Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
¶ … American pop culture has been cultivated and molded by mass media. The recent iteration of mass media, electronic media, has a profound and significant influence on the daily lives, thoughts, perceptions and desires of every single person in the United States, whether people are aware of this influence, or not. The potential for media to influence people has been the subject of much debate since the earliest forms of mass media; newspaper, radio, and television have all contributed to our individual and collective psyche in America. This paper will discuss the roles that music, radio, television, and the motion pictures have played in the development of American popular culture as well as discuss some of the trends propagated by the electronic media and will provide a personal perspective on the relationship between media representations and consumerism, the human body and justice, law, and order.
Bagdikian (2000, pg. 185) notes that "advertising is the art of arresting the human intelligence just long enough to get money from it." While the message is cynical, it seems evident given our "need" for the latest gadgets, gizmo's and widget's as advertised every day to millions of Americans. These messages permeate popular culture through music, radio, television, and cinema. We are literally surrounded with slogans, signs, hints and innuendo's, to buy more, spend more, so that we can be happier, better, and lead more enriching lives….with a simple purchase.
Advertising has created allusions by displaying...
Without the ability to think critically, to discern fact from fiction, and to recognize exaggerated hyperbole in the media, people are easily swayed and persuaded to the vagaries of advertisements. The effects of repeated, unrelenting messages of idealized beauty, wealth, success and intelligence are significant. Bhattacharya (2003) notes that even incremental exposure to mass media messages can increase feelings of depression and further serve to lower self-esteem. Given the prominence of media advertising in the effort to increase consumerism, Zoubkov, et al. (2004) observe that the average American is now exposed to nearly 3,500 advertising messages/images every day. The influence of electronic media on consumerism and cultural values in America is as significant as it is effective. Children may be especially vulnerable to subjective messages to not only consume but to place value on over-consumption; as a capitalistic society, the be all, end-all is the dollar and while millions are spent advertising, billions more are generated through repeated messages concerning how we should look, how we should dress, how we should smell or not smell. Electronic media has created trends in American society such as our need to "stay connected" with the latest in cell phone technology, that requires we use our allotted minutes as often as possible; even during our daily commute to work or school. We are reminded that only…
References:
Bagdikian, B. (2000) The Media Monopoly, Sixth Edition. Beacon Press.
Bhattacharya, P. (July, 2003) Back to the future: Urbanization, globalization and consumerism. Boloji.com. Retrieved from http://www.boloji.com/opinion/0051i.htm
Zoubkov, P., Johnson, S., Young, N., Fletcher, H. & Thomas, B. (2004) Global Bits: Corporate influence in the media. Global Education Center, 3, 87-93 Retrieved from http://www.globaled.org.nz
English Literature Thin-is-in Culture, Mass Media, & Thin Body Ideals Mass media affects the people who watch it. In the beginnings of mass media, there was no public research about how it affects people. In the late 20th and 21st centuries, there is now substantial research that shows that mass media affects consumers and that there are a variety of affects. Thus, it is not just that mass media affects people, we
Media Communications Representation of characters and role models in different media outlets is based on perceptions and preconceived notions held by the producer, co-producers, and audiences at large. Only those representations are drawn that largely resonate with current meanings given to people, characters, places, and objects.The paper presents two theoretical approaches to study media and its impact at large. Theory of social constructivism provides framework to assess the meanings given to
The spin that often surrounds war, is fundamentally damaging even if it is intended as damage control for the nation as a whole, or at the very least the leaders of the nation. Public Belief It has been hinted at within this work that the old adage, the public does not necessarily believe what it hears, but it hears what it believes is at play when it comes to media. As
What is even more disturbing is the images of beauty we see of television that are given wide acceptance and are presented as world's idea of a beautiful woman are getting thinner consistently. For example, beauty pageant participants are always thin with not even a single one of them overweight or slightly 'chubby'. Miss America contestants have consistently adhered to media's false image of beauty as they continue to
Media Bias and Public Opinion It is often suggested that pure objectivity in media reportage is a myth. This view has become accepted as fact and is supported by the research and experience of objectivity in the sciences and other disciplines. Experiments in physics (Heisenberg) have lent credence to the idea that there is always a subjective component in any investigation and that true objectivity is more of a myth and
Television remains the single most influential medium in the lives of young people. However, a three-year National Television Violence Study found: "two-thirds of all programming contains violence; children's programs contain the most violence; the majority of all entertainment programming contains violence; violence is often glamorized; and the majority of perpetrators go unsanctioned" (Muscari 2002). Television violence is graphic, realistic and involving, shows inequity and domination, and portrays most victims as