Poison Fruit: Sin and Guilt in the Advertising Age
Morgan Macguire
Naropa University Poison Fruit: Sin and Guilt in the Advertising Age
Genesis
"The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat" ~ Genesis 3:12
With these words, Eve laid the foundation for nearly all Western religious thought for thousands of years. Historically, Western religious thought seamlessly blended with Western popular culture. Great pieces of art were, for centuries, funded by the Church. Today, they are funded by advertising agencies and media conglomerates.
Eve 's transgression in the Garden set the tone for millennia of fealty to the Church. A basic belief of this dominant political power has been that humans are inherently sinful and in order to remedy this inevitable defect a life lived according to the laws of the Church may provide salvation.
These days, less and less people in economically developed countries are reporting religious affiliation. By one study, the United States is a moderately religious nation, with 66% of citizens reporting religion to be important to them. This number is low compared to developing nations such as Bangladesh, with 99% religiosity; and high compared to many countries of Northern Europe. Sweden reported 16% religiosity in her citizens (Diener, Louis, & Myers, 2011).
At the same time, mass media is on the rise. One study concluded that "American youth devote more time to media than any other waking activity" (Roberts, 2000). Parts of the world previously
The United States is considered a religiously diverse nation. The country’s population has a vast number of religious affiliations; from Islam to Buddhism. However, this does not counter the fact that the overwhelming religious majority, Christianity, is the the prime influencer of the headstrong nation.
It is no secret that the current generation is obsessed with media. You cannot walk anywhere without seeing teenagers, adults, and even kids using technology and social media. Everywhere you look there are ads to purchase the latest and greatest clothing, technology, or beauty products. Television standards have been lowered by the FCC and shows with explicit content have now taken over television leaving teenagers to idolize a lifestyle that is not to their best interest. But how does this media really affect us? What age is most drawn in and how does it change the outlook of their future? This would fall under evaluation research, I am seeking to find out the impact that media has on the current generation.
The mass media consists of any means of communication that has the ability to reach a large amount of people. The term ‘media’ can refer to movies, television, the newspaper, etc. It is because of it’s ability to out reach to a mass quantity of people that it is able to “reinforce and teach societal values.” At a young age, socialization occurs in that it involves the “learning of the values and the norms of society” and adopting them into their own personal values (Perse, 2001.) Children often have little life experience so they learn and imitate their environment whether that be the characters on television or societal institutions like their families or teachers at school. Adolescents are more susceptible to socialization in that they are at a period in which they are trying to find
For many Americans, religion holds such a great importance in their life that it becomes a part of their identity. As one’s belief system, it largely influences the way in which one views the world and thus the way they live. Religion becomes a part of their culture and lifestyle. Religion is generally seen as something that motivates people to strive to be good in morals and overall as a person. While there have been conflicts throughout history in the
The United States, at least in 2017 for millennials and frankly even middle aged adults, revolves around technology and media. Technology has reinvented the way we connect with the world. It's changed how we learn, communicate, and watch our favorite shows. As a high school student I know first hand how much technology has impacted not only education, but even a young adult's entire life, as i'm apart of a graduating that class that started off with little technology in grade school, to maturing with technology to the point where I have a computer that fits in my pocket and has access to everything on the internet as I graduate in June 2017 . With that being said, media consumes American students. According to IHS Markit, an analytical and research company who harnesses “the deepest sources of information, analytics and expertise to forge solutions for industries and markets that drive economies worldwide” found that the United States watches the most Television, with the average American watching nearly six hours of Television a day (IHS Markit, 2015). This is the most time spent watching Television out of every country in the world. This is so high because media and pop culture is so apparent in the United States, it consumes our day. This causes a real impact on the average American's daily life, as there is only so much time in a
This week, I watched the movie “ Miss Representation”, it is a documentary in 2011 and Jennifer Siebel Newsom is the director, producer and was written by her. I watched the film on Thursday, July 30, 2015, I watched it on my computer and I was watching it at home. The documentary is about we human are failing to see the real world that we lives in. It talks about that media is a very powerful tool of delivering messages to the world. The documentary starts with some numbers of information that tell us that American teenager: “spend 31 hours a week watching TV, 17 hours a week listening to music, 3 hours a week watching movies, 4 hours a week reading magazines, 10 hours a week online, and that is 10 hours and 45 minutes of media consumption a day” (“ Miss Representation”). Nowadays, people are going to learn more from media, then any other things because each of us has just spent too much time on it, and everyone does have their own ways to have the interaction of the media. And the media are just everywhere around us.
