Michelle's Media Blog

There are many acts of plagiarism committed around the world, and I have to say one of the most well known incidents in recent years is between musicians Avril Lavigne and the 70’s pop group the ‘Rubinoos’. They both have songs with not only very similar titles, but the chorus, melody and beat in general are similar. Does this sound like a case of plagiarism to you? I know it certainly does to me. The two songs, ‘Girlfriend’ by Avril Lavigne, and ‘I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend’ by the ‘Rubinoos’ is where it all begins. As we can see, the titles of the song are clearly compared to each other. Next we have the song its self. At the beginning you may just assume that this might have been a case of over- reaction, and people were only judging the similarities just by the title of the song. However, as one plays the song, the chorus jumps out at you as a familiar tune,and the similarities start to become clear and it becomes quite apparent when you hear the resemblances of the melody, rhythm and beat. The connection almost comes to the point where someone like me, who is not very technical with their music terms and sounds, can feel that the song could possibly be plagiarized. Now we get to the words in the chorus, which are somewhat similar again, with the switch of the word girlfriend and boyfriend. To the normal person, one would believe that Avril has stolen this song from the 70’s hit by the ‘Rubinoos’. We can all tell that the chorus resembles the song by the ‘Rubinoos’. An act of plagiarism could easily make or break Avril’s career and image. Celebrities do not want to be known as “plagiarizers’ or ‘copy writers’. Many of her fans and co-workers could easily choose not to listen or support someone who is un- true to the world and themselves. Also they could even possibly believe that she is being unfaithful to the music industry as a whole by re- using someone’s rhythm, tempo, melody and lyrics. This is a potentially harmful accusation against the young star which she will just have to deal with and will be discussed by the music industry and pubic forever. One would think Avril’s people; the one’s she has working for her from the music industry such as her manager, would have checked this type of situation out prior to the song being released. It is difficult to understand how the outside world would notice such a similarity, when her professional advisers and recording company label would not have caught this likeness during the recording or editing of the song. Once word of the similarities had been made public, by several different forms of media, over and over again, a law suit and harsh words hit Avril and her co-writer Luke Gottwald. Avril, and Luke claim to never have heard of the band, and furthermore, never even heard the song that is being compared to her song. She and her co-writer denied the accusations of copying the song. They feel that there are very few similarities and that the ‘Rubinoos’ have no grounds to win the lawsuit against them. Some feel that the similarities may just be that, similar, but not plagiarized. Others feel strongly that the chorus is a copy of the ‘Rubinoos’ song. Though there are many different opinions on the comparison of these two songs, which some feel is just a coincidence as there are only so many words and notes that can be put together musically. Some suggest that it was inevitable that one day it had to happen; a song would have similarities to one that was already published. This is one fact we will never know, however Avril Lavigne did reach an ‘undisclosed settlement’ with the ‘Rubinoos’ for the lawsuit they brought against her claiming she copied their hit song from the 70’s. One can read into this settlement what they want, however it must be noted that a settlement does not always mean admittance to plagiarism or copyright infringement. Avril’s manager stated, ‘The settlement was a way for everyone to avoid the headache of a lawsuit’.

I believe that in any child or athlete’s life they will always have as their number one fans their family or friends, but nothing is worse than an over competitive parent. A parent who is very competitive is very hard to deal with and often embarrassing. Have you ever seen any type of child competing in a particular sport and have their wild parent giving pep talks, yelling, or even going as far as holding up cheesy signs. Well these are all symptoms are of an over bearing competitive parent. Media is one of the main causes for an over competitive parent in my eyes. Media constructs the message that to be successful, you have to be a winner. This means winning in every aspect of your life. We all know that clearly this is not always possibly, usually there is always someone who is better then you, but just giving it your all is always worth it. Media puts it in our heads that the only people who will ever get anywhere in life are the ones who constantly win. The media implies that not only will winning help us succeed, but it will improve our reputation and status in life. This is not always true, just because you win something does not mean that you will be a better person. Sadly, this is what many parents believe which leads them to become over competitive. Often they will push their kids past their limits doing anything possible to win. Not only is this unhealthy, but downright mean. No parent should be forcing their child to win by bribery or threats or just plain pressure. Children are too young for this and should be competing to compete against themselves, and not always against others. Many interpret these messages from the media in different ways. When some people see an Olympic medalist, they admire the hard work the athlete must have put in and all of their dedication. Others may be very jealous and do anything in their pathway to get themselves, or their child to become such an amazing athlete as they see in the athletes competing in the Olympics. Often if a parent was not successful in their childhood they will also put more pressure onto their child so they can “relive their dreams”. Most likely, it was the media which put the idea of wanting to be a successful child into their head. Usually in all of the hit TV shows when children compete in anything, they always come out on top and are now the most popular and are able to have such large bragging rights. Which parent does not want their child to be liked by others, so why not force your child to be a winner? Often, media messages such as commercials for winning athletes are produced to sell a product which are endorsed the athlete. By having a winning athlete in the picture, we are made to think that it is such a huge part of how the athlete won, and if we use such a product we will come out on top just like the athlete did. If parents see a commercial for a specific energy drink or protein bar which is endorsed by a gold medal athlete, why would they not purchase this product for their child to consume? Their belief is its only food; it can’t hurt them, so why not see if it will improve my child! Many parents see this as a gateway to help their child win. Some parents take matters into their own hands and the situation goes way out of control. Also I believe that having TV shows where their child can be in the spotlight such as TLC’S “toddlers in Tiaras” is not a positive way to show a child being successful. In this show we continually see the child’s parents trying to coach their 5 year old child into becoming a beauty queen, rather than a child expressing their own wishes to become one. Every “Pageant Mom” seems crazy, and will do anything to make their child win. The mother gets the child ready for hours, practice routines with them, and even does the routine themselves while out in the audience incase their child forgets. This gets over the top very easily especially considering there are so many parents who want their child to win. Not only do they want them to win, they want them to get the top over all grand prize, or the mother is disappointed. At the end the show you see reality TV to the extreme because the show concentrates on televising just the crazy pageant moms fighting with each other over who’s child should have won and how the judging was based. This all relates back to us and the media. We as humans love to watch reality shows. We love to see others in difficult situations and we enjoy being able to point out other’s flaws. When we are able to see others in an argument, it almost makes us forget about what a bad day we have had and focus on them. It takes our mind off our loves and puts us in another world where we as the viewers can just watch in other people’s drama without having to partake in it. Competitive parents are just another shot of reality TV for us.

