SAT-tastic

In class we wrote a practice SAT essay. It dealt with the question of "does the media shape our views?"

Every day, we wake up to a barrage of information. We read the newspaper, watch the news, and view movies, among other things. Yet the real question is, "how do these things affect us?" A quote says that "The media not only transmit information and culture, they also decide what information is important. In that way, they help to shape culture and values". The truth of the matter is, it truly depends.

It depends on the specific nature or topic of the medium. When people read the newspaper every morning, what are they reading, exactly? It is certainly not pages of arbitrary information. The information on the pages are a reflection of the things that already have happened. In this case, there is ostensibly nothing to "shape" our culture or our views. Many will argue that because of this, most media do not truly have an effect on us. In reality, however, it does- simply because of the fact that even the news is selective. Headlines obviously do not portray everything that has happened in the world. Instead, they dictate what they (the editors) believe to be of importance to us. Imagine if we did not read anything about the Middle East, instead reading mostly about endangered panda bears every morning. This would undoubtedly shape our perceived level of importance for pandas v. middle east.

Many forms of media do not only have potential of changing our minds, but do so on a regular basis. For instace, if Vogue and other fashion magazines did not exist, would we be truly caught up with the newest trends from Milan? Sure, we would know eventually from word-of-mouth, but the currently-evident wildfire of trends that occur would probably not exist. Although in this way, the transmission of tis info is not truly restricted (people would figure it out via word-of-mouth), it is hampered - media has an affect on what we perceive to be important, therefore shaping our culture.

The hardest example is fiction. Although fiction many times portrays thigns or situations that do not and will not exists, that does not mean we will not be affected by the underlying messages of it. There are some extreme cases of this, one being Nazi germany's propaganda machine during World War II. Propaganda is a good example because the actual information is aimed at changing our views and opinions. In reality, the truth is usually not so distinct, yet propaganda can be a very powerful tactic to use during times of war, etc. In a more subtle way, fiction allows us to ponder and realize values that have already been acknowledged. Movies such as Apocalypse Now allow us to "see" the horrors of war, and even modern movies, such as Martin Scorsese's the Departed, depict moral dilemmas and question our identity. Many works of fiction pose concepts and questions which shape our morality in life.

In obvious or subliminal ways, the media has an effect on how we live. Whetere it be through what we wear, or how we live, the media permeates our everyday lives.