Creative Writing Piece Two To the Editor, Most people do not see the powerful and integral part

media has come to play in our technologyoriented society, and so it has become a crutch we lean on to reconcile ourselves with our lives. Television has become the instrument through which dominant ideologies are constantly repeated in a way that enslaves our society. Television is controlled by small socially dominant groups who influence us to accept designated ideologies, and in such a way that we believe it is the social normal. Past ideologies, such as women staying at home instead of working, were distributed to peoples unsuspecting minds and, though we like to believe ourselves the peak of an intelligent society, television is still a popular form of manipulation. It is true that this is not always a bad thing however. Television is also a vehicle for change, as it reaches a mass public and is the best way to implement new and better ways of thinking. The New Normal is a popular TV show that shows a gay couple choosing to have a child through a surrogate mother, and so subtly eases us into the new ideology where being gay is acceptable. It has gotten to a point where Academic OShaughnessy referred disparagingly to television as mass culture. Therefore my argument is not that we should all stop watching television, only that we must be careful not to blindly accept as normal the things we see on screen. It offers us ways of understanding our society and thus contributes to the consciousness we have of the world. The argument of cultural critics is that because of its stress on pleasure and entertainment it addresses everyone across class, gender, age, and thus becomes one of the most crucial sites in which our consciousness is constructed and through which ideologies are produced.Once we realise the concerns of ideology we can never see popular culture as just entertainment and socially insignificant. Popular culture is the opiate helping to maintain the status quo of a conservative society. Although , television can leave people depressed because their lives seem incomplete or not worth living in comparison to the lives of people we see on screen. Programs such as New Girl, or Arrow, both can leave viewers depressed due to the lack of romantic encounters or supernatural adventures in their lives even if common sense tells them the programs are fiction. It is also argued however, that television is an escape from real life and encourages people to better themselves and strive to achieve their goals. People who work hard have found it a release to be able to simply sit and absorb information without having to think about it. I am not saying that television cannot be comforting and inspiring, but it is my experience that more often than not programs leave viewers with unreachable goals for reality. The most surprising fact is that weve forgotten television was only recently introduced. Before that did people have no stress relief? Of course not. They used natural stress relief such as exercise or laughing with friends. Television is a good way to relax, but my problem is with the reliance we seem to have on it, and how it can be used as an escape from doing work that needs doing. We have to keep control of how much time we spend watching television. Richard Dyer has shown how contradictory views about entertainment go back to seventeenth-century French philosophers Pascal and Montaigne. Both see entertainment offering available pleasures in the face of the problems of life. The tradition following from Pascal sees this form of entertainment as an escape which is ultimately self-destructive since it is merely a way of reconciling us to the status quo, of making us accept the conditions of life as it is. He also argues that

traditional forms of entertainment do offer radical possibilities in showing us utopian and ideal visions which allow an escape from the present but also implicitly criticise the present. It is also important to remember however, that television is a false representation of reality, including both reality TV shows, and surprisingly to some people, documentaries. Although we are seeing real images, the cameraman or editor chooses what the viewer sees and thus constructs an image and manipulates us into believing it is the whole truth. This subtle manipulation leaves us thinking ourselves superior and knowledgeable, but without seeing the whole picture, our impressions and ideas of a topic are effectively being manipulated to be what the editor wants. Television constructs a view of the world but naturalises that view, makes it normal, by hiding its own means of construction, its editing, selection, and camerawork. It claims to offer a window on the world as though its mediating processes were not there at all. Remember that producers are making sure you see what they want you to see. Be aware that what youre watching is a construction and is made up of ideologies that you have the choice to either believe or disregard. Be informed and research your decisions before accepting what you see on the screen. Herein lies the fascination and central contradiction of popular culture and television in their ability to do both these things at once, gratifying the people yet contributing to their enslavement. Students in discussion will often deny that they ever watch such programmes, preferring news, current affairs, and serious drama. The more honest admit their enjoyment but preface this by saying, I know I shouldnt like these programs but.. We should note this desire to deny the validity of our own pleasure in watching television. And so we morally pat themselves on the back, saying that they now knew why these things were so rotten, such views are found between scholars Matthew Arnold to F. R. Leavis. Marie Poff, NZ