Essay on Media, Historical Upheavals and Remembrance in Everyday Life
Traditionally, mass media have a considerable impact on the life of people and on their perception of the surrounding world and their cultural identity. At the same time, the major problem caused by mass media today is their overwhelming impact. As a result, today, people face substantial difficulties with the development of the independent view on historical events, because they are constantly exposed to the impact of mass media. Therefore, views and beliefs of people are shaped, to a significant extent, by mass media. In fact, mass media can contribute to historical upheavals and public remembrance of the past in everyday life, although such remembrance and perception of historical events may not mirror the actual events and they may be far from reality. Therefore, mass media overwhelming impact can provoke misleading interpretation of the past and historical events and formation of the erroneous view of people on their present because people learn about the surrounding world, key social, economic, political and historical events and issues from mass media mainly but they can never be certain in accuracy and objectivity of mass media.
The development of mass media affects the public opinion and may have a historical impact on the society. In such a way, the development of mass media can have the higher impact on the development of the society because the perception of the present social life depends on the interpretation of the past of the society or, like George Orwell explained in his 1984, who controls the past controls the future, who controls the present, controls the past. Mass media control the public opinion today and shape the remembrance of people about their past (Bury 205). This is why the further development of the society also depends on mass media because people will rely on their past experienced created by mass media rather than by real facts. For instance, the misinterpretation of the past by mass media can cause conflicts between different social groups, as was the case of white Americans and Native Americans or white Americans and African Americans.
At the same time, mass media contribute to the formation of the remembrance of the society of key events in the history. As a result, people retain in their memory what they receive from mass media (Bagdikian 199). In this regard, Twelve Years a Slave gives insight into the US history uncovering the problem of slavery and its impact on the life of the average people. The film offers the view from within, from the standpoint of a slave, who had struggled for his liberty.
In such a way, the film reveals the full extent to which the media can influence the public opinion. At this point, it is worth mentioning the fact that the media, like Twelve Years a Slave, contribute to the formation of the public opinion and remembrance. For instance, the film Twelve Years a Slave contributes to the formation of the public remembrance about slavery. The film depicts the slavery and the life of slaves, while people tend to take events described in the film for granted. In such a way, they shape their vision of the slavery as the issue is depicted in the film and other media. Therefore, mass media contribute to the formation of the stable remembrance which may differ from the real history and historically grounded description of those invents. Instead, people tend to develop their views on the past through mass media and the way the media depict those events lead to the formation of the remembrance about those events.
Therefore, mass media can contribute to the development of human remembrance and views, which may differ from the real facts. In such a way, mass media can create the illusionary world, where people learn from mass media and take them for granted.
In such a situation, the question concerning the possible impact of mass media on the society arises. For instance, there is a high risk that mass media can promote misleading ideas and convey inaccurate messages about the past. For instance, it is possible to refer to the case of slavery as depicted by Twelve Years a Slave. In this regard, it is worth mentioning another film, Soldier Blue, which is the revisionist film that offered a different view on relations between white Americans and Native Americans. The film was shot in 1970, while before mass media developed a different view on the relations of white Americans and Native Americans. Mass media contributed to the formation of a hostile view on Native Americans, who represented a threat to white Americans. In such a way, mass media formed an erroneous view on Native Americans that caused tension between white Americans and Native Americans and contributed to the exclusion of Native Americans from the mainstream culture and society. Therefore, mass media develop the public opinion and remembrance of people about the past, although the way mass media depict the past may be inaccurate and fail to mirror the actual development of historical events.
The danger of misrepresentation of the past persists as the mass media play increasingly more important role today. To put it more precisely, mass media have the overwhelming impact on the contemporary society because people are always vulnerable to the impact of mass media. In such a way, mass media became the major drivers of the formation of the historical remembrance and historical upheaval. In this regard, the public may face considerable difficulties with the adequate and accurate interpretation of messages conveyed by mass media. The difference may be the result of the artistic interpretation of historical events by authors. For instance, directors of Twelve Years a Slave and Soldier Blue have to re-work historical events, namely slavery and relations between white and Native Americans respectively. As a result, they develop a different view on historical events because they create feature films which are fictional, even though they are grounded on historical facts (Chomsky 183). The point is the risk of misinterpretation of historical events by the public and formation of erroneous remembrance because of the overwhelming impact of mass media on the public remembrance of the past.
At the same time, mass media contribute to historical upheavals that means that mass media can trigger social turmoil or other important events that lead to serious consequences in historical terms. At this point, it is possible to refer to the media coverage of 9/11 terror attacks. Even though the terror attacks have had a disastrous impact on the society and life of people in the US, mass media close attention and excessive coverage of the tragic events has provoked the public paranoia and shock because Americans could not feel being secure in the US, in their homes and public places. The fear caused by terror attacks and multiplied by the media coverage of terror attacks contributed to the wide public support of the new policy launched by the US, known as the war on terror, which included the large scale struggle against international terrorism at all levels. The historical upheaval caused by the excessive media coverage of terror attacks of 9/11 determined, to a significant extent, aggressive militarist foreign policy of the US, justified the US military intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan and influenced the historical development of the US and the Middle East and the entire world for decades ahead because consequences of the US policy would be relevant for decades. This example reveals how mass media can contribute to the historical upheaval.
Thus, the development of mass media contributes to the formation of the public opinion because mass media have the overwhelming impact on the contemporary society. However, such overwhelming impact of mass media on the public opinion is dangerous because mass media can influence historical upheavals and remembrance of the society. in such a situation, people may shape erroneous views about their past, if mass media misinterpret the past and represent their version of the past which may differ from the real historical facts.
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