Television Is Bad for the American Society - Essay Example

Television is Bad for the American Society Introduction In the modern-day world, television takes center stage in everydaylives of individuals. From movies to music, documentaries to news coverage, a voice for the poor to a defense device for the elite, there is an outstanding measure of activities on television. In the past four decades, television has profoundly changed the lives of many people, especially in their working environments and ways of communications. However, television carries a wide range of controversies in which several of them have generated passionate discussions that often drive apart or entangle the content viewed and the message passed across to people. As the rise of technology makes television to take precedence in most of the activities that the media engages in, it appears that, irrespective of the programs aired on televisions, there is continuing violence and nudity (Bushman & Bonacci, 2002). This paper discusses two American shows: Game of Thrones, and Transformers films. While television is informative and domineering in the contemporary society, it is bad to the American society because even though it underscores the need for entertainment, television also motivates brutality and immorality with people’s perceptions on the shows. Pathos captures the emotional appeals that television portrays to the American society, and those that have the capacity to inaugurate a “relationship” with the audience. For example, pathos will be used to describe specific scenes in the TV shows to create a personal link with the audience by reiterating the thesis statement that TV is bad for Americans. Ethos will be used to validate the main points using transitions to bring out factual evidence that support the successes of TV shows in moving the masses. For example, the use of supporting information about cable TV ratings rising due to the shows it airs to the public. In order to make most arguments logical, this paper will use logos by quantifying data, such as percentages and approximations to illustrate the extent to which television shows transforms behavior. The stronger usage of logos to construct a more viable argument will encourage both the audience to grab the explanation to the main ideas. Media houses always seem to portray the notion that a series of nudity and violence in these shows keep viewers not only glued to their screens but also to specific channels. Currently, most of American shows display a lot of skin, making women and girls think it is the right way to dress and entertain themselves. The gender representation in TV portrays women as sexually attractive, stereotypically taking on the characteristic of the commercial models and actresses. For example, in Transformers I, Megan Fox poses erotically in one of the scenes in which she leans over the hood of her car to attract motorists (Murray, 2014). With her naked belly and seductive appearance, this sexist stereotype depicts that such pictures satisfy men’s sexual fantasies. However, television is a commercial activity, which is very sensitive to the reactions and purchasing patterns of its clients. By displaying such stories, the companies owning cable television networks attract high ratings, as these are vital to the success television stations and programs (Abel, DeBruin & Nowak, 2010). In line with the ratings, Game of thrones TV series contains violence in its motion pictures. For example, the show dedicates most of its themes on conflicts among ancient kingdoms, which used swords, dragons and giants in wars to demonstrate their prowess. Undoubtedly, as cable television aims to garner high ratings with these shows, many people in the American society, and even other countries have attempted to imitate or even demonstrate the violent activities portrayed in these kinds of shows. Game of Thrones television series has garnered ratings of ninety percent and above from Seasons two through to five. This trend ironically mirrors the fact that the American produced show has too much violence and extreme nudity. Furthermore, according to the Writers Guild of America, the show booked position forty on the list of the top 101 best written television shows (Wga.org, 2015). Television has caused more harm than good to the American society, especially to children. Even though television gives updated information to the family as a whole, the contents of various shows are embedded with some form of violence, vulgar language and sex scenes that children take in from time to time. Kids have high affinity for new information since their minds are still fresh and their curiosity is heightened with new concepts (Louis, 2000). With reference to the most prevalent thing they learn as they watch television programs, violence, sex and obscenities take them way over their view of a normal peaceful life, which may perhaps affect them in the end. For example, most scenes in Transformers films have addictive actions of violence, which viewers find it difficult to ignore. Such films are very bad for teenagers. The film utilizes special effects and camera work to explore this consistent theme of good against evil. Intense slow motion shots of character display vast explosion sequences and chaotic editing of various action sequences on screen. Although there are critics who are against most films of the director, Michael Bay, there is still a large group of viewers who withhold that his films are appealing but interesting (Murray, 2014). On the other hand, when television frequently shows images of women as sexualized victims, or in domestic roles, children could receive see these images as normal. Game of Thrones is categorized as a show with extreme explicit nudity, along with wicked sex scenes that other TV shows cannot match. Its storyline has vulgar language, making it unsuitable for universal viewing. However, it has the highest number of views and piracy since people desire watching some explicit scenes. While television encompasses the everyday lives of Americans, it presents scenes that interfere with children’s perceptions about themselves and their perception about normal and desirable things. Television is bad for the American society because it pushes for the notion that the most treasured asset that women can have is their physical beauty. Unrealistic beauty standards, inappropriate domestication and sexualization include only some of the methods that television portrays about women today (Abel, DeBruin & Nowak, 2010). TV can generate stereotypes of beauty that people then impersonate, for instance, like fashion and hairstyle. However, the definition of beauty is so limited and narrow that it leads to many problems, especially by imitating stereotyped women in the media. People might choose to do extreme activities, such as increased plastic surgeries, increased eating disorders, and abnormal dieting. Most people feel that the images displayed in the media are real and the measures or procedures used to achieve them reflect their appearance. The main disapproval of media representations of women is that they strengthen damaging stereotypes. Television can generate perceptions of sex, violence, and horror that the audience may find very popular. Such misleading tendencies can reach other audiences through movies, music, TV programs, ads, magazines, or the Internet (Abel, DeBruin & Nowak, 2010). With the intense demonstration of violence, obscenities, and sex in Game of Thrones, producers of the show resorted to cut down the levels of the above controversial issues in its fourth season. Even though the pressure from actors and audiences has reverberated, the show still displayed some extreme scenes, such as homosexuality and human sacrifice. Conclusion Evidently, television has taken over the rest of the media with in shaping the lives of Americans in one way or another. However, TV violence, obscenities, sex and other immoral activities are not the only reasons for the rise of its popularity, but evidently many factors coagulate to make it rise to the highest levels of entertainment. Shows that display such immorality on television should be banned and that the producers and writers of the programs need to standardize their content in order to keep the American society safe. The brutality, stereotypes, sex, obscenities, and related aspects that comes with the programs is excessive and needless; kids are as of now having a negative feeling from the tragedies taking place in the modern world. While television is informative and domineering in the contemporary society, it is bad to the American society because even though it underscores the need for entertainment, television also motivates brutality and immorality with people’s perceptions on the shows. References Abel, S., DeBruin, M., & Nowak, A. (2010) Women, advertising and representation: Beyond familiar paradigms. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton. Bushman, B., & Bonacci, A. (2002). Violence and sex impair memory for television ads. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 559-564. Louis, C. (2000). One Foot on the Floor: The Curious Evolution of Sex on Television from I Love Lucy to South Park. New York: TV Books. Murray, R. (2014). Shia LaBeouf talks “Transformers” and Michael Bay, About Entertainment. [Online] Retrieved 2 July 2015, from http://movies.about.com/od/transformers/a/transforme04067.htm Wga.org, (2015). 101 Best Written TV Series - Game of Thrones. Retrieved 2 July 2015, from http://www.wga.org/content/default.aspx?id=5006 White, F., & Billings, S. J. (2014). The well-crafted argument (5th ed.). Boston: Cengage. Read More