Turn on your regular cable TV set. What do you see? Chances are there will be one or more tall, thin, bright-eyed women accompanied by an even taller, more toned man. No matter what program you tune into, the cast is no doubt easy on the eyes. I realize there are exceptions however, but even a high percentage of those are stories or reality shows or contests based off of the desire for ideal beauty. The media constantly broadcasts the small percentage of the poplulation that look, act, and live a certain way. Rarely do they portray an average lifestyle. Making those of us out of the spotlight want to be more like those in it.
Take one of my personal favorite shows, Desperate Housewives, for example. The story is about five not-so-desperate bombshell housewives that all live on the same street full of lust, betrayl, mystery and romance. In two weeks of the show I remember seeing a proposal, two murders, one drug bust, and another hospitilization. Entertaining, but pretty unrealistic. The fact is, the greater majority of us dont live these outrageous, spontaneous, lavish lifestyles, and we all want what we cant have, its human nature.
There are however some of us that take the exact opposite veiw, those disgusted with the media and "ideal" beauty. Although much of our population, (in America anyway), thrive off of celebrity entertainment, trends, and tabloids, there are still those brave enogh to be origional, living up to their own standards, or the standards of thir family or religon. Those people take in what the media has to say and immediately spit it back out, realizing the rediculousness of it all.
I think the media does determine what is important to some people, and by doing so decides what is not important to others. There is no doubt that the media influences the choices we make everyday but we are still our own people and the standards to whice we live up to, wether it be the medias or not, will always be up to us.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Kacie,
I really liked your essay. It was completely original and there's no way it wouldn't stand out in a stack of essays. Although you said it was similar to mine I think the point of viw you took was really new and interesting. As mine focused on the media just playing one part in contributing to what's important to people you actually addressed those people that it actually does the exact opposite to. How do you think the media knows what's going to appeal to the masses and how to make them want to conform to it?
Open ended question to think bout..
<3
Post a Comment