We know the girl didn't realize what she was saying, but it's an excellent example of how malleable human beings are. Television is an unprecedented powerful medium, combining rapid sight and sound in a way that has a tremendous and impacted psychological effect. Companies wouldn't pay millions of dollars for a 30-second commercial during major sporting events like the Olympics if this weren't the case. Adults may not run around their living rooms chanting "I want to drive a Land cruiser!" but millions of them flock to car showrooms every year to purchase all-terrain vehicles half the price of a unit that will never touch any terrain but pavement.
Various media ranging from adverts such as these, to so-called movie classics' like "The Godfather" are negative influences on today's society. Millions every day are forced to sit through programs that portray actors doing things which most would find unethical and wrong. So what's the difference between …show more content…
We can concede it a special space as a cultural medium perhaps by calling it an art form ("Hey, it must be quality if the Academy nominated it for an award"), or by saying that it's only pretend ("They're just acting"). But to call it simply acting is to slip into a form of dualism - a denial that what bodies do (no matter what the context) has no effect on the soul of the actors or of those who watch them. We deny that viewing "pretend" sex or "pretend" violence affects us in the same way the "real" thing does. The human soul is a sensitive instrument, and the basic impact of certain visual images on it remains constant, whether the images are real or fake, whether we acknowledge it or