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How does media influence culture and society
How does media influence culture and society
How does media influence culture and society
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The media is a powerful tool. It can help shape our identity, behaviour, and our view of the world. Everyday we are shown new images, videos, and other materials, through television, newspapers, social media and many other forms of the media. These images and videos influence people without them noticing they are being influenced. It is important to be able to criticize and analyze what the media is telling us. Degrassi is a Canadian drama franchise. After doing some research I was able to find how the television show “Degrassi” has strongly contributed to social change through their show, as they cover many cultural studies’ issues. More specifically, they have had characters who model the transgender, lesbian and gay, characters of varying …show more content…
races, socioeconomic classes, and all other demographics that inevitably contribute to defining an individual community. Degrassi created a character named Adam Torres who was female-to-male transgender teen. Adam escape a transphobic bullying at his old school, and on Degrassi we watch him grow and become himself at his new school. Though the show we get to observe how he becomes accepted but friends, family, and peers. The show Degrassi also focuses on characters dealing with abusive relationships, the agony and ecstasy of coming out, and much more. We are able to study cultural and social change through the way the media is produced and consumed and it is phenomenal how much the media impacts us through its production. Many of the topics shown on Degrassi in the past have not been publicly ok. But throughout the years the media has accepted certain issues and learned how to publicly deal with others; such as abusive and create awareness for these topics. Degrassi contributes to social change through creating fictional characters with relatable current cultural studies topics creating awareness and dissecting public messages. As discussed in class, identity affects a person's experiences they encounter.
Adam Torres is a fictional character from Degrassi with a very relatable story. He was bullied for being a transgender. While transferring to Degrassi he had hope he could start new and had hopes for people not to know he was a female-to-male transgender. However, due to conflict with another student he tried to date, it had come out that Adam was indeed, transgender. Adam then had to deal with many previous experiences he had encounter at his old school. However, because of his past he was able to become more confident with his new sexually identity and became accepted at Degrassi. Over the years, many people have become more known to the LGBTQ community, as well as it has become legalized in many countries such as; Canada, the USA, and Australia. “The relationship between identity and agency, or the capacity each of us has to shape our own life is a critical problem that informs many of the concerns explored” (O’Brien, Szeman 183). Another character that struggled with their sexuality was Fiona Coyne. Fiona came from a wealthy family in Manhattan. Lived the private school life in New York City, then moved to Toronto. She did not want to come out with her sexuality and instead got into an abusive relationship. With help from her friend/ to be girlfriend Fiona did indeed come out. Degrassi has been know to positively represent all types of sexuality and share plots that are faced daily in this …show more content…
current day and age. From this we can take away what Kellner says when he says we engage in a struggle for alternative cultures and political changes. Racial representation can be hard on many teenagers who appear to be a minority.
Degrassi next class, was successful at having many characters of colour with major plot lines. The show is Toronto based, and it is very well known that Toronto is very multicultural. Therefore the cast consisted of black, muslim, white, and many other cultures and ethnicities. Women who wear a headscarf for religious reasons are seen everywhere, yet often they do not find themselves represented in mainstream media. Degrassi, displays many characters of this faith. One character was named Goldi Nahi, she was a passionate activist and feminist with a goal of running her student council. When watching the show, Degrassi seems to facilitate dialogues about unfair representation in the present reality. This is still very important in this era as it is still present in mainstream television. Another example is when the season Degrassi:Next class portrays Muslim refugee characters. One of the characters had he hijab ripped off her head and another was assured for me a terrorist by his peers. The show managed to show what the characters were going through in heartbreaking episodes, as well as how the characters surrounding them handle the situations differently. Therefore, this is another example of how Degrassi takes current topics and creates awareness for their viewers to engage in. During an episode the characters talk about terrorism and the muslim religion, ending with Rasha, a muslim character,
who speaks up about how not all muslims are terrorist. This is a very popular topic to be talked about. This relates back to the day in lecture when we read the article “Orlando Media Coverage”. Media representation of current themes and ideas is important. It strongly affects our thoughts and actions. Degrassi has strongly contributed to social change through their show, as they cover many cultural studies’ issues such as; sexuality, race, abuse, and much more not discussed in this paper. I think it was important to evaluate how the television show Degrassi leaves a positive impact on society and helped change the popular ideas of identity, and sexuality through many of their relatable episodes to society today. References: OBrien, S.,&Szeman, I. (2018). Popular culture: a user’s guide. Toronto, Ontario: Nelson Education Ltd.
