Influence of Visual Media

Influence of Visual Media Paper

Colleen Van Wagner

HUM/176

10/6/2013

Jane Goretskaya

The interrelationship between culture and the visual entertainment media has changed through the years. Our cultures have changed as well. Each American person has different views on what is right and wrong of that when it comes to media, whether through television, film or music. One person can say, “The sky is blue.” But some will actually go to check that the facts are correct. The same goes for the media. What film makers put on the television or movies, are in fact sometimes real or not real. It is up to us to further our education on these things.

The way that forms of visual entertainment media has shaped American culture and its values are more today the media has to deal with violence and sexual activity. Where back in the 60’s if you even spoke of sex in the home or out on the street, it was forbidden and frowned upon. Now, today, it is second nature. Kids today are growing up to where this is the new normal for them. Where when some people were growing up you never cursed, even thought about sex or being violent, it was something that no one did.

In today’s society what sells, is what everyone is going to watch or pay for. For example, the television show, “16 and pregnant”, that airs on MTV. It talks about children having babies and being fatherless. The struggles that they go through, the different social statues that the girls endure. This is the new form of television today, in the 20th Century. When growing up in the 19th Century, this was not heard of or thought of. Most teenagers were still playing with dolls, or using their imaginations and going outside to play.

The social influences of the visual entertainment