Mass Media and Entertainment Essay

Ill go ahead and say it Neal G ablers Life the Movie befools valid points. Because of Americas habituation on technology-based media entertainment it is unachievable not to interact with the distracting and alluring world of expressive communication. The world we live in today is sadly not the iodine that Henry David Thoreau was able to circumnavigate for two years in 1845. Today, to avoid media, is to be totally shut away from the world. Gone argon the days of tough newsprint and objective journalism. They contribute been trampled by 24-hour news cycles and narcissism-based social networking sights exchangeable Twitter and Facebook. While I cant help but assort with Gabler on the medias degenerative effects, on that point is a brighter side to a globalized system of entertainment.Entertainment can certainly bust society if given the chance. recall for instance, MTVs Jersey Shore. A show with absolutely no object lesson integrity, but simple humor and sex appeal can make money, so realistically executives will invest in more of the same material. At the same time, hate/fear-mongering media moguls like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh have a devoted, if not cult-like following of 60-somethings that they control in the name of entertainment. Clearly, entertainment has the mental object to ruin the structure of society, for better or worse. Whereas sites like Twitter and Facebook can be detrimental to society, they can also cause positive progress.Very novelly, young Iranian revolutionaries used Twitter as a means of communication, education, and unity. Videos of citizens beaten to wipe prohibited in the streets were accompanied by calls to action, as a youthful and courageous Iranian population revolted against its oppressive government on the computer and TV screens of the globalized world. Furthermore, recent crisis like the tsunamis in In acquireesia, hurricane in New Orleans, and earthquakes in Haiti were brought into the homes of the prosperous an d caring across the world.Although tragic, these events demonstrated the capacity that a connected human populous has for charity. Billions of dollars in relief money has been donated in the past decade, thanks to the stirring images captured not only by corporate cameramen, but also by civilian camcorder. Thus, to congeal entertainment as solely destructive or beneficial is unjust. pack are not al shipway wise enough to turn off what they cognize is subjective information, but they are no means praying to neon gods.In his book Life the Movie, Neal Gabler discusses how entertainment has taken over the earthly concern. This is true in each way people watch television or movies, listen to music, and Facebook stalk their friends just to get out of their own heads for a while. It is an escape from their realities. Gabler argues that the outlet the media has arise to provide can potentially ruin society. This is true in some cases. Certain forms of entertainment can indeed overtur n all morality and toxicant the springs of domestic happiness. euphony, specifically, is one type of entertainment that has the capacity to cause people to compromise their morals. It has a sneaky way of planting new thoughts in our minds. Music artists think of lyrical euphemisms to subtly engrain an idea into their listeners minds.For example, in their song Fast Blood, the ingenious Scottish band Frightened Rabbit sings about a midnight electric organ fight a clever euphemism for sex. Even if their listener wasnt sure what that line meant, the rest of the lyrics would help him piece it together fairly quickly. Its a fine song, and soon enough, the listener finds himself singing along, and the idea that sex allows a person to feel reborn has now become a belief of this listener. And, whabam, there we have a compromised moral resulting from the idea of one song. The characters and stories found in movies, books, and television are aspects of entertainment that most certainly have the ability to ruin society.They can jeopardize a familys happiness by creating an image of the ideal spouse or significant other or family. Stefanie Meyers twilit Saga, for example, creates the character of Edward Cullen the perfect lover. Comedian Whitney Cummings do a good point in her stand up routine Money Shot when she said, Women are obsessed with romancewe get brainwashed from romantic movies. She said she went to go see the movie Twilight thinking it was just about high schoolers and came out thinking, Ohh, I have to marry a vampire, oh my God, and proceeded to address the males in her audience, Guys, dont let your girlfriends see this movie she will leave your ass, okay? Movies like Twilight create this image of the perfect man.If women see that and begin to compare their husbands to Edward Cullen, divorce papers will soon be a-rustling. Characters like these create impossible standards for men to live up to And pornography does the same to women men look at these beaut iful women with perfect bodies and begin to idealize females. And then no womanhood is good enough for them because it is impossible for a woman to look like that without plastic surgery, a crapload of make up, and a whole hell of a banding of photoshop. Media like this has the potential to destroy relationships because it establishes an unreachable standard.So, yes, Gabler makes a good point. Although entertainment can be fun, effort slight, sensational, mindless, formulaic, predictable and subversive and that is why people love it so much, it can be detrimental to society as a whole. In his 1998 book, Life the Movie How Entertainment Conquered Reality, Neal Gabler makes the assertion that entertainment has the capacity to ruin society. Although bus of entertainment features positive messages and portrays good role models, I completely agree with idea the entertainment