Media & Ideology

                In this chapter “Media and Ideology” the author explains the definition of ideology and how it is used in terms of the mass media. In today’s society the media doesn’t just connects us from cost to cost but it extends to all corners of the earth. This is the quickest way to obtain and report on anything and everything. People use this to gather large and small groups together and to voice opinions on all sorts of matters. The authors discusses in great detail about how the media and ideology help those in or out of power construct worldviews. It also talks about how ideology in the mass media can shape our daily thinking.

Quote #1: “…mass media are commercially organized to attract audiences for profit, there is good reason to believe that popularity will be more important to media producers than a commitment to any specific ideology.”

                What we don’t understand in our culture is that the media constructs images into our heads to believe we need certain products. For example advertisements in young women or in high fashion magazines have unrealistic and photo-shop models. This is the fashion industries way of shaping the young mind to believe that the models they have created is what beauty is. To obtain such beauty they advertise products that will “transform” readers into what the models are. Making the reader idolize what the industry has put out.

Quote #2

                “Common sense is the way we describe things that “everybody knows,” or at least should know, because such knowledge represents deeply held cultural beliefs. In fact, when we employ the rhetoric of common sense, it is usually to dismiss alternative approaches that go against our basic assumptions about how things work…the most effective ways of ruling is through the shaping of commonsense assumptions.”

                When I read this in the article it really made me stop and think about what commonsense meant for me. This is such a basic form of thinking that one finds it hard to evaluate because it’s so elementary. However, I thought that’s the point. It’s a silent pattern our society follows from the time we are just little kids. We were taught to think a specific way and some of those things became our “commonsense” but we never take that step back to think, “What’s an alternative way?” I feel it hides our opportunity to explore new ways and be creative.

Quote #3

                “One of the reasons why media images often become so controversial is that they are believed to promote ideas that are objectionable.”

                Like explained in the article movies are a key target for controversial debate because of the silent opinions thrown into them.