Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Society's Image Portrayed by the Media

Is the media making us feel bad about ourselves?  Specifically the shows we see on tv.  Whether it is dramas, commercials, or reality shows, the people chosen to be on these shows are all beautiful.  Take the show "The Bachelor" for example.  You have one beautiful lady who goes out on dates with a bunch of good looking guys.  All these guys look the same with their chiseled features, perfect hair, and muscles.  I understand that they pick these guys on their looks so people will watch the show, but this is not reality.  Normal everyday people don't look like that.

This is something we know, but when you watch a lot of tv and you see that everyone is good looking, you begin to think that real life is like that.  Then you see yourself in the mirror and you don't look as good as the people on tv and it makes you feel bad.  We need to start getting some more real people in the media and on tv.  People that don't look perfect.  We need people on tv who are admired by what they do and who they are, not what they look like.

I think the media has caused us to be overly judgmental of people also.  There are so many competition shows where contestants are judged on who is the best. This makes us as viewer get into the same habit of always judging people.  While judging people is something most people do naturally, it is not always a good thing and many times judgments end up being wrong.

I say these things about how the media should change, but I still love watching tv.  I watch the reality shows and the competition shows and I enjoy them.  Would I still watch them if the people on there were not pretty?  I think so.  Sure it is nice to see good looking people, but they do not represent reality.  I think people would actually connect more with people who are more like every day people.  Overall the media needs to stop portraying in inaccurate image of reality and start showcasing real people doing real good.

1 comment:

  1. I agree completely. I am an average person, and I actually tried internet dating once. I got all sorts of insults, but it's funny that the men I meet in person don't think of me like that. We women came up with a theory that on internet dating, there is such a large pool to choose from, that it's easy to be picky. The problem is that the men who are being so picky are actually the bottom of the barrel sorts themselves. I got into a relationship, came back 4 years later, and all the same men were still there, still hitting on every new woman that came along. I tried opening two accounts, one with my picture and one with a sexy woman's picture. The sexy woman got 100x more hits than I did, and a lot of them were from these same guys!

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