Media And Its Effect On Society - 1087 Words

Media is a tool that has been seen to control much of the world. More specifically it has the power to make people second guess themselves. Many images on today’s media are affecting the way people think. There seems to be an unrealistic body image the media presents, which affects the viewing public greatly. Time and time again, the media falters to make an impossible image for men to achieve, but does make unrealistic images for women to achieve constantly. Recently this has changed as many magazines, such as â€Å"Men’s Health,† make men aware of a body image that is not achievable or in other words average. There seems to be a â€Å"†¦realization that this magazine, and a handful of others like it, are leveling the playing field†¦,† (Brown,†¦show more content†¦The fact that statistics like this are being said is relieving women and the stress that is placed on them to keep up an image of beauty that is extremely hard to maintai n. In addition to men finally being scrutinized by the media, the media also takes an unfair attack on the weight of people. In our consumption-addled culture, the mass media encourages us to absorb as many goods as possible far beyond the saturation point. The media has gone as far as to make people believe that more of anything; for example food, clothing, etc., can create the image of anyone to become sexier or more successful. There is one â€Å"†¦notable exception: if a women is perceived as having consumed too much food, she finds that she has committed a social crime† (Goodman, W., 1995, p. 54). This serves to be a flaw that the media has faltered in catching, but does not really care because if this â€Å"social crime† is committed it allows room for more T.V. ads about weight loss pills and for magazines to print in their next issue about a new found diet or pictures of â€Å"beautiful† skinny women. Women are punished if they follow the rule that more is better, but men are left out of the loop. It is clearly seen in movies, where actors such as the late John Candy, Chris Farley, and John Belushi, who were all obese men, found fame and glory due to their weight. For example, in a scene from the movie