What is changing media trends in capitalism?

[punisa]

How do the trends actually get changed and why?
This is a general question regarding mass media.

I'm the last one to moralize about it, I'm just intrigued to find out why do certain trends move towards more extreme examples.

For exampe, the movie industry. It is obvious that violence and aggression have became very common and almost "natural" in movies.
If we were living in communism, I'd say this a new socio trend set up by the current atmosphere or whatever, but with capitalism - I just know that its got to do something with profits :thumbdown:
Anyone care to share their views?

And ofcourse there is music - just 50 years ago it was shocking to see "shaking" Elvis and "too long haired" Beatles - and now Marlyin Manson is moderate :lol:

Tv Shows "must" be provocative or simply plain stupid to attract viewers - like Fear Factor, Moment on Truth etc.

Is this only "supply and demand" at work, or is the gradual change introduced for some other reasons?
Also, why is the shift gradual and where is it going? Will the media reach some limit or not?

What can we suspect in the future?
A euthanasia-suicide shows?
Fighting sport where one must die in the ring (considering i its shot in some crazy country)?
Virgins selling their virginity to the highest bider?
See, there are very extreme ideas that could be (almost legally) utilized, but will they?

It's a silly question, I know. But it really intrigues me:cool:

[Ligeia]

It's about what is needed to keep the audience intrested and busy but uneducated.
It's about creating either dreamscapes or showing us the others' lives. Both fulfill some kind of craving....one craving for a better life and the other one confirming us that there are people worse off, with the same problems or whatever.....
It's also about conveying certain social atmospheres ... e.g. sensibilising the audience for unjust wars....or for corruption,....depending on the current state of affairs.
When it comes to things such as music....music is often written by musicians/artists which try to break with every old art form to create something new or make a special statement....but sometimes it's also nothing more than entertainment with no other purpose than that.....
I don't know what to expect from the audio-visual media in the future.
Since it's shaped by outer circumstances .... those have to worsen a lot more until you have real violence in shows....

[Belisarius]

i mentioned him already a lot, but Baudrillard wrote a lot about television. he said that television functions as a "murderer of reality". the things we see on tv forms our way of viewing reality (for example: the thought of a shark isn't a real shark anymore, but jaws). movies (action, horror, romantic, etc.) are a good example. they distort reality.

the problem is that this distortion creates a reaction. this is the re-emergence of reality on the screen: reality tv.

what i think will happen is that both will blend with each other into some kind of unreal reality tv. The kind of megalomaniac tv that is already on the screen sometimes, with lots of sensation and things we "can't imagine in our wildest dreams".

[punisa]

i mentioned him already a lot, but Baudrillard wrote a lot about television.

That is interesting, thanks. Would you recommend any specific work from Jean Baudrillard? I'd really appreciate :)

[punisa]

nveying certain social atmospheres ... e.g. sensibilising the audience for unjust wars....or for corruption,....depending on the current state of affairs.
When it comes to things such as music....music is often written by musicians/artists which try to break with every old art form to create something new or make a special statement....but sometimes it's also nothing more than entertainment with no other purpose than that.....

Indeed, "manufacturing consent".

I just listened to a discussion today on how some well known political newspapers are turning into tabloids.
Simply because they can't make a sale with serious subjects no more.
A political story doesn't attract people, but if a paparazzo caught some actress's boob - that's a front page guarantee.

I understand that the propaganda needs to create a fake reality where wrongdoings will go unnoticed, but why is the demand for rubbish that high?
We can't deny that people willingly spend hours per day watching TV, usually hours of nonsense "entertainment".

Could this be related to social alienization?
Sorry for throwing random possible solutions around, I'm really not all that knowledgeable on psychology in general, but I'm trying to figure this one out.

Amateurishly observing people for last 10 years, I can't help but notice that many people I knew became very isolated and kinda anti social in a way. Usually after college or school, when they began to work full time.

[Belisarius]

That is interesting, thanks. Would you recommend any specific work from Jean Baudrillard? I'd really appreciate :)
"The gulf war did not take place" is an interesting theory of how modern warfare has changed into a media-hyped computer game.
"Simulacra and simulation" is his best known work

this site offers short summaries of some of his books:
http://www.egs.edu/faculty/jean-baudrillard/biography/

[Ligeia]

I just listened to a discussion today on how some well known political newspapers are turning into tabloids.
Simply because they can't make a sale with serious subjects no more.
A political story doesn't attract people, but if a paparazzo caught some actress's boob - that's a front page guarantee.