The United States is one of the most religious nations in the world. A majority of the population participates in organized religion and others are privately spiritual. The role of religion plays out in our nation constantly.
Popular culture in today’s society is capable of reaching out to more people than ever before at ease. Growing up, popular culture affected us even if we may not have realized it happening. Everything from who your favorite sports team is, to your favorite television when you were younger, directly relates to pop culture. Although most people do not realize this phenomenon taking place it is not surprise that mass media has a firm grip on what they want children to believe and think when they are going through one of the most important stages of their lives. The messages that they convey are the thoughts that children reproduce, and the personas that they build of themselves are all relative to how popular culture has effected them.
The United States is full of religious diversity. The foreign population has greatly increased, and the “proportion from Latin America (54%) and Asia (28%) greatly surpassed the proportion from Europe (13%)” (Fasciano). Many
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2009, over 228 million Americans classified themselves as practicing some type of religion. Due to
The evolution of mass media is directly related to the growth of technology in the 20th century. Multiple technologies helped to lower the cost of printing while improving quality, which resulted in the proliferation of books and newspapers across the country. New technology also gave rise to television and radio becoming household staples and thus prime sources of information. Over the past twenty years, the development of the Internet has pushed news coverage and accessibility to the global scale. Mass media in many ways replaced many of the traditional ways in which people received information and formed decisions. People without access to professional counsel now turn to a television show or a website for assistance. Instead of picking up the local newspaper, millions of people turn to the most popular websites for their news. As of 1999, United Press International reported that 87% of print journalists are connected to the Internet. More than 60 percent of American´s today are active Internet users (internetnews.com). With the advent of mass media, new
As Book VIII of John Milton’s Paradise Lost begins, the “new-waked” human Adam ponders the nature of the universe and the motion of the stars (ll. 4-38). When Adam has finished his speech, Milton takes the opportunity to describe Eve, who is listening nearby. We find Eve reclining in the Garden, but with grace, not laziness: “she sat retired in sight,/With lowliness majestic from her seat” (41-42). This “lowliness majestic” is the central phrase to understanding Eve’s character—she is both humble and glorious. Everything that beholds her is captivated by her “grace that won who saw to wish her stay” (43). Even in this paradise, every other beautiful creation is drawn to Eve. She walks
The worth of media is a very controversial topic. Media has given us the ability to do things in new and creative ways such as how we learn and accomplish our everyday tasks. However, we do not always know how to interpurate this information. The technology available today is constantly impacting and influencing society in tremendous ways. Many of the impacts that are accocated with media are addressed in negative ways, but can be seen from a positive perspective as well. In the current generation, media and its influences can be found everywhere. These influences widely impact today’s adolescents and maturing teenagers because they are still developing into adults. Medias purpose is not only to inform us, but to allow us to mold ourselves in how we want to be perceived online. Also, it allows us easy access to unbelievable amounts of information. Living in an era known as the “information age” is riveting, but what are we suppose to do with all of this new technology and information?
Mass media, much like many other things have two sides: a positive side and a negative side. Even though most of the mass media is typically associated with negative outcomes, it should not undermine the positive outcomes of mass media. One of the most important mass media form that generates positivity is television. Typically, many view television as a troublesome form of mass media that draws children’s attention away from studying and doing well in school; however, when digging deeper, there is a good side to watching television. For example, according to a content analysis in chapter 11 on family values show that “the number of extended family