The Proper Distance Project

Friday, September 26, 2008

Miriam College

Proper Distance Collage

Hannah Cariño
Rollin De Leon
Jo Carol Fernandez
Phoebe Lotuaco
Zephyr Rivera
Michaela Sogueco

Celebrities are constantly stalked by papparazzis who want to catch them acting "just like any human being." Their private lives are penetrated to the deepest level, down until their most private acts such as sex tapes.

Media has shaped the audiences vision of people such as Kim Jong Il, Jack the reaper, Abu Sayaff and Hitler as heartless and down right evil. The media dictates that these people are creating havoc just for the sake of it and the hardly dwell into the possible reasons for their behavior.

Proper Distancing in the media talks about how the media shows our similarities and differences at the same time. Our group has chosen the 9/11 attack media coverage because it shows the audience something that is distant from them , which is the attack and terror but at the same time homogenizes the audiences because everyone knows the feeling this event evokes which is anger and sadness for the lost souls.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Com11 Collage Sia. Pacapac, Landoy, Gonzales, Bella

Too Close

Proper Distance

Too Far

Ateneo Com11 - B

Daet, Fabros, Huang, Geli, Lambino, Mamaril, Ravida

Too Far

Too Close

Proper Distance

Too far, too close, proper distance

Ateneo de Manila University
Com11 E
Aurelio, Camacho, Enriquez, Gabionza, Hui, Magalona, Wee

When media is able to create the illusion that the self and the other are devoid of differences, having a "too close" perspective is committed. Although it is considered a privilege to be able to peek in to the lives of different celebrities, the media's depiction of personalities such as Lindsay Lohan, Kris Aquino and Manny Pacquiao allows the self of any viewer to closely associate himself with the subject, therefore blurring identity and individuality among people.

Media falls under the perspective of "too far" when it fails to recognize the subject as an individual. The portrayal pushes the subjects to a point that they have striking and bizarre traits. Marilyn Manson, William Hung, Amy Winehouse, and anyone who has been tagged as being 'eccentric', may be viewed more as what they appear to be, rather than what they really are: human beings. As a result, they are viewed as though they are strange and out of this world.

A “proper distance” perspective is defined as having a sense of steadiness in the depiction of any media-related subject. The collage above gives a fairly balanced picture of the events that are part of man’s history. This is so because the media’s portrayal of these occurrences to many people maintains the respect for diversity and similarity of the viewer with the “other”.
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Ateneo De Manila University Comm11E

Nocom, Del rosario, Hahn, Crisostomo, Wong, Balatbat, Magahis

(right click images then view or open image to see the image in full resolution)

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PROPER DISTANCE

The concept of proper distance can be described as a seesaw. the people from the different sides of the seesaw have to be at proper distance, in proportion to weight, for it to be at balance. The proper distance of the people symbolizes the The proper distance which is a combination of the too close and too far perspective, whilst the weight can be perhaps other categories to take note of like backgrounds, ethnicity etc. In the end, proper distance gives the viewer a sense of both being too far (knowing nothing about the person or actions they are doing) and being too close (knowing exactly how it feels to be in that person's shoes or knowing what that person stands for.) In short we are being told in this concept it is needed in the news to make the news important but limit the indifference and close to the personal things but not to close that it invades privacy.

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TOO CLOSE

It is the magnifying the lives and events of different people by the media. Exposing the reality is what the media does and what they are required to do but sometimes they get “too close” and shows too much detail. Just like these pictures which show different people having their lives being exposed too much by the media. By becoming “too close” we discover the lives of these people even more but at the same time because we never knew these things about their lives which are deemed to be private; these overshadow our view of them. Thus, we see them as a whole different person.

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TOO FAR

The too far pictures represent how these events are seen only as leaves on a tree and nothing more. The distance between these events are distant too us which, in a way, limits us too fully understand what these people/ groups have gone or are going through. (These pictures consist of both the ongoing GRP-MILF memorandum within Mindanao and the Hurricane Katrina victims at New Orleans)

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Sources

http://images. search.yahoo. com/search/ images?p= emergency+ news&vc=&fr=yfp-t-104&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&fp_ip=PH
http://images. search.yahoo. com/search/ images;_ylt= A0S020pe19dIqncB CCKJzbkF? p=hurricane+ katrina&fr=yfp-t-104&ei=utf-8&x=wrt
http://images. search.yahoo. com/search/ images;_ylt= A0S020yF19dIfQsA z.yJzbkF? p=hurricane+ ike&fr=yfp-t-104&ei=utf-8&x=wrt
http://images. search.yahoo. com/search/ images;_ylt= A0S020mt19dINL8A gASJzbkF? p=proper+ distance&fr=yfp-t-104&ei=utf-8&x=wrt
http://images. search.yahoo. com/search/ images;_ylt= A0S020u319dIxSsA CMeJzbkF? p=japanese+ tea+party&fr=yfp-t-104&ei=utf-8&x=wrt
http://images. search.yahoo. com/search/ images;_ylt= A0S020vi19dIKEcA HQKJzbkF? p=weird+happenin gs&fr=yfp-t-104&ei=utf-8&x=wrt
http://images. search.yahoo. com/search/ images?p= enemies+shaking+ hands&sp=1&fr2=&y=Search&ei=UTF-8&fr=yfp-t-104&x=wrt&js=1&ni=21&ei=UTF-8&SpellState=n- 2392066867_ q-rkrsYh65aA/ /eSkyjp69YwAAAA@@

ADMU COM11-B

Araos, Buenviaje, Choa, Ocier, Pow, Sanvictores, Tan

TOO CLOSE

The compilation of the paparazzi shots of Gretchen Barreto and KC Conception, the public funerals of FPJ and Rico Yan, and the picture of Chris Tiu illustrates how the media can portray various subjects as “too close” because it invades their privacy and disrespects their differences therefore becoming a form of symbolic violence. Media creates the feeling of almost knowing them by drawing the audience too close to be indistinguishable from them and hindering them from diversity through extensive intrusion.

TOO FAR

The representation of Madam Auring in FHM magazine, President Gloria Arroyo as “Adolf Hitler” and the popular show Fear Factor (show concept and what it makes its contestants do) is an example of how media can depict people as “too far” because media fails to regard these people they portray as human beings and pushes them too far that they seem not individuals any longer. Media is able to epitomize them as the “distant other” for people in general tend to overlook and forget that these people are far beyond what media depicts them to be for they also possess various ethics, mind-sets and emotions and have diverse functions, purposes and roles in society as well.

PROPER DISTANCE

Although we see poverty, calamities, destruction, and hunger that would stir up sympathy and engage us emotionally in these pictures; the people in these pictures still have this humane quality that can be seen in every one of us. These may seem far from what we are used to, but they give the reality of these situations. In this collage, we see a boy picking up trash, but at the same time, helping his brother. Another one is of a tricycle driver, still doing his job, despite the heavy flood. The circumstances in these pictures may depict extremities that may be alien to most of us, but seeing a father holding his son tenderly while sleeping, despite being in the streets make us think and feel something both at the same time.