COMM 146
Evolution of Mass Media Images
Description: Lecture, four hours; discussion/laboratory, one hour. Analysis of evolutionary psychology as basis for images selected by media portraying women and/or minorities in entertainment, advertising, and informational communication. Letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2025 - Given that it was my first quarter at UCLA and the class was about the evolution of mass media images, I had the highest of hopes entering this course because I was very interested in what it had to offer. I was expecting a communication class to be very engaging and have opportunities for cool assignments pertaining to the topics we are studying; I was in for a rude awakening. Every class felt like groundhog day with him entering wearing the same grey t-shirt and reading off of the slides in a very monotoned voice. I feel like I learned more about his life and accomplishments more than I did of the class material. He went to UCLA for undergrad, went to Stanford to pursue a law degree, obtained a doctorate in psychology and has been teaching for 20 years; that is only a small handful of the many things he shared about himself. Meanwhile, I can’t tell you something I learned in the class that I didn’t already know before. There are no homework assignments, but you are graded on a midterm, final, and a couple of assignments that are supposed to help bring your grade up since the tests are 40% of your grade. You have to do really well on the tests or you are basically screwed since there are no extra credit opportunities. Unfortunately, I studied really hard for both tests and went through the readings but only managed to get Cs on both of them, causing my grade to suffer. He is one of those professors who will add items on the test that were never covered in either lectures or readings which was really annoying. Rather than identify areas that he may need to improve on, he proceeds to make students feel like we are the problem and that we only receive the grades we truly earned. He is very egotistical and acts as though life is the same as it was 20+ years ago and that any problem that young people face is because of our ignorance. Every class just felt like an annoyingly long lecture from your dad about how young people now are too sensitive and that life wasn’t like this way back in the day. Not to mention that if you raise your hand in the class to ask a question or answer him, he proceeds to talk over students before they even finish because he’s just so impatient. Yet, this guy wonders why nobody shows up to his office hours. I was lucky to end the class with the grade I received because I did not have the greatest expectations for my GPA. I honestly regret choosing this elective because I was more stressed about this class than I was for my actual major classes, which I managed to receive As for. He’s probably going to read these and scoff but you know what, the truth hurts, and the truth is that he is just not a good professor and lacks the self reflection skills he desperately needs. I would avoid taking any class of his if you can; save yourself the stress.
Fall 2025 - Given that it was my first quarter at UCLA and the class was about the evolution of mass media images, I had the highest of hopes entering this course because I was very interested in what it had to offer. I was expecting a communication class to be very engaging and have opportunities for cool assignments pertaining to the topics we are studying; I was in for a rude awakening. Every class felt like groundhog day with him entering wearing the same grey t-shirt and reading off of the slides in a very monotoned voice. I feel like I learned more about his life and accomplishments more than I did of the class material. He went to UCLA for undergrad, went to Stanford to pursue a law degree, obtained a doctorate in psychology and has been teaching for 20 years; that is only a small handful of the many things he shared about himself. Meanwhile, I can’t tell you something I learned in the class that I didn’t already know before. There are no homework assignments, but you are graded on a midterm, final, and a couple of assignments that are supposed to help bring your grade up since the tests are 40% of your grade. You have to do really well on the tests or you are basically screwed since there are no extra credit opportunities. Unfortunately, I studied really hard for both tests and went through the readings but only managed to get Cs on both of them, causing my grade to suffer. He is one of those professors who will add items on the test that were never covered in either lectures or readings which was really annoying. Rather than identify areas that he may need to improve on, he proceeds to make students feel like we are the problem and that we only receive the grades we truly earned. He is very egotistical and acts as though life is the same as it was 20+ years ago and that any problem that young people face is because of our ignorance. Every class just felt like an annoyingly long lecture from your dad about how young people now are too sensitive and that life wasn’t like this way back in the day. Not to mention that if you raise your hand in the class to ask a question or answer him, he proceeds to talk over students before they even finish because he’s just so impatient. Yet, this guy wonders why nobody shows up to his office hours. I was lucky to end the class with the grade I received because I did not have the greatest expectations for my GPA. I honestly regret choosing this elective because I was more stressed about this class than I was for my actual major classes, which I managed to receive As for. He’s probably going to read these and scoff but you know what, the truth hurts, and the truth is that he is just not a good professor and lacks the self reflection skills he desperately needs. I would avoid taking any class of his if you can; save yourself the stress.
Most Helpful Review
Professor Okami was an interesting enough lecturer. I think he made some interesting points, but he presented them in a very insensitive manner. He made jokes about domestic violence portrayals in the media, and declared to the class that the Clothesline Project (where sexual abuse victims decorate shirts about their experiences) was misleading. I thought this was quite insensitive as rape victims may have been amongst the students in the class, and he insisted on belittling their experiences. He also told us too many personal details for comfort(eg, he's on his fourth wife and that one of them choked him and another one broke his rib). The class was NOT about mass media images, but rather evolutionary psychology, the final paper was assigned with out much direction, which made it difficult to write, and the exams were relatively detail specific. There was a tad bit too much reading and the Pinker Blank Slate book should be burned because it's so repetitive. Probably would not recommend the class.
Professor Okami was an interesting enough lecturer. I think he made some interesting points, but he presented them in a very insensitive manner. He made jokes about domestic violence portrayals in the media, and declared to the class that the Clothesline Project (where sexual abuse victims decorate shirts about their experiences) was misleading. I thought this was quite insensitive as rape victims may have been amongst the students in the class, and he insisted on belittling their experiences. He also told us too many personal details for comfort(eg, he's on his fourth wife and that one of them choked him and another one broke his rib). The class was NOT about mass media images, but rather evolutionary psychology, the final paper was assigned with out much direction, which made it difficult to write, and the exams were relatively detail specific. There was a tad bit too much reading and the Pinker Blank Slate book should be burned because it's so repetitive. Probably would not recommend the class.
AD
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