The Media: Storyteller of Our Lives
By: Sarah Levy
College Now Course - COM 11
Granted,
most of us would deem ourselves the best storytellers of our lives. Surely,
we do know ourselves best. However, imagine telling the story of your life.
Wouldn't you be slightly tempted to change a few stories around? How about
that time when the love of your life broke up with you? Wouldn't it just feel
invigorating to be able to say that you got sick of him. Of
course it would, and for that reason we must doubt that we are the best storytellers
of our lives. The ideal storyteller will not be bias (as we surely are to
ourselves) and would be able to reflect the most significant and memorable
aspects of our lives. This storyteller would be able to relate our individual
styles, morals, ethics, culture, politics, and social and economic thoughts
and behaviors. He would be able to recall all of those important aspects that
make each of our lives unique, and explain what influenced those aspects of
our lives. We need not look far for this perfect storyteller. We cross paths
with this story teller on a daily basis. Our conceptual storyteller is the
Media.
Most of us view our style as the window to our true selves, to our individuality.
While there are the very few who remain virtually uninfluenced by fashion
portrayed through the eye of the Media, most of us derive our "distinctiveness"
from a celebrity, a runway, or a magazine. And while we are certainly distinguishable
from one another, we are not as original as we claim to be. Magazines and
the "rich and famous" shape who we long to be. We emulate their
styles out of admiration, and by doing so, we adopt those styles as our own.
It is hard to pinpoint exactly what shapes our morals, ethics, and politics,
but the Media indisputably has a large hand in molding these important aspects
of our lives. The Media does a magnificent job of targeting our morals and
ethics when they want us to lean one way or another about a political conflict.
They ask us to question our morals. In the 1960s, during the Civil Rights
Movement, the Media asked us to really dig deep for our thoughts about racism.
And for the past thirty-five years, the Media has asked us to voice our opinions
about abortion. The Media coerces us to deal with personal issues so that
we can be decisive in our opinions with political issues. The Media also reflects
brewing ethical quandaries. The most recent example of this being Terri Schiavo,
all of America was debating the ethics of this sad case. As we commonly discussed
in class, the Media portrayed Schiavo in the light they chose to. They compelled
us to take one of the two political stances on this case, therefore bringing
politics into a very personal situation. During elections, and even on a regular
basis, particular news programs reflect particular political views. Though
news is supposed to be objective, many stations have become known as either
liberal or conservative.
The Media does not stop at public issues such as politics, it surely finds
its way into the diversely personal topic of culture. So what influences our
culture? Most of us would answer that our families, religions, upbringings,
experiences, etc. have affected our culture. However, according to our text,
"Mass communication has become a primary forum for the debate about our
culture. Logically, then, the most powerful voices in the forum have the most
power to shape our definitions and understandings." Because these powerful
voices are so often not in sync, different beliefs of different culture begin
to divide us. During the O.J. Simpson trial, Simpson's entourage of lawyers
cried that the accusations made against their client were tainted with racism.
There was no substantial evidence of this, but as soon as the public heard
of it, many people took the side of the defense. Particularly, many African-Americans
sided with O.J., and many Caucasians regarded the defense as ludicrous and
utterly preposterous. This certainly divided our nation, but as the text points
out, "Culture can divide us, but culture also unites us." One simplistic,
but common thing that we share is language. Regardless of race, we are able
to communicate with one another through known gestures, body language, and
appropriateness of conversation, making our society unified in at least one
manner.
Media, additionally, is influential and reflective of our social and economic
thoughts and behaviors. As a society we consider certain things appropriate
and others inappropriate. As our class discussed in our "Acceptable Content"
project, some things are just distasteful and not suitable for television.
Sex and The City is fine, because it is on Pay TV...however, it would not
be as accepted if it were broadcast on NBC. Television reflects our responses
to different types of material. But, the rating system and opinions of others
that we hear on television influence our responses. The Media is also very
generous in sharing their opinions with us, the audience. For instance, the
Media linked (as discussed in the text) Mortal Combat to the Columbine shooting.
This caused an uproar from parents and society to ban such violent games.
In 1991, people began questioning Barbie's unattainable figure, but because
America had already accepted Barbie as the Media advertised her, we did not
mind her un-proportionally small waist. Our society had already accepted Barbie,
and didn't need a replacement. We, as people are very easily persuaded by
the Media. As with television and our responses to it, our economic thoughts
and behaviors are also a two-way situation with the Media. We are inclined
to purchase what is advertised, but simultaneously, they are inclined to advertise
what we buy. Advertisements usually feature popular items that we, the consumers,
have made popular. However, without the advertisement for the products, their
popularity would cease to grow. Apple's iPod is a clear example of this. After
their initial advertisement of the product, sales boomed and it seemed that
everyone either had an iPod, or wanted one. As demand for this product
increased, Apple began to advertise more and more. These advertisements that
seemed to appear everywhere continued to push people to buy the product.
So, no matter how much we rely on our best friends, or ourselves, we turn
to inanimate objects such as televisions and radios for the answers to most
of our questions. And whether it is visible to us or not, Media plays an extremely
affective role in our lives, as do we in Media. Since the Media has played
such an influential role in our lives, and our thoughts and habits have been
reflected by the Media, I trust the Media to be the best, and most accurate,
storyteller of my life.