The Damaging Effects of Twisted Media Essay

Throughout today’s society, media contributes to almost everyone’s daily life. From informative news channels to comical television shows, media proves to be effective in advertisement, releasing messages and informing the audience. Although media proves to be wildly effective in advertising, releasing messages and informing the audience, periodically destructive and misleading messages are provided to the audience and directly influencing women. Cultural critics widely agree that media tends to negatively influence women and all the critics point to research which supports the belief that women are portrayed as subordinate to men, having no

Theme on media of many influences on how we view men and women, media are the

This is the thesis set out by "Miss Representation", a documentary directed and produced by actress, activist and documentary filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom. The documentary gives a good perspective on why the representation of women in the media is so important in our society. The message the film gets across to viewers is that the way women are often portrayed is damaging- to media consumers of all genders and ages. The way the media treats women is the cause of soaring numbers of women who develop eating disorders, the sexualisation of, and violence against women.

This paper will look at how the movies portray women in a way that women can relate to regardless if it’s an insulting

The paramount of social adversities facing the modern society is the divide between definitions of gender. Gender represents an abstract interpretation of sex and this notion is simply a societal construct. The establishment of gender has evolved into a tradition of humanity, however this tradition evolved into a social divide between masculinity and femininity. The pressure to conform to societal constructs of masculinity and femininity poisons society and branches off to toxic masculinity; such were nurtured from these figurative beliefs. Gender roles further stigmatize the victims who refuse to conform. However, gender roles has witnessed a revolution in modern times. The purpose of this collateral involves analyzing the evolution of gender roles present in media from mid 19th century to modern times. The period of time, or 1960’s, was chosen because of post World War II’s effects on stereotypes in society around the world. Post war not only challenged stereotypes but further kindled women’s role in the workforce and women began to fill in roles previously belonging to men. In later years, a radicalization of the feminist movement has spurred and our modern times is a witness to its ascension to the paramount of feminism. The media, since the 1960’s, has allowed society to be the primary witness. With the evolution of gender roles, the media must also adapt to the changes in societal views of gender roles and the entire feminist movement at large. This collateral seeks to

Women are deemed as a “minority” yet make up 51% of the world population and in 2014 made up only 12% of protagonists in films. And that is just on-screen, the percentage decreases as you go farther and farther into behind-the-scenes positions such as directors, cinematographers, and writers. Add race and ethnicity and those characters' percentages decline even more (Lauzen, 2015.) Women in film and television are often portrayed with emphasis based on their body type and in advertisement are largely objectified. The large objectification and misrepresentation of women in the media has led to an offset psychological view of women from growing up to adulthood.

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 world has changed with the passing of time, but it did not necessarily become better on all levels. Popular culture has declined over the past few years because it has been heavily influenced by mass media and politics, which lately had spoiled. Still, in his article - “Everything bad is good for you” – Steven Johnson argues that today’s popular culture makes us smarter, bringing up the importance of mass media and games in the development of people; he sees “a progressive story: mass culture growing more sophisticated, demanding more cognitive engagement with each passing year”. He remembers playing sports simulation: APBA, while the other kids were playing real basketball outside. So, which one gains more skills: the one that simulates

The highlight on the latter raises a larger question about the radicalized sexual images of women today. It is most likely the society that is bombarded by the media’s usage of advertisements, television, billboards, magazines and internet. We are surrounded by the images that most people don’t have. Reality shows and entertainment are emulated and are the common choices for teens today. They may seem like harmless amusing entertainment but take a closer look, and you’ll see that the way women are portrayed is far from the truth. This may seems to be a successful marketing tool for several sources but its ways of showing malicious actions.

When boys are young they are told to toughen up or to stop acting like a girl when they are sad or want to cry. Michael Kimmel, author of “Bros Before Hos”: The Guy Code, discusses how there is a code guys are supposed to follow and how being taught natural behaviors, such as crying or talking about emotions, are wrong at a young age negatively impacts boys for their whole life. Emily Smith, the author of Life on the Island, talks about how a decrease in places that have a feeling of community increases the suicide rate among men. Everyone tells boys to act a certain way their father, coach, even people they don’t know, but this is not the only place they hear these negative statements. Television and magazine advertisements often depict men in an unrealistic way that feels unachievable and because of this young boys who view these ads feel negatively about themselves and because of the guy code they can’t share their feelings and emotions which can lead to depression or even suicide.

Filmmakers use traditional gender stereotypes to produce characters audiences can easily identify with by portraying conventional images of a person with identifiable characteristics. In previous years, the dominant representation of a women in film has been the passive, subjugated protagonist. However, through the development of female empowerment and added feminist representations of film, the female heroine transformed to become strong and independent women in her own right, as an individual character.

The key research question of ‘Gender Roles in Media’ is to analyze gender roles to determine how women are represented in an array of media and how they are portrayed in a sexualized manner. The study was published in 2010 and 2011 by Rudy et al in two issues of Sex Roles. The research suggests that an increase in representing women in media can be worthy provided they bear in mind that the way women are depicted is positive in order to alleviate negative connotations. The research queries if media can affect the mindset of viewers in a negative or positive manner.

Media influence is the force by which ideas are injected into people’s lives shaping the very culture of society. This influence is masqueraded through hidden media message, resulting in a change in its audience which can be positive or negative, abrupt or gradual, short term or long term. Although mass media’s influential effect can reach a wide ranged audience as an agent of socialization the responsibility to contain what it releases has not been of importance. “The media’s socially significant obligations are formally ignored.” (A.S. Zapesotskii, 2011, p 9). Media messages can be exerted through many different outlets such as TV shows, music, movies, commercials, news, magazines, games which are all gravitated to entertain audiences ultimately offering personal gratification that can sometimes blur the lines between reality and

The media and advertising hinder do indeed hinder our being fully human. Mass media including radio, television and newspapers endeavors to shape public opinion on a variety of things. The media attempts to manipulate those values instilled by parents and society in general, thus taking away from our being human. Messages designed to influence peoples’ attitudes, desires and decisions fall upon society urging those people to buy a certain product, vote for a certain political figure, or support a “worthy” cause. The daily attack of media and advertising persuade the public to be one and the same, rather than allowing them to function as humans who follow their own beliefs.

Mass media is the methods of communication, including television, radio, magazines, films, internet and newspapers, that have become some of society’s most important agents of socialization. In this paper I will talk about media and its effects on society today, things such as stereotypes the media portrays, the way media illustrates women and what that does to body images of women. I will also be talking about medias effects on teenagers, and sexualization in the media.