Power And Pleasure Of The Media

2) Denotation- is the basic definition or dictionary meaning of a word. The connotation of a word is its emotional content.

     One problem that plagues us everyday without us even realizing it is media bias. We see it in the news. We see it on our favorite sitcoms. We read it everyday in the paper. Yet, we really don't recognize it when we hear it or see it. Media bias is evident in every aspect of the media, yet the problem is that we don't even recognize it when it is right in front of our faces. Are the impressions that we form about individuals a product of the media? Do we form certain opinions about particular types of people based solely on the things we see and hear in the media everyday without even realizing it? The problem is not only that there is media bias present, but also that we can't recognize it when we see

Media has the ability to reinforce any stereotypical image with most viewers unaware that they are being unconsciously exposed to this material (Kenschaft et al. 2015,

Racial stereotypes more or less affect our perceptions toward race, and judge people in a certain frame unconsciously, as Omi set forth in In Living Color: Race and American Culture. It greatly impact the images of minorities on the visual media, which the most direct medium to reflect the popular beliefs. Even though the “racist beliefs” have “just recently being reversed”, the portrayal of minorities on visual media is still not exemplary (Horton, et al “PORTRAYAL OF MINORITIES IN THE FILM, MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRIES”).

As many of us try to ignore or deny, media has a substantial influence in the ideology of how we perceive gender roles, power, cultures, and in this case race. The hegemonic power media has over the American population has allowed us to view one another in a stereotypical light, and creates a sense of ignorance in our understanding of one another. Take the example of African-Americans and how they are all perceived with characteristics found to be negative and stereotypical. Dating back to earlier television, the U.S. Commission of Civil Rights found that African-American television portrayals typically depicted the following stereotypic personality characteristics: inferior, stupid, comical, immoral, and dishonest. (Punyanut-Carter, 2008).

Popular culture is defined as “a composite of all the values, ideas, symbols, material goods, processes, and understandings that arise from mass media” (Atkins 131). It is well-known to the public and reinforces the way people see they world, including aspects such as race, ethnicity, and gender. According to Omi, popular culture “deals with the symbolic realm of social life, the images which it creates, represents, and disseminates contribute to the overall racial climate” (540). The individuals or groups belong to a specific race can be perceived based on their behavior portrayed by the mass media, instead of being recognized for who they truly are. Such effect created by the popular culture contributes to what is known as “racial stereotype”, which is “beliefs about differences in behavior associated with racial differences” (Jones 982).

The unreliable generalizations and disturbing portrayals of members in a racial group contribute to the justification of unequal treatment in various systems that impact people in the society negatively. Racial biases exist unconsciously in our attitudes. This leads to actions that are negatively interpreted in our cultures and diffuse in the media, which in turn, form prejudice and discrimination that structure systems to target minority groups. The two most frequent racial stereotypes in cultural and social agendas are popular culture and the media. Both frame images of African Americans and utilize the images to provide inequality.

Humans have a natural instinct to try to understand unfamiliar demographics based on information displayed to them via media outlets and other people; this instinct is called stereotyping. Stereotypes are "cognitive structures that contain the perceiver 's knowledge, beliefs, and expectations about human groups" (Green). Stereotypes have been proven to affect young adolescents. Media depicts African Americans in stereotypical ways that negatively affect self-esteem, therefore all media outlets should display African Americans in a more realistic and rational way.

Given the research on this topic, it is reasonable to claim that the media is a very powerful tool that can greatly impact people’s beliefs, perceptions and even who they choose to interact with. The images that the media produces are oftentimes the main representations of certain things that consumers see and begin to believe that ‘thing’ as. For instance, when black people are constantly portrayed as being unattractive, undesirable, and criminal and other negative traits, the people who consume those demeaning images are prone to believe that that is what all black people, or at least the majority, are, perpetuating a cycle of racism whether conscious or

“Media stereotypes are inevitable, especially in the advertising, entertainment and news industries, which need as wide an audience as possible to quickly understand information. Stereotypes act like codes that give audiences a quick, common understanding of a person or group of people—usually relating to their class, ethnicity or race, gender, sexual orientation, social role or occupation.”

The popular culture particularly visual media affects our opions and attitude towards race and racial minorities group. our assumptions about race and racial minorities are both successeded and reflected in the streotypes presented by the visual media. i strongly believe in the George Gebners scientific examintaiton of televison that how we perceive ourselves and how we view those around us are affected by what we see on television. Visual media has such a heavy impact on us that even though they present a grossly distorted picture of the real world. people tend to accept more readily than reality itslef. the popular culture deals with symbolic realm of social life, the image which it creates, represents

Stereotypes have an overwhelming effect especially on the people they are directed towards. Studying stereotypes helps in understanding the factors leading to discrimination of certain people and not others. This is because stereotypes are depictive of opinions that are often passed from one generation to another within a particular culture. Mass media such as television and newspapers form a common source of opinions in the contemporary society (Kotter & Hess, 2012). The media presents messages in steady, repetitive, and compelling manner, making them believable to almost everybody. Stereotyping opinion and depictions from the media can thus have detrimental effects on the

In literature, connotation is a style used by authors to suggest an additional meaning of a particular word or phrase as used in the context of the narrative. It is a strategy that authors use to stimulate the thinking of the reader as the latter relates to the cultural and emotional aspects of the literature under study. Imagery, on the other hand, is the style where the author uses figurative language to describe the objects, activities, and ideas that relate to the five senses of the reader. The wording in the literature creates a visual representation of the item under description, allowing the reader to form a mental picture that fits the description. These two styles are commonly used in many literary works

A word's denotation is the dictionary example of that word and refers to the idea it characterizes. However, connotation is the emotional meaning of the word, comparing “cheap” to “inexpensive” as an example. In “A case of Identity,” Holmes explains details to show that a jacket isn’t just a jacket and a shoe isn’t just a shoe while describing a woman to watson.

Stereotypes have become a prevalent issue in our media. They, without our knowledge, prevent us from moving forward as human. In this essay, I will discuss the effects of stereotypes in media on gender roles, religion, and race.