can ruin society because a large theatrical role of entertainment and media can acclimate viewers minds toward violence and it can corrupt citizens views of society and of themselves. In our modern media there are thousands upon thousands of movies, tv shows, songs, and video games that push violence and other prejudicious behavior.Many people believe this to be harmless fun, but in instances when consumers blur the line between fantasy and truthfulness it can become very dangerous. One tragic instance of this occurred June 7, 2003, when 3 men, 2 police officers and a 9-11 dispatcher, were killed in an Alabama police station by 18 year-old Devin Moore, who had played Grand Theft Auto day and night for months before the shooting. During his arrest, Moore is reported to have told police, Life is like a video game. Everybodys got to die sometime. Entertainment can also ruin society by destroying citizens views of society and of themselves.From magazines to movies to television, the media has created a standard of near perfection that many people make do to live up to because they want to b e accepted. For example, professional athletes like Lebron James, Payton Manning, and many others have caused many aspiring athletes to look down upon themselves because they are not able to perform to the same level as the pros. Although many celebrities have contributed great acts of charity to society, that does not change the fact that much of entertainment, which these celebrities are apart of, encourages negative behavior. If not brought under control, these negative behaviors can bring about the downfall of society as we know it.Entertainment can be in many different forms television, magazines, books, the computer, music, etc. And according to Neal Gabor in his book, Life the Movie, all of these things are fun, effortless, sensational, mindless, formulaic, predictable, and subversive. The fact that because of these reasons, people like entertainment is true. However, just because people like something, or enjoy it, doesnt mean its not harmless. People who go tan in tanning b eds everyday enjoy doing it, but in reality it triples their risk of skin cancer. The social impacts of entertainment are already showing in todays society.People are communicating less and less by person, and more and more by computers. When people lose their ability to communicate with the people around them outside of their entertainment bubble, the sense of community is lost, and is causing increased health risks. All this said, it is not true that ALL entertainment will completely dissolve the ties of our social order. If entertainment is used in moderation and people learn to make the distinction between entertainment and reality, then it can be an enjoyable experience. But because all people dont do these things, entertainment does have the capacity to ruin societysociety falls apart. In addition, some of the things that entertainment exposes society to can turn the thoughts and decisions of Americans and cause problems for society.For example, TV networks are creating shows like Americas Next Top Model, and giving people the idea that in order to be beautiful you have to be dangerously thin and look like a model. This causes poor self-images, and causes people to be unhappy. To make matters worse, celebrities everywhere are getting cosmetic surgery. This gives audiences the idea that they shouldnt be happy with who they actually are, and that in order to be happy, they have to waste tons of money on unnecessary procedures. Also, the constituent of people getting divorced in America has been increasing lately.This is most likely because of the fact that celebrities are getting divorced left and right, and its starting line to become the norm. People are making money off of those divorces by selling the stories (in gossip magazines) as entertainment. Entertainment portrays false realities that have potential to give way social aspects of society. Not only does entertainment have the capacity to ruin society socially, but it can also cause health rela ted consequences. The section of Americans that are either overweight or obese is somewhere around 63% and that is constantly increasing.Though it is true that part of the cause for this is the amount of treat foods we eat, but another large part of it is the amount of time we spend sitting, a concept that goes along with entertainment. Today people dont have the bring to go out much to be happy. Children can sit andwatch TV or play video games for entertainment, and no longer need to go outside to play with their friends. Also, because of computers people dont need to leave their house to communicate with friends, they can just do it on Facebook. People dont even have to leave their house to grocery shop anymore they can just use their computer.The fact is that entertainment has made America into a very sedentary country, which Just like a friends influence on ones behavior, entertainment has the capacity to destroy or strengthen ones character. Someone can choose between entert ainment with fleeting pleasure or lasting value. i. possibly entertainment can ruin society because it is so distracting. For example, if kids and teenagers fill all of their time with entertainment instead of education, then how might this ruin society?ii. maybe entertainment can ruin society by overturning morality. What are some ways that entertainment might change a societys moral principles for the worst? For example, do violent video games cause people to believe that killing is not morally wrong? If so, how would this ruin a society?iii. Maybe, as your quote above claims, entertainment does dissolve the ties of social order. Does entertainment contribute to increased crime or civil unrest? Can you think of ways that entertainment directly or indirectly causes a societys rule of law to break down?