http://justjared.buzznet.com/2009/05/19/angelina-jolie-child-soldiers/
This article talks about Angelina Jolie, a very famous actress in Hollywood who is known to be involved in issues concerning children problems. She attends the trial of a Congolese warlord charged with using child soldiers held at the International Criminal Court.
Angelina Jolie has been known as a very caring and advocate actress who is also an activist for children, not only in United States but also in Africa. She has been known as a very generous actress that supports children not only in material value but also gives her ‘high-priced’ time to make a visit especially for children in the rural area. Being a well-known actress and also a children activist, Angelina Jolie has attracted our focus more towards her when she takes action(s) as a child activist. It diverts us, as Hollywood audiences; to see her as figure and ground from other child activist.
There are ways to which we select our information; influenced by mass media, environments, and many more. As human beings, we are used to organizing information through influences such as cognitive schemata, structural principles and organizational principles. Where cognitive schemata is also divided into personal constructs, prototypes, scripts and punctuation.
Angelina Jolie has created a different interpretation as a public figure, as audiences have personal interpretation; through personal construct and prototypes influences. Most of the case, other famous public figure does not really care about their surroundings; even though they do appear in the media as a voluntary social worker, most of them are doing that because of the scripts given, thus audiences have good interpretation about them. The first impression I have about public figures is whatever they do, is basically to make a better image for themselves. However, Angelina Jolie has proved that what she is doing is because she really cares about the children, and she changes my perception about her due to her sincere concern towards those children.
What Angelina Jolie has done this far, also shows a different perception in regards to the matter of caring about other people’s children in general, from one that has been developed in Asia. As known in Asia, people do not care much about another’s child, including those random ones and poor people children. This condition is also influenced by structural principles that shape our overall approach towards a task. Because we are mostly being taught that taking care of other people’s business would cause trouble for ourselves.
Last but not the least that can be recognized from the article is Angelina Jolie was using verbal communication by speaking in French. She used it since she was communicating with people who talk in French. Therefore, we can conclude that Angelina Jolie is not only well versed in English, but also in French. This ability allows her to communicate better with those people who understand French instead of English when she wants to bring across her ideas.
Do first impression really cannot be changed? Do people always say that other people should have the same perception as they are? I do not think so. This article has changed my perception towards Angelina Jolie as a famous public figure.