alexamiller0419: Media Controlling Culture

As our society continues to progress in the technological era, our media has more and more control over society. After reading the article Rethinking Convergence/Culture, it is evident how our culture in the present is rooted strongly in ‘new media’. With such control, the media can now relate messages to the masses and subliminally or not, we are affected by these messages. For example the article brought up the issue of gender relations within the media. Gender stereotypes are re-enforced through advertising, television, and movies keeping men and women confined to the media’s perceptions of how men and women should act. Companies such as Dove that support a healthy body image for women, are owned by the same company as Axe for men, which portrays women as typical “bombshells” in skimpy attires. This shows how media is controlling our social culture for a profit. In the blog post Is there a Downside to New Media? social media is outlined as a new form of media that gives the voice to the people allowing them to give their opinions and respond to others; an 'open ended conversation' with the public. In another blog post entitled Why New Media? Emily Young addresses this emergence of social media and questions it’s relevance. She claims that people are able to express themselves freely but most have nothing of importance to say that will make an impact. While people are completely entitled to their opinion I can’t help but agree with her, if half our new media is controlled by corporations trying to make a profit, and the other half comes in the form of the masses’ uninformed opinions then what solid truth is coming from media?