Impact Of Media On My Worldview

     Media Manipulates Many

     I believe that the mass media can impact people’s worldview very much because of the way that the information is presented to them.  Regularly, I witness the thoughts and actions of others are being motivated because of what they have seen in the media.  The content that I see expressed through media will often act as my initial interpretation of a topic or story, but I occasionally find that the media withholds pivotal facts from me and everyone else watching.  For example, in many films showing the daily lives of high school students, the actors and actresses are never the appropriate age of a high school student (13 - 18 years old).  When I watched "Mean Girls" for the first time as a 10-year-old boy, a then 25-year-old Rachel McAdams, playing Regina George, set the standard for my visions of what girls should look like in high school.  I was deeply distraught to discover that all girls in high school did not look like 25-year-old movie stars.  I was a helpless victim of the promoted visuals presented to me from the film, "Mean Girls".  Also, this film had an effect on girls heading into high school as well.  Not only did boys expect girls to live up to their expectations, but also girls felt that they had to reach our unachievable ideals.  Because the film misrepresented what high school is like, all of our views of high school were distorted drastically.  The media is also responsible for people’s actions and behaviors.  Sometimes, I catch others acting as a shadow of someone that is popular in the media.  Right now, there is a current dance that many people do called, “Twerking”.  This dance gained a lot of popularity after singer Miley Cyrus performed it at the VMAs last month.  Because of that, girls across North America have been posting videos of themselves partaking in this dance as well.  Miley Cyrus obviously had an undeniable impression on these girls, or else they would not be sharing their dancing with the world.  Obviously, the media has had an impact on my worldview, and the worldview of others.  It suggested that a young girl's beauty should be at the same level as Rachel McAdams, which causes them to stress over their appearance and has harmful affects on them.  The media also pushed this idea of "Twerking" so much that girls everywhere are taking part in this dancing movement.  Media has made us their puppets as they dictate our every move.  I would encourage my readers to cut the strings and act and think for themselves.