The media is a powerful tool and has the ability to influence and change one’s overall perspective of the world and the position they play in it. Although Television shows such as Friday Night Lights are seen as entertainment by consumers, its storyline contributes to the social construction of reality about class in the United States.
Socialization plays in important part in the passing on of culture from generation to generation. It is defined as the lifelong process of social interaction through which we acquire a self-identity and the skills needed for survival. The agents of socialization provide the necessary social interactions to teach culture to individuals in a society. The four primary agents of socialization include parents, education, peers, and media. The most pervasive one, media, has a major role in teaching messages about the norms in culture. The purpose of this project was to observe the subtle messages that a TV series, like The Simpsons, send about gender, class, disability/ability, and age.
Since television came into existence, it has evolved into a useful tool to spread ideas, both social and political, and has had a great effect on the generations growing up with these heavily influential shows. To these younger generations, television has taken the role of a teacher, with the task of creating a social construction by which many of us base our personal beliefs and judgments on. This power allows television shows take the opportunity to address problems in a manner that many audiences can take to heart. Many television shows present controversial topics in a comical matter, in some ways to soften the blow of hard-hitting reality at the same time bringing attention to the issue being addressed. In the television show, Everybody Hates Chris, season one, episode four entitled “Everybody Hates Sausage”, the stereotypes that continue to fuel racism are examined in a satirical motif, and class is presented in a comical way, but carries serious undertones which present a somewhat realistic view of the different social strata within the United States.
Today, the media plays an essential role in the Western civilization. Considering this, entertainment, social media, and the news are all intrinsically valuable media literacy devices. In addition, the media “helps to maintain a status quo in which certain groups in our society routinely have access to power and privilege while others do not” (Mulvaney 2016). For instance, both in the music and pornographic industry the female body is perceived as a sexual object. In Dreamworlds 3: Desire, Sex & Power in Music Video, Sut Jhally mentions that “examining the stories that music videos tell us about both male and female sexuality, about what is considered normal, allows us to do more than just understand one aspect of our culture” (Jhally 2007).
Many transgender people lived in dysfunctional families when they were young. The support becomes vital for the wellbeing of kids. In her book Redefining Realness by Janet Mock, recaps the importance of support from Michelle his cousin, who kept in secrets of gender dysphoria of Charles (Keisha) by saying “‘Pinkie –swear you won’t tell your mom’…She’d keep the secret my secret because I was her favorite cousin” (Mook 76). Michelle, kept Keisha’s secret by allowing her to use her swimming clothes. Michelle shows the importance of support from relatives. This is a fundamental factor that might help with the development of her gender identity. Many transgender people may feel a relief at the time to disclose their identity. When transition is in progress the support from friends and families becomes important because, many transgender people might suffer if they lack support. Many transgender people seem depressed because they are rejected by society. Janet Mock, relates how Wendi, support Charles, by making him feel comfortable, saying “Wendi and I grew inseparable trough middle school, a bond that would link us for the rest of our lives. Through association, my class –mates learned that I was like Wendi-who hadn’t yet adopted any labels to describe her shifting self” (Mook 107). In most cases transgender people’s acquaintances can be referred as transgender people just by friendship. The association makes transgender people to gain confidence about their gender identity. The support from groups or friends makes transgender people feel that they are accepted and not alone. Support from friends might urge transgender people to come out the “closet” and reveal their gender identity to gain respect among society. The support from friends is important, but family support seems to be the most important. When families do not support transgender people it causes a hostile environment that may suppress
When the documentary was produced, media exposure was limited to private and expensive mediums such as television, movies and radio. These outlets were plagued with marketing agendas designed to sell products under the guise of authentic music and entertainment. Formerly non-existent cultural archetypes such as the boy band, pop diva, and gothic artist were created and promoted by corporations with the intent to profit from their fame. This systematic fabrication of teenage culture was achieved through the monopolization of popular media by people and companies with money. This created a narrow and one-dimensional mainstream cultural media, limiting the prefere...
With the “Orange Is the New Black” star, Laverne Cox being transgender and permitted to play a vivid character as “Sophia”, Caitlyn Jenner’s announcement on the Diane Sawyer interview in 2015, and the arsenal of social media, being non-cisgender (not the gender assigned at birth) in general, has been discussed more than ever. Due to the Internet’s broadness, people who met this classification are unraveling new identities such as non-binary and genderqueer (only people who are this can say this word as “queer” is a slur). Being cisgender is the norm in society. I am also non-cisgender and this is an unique thing that possessed many scars.
