Reality for most people, is what they “assume exists independently of any concept or representation”. (Grossberg, 1998:184) That’s “reality” to us, no second thought about it. Fiske says that reality “is the product of that culture’s codes”; (1987:4) meaning, that our society presents us with “a collection of material facts, that we can accurately perceive”. (Grossberg, 1998:185) The concept that the material facts have to be collected is peculiar. It implies that a negotiation between the public and reality has taken place, that someone, had to decide what was to be collected, and what was to be deserted.
It has been said that media is the most influential. The media are “perhaps the most important producers of meaning and the codes of meaning in contemporary society. (Grossberg, 1998:182) It has been said that the media either portrays reality or constructs reality. By saying that the media portrays reality would mean I agree that what the media shows is a reflection of today's society. But by saying it constructs reality, I would be agreeing with the ‘effects model’, which assumes that “horrible things make us horrible - not horrified. Terrifying things makes us terrifying - not terrified. To see something as aggressive will make us aggressive - not aggressed against.” (Barker, 2001:38), what this quote implying is that the effects model does not take into account that people can think for themselves, they do have their own opinions and according to Jean Piaget children start thinking critically from the age of 11. Taking this into account, I still believe that the media has an influence on society.
The hypodermic needle model suggests that we are all the same and that we all respond in the same way towards the media. It sug...
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... not caring whether or not it is a made up reality. It is all about making profit, and as long as profit is made, they do not care how it affects the audience, mostly because they believe that the audience is passive will go along with anything that is given to them. Saying that, I will agree with the essay question, that yes, media does represent reality, but the reality set by them in the first place.
Works Cited
Barker, B. (2001) ‘The Newson Report: a case study in “common sense”’, in M. Barker and J. Petley (eds) III Effects: the media/violence debate (2nd edn), London: Routledge.
Fiske, J. (1987) ‘Television Culture’, Methuen & Co. Ltd
Nelson, C. and Grossberg, L. (1988) ‘Marxism and Interpretation of Culture’, University of Illinois Press
http://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html
http://lessonbucket.com/media-in-minutes/the-hypodermic-needle-theory/
Media, the plural form of medium, describes various ways in which we communicate in society. A phone call, email, radio, computer, news on TV, etc. are all forms of media. In our society today, the media plays a significantly large role in influencing society negatively, twisting one’s perspective of the truth. In author Brooke Gladstone’s, The Influencing Machine, she discusses how media is looked at as an “influencing machine,” that’s controlling the mind of its viewers. Throughout the reading, Gladstone guides her readers through perceptions of media and how it influences them to get readers to understand the truth about media and the manipulation behind it.
1. I think media has a great impact on how people behave. The media is defined as listening to music, watching TV, movies, reading magazines, and searching the internet. I think when people here about certain things in songs, or see things in movies or on television it has an effect on them. If there is violence in a TV show or on the news kids can think that's cool to do and do it. A lot of movies show fighting and violence and it effects people and they may do what they see. Television in the home is the greatest source of visual violence for children. Video games expose young children to a level of violence unimaginable. The news also creates fear .
Though obviously people are aware of what they are listening to or watching, thoughts and assumptions can drift into their minds without even realizing it. These thoughts that drift in are extremely influential. The massive impact it can have on America's perceptions leads to generalizations, assumptions, and stigmas. Media influence is not always negative, however. In most cases, it has beneficial and positive aspects.
Bender, Frederic L. Karl Marx: The Communist Manifesto. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. ed. 1988.
Today, the media impacts almost everything we do. It tells us to act a certain way or to beh...
The media, including television programming, cartoons, film, the news, as well as literature and magazines, is a very powerful and pervasive medium for expression. It can reach a large number of people and convey ideas, cultural norms, stereotypic roles, power relationships, ethics, and values. Through these messages, the mass media may have a strong influence on individual behavior, views, and values, as well as in shaping national character and culture. Although there is a great potential for the media to have a positive and affirming effect on the public and society at large, there may be important negative consequences when the messages conveyed are harmful, destructive, or violent.
To Marx, history d... ... middle of paper ... ... 67 Jon Elster, Making sense of Marx, Cambridge University press 1985 C.Slaughter, Marxism and the class struggle, New Park Publications LTD 1975 Tony Bilton, Kevin Bonnett, Pip Jones etc.. Introductory Sociology 4th edition, Palgrave Macmillan 2002 Gregor McLennan, The Story of Sociology Ken Morrison, Marx Durkheim Weber, Sage publications LTD 1995 Fulcher&Scott, Sociology 2nd edition, Oxford university press 2003 --------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] German Ideology, pp.8-13 [2] Karl Marx: Selected Writings in Sociology and Social Philosophy, p.150, Pelican books 1963 [3] ibid, p107 [4] Karl Marx: Selected Writings in Sociology and Social Philosophy, p.177, Pelican books 1963 [5] Essential writings of Karl Marx; p176; Panther Books Ltd ,1967
Newspaper, radio, film, television. These are only a few of the various forms media can take. From the moment we open our eyes to the instant we shut them, we are surrounded by media and absorb the information it hurls at us in an osmosis-like manner. The news ranges from the latest terror attack and political scandals to supposed UFO sightings and scandals involving sandals. We as an audience tend to focus more on the message the media relays rather than on the medium in which it is presented to us.
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