Ch. 8 What Media Classes Really Want to Discuss

Reading Summary

In chapter eight of What Media Classes Really Want to Discuss, Smith explains interactivity, which is an interchanging term. In media, however, it is considered to have passive media consumption and make audiences do different things according to the type of media they are consuming. Smith decides to separate media into two categories: the kinds of things people do with specific types of media and the specific activities a medium encourages audiences to do. He also explains how meta-messages tells society how to watch and accomplish certain things a certain way. For example, these messages can tell audiences how to watch movies or television programs based on their biased reasonings; they only show what they want us to see. However, audiences can have more choices and control over what they are doing with the help of interactive media. Smith labels interactivity with “highbrow/lowbrow status of media’s content” (Smith 141). This means that a high quality and well-known media source can be considered more favorable over another. Space is a key characteristic in interactivity because it can give audiences a similar experience when interpreting media. It allows them to have more control over their media preferences and ultimately gives them more control over their media intake. By having multiple platforms to control our media intake, it allows audiences to have more control over their interactivity and make personal decisions based on their preferences.

Outside Example

While reading this, I kept thinking of Netflix and Disney Plus and how they have perfected the term interactivity. These big companies created these powerful platforms where audiences can pick and choose what they want to watch at any given time. Netflix is famous for their binge worthy television shows as well as their large selection of popular movies. Netflix created this platform specifically for audiences to watch whatever they want at the touch of their fingerprints. Disney Plus is new to our streaming services but it has become very popular for the short time it has been out. They have the same services as Netflix except it is strictly Disney associated movies, television series, and documentaries. Here, you have all these luxuries right at your fingertips and as society, we have become very comfortable with these platforms that we will give anything to have access to services like these.

Reading Connection

Smith’s idea of interactivity relates to our modern day world so much. We, as a society, have become so obsessed with streaming platforms like Disney Plus and Netflix. More specifically, we like to have this type of media interactivity because it allows for amounts of media right at our command. Audiences like to have a lot of control on what they watch and more importantly, how they interpret media on their own. This is not to say that Netflix and Disney Plus are bad to engage in but they definitely send meta-messages out to their audiences in a subtle way. I think our society has taken in these types of messages and what they decide to do with them is their business, just as Smith revealed to us in chapter eight.