Sidney Lumet's Network

Jenkins argues that American popular culture will be redefined by the struggles over convergence and media. With the idea of profit in mind,

Imagine, if you will, a time that seemed innocent... almost too innocent. Imagine a nation under whose seemingly conformist and conservative surface dramatic social changes were brewing, changes as obvious as integration and as subtle as fast food. And imagine, if you will, a radical television show that scrutinized, criticized, and most importantly, publicized these changes, making the social turmoil of a nation apparent to its post-world war, self-contented middle-class citizens. But what if this television show was not as it appeared? What if it masqueraded as simple science fiction, and did not reveal its true agenda until viewers took a closer look? Let us examine how

In an effort to expose the epistemology of television, which Postman believes has not been effectively addressed, he examines the effects of TV on several important American cultural institutions: news, religion, politics and education.  All four institutions, Postman argues, have realized that they have to go on television in order to be noticed which, in turn, requires them to learn the language of TV if they are to reach the people.  Therefore, they have joined the national conversation not on their own terms, but on TV's terms.  Postman contends that this transformation of our major institutions has trivialized what is most important about them and turned our culture into "one vast arena for show business" (80).  In the case of broadcast news, we see visually stimulating, disconnected stories about murder and mayhem along with a healthy dose of infotainment delivered by friendly and likeable anchors that remind us to "tune in tomorrow".  In the case of politics, we have discourse through distorted paid TV commercials and "debates" in which the appearance of having said something important is

Opening the book, Postman explains how he will fulfill showing that a “great media-metaphor shift has taken place in America, with the result that content of much of our public discourse has become dangerous nonsense” (pg. 16). There are two major points First: under the printing press, discourse In America was different from what it is now—generally coherent, serious, rational. Second: under the governance of television, it has become withered. This made me think about how much media affects us on a daily basis.

Noel Murray, a writer in TheWeek.com, published a nonfiction article on February 15, 2017 called, “TV’s Callous Neglect of Working - Class America”. Murray wrote this article to convey the fact that television series now don’t exemplify the realness of how most people live. To exhibit his views he uses a powerful structure, metaphors and oxymorons. Murray’s reveal that television does no unite us as one since the shows don’t even display the real daily life one may live. Murray establishes a informal tone for young adults watching television.

To begin with, the television is a major symbol within this story. The setting of the entire narrative is George and Hazel sitting in front of their TV, watching the events unfolding that lead to the assassination of their son. In this society, TV is the only way to receive information that the government chooses to share. The retaliation and murder of Harrison Bergeron is only broadcasted at the government’s discretion. They could’ve chosen to stop running the channel at any time, but they wanted people to see the consequences of defiance. It looked like Harrison Bergeron was destroying everything and was going to take over, but they government only let him have his fun for so long just to show the people who is really boss, and that the only fear is fear of the law. TV is the ruling medium and also is used to manipulate the

Often times we use television as an escape route, a tube to pull us away from the pains of our true reality, but what are we escaping? TV is a hypnotic box of propaganda, used to program American morals and values. Negative images in Technicolor has blurred the lines of our perceptions. TV is the piece of technology developed to control the minds off the masses through social, economic, and political order.

In today’s 20th century, media plays a significant role within the everyday lives of Americans within today’s society. Rich, poor, black, or white, media is all around us and unconsciously shapes our thoughts and perceptions on an every day basis. One cannot hide from the media because it is intertwined in our lives from the shows we watch on television to the books and magazines we read and seek to learn from to the music we listen not only by choice but songs that are played in almost every store across America, all influence our perceptions on how we perceive the world. Whether we want to believe it or not our minds, thoughts, beliefs are all influenced by things within the media and especially there is a significant influence on how race

