Sound's Effect on Perception

So after reading/commenting on Victoria's blog, I became very interested in how much sound can affect how we perceive certain things, but mainly advertisements. With so many things going on in this world and so many different types of media stations bombarding us with images, I wanted to expand on this concept.

This is a video that I found a couple years ago and still gives me a good laugh, but you have to watch the entire video:





It isn't perfect, but you can see how drastically the sound changed how you viewed the video. And I mean drastically. I want to focus around the U.S Navy recruitment ad because I want to talk about how the media affects our perception of things, here in our homes. The original video is very dark, gritty, and serious, which in my opinion is trying to appeal to a darker, more primitive side of men. All of the people in this advertisement were men and not a single one was a woman, which really just confirms my thoughts that this advertisement was for the tough guys.

Especially after discussing how the media tries to influence how men think and act did I really begin to notice the kind of images and ideals they implant in our minds through advertisements. Among the many ways they try to take hold of us, a few are: telling men they need to be tough, be big, and be strong and muscular. There also seems to be this association of men to the dark, gritty, and "real" scene, opposed to women to bright colors and loud happy music. The sound/music added into the original video gives us a sense of seriousness and intensity, which they are implying men "ought" to be all the time.

But suddenly, when the music changes to the upbeat Japanese version, the recruitment advertisement becomes a completely different thing. Although we continue to see the images of men jumping out of helicopters, trenching through the beach in the night, and holding automatic rifles, the new music makes it very.... comical. It's funny, even hilarious and takes away from the original intent of the video so much.

It's astounding how much of a difference the sound associated to something can make and shows what kind of psychological affect it has on how we perceive the things we see.

A Woman's Place

The 1950s were such a controversial time period, especially looking back today. Shortly after the end of World War II, there was a drastic change from the Rosie the Riveter image to the sweet, helpless, housemother. The once popular show, "I love Lucy" was one of the many ploys to convince women to leave the paid workforce and to go back home, leaving their jobs for the men coming back home from the war.

This sitcom, along with so many others from this time period, has me screaming on the inside thinking that this is all wrong. I absolutely can not stand families that behave this way because I see it as being very fake and rehearsed per se. From the start of the day, women "ought" to have a schedule outlining all the housework, cooking, and cleaning they should do around the house and they go to extreme lengths to beat this into our minds. But what can you really expect from something in the 1950s?

Aside from portraying women merely as a subordinate to men, they are in a sense shown as something lesser. This clip from the show "I Love Lucy" is one of the many examples of this:



Although comical, in this scene Lucy is portrayed as not being quite as smart as her husband. He speaks Spanish very fluently to his friends from Cuba while Lucy is speaking to them as if they were deaf; it's clear they're not and her husband has to reaffirm otherwise. She struggles to communicate with them and appears rather silly in doing so, while her husband appears to be very intelligent in being able to speak a second language. With the changes between pre-WWII and post-WWII, the sudden distinction has women being encouraged to stay home and take care of their husband. With so many things influencing how they "ought" to behave, by men, it's no wonder they're given thse unrealistic and utterly ridiculous ideals.