Media is an important component of American culture, from the music people listen to the movies they watch, the media people consume can and does consistently affect their views of the world, other people, and themselves. Women can be hurt by the media, and closing in even more, women of color. Representation in media is still quite low, despite how far America has come in terms of equality. This leaves the levels of exposure to races other than white relatively low and when there is representation of other ethnicities, they are often caricatures of demeaning stereotypes. No matter if someone identifies as European American or as another ethnic identity, the European American ideals and norms affect everyone who is exposed to them (Iijima-Hall 1995:9). Consistent exposure to this style of media can be damaging to self-images of women of color and their personal perceptions of beauty, though it often manifests in different ways among different ethnic identities.
Living life as a transgendered person is not easy. There are very few times when someone comes out as transgender and their lives are still relatively easy to manage. There are a copious...
Nowadays, it has been difficult to notice the harm media is doing to society. It has become too normal that we are already used to deny the reality. I have read several readings that have opened my eyes to the reality of media; A Crash Course on Hollywood’s Latino Imagery by Charles Ramirez Berg, (Re)presenting: Muslims on North American television by Amir Hussain, True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie and The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu. These readings include an important message about minority races, which I believe society should be aware of. All of the readings that I previously mentioned have something in common, they all examine the way race is portrayed in media. Moreover, they also include how media can potentially shape our perceptions of who we are and who others are. Our young community are the ones that are being most affected by media. Children receive messages in T.V shows, cartoons, movies and books of how different races supposedly are, and they immediately start assuming that those messages are true and continue growing up with that ideology.
The cast members of each of the shows were put into situations that were constantly enforcing racial stereotypes, done on purpose by the producers. In the essay, the author argues that media makes the viewers have a struggle in what they choose to believe. She also states that society participates
Media plays a bigger role in influencing children’s identity. The media plays an important role in constructing ideology. However, most of the time what is produced in the media is mirroring what is already happening in the society, in other words mirroring reality. When children tend to see the same image and representation happening on television over and over again, they will become familiar with that identity (USC Anneberg, 2013) and it will spark a stereotypical thinking in them. By examining the portrayal of identity in the princesses will enable us to see that the portrayal of identities are not natural.
It is increasingly clear that media and culture today are of central importance to the maintenance and reproduction of contemporary societies. Cultures expose society to different personalities, provide models, which display various forms of societal life and cultivate various ways to introduce people into dominant forms of thought and action. These are the types of activities integrate people into society and create our public sphere. Media and technology surround our society; engrained into the fabric of our existence so much so, that it has become hard to find an aspect of life not influenced by its effects. For this reason, media controllers, wield extreme power and influence over the lives of everyday people. Although, they increasingly continue to feed the audience trash, despite their authority as the creator of our social/cultural interactions, and justify their actions by calling themselves industries. Reducing themselves to just businesses whose sole purpose is to create a profit. This admittance of what they feel to be their true purpose however does not hinder their control and power but instead adds to it. Creating a need for there to be some way to analyze and discuss whether they are using their position and power wisely. Filling this void, scholars have theorized ways for individuals to be critical of the media that they intake. One of these critical theories is the “Culture Industry” theory. Using Cultural Theory, as well as other complementary neo Marxist theories, it is possible to determine how Stacy Peralta, once urban youth culture advocate, became incorporated into the superstructure through media use, thus making him a tool for the continued commoditization of society, and a youth marketer for industries l...
Drawings a boy may draw of a gun might be seen in a cartoon that they religiously watch, and this is looked to as being a social norm. Boys often watch violent or action-packed cartoons or television shows, whereas girls might draw a pony seen in their favorite cartoon. Girls are often expected as a norm to watch cartoons and shows that might involve drama and romance. “Again, identity is a social concept”. When we engage with any media, no matter what form it may take, we are in essence receiving the ideas from those authors.
Media can present content that seems and is more or less real, however, it is our duty as the viewers to be able to distinguish, and differentiate between “reflections of reality, and constructions of reality”. The prime targets of the media are young people because they so unwittingly believe everything the media tells them, from “how to talk, how to dress, and how to relate to others”. This newspaper article, seeing is not believing by Leslie Fruman is essentially explaining that now “for the first time students will take a mandatory course to help separate fantasy from reality in the media.” The mandatory course is referred to as media literacy, and will teach young people the classifications of reality and fantasy.