Media Causes Tragedy

I think one of the biggest modern day tragedy is the effect that media has on people's ideals. For example, the media exposes many different females and have created the ideal females. This perfect woman is exposed all throughout the media from advertisements to celebrities, girls want and expect to be like these models or celebrities. A girl needs to be skinny, have big physical features, and a face that is perfect. The media forces these girls to look like this "perfect" woman and therefore causes girls to go to the ultimate extreme. The media has caused a tragedy because teenage girls are now suffering from eating disorders. Since the media portrays women to be skinny and there are all these products about losing weight, girls have gone to the extreme low and decided to be anorexic. Teenagers are more likely to have an eating disorder which can cause death. This may not be your typical tragedy because there is not an exact reason for death that relates to the media but these girls are slowing dying because of the expectations that the media has put on them.

Comments

[Jiayi Y.]

It is interesting to think of media as the tragedy since it is not something tangible. However, I agree with you that ads, TVs, music, films, and other members of mass media define beauty narrowly as skinny and youthful appearance thereby contributing to the epidemic of eating disorders and negative body image. Our inability to discern beauty as social constructs and our tendency to make its standard the absolute are the flaws that result in our downfall. Since media is created by people, it is also ironic that we create an unachievable standard of beauty and thereby tormenting ourselves. To prevent this downfall, people should remind themselves that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder".

[Simone Akgulian]

I like your idea that the media is a tragedy. I agree completely and think it is a pity that the media contributes so much to lowering girls' self esteems. In some ways you could even apply this idea to the definition of tragedy we discussed in class. Media was once a well-respected form of journalism and now is considered trashy and fake. One could classify this as a fall from grace, fulfilling the "noble stature" requirement.