Visual Entertainment Media Shaping American Culture

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Entertainment has brought many benefits and challenges to American culture and has changed the way we communicate. Television has been in homes since the 1950's. For most people it has and is the primary source of entertainment. [TV has helped to create our culture by making an impact on book's, newspaper's and magazine's design and content. Movies, sports from around the world, news, and live war coverage have all made an impact on our culture. People gather together to watch the Super Bowl in bars and at parties. On Tuesday night's families gather around to watch live TV, as American Idol introduces young talent to the screen. Whoever has the biggest TV gets to have movie night at their house. The list is endless for the amount of information transported into our homes every day, changing the way people live and react to life situations It also began to homogenize tastes, styles, and points of view among different groups in the United States. Class and ethnic distinctions in American culture began to fade as mass media transmitted movies and music to people throughout the United States. Some people criticized the growing uniformity of mass culture for lowering the general standard of taste, since mass media sought to please the largest number of people by appealing to simpler rather than more complex tastes. However, culture became more democratic as modern technology and mass media allowed it to reach more people. Some countries, such as France, resist this influence because they see it as a threat to their unique national culture. People, especially the impressionable, take what the media says to heart and begin following trends, accepting certain ideas as truth, deciding what fun is depending on what the media claims is fun or boring, etc. References Lule, J. (2012) Exploring media and culture. Irvington, NY: Flat World

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