Dollar bill$, y'all

Hey again,
This weeks discussion revolved around class (social status) specifically portrayed in television shows. One of the examples included the new hit series, Gossip Girl. This show in more ways than one relates to the majority of the teenage population across the world. It is provocative and not at all discreet. There is a level of concern regarding how much is too much when it comes to children and teens today. It is a perfect example of the class issues that divide a society. The audience follows a storyline through the upper middle class perspective (a look through greedy selfish teenagers eyes). There is a definite breakdown between who is upper and who is lower class. The "popular" or "rich" students wear fancy designer clothes and throw huge events while being envied by everyone else who cannot afford their reckless lifestyle. The students who come from a working class family are then portrayed as weird and not good enough to hang out with the rest of them. I think youth today look up to these images because they are everywhere, they cannot escape from it. There is this sense of a fantasy world that everyone strives for. They are learning through the representations on television and they are modelling the behavior. Money is a sensitive topic as discretion is not much of an issue any longer. We want our children and teens to be critical about media and not be afraid to express their power of speech but we have forgotten where we should draw the line. If we are the leaders of the future what are we teaching our own future leaders.

-S
Click here to check out some pictures of other episodes depicting class.

Media's Reflection

Hey bloggers!
Following today's class I do believe many of us are unaware of the effects and the amount of media that is "pushed" upon on us in our daily lives. We as a society are very media influenced and it becomes apparent when we closely examine our environment around us. Take for instance, a newspaper where full pages will go to advertising instead of compelling or up to date stories. If you take a second to look around you would not be able to count on your own two fingers the ads that envelop your surroundings. It is pretty shocking knowing how media driven we are and yet continuously buy into it. We are a consumers culture where nothing ever seems to be good enough for us. We are constantly striving for new and improved and rarely settle for less. I have taken into account that there is much more to the media industry as a whole than meets the eye. Even I find myself giving in to media's temptation as its almost impossible not to talk or want the latest developments in today's culture. However, I do believe it is important to question and be critical towards what is being shown to you and understand that there are always external motives beyond what you know.

On a side note, enjoy this video! Haha :)
-S