A Mediated Culture Analysis

Mediated Culture: A look into the way media affects us

Media is one of the most powerful tools that a communicator can have. Media can build up empires and also tear them down. It has proven to society time and time again that its power is untamable, as well as unpredictable. It shapes who we are personally and it shapes everyone around us. In order for one to truly understand the concept of media integrated into our culture, we have to first discern what media is, the elements inside of media, and finally how media connects to us and our culture as well as how it shapes it and our responsibility in utilizing this power. As active members of society, we are constantly bombarded with loads of information everyday. Statista, an online statistic

When coming up with a mode of address, it is a process that will define how the message will get across to an audience. Modes of addresses are often defined by target audiences. For example, if media was being made to get a message about buying a nice car to the upper class, the mode of address would probably include adequate language about specifications and benefits, also this particular mode of address would probably be included in a magazine that the upper class tends to buy. This relationship between the person creating the media and the person consuming the media is included in the mode of address. Warren and Fassett also describe how this relationship also works in reverse, not only is the addresser shaping the advertisement to conform to the wants and needs of the addressee, but the addressee (in this case the upper class) is conforming to the expectations of the addresser. This is partially what shapes the product that we buy, and in turn, who we are as an individual. Another term that ties closely to this idea is co-constitution, Warren and Fassett (2010) define co-constitution as the idea that “we use and create media even as media use and create us” (p.212). This idea is important to know when

This means when someone puts a message into media, it has more of an effect on society because the message reaches out to mass target audiences, rather than one on one communication. Everyone can interpret a message differently, so we use tools like representation to make sure the point is across clearly. When the point gets across clearly is when a real affect happens in our culture, media is a tool that could be used to bring people together, or tear them apart, creating a cultural impact on how we see certain groups or people or even how we think all together. It can establish a mythical norm, or it can attempt to break barriers of what is known to be “normal”. But in order to achieve all of this one has to understand how it makes an affect on an individual. In the book “understanding popular culture” (2010) the author, John Fiske, concludes that culture is something that is a process taking place, and that it is something that is never really fixed and set. This means that it is very malleable and easily changed, it might not seem that way to one individual, but with a tool such as media, it is possible. For example, in a personal experience, in 2012 one man named Jason Russell found an issue that he was passionate about, he used many different forms of media to get a message across to the public; the message was what was kids were being forced to join an African militia and kill people, and society