Efficiency of media and its technological advances
Question:
Discuss about the Contemporary Hollywood Films and Struggles.
Media is one of the most far-reaching communicating channels in the present day and the immense power it has it cannot be equated to anything else. The efficiency of media and the technological advances have made it possible for the sector to become so powerful (Dubrofsky and Wood 2014). The various channels of communication all converge under the broader category of media and hence it becomes easy for an issue to circulate throughout the globe in an instant. The various information and speculations that hover around the media lead to the creation of various beliefs, perceptions and understanding in the society (Buckingham 2013). Sociology and media are two broadly connected subjects of knowledge. The role media plays in creating and bridging gaps and distances between communities and societies is huge and the essay shall aim to focus on such practices of the media in a greater detail.
Media has been the one constant thread that binds the entire society together and people rely on the deliverance of required content from media (Howitt 2013). The role that media plays, in the modern world, is varied and hence it is seen that it has become an inevitable part of lives of people of the society. Media is regarded as a channel that transmits information from a source to the audience (Potter 2013). The information can be both direct and indirect at the same time. It depends on the capability of the audience to decipher the information that remains decoded. The various forms of media include- music, films, news, social media, pictorials and many more. It is to be noted that all of these have contents which are needed to be decoded. The interpretations of the individuals may vary from each other and it is seen often that there are many decisions and prejudices taken up by people on the basis of wrong interpretation.
The media plays a huge role in lighting up the differences in the society. Media reaches out to a huge audience base around the world and hence it is seen that people get to know every detail about an incident in a very quick time (Greenfield 2014). It is often seen that the media is filled with certain notions that have no direct meaning but the presentations they make have various implications that are degrading for certain sections of the society (Giddens et al. 2016). The contents that are produced by the media these days have been in some way or the other highlighting the various differences that exist in the society. Though the role of media is very essential in keeping a record of the information that is being presented and generated, it is seen that it further reinstates the differences in the society largely.
The various media issues have various kinds of social implications. The films that are being made in Hollywood by reputed directors have had considerable social underpinnings to decipher. The foremost concern that arises in the accordance with the media content is the portrayal of the blacks and negativity in such contents. The racist approach that media beholds is something that is of utter significance when it is studied in the sociological perspective. The film industry is one of the most influential Media around the world and people take a huge liking for the industry and the contents it creates. Hollywood has filmmakers who have made films that have shown a stereotyped image of the blacks of Africa. It is through such film that the entire world has gathered knowledge about the ways of their lives, their accent, their physique and their characteristics (Smith 2013). The black males are always represented as characters that are extremely strong and at times rude; such representations can actually completely vary from reality. It is seen that the black females in such films are shown as mamas or fat woman who are strict and shout at the top of their voice (Croteau and Hoynes 2013). Such representation leads to people creating false ideas in their minds about the blacks. People tend to look down upon the blacks. The representation of reality is low in terms of the blacks and when it happens, such films go on to be greeted openly by all the critics. The filmmakers have to be more sensitive and realistic while making films as they reach out to a very wide range of audience and the representation they create of a class or caste can be wrongly interpreted by most of the audience of the society. It is often shown that most of the drug lords and their goons are blacks; such a representation of the blacks creates a wrong image of them in the world. People get a wrong image of the black people, they often tend to believe that the black people are bad people and thus they should be avoided and discriminated from the mainstream society. Those who do not know the race up and close tend to believe what is being shown on screen and it adds to the racial discriminations. Another phenomenon has been the rise of social media and with the rise of Meme culture. The meme is referred to a picture or a video that is presented in a funny or a sarcastic way. Mostly it has been seen that often a black face is being made fun of in the social media and it goes viral as people keep sharing it for fun and entertainment purposes (Yoon 2016). However such practices lead to the creation of certain prejudices in the minds of the users of social media and it is degrading towards the race as it shows them as subject to make fun of. The color of the skin is used to make fun of and even the shape of their body is made fun of through such memes in the platform of social media like facebook, twitter and more (Greenfield 2014). Such actions in the media lead to the creation of further more differences between the race and give birth to racial feelings and the tendency of racial discrimination among people in the world (Dubrofsky and Wood 2014).
Role of media in creating beliefs, perceptions and understanding in the society
The issue of gender has been highlighted by media constantly for the sake of profits. It is the various media practices that have made the females a selling point for products. Media has objectified the female body and has used it as a weapon to sell products. The commoditization of the female body has lead to further degradation of the position of female sex in the media (Projansky 2014). It is often seen that films or music videos or even certain products are sold to the audience by alluring them with visuals of attractive females in skimpily clad attires. The media industry should refrain from using such strategies because in the larger worldview, such practices lead to the degradation of the image of female sex in general and it objectifies females as mere objects for the pleasure of the audience.
It is essential that media realizes the impact it has on the society and likewise behaves responsibly towards the society. The people of the society tend to draw conclusions and beliefs from the media channels. A strict watch should be kept over the content of the media and it should be assured that any such content that may harm the sentiments or may discriminate on the basis of class, gender or race and ethnicity should be avoided on a strict basis. These should not be circulated in any of the media channels (Hintz 2015). The media censorship should work in a better way rather than simply monitoring the use of language and lovemaking scenes in movies. The content makers should keep a tab and should not misuse their creative freedom as such use may hurt the feelings of those who are at the receiving end of it. Every entity of the society should be presented respectfully as it is seen that people develop prejudices for some people and it leads to social discrimination.
To conclude, it is to be seen that most discrimination that is triggered in the recent days have due to the circulation of certain content in the media. The far-reaching influence of media and the ease of access have made it possible for media to become one of the biggest influences on the people in the society. Society is a greater institution that needs to be united in order to make it suitable for sustenance for all. The content that is given out in media must be evaluated and judged before people circulate and accept it or react to it (Croteau and Hoynes 2013). The credibility of the media has to be kept in mind before acting upon any of the content that is circulating in the media. Media has brought the world in a closed sphere but at the same time due to certain practices, it has also lead to the society being fragmented and many communities being isolated on racial grounds. It is the collective effort of the people that can prevent such impact on the society and resist such discrimination in the society.
Reference
Buckingham, D., 2013. Media education: Literacy, learning and contemporary culture. John Wiley & Sons.
Croteau, D. and Hoynes, W., 2013. Media/society: Industries, images, and audiences. Sage Publications.
Dubrofsky, R.E. and Wood, M.M., 2014. Posting racism and sexism: Authenticity, agency and self-reflexivity in social media. Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, 11(3), pp.282-287.
Giddens, A., Duneier, M., Appelbaum, R.P. and Carr, D.S., 2016. Introduction to sociology. WW Norton.
Greenfield, P.M., 2014. Mind and media: The effects of television, video games, and computers. Psychology Press.
Hintz, A., 2015. Social media censorship, privatized regulation, and new restrictions to protest and dissent.
Howitt, D., 2013. The Mass Media & Social Problems (Vol. 2). Elsevier.
Potter, W.J., 2013. Media literacy. Sage Publications.
Projansky, S., 2014. Spectacular girls: Media fascination and celebrity culture. NYU Press.
Smith, J., 2013. Between colorblind and colorconscious: Contemporary Hollywood films and struggles over racial representation. Journal of Black studies, 44(8), pp.779-797.
Yoon, I., 2016. Why is it not just a joke? Analysis of Internet memes associated with racism and hidden ideology of colorblindness. Journal of Cultural Research in Art Education (Online), 33, p.92.
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