This week we read an article by Chuck Klosterman on the subject of reality television. In the article, Klosterman makes the case that reality tv, which was supposed to reflect reality, is actually affecting reality and turning reality into a reflection of it. He feels that this is being done in the ways that people's personalities are changing. Klosterman feels that people on reality tv have been distilled into one-dimensional personalities (i.e. the black guy, the gay guy, etc.). This has affected how people act in the real world. Many people are starting to act in the personality and character achetypes they see on tv, and are becoming shallow and one-dimensional themselves.
I believe media is affecting people's behavior in other ways as well. They're making fashion decisions that affect how they dress and what brands they wear based on what they're told is cool or fashionable by advertisers and celebrities. People belong to book clubs and read certain books just because celebrities like Oprah say they should. I believe popular culture has such a wide effect on people for a couple reasons. First, they think they things that are broadcast to millions of people are automatically cool, to be desired, and are perfectly acceptable to emulate. People are also gullible enough to do things just because a celebrity says. They do so either to fit in and be part of the "cool" group, or because they blindly think famous people know better than them.
Good point about the whole Oprah book club. She clearly has a big impact on people. Nearly every book she recommended became a bestseller within a week. That's serious big-money influence.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. I believe people should be there own person and not base all there decisions based on other people. Once you get turned into a person you're not, you feel like you have to act like that person (black guy, gay guy, etc.) I like how you said that about Oprah, millions of people are reading a book just because one woman told them to? Doesn't make sense to me.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. I totally agree with you that people need to be themselves and not go rushing off to do/buy things just because they saw it on TV. Use some common senese people. Just because you see a product being used by a character on tv/film, doesn't make that product great. The company who makes it paid a lot of money for product placement so that "the herd" would see it and think it was though. Use a little thought and think about what you see before rushing out to copy that lifestyle.
DeleteI agree with what you are saying. Its amazing to see the power reality tv has on people. The idea that these reality shows are actually a good depiction of what life is really like is amazing. People get so sucked into the media and allow it to run their lives in various ways. People give up some of the unique qualities they have to be like the "celebrities" on tv, who in all reality arent celebrities after the given show ends. If only people could see what shows like the real world do to people and how it lowers their self-esteem and self-worth. It would be ideal if people could decifer between the real world and the "Real World."
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