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354(1) media and ideology. -- QUOTES

Media and Ideology - Croteau


Since I have read this article before, I can honestly say that this is a great read to start this class.  Not only because it talks about the media, but because it speaks of all the ways the media makes people look.. And I will be specially talking about how the media makes teenagers look. While reading, I had to change my mindset from the first time I read.

First I want to reiterate what ideology is.. Because even for the second time reading this article, I feel it's important to completely understand what  these words mean to the author.
In the second paragraph Croteau writes: "ideology. Is a decidedly complicated term with different implications depending on the context in which it is used" 
Using google search engine I found that their definition if IDEOLOGY is:

Noun A system of ideas and ideals, esp. one that forms the basis of economic or political policy: "the ideology of republicanism". The ideas and manner of thinking of a group, social class, or individual: "a critique of bourgeois ideology". As for the word media: well I hope everyone knows what that is.  . Something that really caught my attention right off the bat was the quote: "Most ideological analyses of mass media products focus on the content of the messages-- the stories they tell about the past and the present-- rather than the 'effects' of such stories."  Page 159 I picked this as my first quote to analyze because it really makes a lot of sense to me and this topic. Every story told on television especially about teenagers, never turkey show the effects of the bad or good decisions they make. Most teenagers are perceived on TV to be cool and get into trouble on purpose to make their friends laugh, or to seem like they are the best. But something that usually isn't shown is the consequences if these actions.  This makes  teens look irresponsible and not aware of the consequences of their actions.  I thought another relevant quote was: "Despite the likelihood of their having very different political stances, those who are concerned about media depictions of premarital sex have the same underlying concern as those who citizice the dominating images of the upper-middle-class family.   In both cases, the fear is that the media images normalize specific social relations, making certain ways of behaving seem unexceptional. If the media texts can normalize behaviors, they can also set limits on the range of acceptable ideas. " page 163 I felt like this may be the best quote I could have picked. This is the definition of television, I think. Teenagers on TV are portrayed to have underage sex, participate in underage drinking, and doing more "wrong" or illegal things. Thus, teenagers enjoy watching other teens, and older people like to make comments and disagree with the airtime. However, for teens who do not participate in these illegal activities, the media makes it somewhat normal, or "ok" to do these things. Creating curiosity in the teen watching these shows.  A show for example would be the new MTV hit, "Buckwild," reports have shown that more and more people are tuning in while the mayor of that town in West Virginia wants to cancel the show. Why you may ask? Because he said that the show is giving the town and state a bad name, while teenagers tune in and idolize the things that they do.  For my last quote I picked: "and as the internet expands, politicans continue to condemn the availability of sexually explict material online and argue that unregulated speech and imagery on the internet pose a threat to childrens safety and well being." page 160 This quote says right in the text that the media can threaten a child.  What is this quote saying?  That teenagers and childrren are often influenced by the media?  I thought that this would be a good quote because it puts the warning about young minds right in front of you.  This quote could not have been more straight forward.  As an adult writing this article, Croteau is saying that children and oung adults need to be monitored constantly.  Obviously as a 19 year old, i disagree.   questions for the class: will you monitor your childrens media intake? do you feel like you personally are influenced by what you see on TV?