Neil Postman’s novel Amusing Ourselves to Death seeks to look at media and how it shapes and defines culture. Postman has been cited as one of the major media theorists and a great philosopher of his time. To understand the book fully it is important to remember where it came from. The idea was born out of a speech Postman gave about the book 1984 and A Brave New World. It takes the ideas behind these novels and looks at them in a contemporary light, where the “Big Brother” is our own television sets. Television is obviously a form of media and it delivers a message. However, that message and media has its own agenda, to above all entertain. Postman believes that television has become the primary media-metaphor and by that definition

In the 1950’s, television changed American entertainment from showing sitcoms to serious news broadcasts. In the movie “Network,” the setting revolves around a news station, where the ratings are suffering and the workers are growing desperate for attention. Television executive, Diana Christensen, is tirelessly racking her brain for the next big hit, and her ideas are deemed crazy by more than just one coworker; however, in desperation, her ideas are put to the test on live television. Even after news anchor, Howard Beale, has a mental breakdown on camera, Christensen fights to keep him on the air because of the rising success the network found in his entertaining yet uncontrollable rants about a failing society (Ebert). Eventually, Christensen manages to secure Howard Beale’s very own television series featuring a soothsayer to predict future shows and Beale himself to demand people to take control of their lives. Almost all of his shows ended in him falling flat on the ground from fainting; this reveals the toll that the program is

I began my essay by providing intangible information. The first paragraph aims to explain the reader that the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center the morning of September 11th, 2001 would change the course of American television forever.

Over the centuries, the media has played a significant role in the shaping of societies across the globe. This is especially true of developed nations where media access is readily available to the average citizen. The media has contributed to the creation of ideologies and ideals within a society. The media has such an effect on social life, that a simple as a news story has the power to shake a nation. Because of this, governments around the world have made it their duty to be active in the regulation and control of media access in their countries. The media however, has quickly become dominated by major mega companies who own numerous television, radio and movie companies both nationally and

“The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception” by Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer is a pivotal article in history that changed the way in which many communications scholars viewed media. Both authors were members of the Frankfurt School, a school of thought which looked further into Karl Marx’s theories about capitalism and the issues of mass production. Published in 1944, Adorno and Horkheimer revealed their beliefs that the media, much like the economy, is becoming mass produced, and is therefore turning people in society into media-consuming robots. Industrialization created work lives for people in which they would work on only one part of a larger machine. As a result, they felt less involved in the completion of the project as a whole, and therefore felt less pride in their jobs and their lives in general. Instead, these people turned to media and pop culture so that they would feel more fulfillment within their lives. Adorno and Horkheimer believed that these people had a reduced capacity for original thought because media is now force feeding them the ideas of what they can think and feel. This essay will prove that although Adorno and Horkeimer’s points were justified through the eyes of authors George Lipsitz, Lev Manovich, and Susan J. Douglas, there are still exceptions to their theories that they do not account for.

In our society, there are many forms of mediated texts ranging from newspapers and magazines to films and television shows. Each of these media forms can be seen from different theoretical perspectives and analyzed to understand the different concepts that may influence them. Television shows are one of the most popular media texts with approximately 400 new shows airing each year (Ryan, 2016). However, it is often very unlikely for these television shows to strive as 65% are cancelled after their first season (Ocasio, 2012). This then, brings Marxist scholars into the picture as they are interested in how economic factors affect the production and distribution of media content (Mack & Ott, 2016). The Marxist theoretical perspective allows Marxist scholars to study television shows in order to understand why they were cancelled and how certain roles in the media lead to this.

Economism, or vulgar Marxism, is a key feature in explaining the media’s role according to Marx. This is also referred to as the base/superstructure model. In economism, “the economic base of society is seen as determining everything else in the superstructure, including social, political, and intellectual consciousness.” (Marxist Media Theory 1) This maintains that the media is used as the base of society. Society is referred to as the superstructure. Clearly, media shapes society even today. Since consumers rely on the media for information and entertainment, (ex. Television and radio new, magazines, newspapers, Internet), they are shaped by whatever forms of media they chose to be an audience to. The media manipulates everything from popular fashion to the food people consume.