Well, I've read an article where the writer stated that some newspapers are turning into tabloids because people get their information on the internet because most newspapers will all talk about the same things in another package (depending on the class of readers they are aiming at).
If this were true....that would be nice....if people were really interested in searching for knowledge themselves....but I don't know....
If we suppose that there is much more "nonsense" entertainment because it is being demanded by audiences and readers alike...the question would be, why is there a demand?

I'd say it is resignation (as a consequence of alienation maybe).....you are constantly in danger of lower living standards and the only thing you can do is do as "they" say and hope it's enough to stay where you are. Thus with resignation, you'll only try to do the best for your life which could be something as tiny as consuming entertainment.
People can also only be interested in something informative if they are knowledgable about it in the first place if they are not, they won't understand it and leave it alone (say a historical-political movie)....and as it goes, today there's not much effort being made to make people knowledgable about anything except their workplace.
If nobody pushes you or if you don't find anything enlightening in your environment, you won't try to gain the knowledge you want.

..I've observed that people get almost repulsed by political activist...by saying that nothing will change anyway, that it doesn't matter...etc...so that's where I get this impression that resignation exists....

Just my unsorted thoughts....

[rednordman]

I dont know whether what i am going to say is going to have any revalence to this thread but I do get the opinion nowadays that TV is there to supply people with a kind of drug to get people to deal with the awfull dissapointing reality of their lives. Sort of like escapism. The thing that intruiges me is how the boundaries are constantly getting crossed untill now everything is super stupid or shocking. Its like people cannot use their imagination anymore.

The same can be said about movies also. When I was young, childrens movies (like disney etc) had a complex side to them. Nowadays, kinds do not have to think. The characters are all simple extrovert/loud/happy and funny, and not often introvert, quiet and complex ones.

I think you are correct that capitalism has something to do with this, because stuff just gets produced without any substance (or even style) whatsoever. The word generic comes to mind. You know that everything is edited to make it a cheap as possible. But the reason they can do this would be down to a significant dumbing down of the masses. The reality is that the masses have been dumbed down by capitalism. We are all just faceless comsumers now. And that is exactly what the media and wealthy really want. All that represents us are simple numbers and statistics. Anything inbetween just gets sweaped under the carpet.

[punisa]

The same can be said about movies also. When I was young, childrens movies (like disney etc) had a complex side to them. Nowadays, kinds do not have to think. The characters are all simple extrovert/loud/happy and funny, and not often introvert, quiet and complex ones.

thank you! Exactly what was on my mind the other day.
And "extrovert" was the exact word I was looking for :)
When media is discussed people usually tend to think of movies, but as you mentioned - cartoons are a very important subject.
The impact that its having on young people is tremendous.
From what I saw on TV its just hyper loud - especially the ones coming from Asia. I dunno, I'm not a kid any more - but I can't watch that for more then 5 minuted and not feeling some sort of anxiety.

Might be a bit of nostalgia sneaking up on me, but I'm fairly sure that the cartoons I watched as a kid in 80s were much more "socialist" in nature and many were incorporating some meanings, stories or similar.
One that I remember well was a Canadian cartoon called "Racoons" - a story about a bunch of friendly racoons that try to protect their forrest from the exploiters and industries (capitalists).
Back then I really liked it, but only today I realise that those 3 raccoons actually lived in a communist - agrarian society :lol:

Nowadays I don't see any cartoons like that.


Well, this might turn to be a rant, but let me mention just a few more examples.
Say Tv shows - especially sitcoms and casual comedy series - the amount of happiness/utopian lifestyle that springs from those people is just surreal.
Don't know if it was a book or a lecture, but Slavoj Zizek recently said a very clever thing along these lines - "happy happy happy, everybody wants you to be ubber happy! Say no - I don't feel happy today. Maybe tommorow, but please don't force it down on me".

[punisa]

..I've observed that people get almost repulsed by political activist...by saying that nothing will change anyway, that it doesn't matter...etc...so that's where I get this impression that resignation exists....

Just my unsorted thoughts....

Thanks for joining the discussion comrade.
You know what is really funny/scary? That the attitude you mention is becoming global.
Wherever western media dominated - the attitude is the same.
"resistance is futile" - majority of the people will rather sit down on their couch then to do something about their lives.
It's the same in US, Croatia, Germany even Russia.

The only sparks around the world that are happening are in places where Western media is not that influential, probably parts of Asia, Middle East and South of equator.
And what do you know - these are actually the only places where we suspect that "some" sort of revolutionary movement will arise. I'm referring mostly to Latin America.

