The way media portrays things is that being ordinary is drab.
There always needs to be flashing neon lights of sorts, drama, larger-than-life atmosphere etc….which is consistent with celebrity culture. We love buying tabloids
instead of books. They are after all, bright and full of life rather than just
plain text.
Let me take a notch closer to my home, South Africa. We want
to emulate our stars. We want to eat sushi off semi-clad women, drink Moet, VIP
access to the hottest clubs in the country, wear Christian Louboutin heels,
drive an Aston Martin and live in Camps Bay. It’s exciting and vibrant!
Let’s look at an important aspect of making a media message:
Editing. I made an example of the television show “Toddlers and Tiaras”. What
is it that you suppose they are NOT telling us? We all know children have
temper tantrums, they show us snippets on the show. If supposedly these are
normal children, why don’t they show us them playing with other children? Why
do we not get to see the ‘non-glamorous’ side of their lives, them JUST
ordinary children.
Now, this ‘hidden’ side of this show is not the only one. It’s
a classic aspect in our reality television shows, they never show the ugly and
ordinary. Even the ordinary is glamourized! So what is being imparted to us
with and ‘nothing bad happens to me’ type of life? What kind of culture are we
breeding?
For the person that watches these shows with a critical and
questioning mind, I commend you. Being passive is the most dangerous thing you
could ever do. I don’t believe that we all want to be led by the nose and be fed
tubes of garbage encouraging a sort of mind control.
Therefore, as upcoming media message makers, we have a
responsibility to our audiences to try and be realistic as possible and provide
context for the stories we tell people.
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