We The Media

“The mass media does not reveal reality, it masks it. [...] It induces passivity, resignation and selfishness. It doesn’t generate creativity; it creates consumers.”

Of all the books I think I enjoyed WE THE MEDIA the most, especially the chapter on advertising. The articles give such a clear, honest opinion of the media that it is easy for one to delve into the betrayals of the media industry.

I loved the line by Jean Kilbourne, “Advertising is partially a reflection of the culture that created it” (42). I think that this one line captures advertising and it’s effect on our culture entirely. Her article, selling our souls, talks about how our society and advertisements bounce back and forth and off of each other, how one creates the other and so forth. She talks about how the ads sell more than just products, they sell morals and principles.

This to me is a revolutionary idea. I had thought, of course, about how advertising is geared towards making people feel insecure about themselves, but I had never thought about how it effects us besides that. Advertising not only reflects culture, but creates it. For instance, it creates idealized women and idealized men, and dictates what is the socially “normal” way for us to act and interact. They instill morals onto us, for instance, how mothers are supposed to be the sensitive loving homemaker and the father is supposed to be the tough money-maker. They play on and further stereotypes like the SOCCER MOM or the SEXY WOMAN. Of course I had probably taken all of this in subconsciously, but that one line made it all come together.

The quote at the beginning, the one that captures all the negatives of what advertising is, is pretty much the subtext for the entire book. It, to me, captures the essence of the media driven world that we live in. It is about the media hegemony and the control that they have over us and how they plan on keeping control. They want us to be mindless drones and we accept it because they mask their control so well.

The book dealt with issues like racial discrimination, which is a topic that until now I hadn’t considered either. On page 143, in the chapter called behind the scenes, Farai Chideya discusses racism in news reporting. The claim is that only “5 percent of reporters in the United States are black and only 3.1 percent of newspaper managers are black” (143). This goes back to the definition of Media Hegemony that we received on the first day of class, “White, male, christians with too much power.”

This book helped me become more aware of all the media that is around me. I am more aware of the underlying messages in advertisements and what the newscasters are spewing at me. I am so aware of the brands and the stereotypes that are constantly around me now, it is sometimes overwhelming. Of course, I’ve dimmed it down a bit, realized that this is just how our world is. I am looking to be a photographer and I need to know how to use these stereotypes to my own advantage. As I’ve learned, the media isn’t particularly responsive to those who speak out against it, and therefore, I believe, IF YOU CAN’T BEAT THEM, JOIN THEM.

(ha ha just kidding! I’m not giving into their mindless-drone-spell! Creativity all the way!)