Entertaining Distortions

Distortions Embodied in Entertainment Media

•To maximize profits, the corporate media producer must create and hold as large an audience as possible within its market
•In visual media – TV, movies, plays – this is done by deliberately distorting its depiction of the world
–Simplifications
–Exaggerations 
•Given the distortions, it is important to distinguish between the real world and the media world
–What we experience in the media world can and does shape how we interpret the real world and our expectations of it
–We can thus come to have a distorted understanding of the real world to the extent we base our understandings and expectations of it on the distortions of the media world

NONE OF IT IS TRUE UNLESS WE MAKE IT TRUE


A. Story Formulas

There are formulas for telling and understanding stories
    Note that real life rarely fits neatly into such formulas

These correspond to the various genres and subgenres

    Genre - a distinctive kind, sort, or category

 

B.  Character Portrayals

1.  Demographic Distortions

Demography – statistical study of human populations

 

2.  Stereotypical Portrayals

Stereotype: a standardized mental picture that represents an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgment
Note: usually some real world basis

 

Nevertheless:

    – reductionist

    – inaccurate and false

    – obstacles to rational assessment

 

Stereotypes are useful and necessary: expectations

 

Gender

Ethnicity/Race

Occupations

Families

Age

 

C.  Content

1.  Sex
Distortions: Nudity, Beauty, Consequences, Performance, Satisfaction
Increasing Realism

2.  Violence
Frequency, Consequences

 

Conclusion

Entertainment messages present intentionally distorted representations of the world

Understanding these distortions helps prevent us from developing a distorted understanding of the real world

Understanding these distortions = Increased Media Literacy