Here is an article to show you not only if you have but if you are a over competitive parent! http://www.jobeaufoix.com/2010/03/04/competitive-parents-are-you-one/

The role of paparazzi in today’s media plays a huge role on the impact of how we perceive celebrities now a day. Usually the paparazzi are the followers of the celebrities who lurk around them for multiple hours daily, just to get one simple picture of them. Most every paparazzi is looking for a scandalous shot, but this does not always happen. When a scandalous shot is taken, they usually go directly to their cars, upload it, and then send it off to the web. Once in the web, who knows how many tabloids the picture can float into. The pictures are then posted on various forms of media such as websites, magazines, papers and even gossip TV shows. This one single shot can now be seen by millions around the world. This is not always a good thing for the celebrities. These shots may be good or bad. If bad, then the whole world now perceives you in a different way. Often the tabloids can make up headlines about this picture that may not even be true. This can be very harmful to a celebrity’s reputation. If this picture was taken at a bad time, and makes you look as if you are committing a wrongful act, then usually the only opinion we will have is bad, as that is what the picture demonstrates to the average reader. We see the heading that the tabloids have created which is not always correct to what the star may have been doing. Although, this may not always be the case. Sometimes the paparazzi do get positive images of stars. For example; they may be at a charity event or doing a good deed. This is when the paparazzi are truly helpful to the celebrity. These pictures are sent to help the celebrities’ reputation and show how they are not just pre-occupied with their own lives. Daily we receive plenty of news about celebrities. Many people thrive for their daily dose of celebrity gossip. We as humans love to see other’s flaws and point them out. We believe it makes us feel better about ourselves, or helps us believe that we are ‘normal’ just like them. The pictures reveal how everyone has flaws and we just have to deal with them. If celebrities are able to deal with them and still live their busy lives out in the spot like for everyone around the world to see, then we can too. Personally I believe the celebrities have a love hate relationship with the paparazzi. Sometimes they are able to cooperate together but at other times things do just not work out. The paparazzi are people who will get up into you face and sometimes I believe that celebrities cannot handle the heat. If they have had a long and stressful day and someone is purposely annoying them, then a breakout of feelings may happen. I do not find this completely wrong because sure, everyone does have their bad moments and no one wants a camera or to be watched and reported on at all times. But I do feel that seeing how celebrities are always being watched and followed, they should always be aware of who is around them and refrain from acts that they do not want recorded as much as possible. Other times I believe celebrities and paparazzi are able to get along very well. If pictures of a celeb show them going out doing a good deed, then they have no reason for disliking paparazzi because they are just helping the celebrity build a good reputation and bring public awareness to this deed or activity.

I am now a superstar dancer from a new hit Broadway show. I was discovered while at my dance competition performing and awesome musical theater solo. It just so happens that a talent agent was sitting front row center in the auditorium, and was gob smacked by my performance. As soon as I headed off stage I walked behind the curtains and there he was. My future agent! He pulled me aside and took down all my information. The next day I got a call, went to a few auditions, and before I knew it, there I was, up on stage performing my first Broadway hit! My dancing and singing skills were magnificent! I was to perform three shows daily. Each was approximately two hours in length. I would get up on stage and perform throughout the entire show. When I finished and went off stage, I would have to sign autographs, then go back to my dressing room to rest for our next show which would only be a couple of hours away. This was a very tiring schedule. After my third show which would end approximately at 10 pm, I would not be out of the theater until at least 11 pm. At this time I often had many fans waiting for me to have pictures taken with them and autographs, and of course the paparazzi never fail to show up. Personally I do not mind them although when they are rude or show me attitude, I do not appreciate it. I often try to ignore them or just be polite. So far during my career I have had no negative publicity which is helping me make my way to the top! My relationship with the paparazzi is going fairly well as of now, which I find quite thrilling. Sometimes they even help me lug some of my bags to my car. Some of them can be very friendly to me which I fully appreciate. For Paparazzi like that, I will spend extra time to pose for their pictures compared to the ones who try to push me around and have no manners, or try to sneak around to get personal pictures of me on my free time.