Chavez has been slammed recently for banning some cartoons and video games, but maybe there is indeed some wisdom in that decision :lol:

Media is creating lazy-living-hard-working-class-blobs wherever it dominates.
No wonder that Afghan Idol is the most popular show of the Orient :laugh:

[Ligeia]

And what do you know - these are actually the only places where we suspect that "some" sort of revolutionary movement will arise. I'm referring mostly to Latin America.

I remember back in 2006 in Mexico City....there were these large protests against the electoral fraud. I was there. Those protests were huge and all kinds of people were there, you had ages 10-90.......and they were furious, angry, some cried...some chanted thing along the lines of "if this doesn't work,then revolution is the solution" but the supported party did everything to calm down their supporters and tell them that everything can be solved through peaceful means.
And their was also a lot of solidarity.

Anyway.....I never could imagine such a behaviour among say...Germans. Not at all. They'd believe everything their media tells them even if it looks like corruption, fraud or whatever else and then they'll say "you can't do anything,anyway."....

But still...I don't know, looking at the regular media in Mexico I don't see much difference....but I guess, there's a wider use of radio and the printed media, there you have a wider variety of opinions....maybe that's it and the urgent need for better living conditions among the mayority of the population.:confused:

[Ligeia]

I've found something which might interest you.
WINDtlPXmmE
I think this movie talks about this dumbness-transformation in television..I haven't seen it but I've read the summary and seems intresting.

Anyway, here's an article about the whys of resignation(psychologically):
http://www.alternet.org/story/144529/?page=entire
Some excerpts:

Can people become so broken that truths of how they are being screwed do not "set them free" but instead further demoralize them?
Yes. It is called the "abuse syndrome." How do abusive pimps, spouses, bosses, corporations, and governments stay in control? They shove lies, emotional and physical abuses, and injustices in their victims' faces, and when victims are afraid to exit from these relationships, they get weaker. So the abuser then makes their victims eat even more lies, abuses, and injustices, resulting in victims even weaker as they remain in these relationships.
Does knowing the truth of their abuse set people free when they are deep in these abuse syndromes?
No. For victims of the abuse syndrome, the truth of their passive submission to humiliating oppression is more than embarrassing; it can feel shameful -- and there is nothing more painful than shame. When one already feels beaten down and demoralized, the likely response to the pain of shame is not constructive action, but more attempts to shut down or divert oneself from this pain. It is not likely that the truth of one's humiliating oppression is going to energize one to constructive actions.
U.S. citizens do not actively protest obvious injustices for the same reasons that people cannot leave their abusive spouses: They feel helpless to effect change. The more we don't act, the weaker we get. And ultimately to deal with the painful humiliation over inaction in the face of an oppressor, we move to shut-down mode and use escape strategies such as depression, substance abuse, and other diversions, which further keep us from acting. This is the vicious cycle of all abuse syndromes.


Television: In his book Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television (1978), Jerry Mander (after reviewing totalitarian critics such as George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, Jacques Ellul, and Ivan Illich) compiled a list of the "Eight Ideal Conditions for the Flowering of Autocracy."
Mander claimed that television helps create all eight conditions for breaking a population. Television, he explained, (1) occupies people so that they don't know themselves -- and what a human being is; (2) separates people from one another; (3) creates sensory deprivation; (4) occupies the mind and fills the brain with prearranged experience and thought; (5) encourages drug use to dampen dissatisfaction (while TV itself produces a drug-like effect, this was compounded in 1997 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration relaxing the rules of prescription-drug advertising); (6) centralizes knowledge and information; (7) eliminates or "museumize" other cultures to eliminate comparisons; and (8) redefines happiness and the meaning of life.
Commericalism of Damn Near Everything: While spirituality, music, and cinema can be revolutionary forces, the gross commercialization of all of these has deadened their capacity to energize rebellion. So now, damn near everything – not just organized religion -- has become "opiates of the masses."

And also this book:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Arguments_for_the_Elimination_of_Television

[Steve_j]

http://www.amazon.com/Everything-Bad-Good-You-Actually/dp/1573223077

Quite and interesting book that claims that popular culture (tv, video games ect) is makeing us smarter. Dont agree with the book but it is a very interesting read, and very well reaserched.

[Belisarius]

the media do make us smarter in some sense, but not in a productive one. from the media we learn facts (e.g. i have learnt a lot about historical geography and politics thanks to a computer game), but those facts don't constitute practical nor theoretical knowledge. the media do not make us understand the subject talked about, it makes us remember the facts about it. documentaries for example hardly learn us what communism or fascism really is, in stead they teach us the biographies of Stalin or Hitler.