Through most of our lecture and most of Chapter 13, we have seen the media's hurtful impact on society and how it can mold people to believing certain fears. However, the media can also provide catharsis for many people, seeking a way to vent out their anger, frustration, and romantic tendencies through media.
Catharsis (in the context we are talking about) is when a person can live out their desires deemed by society to be abnormal through a programmed fantasy world instead of the real one. It is not difficult to understand why "shoot-em-up" videogames sell more than any other kind. It allows the player to live out these violent and antisocial desires in a world where there is no consequence for such action (and you are almost always the hero so it is for a good cause). The media can also portray catharsis through advertising to carnal desires that are again deemed abnormal by societal standards, yet a business that offers this can gain numerous members and, thus, plenty of money.
The advertisement we saw in class featuring scantly clad women with the slogan "Fitness. Fighting. Females" shows this kind of catharsis for men trying to vent their violent thoughts and sexual desires. Industries like wrestling, football, and pornography have reaped numerous benefits by appealing to this concept of catharsis. It may appear brutish and crude on the front, but can't it also prevent those from causing real harm? If they can do it in a controlled environment or through sport and internet, doesn't this prevent them from causing real violence in our world? In this sense, media can actually have an impact that doesn't harm or stereotype. Through this catharsis, people (especially men) can resort to this fantasy world of violence and sex instead of committing real harm.
In the end, while catharsis can not necessarily be proven, it can easily be deducted that this power the media has over our desires can limit harm to others in the real world. But at what cost? Appealing to these tendencies does, in fact, stereotype people as a whole. Is this concept of catharsis outweigh the damage advertisements do to men and (especially) women's images? Have they figured out exactly what men are made of (Fitness. Fighting. Females), and we are no more than that? I don't believe it. Catharsis is alive and well in games like Second Life and many shooter games, and the impact of that is greater than the stereotypes placed on us by advertising.
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