PetiteEtoile, 02-05-09

I though the class discussion about realism and verisimilitude was very interesting and something that has a large effect on our society and should be given more attention to. Dr. Rog was poking fun at the president for attacking a fictional character in his speech. But I think that he was right, it doesn’t matter that the characters aren’t real, they still have a huge effect on the psychii of the public. I’m not agreeing that the show was dismantling family values, but I do believe that shows have the power to do so and that other shows have. And it’s not just family values that shows have an effect on. Self esteem in young girls has plummeted and eating disorders have sky rocketed as the average weight of a model or actress on television has consistently dropped since the they first began to air. Stereotypes that were once just milling about in the air, maybe underlying in our toys and in our education, are now being pounded into the minds of children beginning at a very young age and almost for the rest of their lives. Girls are suppose to be skinny, pretty, sweet. Boys are suppose to be rugged, manly, and unemotional. So as children watch these perfect people live their perfect lives on television, they must begin to realize the difference between themselves and those people, and eventually come to the realization that because they are not like them they are less. And this is just the surface, there are many violent acts such as the shooting at Columbine that have been linked to movies or television shows or music. I know that in Brazil the public is so convinced of the realism of their soap operas, that if someone is a bad character on television, that actor will actually be harassed in real life. People will actually yell at them and curse them out as if though they had really killed their only son to marry their cousin or whatever scandal it is that week. And if you could spy in on the conversations, you would think they were talking about real people when you see the emotions on their faces as they discuss so and so’s beautiful wedding or so and so’s tragic death. I think when we created television we thought it was simply a form of entertainment, we had no idea the real beast we have brought to life, all the risks and dangers and new elements that it brought with it. I think it is something that should not be taken lightly, for once a child’s mind has been geared to have low self-esteem, violence and disrespect for authority, it is very difficult almost impossible to ever get that innocence back again.