This paper compares two articles — John Cloud's "Never Too Buff" (Time Magazine, 2000) and Jane Rosenzweig's "Can TV Improve Us?" (The American Prospect, 2001) — examining how each author addresses media's influence on human behavior, particularly among teenagers and young adults. Cloud focuses on how decades of shifting beauty standards promoted through magazines have led young men toward harmful body-image obsessions, including steroid use and compulsive fitness behaviors. Rosenzweig takes a broader view of television's potential to either harm or improve social behavior, ultimately leaving conclusions to the reader. The paper also contrasts each author's writing style, audience, and use of evidence.
The two articles examined here — Never Too Buff by John Cloud and Can TV Improve Us? by Jane Rosenzweig — address similar aspects of the influence media has on human behavior, and especially on teenagers and young adults, who are among the most vulnerable groups in society from this perspective. The central idea shared by both articles is that such vulnerable groups tend to be shaped by media in the way they perceive themselves, perceive others, and interpret the world around them.
John Cloud's article provides a view of how society has changed in recent decades to embrace extreme beliefs about one's body — to such an extent that many people resort to extreme measures in pursuit of the perfectly shaped physique promoted by fashion and fitness magazines. The author argues that these changes occurred gradually and under the sustained pressure of cultural norms: if in the 1950s the male body conformed to a particular beauty ideal, by the twenty-first century that ideal had shifted dramatically, and more and more people have become acutely self-conscious of the gap between themselves and these new standards.
This self-consciousness, Cloud contends, can produce damaging effects on the young generation, who may become addicted to steroids, compulsive gym attendance, fitness regimens, and bodybuilding — pursuits that are ultimately taken to limits the human body cannot safely endure.
By comparison, Rosenzweig's article, although it tackles a similar issue, leaves it largely to the reader to draw their own conclusions. On one hand, she paints the picture of a typical evening television news broadcast; on the other, she identifies some beneficial effects of television, such as its potential to assist in improving social behavior in a range of situations. Even so, the arguments pointing to television's negative aspects appear more compelling than those defending it, and the overall impression is one of cautious skepticism toward the medium's influence on society.
The two articles share a common theme but differ notably in style. Rosenzweig's article is written in a more formal, non-colloquial register, while Cloud's tends to speak more directly to a younger audience. More precisely, Rosenzweig draws on statistics from the Harvard Alcohol Project, whereas Cloud cites books as well as official sources. Even so, the language Cloud employs seems more fitting for the public he is actually describing — teens and the younger generation.
Rosenzweig, although she opens with a relatively conversational approach, shifts toward a more technical register as her article develops. Yet both articles ultimately engage with the influence of media on society and on its various segments.
"How each author frames media's scope differently"
Overall, both articles are significant for the arguments they advance and for the perspectives they construct for their audiences regarding the influence of media on society. Despite their different emphases — one focused on print media and male body image, the other on television and broader social behavior — both Cloud and Rosenzweig make a compelling case that media shapes the way individuals, especially young people, understand themselves and the world they inhabit.
Cloud, John. "Never Too Buff." Time Magazine, 24 April 2000.
Rosenzweig, Jane. "Can TV Improve Us?" The American Prospect, 16 November 2001.
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