a full day. Because a media company’s number one goal, like every other corporation, is to earn the largest profit possible, media companies use segmentation to target niche audiences. Moreover, fragmentation—the large increase in the number of channels—has also created niche audiences. So, what’s the big deal with fragmentation and audience segmentation? By creating niche audiences, both fragmentation and segmentation make advertisers’ jobs easier. For instance, if a company wants to advertise toys, then the company will buy airtime on the network Nickelodeon; since Nickelodeon has children’s programming. The creation of niche audiences produces certain social questions about free will and freedom of speech; because audience groups are created and constructed. The following paper wil l examine two cable networks, Comedy Central and Oxygen, to determine the effects of such programming.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First off, Oh! The Oxygen Network aired the film Whale Rider on the night of Monday, April 5, 2004. The following will be an analysis of the advertisements that were shown from nine to ten o’clock, and thus one can determine which audiences were targeted. Whale Rider is a film about a young Maori girl that wants to be the next leader of her tribe, but is at the same time shown resistance from her grandfather. Paikea, the young girl, wants to participate in the training sessions conducted by her grandfather; but her grandfather is old fashioned and doesn’t believe that a girl can become the chief. Paikea knows that she is destined to be the next chief and gets in trouble a number of times for her relentless attempts at trying to participate in the exercises. The movie has a subplot dealing with the relationship between Paikea and her father, but the film mainly revolves around Paikea’s struggle to prove herself worthy to her grandfather Koro. E ven though Paikea is much better than the boys at performing the ceremonial exercises, her grandfather is blinded by his prejudice. The film ends with a herd of whales being attracted to Paikea and getting stranded on the beach. Koro finally accepts Paikea’s destiny when she risks her life by riding on the back of a whale to direct them back to the ocean. The advertisements that were aired during the film included weight loss products—such