¶ … Unraveling the Knot: Political economy and cultural hegemony in wedding media," cultural theorist Erika Engstrom suggests that the bridal industry perpetuates itself by creating an ideal of femininity that women feel pressured to fulfill. By presenting images of weddings as 'the happiest day of a woman's life,' and showing how women are the centers of their special day in elaborately coiffured dresses, websites and television programs convince ordinary women that it is normal and desirable to spend $20,000 on a wedding. Meanwhile, websites such as The Knot profit handsomely off of the cultural anxiety they generate about female perfection. This sense of cultural anxiety can also be seen in the modern diet industry. Perhaps the concept of insecurity generating revenue is most obvious in television shows like The Biggest Loser, where the contestants are seen eating foods and using other products that sponsor the show as part of their weight loss regimes. Even products that are not specifically featured on...
The show depicts overweight, miserable individuals whose lives are being destroyed by their excess weight. Through extreme diet and exercise they are transformed before the viewer's eyes, not just physically, but also spiritually. By using specific products and using the cookbooks and workout DVDs that tie into the show, the show's subtext suggests, the viewer is capable of a similar type of transformation.
MEDIA WORLD & CULTURE The Media World in Today's Culture The Media World and Today's Culture The Media World and Today's Culture The media is the most indispensable medium that most urbanized and developing countries have adapted to accessing first hand and vital information. It is also in the branch category of the most growing industries in today's global economy. However, the industry is faced with controversies from other sectors such as culture and
Media Worlds These four readings were written between 1944 and 1955, and to a certain extent represent an outmoded era of media criticism. This does not mean these studies are obsolete, but it does mean that they must be considered in light of the current sea-change that is taking place in media overall -- most notably with the Internet, but also with the effect that the Internet is having upon other
Media Worlds According to Erika Engstrom: "because there are no legal rules for the wedding as a social event itself, wedding media such as found in The Knot's offerings provide informal, though structured, instruction (etiquette) to women regarding the correct way weddings should be conducted. In this sense, the uniform weddings portrayed and described in detail in such media, in the form of easily accessible magazines and etiquette books, television programs,
ZIEGLER Media Worlds "Exploring sites of memory:" the Kennedy assassination According to Barbie Zelizer's review article entitled "Exploring sites of memory," "public history emerges simultaneously from the commonplace and mundane, the eccentric and comic, the background of the everyday, and the splendor of life on high" (Zelizer 1999:202). There is a collective memory that shapes our individual memory, and vice versa. While Ziegler's review is applied to a book on recent French history,
MEDIA & GLOBAL POLITICS Culture Shirky's piece is about the potential for media to change the course of government and politics across the world. He writes of ways that specifically the technology of social media has the power and/or potential for political activism and social change. The 21st century has seen an increase in the frequency and the efficiency of grassroots activism and social movements around the world, due in great part
Parallels in Journalism Studies Culture Chapter 11 by Coleman et al. is primarily concerned with the importance and methods of agenda setting in mass media, communication, and journalism studies. Agenda setting is a set that should come very early on in the production process of media for critical reasons. Without an agenda, the media lacks direction. Without an agenda, it is nearly impossible to judge or evaluate the success of a
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now