As discussed in previous blog posts, the media are very influential in everyday life. “The media – press, radio, television, cinema, and so on – have become the arenas through which people receive most of their entertainment and information about the world, so they are primary sources for how we see the world,” (O’Shaughnessy, & Stadler, How the media work, 35). Therefore, the media can very easily control what we want in the way of consumerism. This being said, I believe that we want the media we get, but the media make us think that we get the media we want.

This is the case in many situations, especially on television. More specifically, with ‘reality’ television, a great example being Jersey Shore. For those of you who don’t know (are you living under a rock?), Jersey Shore was a television show about eight people who moved to the Jersey Shore who partied non-stop and acted like children. Before this show came on, who would have wanted to watch it? Certainly not me, although I watched every single episode (I know, its sad…).

It is quite possible that this show was created to make the ‘upper class’ feel good about themselves. “Traditionally, low culture has been denigrated as inferior and potentially damaging, and the fact that it was a product of mass media was used to disparage it,” (O’Shaughnessy, & Stadler, Fears about the media’s influence on culture, 18). This perspective has become somewhat of a joke, leaving the ‘low culture’ to be humiliated and ridiculed because of its differences in social norms. Although this was technically always the case in the world outside television, this has become the norm within television. The media is perpetually trying to categorize the world, and, in turn, creates the philosophy that is displayed in Jersey Shore, thereby training us to want the media we get.

With the general public being in such a vulnerable and influential position, this is very easy for the media to do. With each product placement and focus group they are able to figure out what we want, or in this case what we think we want, and feed it to us through television, movies, radio, and whatever else we use on a daily basis. The media are in a very powerful position and without the ability to make us think that we get what we want, that would change very quickly.

 As a side note, I don’t know why the font changes size in each paragraph, and I’m not sure how to fix it. Sorry!