Thursday, August 16, 2012
Don't Try This At Home
In chapter six of Amusing Ourselves to Death, Postman claims that “...how television stages the world becomes the model for how the world is properly to be staged,” suggesting that the media shapes our world. What we watch can be reflected in the way we act (and vice versa). On T.V., shows like “ 16 and Pregnant,” and “Real Housewives” show terrible behavior. Some shows heed a warning by typing “Don’t try this at home” at the bottom of the screen, but we are an image-based culture. Seeing is believing, not reading. If we really wanted to follow that warning, we would go out of our way not to watch the show in the first place. Wouldn’t you say that television is negatively modeling how we should act? I would say that people should know the difference between reality and television, but many of these shows call themselves reality T.V. It is imperative that we think for ourselves what’s right and what’s wrong, but “the line between what is show business and what is not becomes harder to see everyday” (Postman, Chapter 6). Do you think that television is influential in how we shape our lives?
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I believe that television is negatively modeling us on how we should act. We first watch these type of shows just to make fun of the mistakes that the reality casts would make and see how they suffer from it. We feel superior to them because we feel better than them and think we would not make these same type of ridiculous mistakes they have made. Sooner or later though we become subjected to have the same type of behavior as the reality T.V. stars. It just seems that even if we try to sustain from watching these type of programs, it’s just in our human nature to watch them face conflict for their improper behavior. For some reason, the more we watch these type of reality shows like “16 and Pregnant” or “Jersey Shore” the more we think this is reality of our society, when in truly it is partial.
ReplyDeleteI totally believe that television has influenced what our society views as hip and popular. An example of a trend started by television would be when most girls would plump their lips so that they could look like Angelina Jolie's lips. Unfortunately now, trends that television shows create went from being decent to involving profanity, violence,and hostility. The quote "you are what you eat" can apply to television in a sense that you want to do what you view on television. Those who read Amusing Ourselves to Death might agree with me that reality shows aren't really reality. The directors of the shows must add little (huge) embellishments into their show in order to capture more audiences. Those who just watch the show without thinking about what the directors true intentions were, will watch the show and believe everything on it is true. Both my parents don't drink alcohol, but if I were see one of them drinking then I could easily say to myself, if there doing it why can't I? The same applies to television. Viewers see the junk on the media and want to repeat it. I totally believe that television has influenced our society in a negative way.
ReplyDeleteTelevision does have a role in the way of people acting. If they didn't want us to watch certain television shows then why put them on television. A lot things we watch or hear affects the way act.
ReplyDeleteTelevision is negatively modeling how all of us should act although many of us don't realize it. I believe that we all have the ability to restrain ourselves from the reality television madness, but we choose to ignore it, thinking, "It's just a show. How is a measly show going to change who I am?" We're wrong and ignorant; we are oblivious to the terrible behaviors that invade us through the television. The way we live our lives is through what we learn and observe. Much of our time is spent on watching television most of the day and what we see influences how we speak and how we act. I feel like our generation has adapted to a lot of bad habits due to shows that the media thinks are interesting, which are the inappropriate, influencing ones. The media is correct that the shows are interesting and hilarious, but it gradually changes our attitudes for the worse.
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