*This essay was written in a period of 25 minutes. There was a time limit, and we had no knowledge of the topic beforehand.
The media plays an extremely important role in our lives today. No matter how we try to form our own views and opinions, the media manages to subconsciously influence us. Does this influence have an effect on us humans? I believe that the media does influence what is important to us.
The television is one of the strongest tools that the media can use to influence us. TV's are present in almost every corner of the world. In essence, it has become for many the center of entertainment. Since the TV plays such an important role in our lives, it is impossible for it not to influence us. For example, take the topic of beauty. A popular TV show called Dr. 90210 chronicles the lives of plastic surgeons. Sounds harmless? It isn't. The show features many women who wish to enhance themselves in terms of beauty. Therefore, they turn to plastic surgeons. It is a fact that many women nowadays wish to make themselves more beautiful. Shows like Dr. 90210 influence these women to try plastic surgery. This could be a reason why the plastic surgery business is booming. The show influenced the importance of beauty in many women's lives. The television is a powerful tool when it comes to being influential.
The newspaper is another method that the media uses to influence people. The newspaper takes the "most important" stories and prominently displays them on the the front cover. The other day, I saw the title of the newspaper. It read, "Michelle Wie Makes The Cut!"" I couldn't help but think to myself, "Is this really the most important story out there?" A lot of people, however, are influenced by this. After reading stories like this, many people will make Michelle Wie an important part of their lives. If you saw the turnout at the Sony Open, you would know what I mean. The newspaper also has the power to influence what people consider to be important.
In the book "1984" by George Orwell, the media is the all powerful dictator. This book takes place in a futuristic dystopia, where people are constantly being watched and brainwashed. The newspaper advocates censorship, and the people don't know better. In fact, the newspaper altered stories so that they would be acceptable in the eyes of the dictator, Big Brother. The people were influenced by the newspaper, and the government achieved its goal. The media does influence our lives.
The influence of the media is inescapable. the age we live in simply runs on technology, and with that comes the media. Whether it's the television or newspaper, we are constantly being influenced. The media does determine what is most important to people. How else can you explain mobs of people rushing to the plastic surgeon? If you ask me, the number would be much smaller without the influence of the media.
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2 comments:
Hey eric, very interesting and very very good essay. It provided ample and good examples and you explained throughly in your analyzation of each example. The only thing you could have done better is maybe deleted the 3rd paragraph because I felt it was kind of random. Or maybe you should have included it in your paragraph with the newspaper example. All in all I thought it was a very well written essay.
I kind of agree with James. I think that you should delete the newspaper paragraph (or rather, could have done without it since we can't revise), because it is just reiterating what you said for the television example.
Also, I'm sure we all need to work on having one solid example where you can prove many points. I like your conclusion where it took a more specific stand (it was as though you realized that technology drives the media through this essay, which I thought was pretty cool).
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