Culture can be defined as the way of life which includes beliefs, aesthetics and institutions of a civilization. Considering today’s way of life, we would be lying if we didn’t admit that media is not an influential entity in our culture. Lately the media theories that regard the audience as a passive entity have been discarded and advanced media theories that take into account the audience response have been formulated. It is still a fact that despite cognitive abilities of the audience, the media has been successfully ingraining several values and elements into a large section of our society.
First of all let me tell you that this is no media-bashing agenda. There is no doubt about the fact that there are certain media elements affecting our culture for better because had it not been for media, quick and easy flow of useful information and education would not have been possible. The media has played a major role in positive developments like fight against racism, fight against gender bias, world poverty and spreading awareness about the world peace.
This being said, there is no denying to the fact that certain media messages are detrimental to our society. We need to realize that although media is a reflection of the society we live in but at times, the media needs to do much more than reflect the surroundings - it has to exaggerate, sensationalize and at times even trivialize the matters of utmost importance to make way for entertainment. The media creates celebrities; it creates idols - celebrities who thrive on fans, followers, and groupies! When we say a certain type of music or a certain genre of movies is popular, it means a large number of people are following an ideology or a concept, which lies at the heart of that song or the movie. One of the most striking examples in this case would have to be the popularity of violent and abusive rap songs amongst teenagers. The glorification of violence, drug abuse and other unhealthy habits has a major role in the outburst of unfortunate incidents where children have gotten extremely violent and out of control.
Be it the advertisements touting products that promise a fairer skin or bods-to-die for or the television shows and films, which portray violence, sexually explicit content and abusive language. There are music videos and rock bands that give out the message that alcohol; drugs and sex are an inevitable part of life. These ideals created by the media might not be necessarily appropriate.
However, owing to the mass-acceptance and popularity hype created - most of the people accept these as a part of today’s culture. In an age where someone like Paris Hilton is a role model for so many young girls, how can we expect to spread awareness about the importance of knowledge in the young generation? Bulimic girls striving to be like the size zero models on the ramp or the excessively aggressive video-game-playing children who think guns and weapons are cool – we have reached a stage where media literacy is the dire need of the hour. It is time to start thinking and analyzing what media is dishing out to us......
By jun aid khan ....
First of all let me tell you that this is no media-bashing agenda. There is no doubt about the fact that there are certain media elements affecting our culture for better because had it not been for media, quick and easy flow of useful information and education would not have been possible. The media has played a major role in positive developments like fight against racism, fight against gender bias, world poverty and spreading awareness about the world peace.
This being said, there is no denying to the fact that certain media messages are detrimental to our society. We need to realize that although media is a reflection of the society we live in but at times, the media needs to do much more than reflect the surroundings - it has to exaggerate, sensationalize and at times even trivialize the matters of utmost importance to make way for entertainment. The media creates celebrities; it creates idols - celebrities who thrive on fans, followers, and groupies! When we say a certain type of music or a certain genre of movies is popular, it means a large number of people are following an ideology or a concept, which lies at the heart of that song or the movie. One of the most striking examples in this case would have to be the popularity of violent and abusive rap songs amongst teenagers. The glorification of violence, drug abuse and other unhealthy habits has a major role in the outburst of unfortunate incidents where children have gotten extremely violent and out of control.
Be it the advertisements touting products that promise a fairer skin or bods-to-die for or the television shows and films, which portray violence, sexually explicit content and abusive language. There are music videos and rock bands that give out the message that alcohol; drugs and sex are an inevitable part of life. These ideals created by the media might not be necessarily appropriate.
However, owing to the mass-acceptance and popularity hype created - most of the people accept these as a part of today’s culture. In an age where someone like Paris Hilton is a role model for so many young girls, how can we expect to spread awareness about the importance of knowledge in the young generation? Bulimic girls striving to be like the size zero models on the ramp or the excessively aggressive video-game-playing children who think guns and weapons are cool – we have reached a stage where media literacy is the dire need of the hour. It is time to start thinking and analyzing what media is dishing out to us......
By jun aid khan ....
