I'm gonna start writing a paper (or maybe a book if big enough) on the comodification of Love and other emotions in our media and the effect on teenager's and their lives/emotional states. In other words, how does movies and music's overplaying or "making more of" emotions (which they need to sell) and in effect using these emotions to push items effect the teenager's thought process. I feel teens allready are going through physical and hormonal changes which make their emotions stronger, but I think the way the media effects them makes thier emotions take on an almost mythical quality.

Need help, please, any thoughts.

Thanx, Cactus

(P.S. Am going to start writing introduction soon, will help explain so if I finish in a resonable amount of time I'll post it. But don't hold your breath)

Not "almost mythical quality" but more like de-sensetizes the kids emotions at large so that long term relationships are out of the question. All relationships in Western society are based on "NOW".

The bad aspects of that is - there is no commitment to the future and hence to the society to which one belongs. It is pervasive.

No, I disagree. Thought you do get that now. Still events at a High School socialy can seem like a soap opera.

So, are you saying life imitating art or art imitating life?

Oh! - the disagreement part - I see how young people behave in corporate environment which has strong corelation with failure of corporate performance and hence my comment.

A little bit of both. See art had to imitate life, but had to blow it up, make emotions "mythological" to sell. In turn, teenagers seeing this everyday combined with what was going on in their bodies allready have their emotions take on "mythological qualities" .

I'm a teen and I don't really find the media influences me to do anything. I don't wear the "Proper clothing" and act the "proper way".

Perhaps your should also include how more intelligent teens do not succumb to media influence (If you find this the case, i'm no expert on this topic). This is the case in my school.


PS: I know subliminally i am influenced, but as to my concious mind i am not totally affected (because it does influence everyone).

No, see the influence is not on the same level as "wearing the right clothes" or "doing the in thing", etc. Its on a level that effects all teens. Not something they can choose to deny. The constant media influence making their emotions larger than life. Making them think more about their emotions. And making them want a relationship more badly.

Yes, maybe they do want a reletion-ship more badly. The question is then whether they want a relation-ship that stays on, or that they just want a relation-ship, because with a relation-ship, they feel more important. It's in the media, a constant thing. Boys have nice, sweet girlfriends, and in reverse of course the girls do too, and it's all a happy end. In real life that is not the case. Especially not when a person is in his/her teens. Most of the times that is the age in which you explore your feelings and have more then one relation-ship before the one, real bond is there between a man and a woman. And yes, exceptions confirm the rule. It's in general here, what I mean.

I rhink the media plays a big part in the lifes of teens. What is seen on TV and other media sources, is being reflected in their behaviour in daily life.

King Cactus,

i agree, the media influence is more far reaching than just 'right clothes' etc. the constant bombardment of programs just to with relationships, soaps, talk-shows, movies, for example, make many teens feel 1. that not having a relationship is abnormal. 2.Having one should mean he/she should react in a particular way, and not in another... without finding out how a real person would act. 3.and that the said relationship should be wildly exciting all the time, or dramatic or tumultous.

in fact tho i'm not a teen, i can say this much, human beings are relative creatures and behave according to what they see, hence the biases and prejudices that we carry through our lives, tho before they were just those of your parents and those close to your family, now Media, T.V etc has taken over a lot. what you learn is what you see. and if you see dramatic relationships, wildly sexual, perfect partners etc. then what you expect is that..

and as kmguru commented, it makes for difficulty in long-term relationships. one becomes less sensitised to the real emotions as you're busy trying to feel/makesomeone feel extreme emotions.

Good luck on this piece, Cactus, but I can tell ya that I don't believe that my want for a girlfriend is influenced by the media. Right now the 'crush on someone' area is completely empty, and it's killing me. At this very moment there is no one that I'm interested in for going steady. Everyone that I've thought of is either out of my league or into someone else.

At the moment I see couples in the hallways going back and forth and just holding hands, there doesn't seem to be any emotion, they're just doing it for the officialness, to get a brief thrill. That's not really the way I want to do it, to just be parading myself and my girl through the hallway like she was some kind of prize or smiley face my teacher gave me for a job well done (real experience there-I got lots of smiley faces:D )

It just doesn't seem mature, I'd rather go out to dinner or movies with whoever this person is alone and have fun alone, go to the beach or something alone.

Originally posted by Mostly Harmless
and as kmguru commented, it makes for difficulty in long-term relationships. one becomes less sensitised to the real emotions as you're busy trying to feel/makesomeone feel extreme emotions.

That's a really good thought, I will definetely work it in somehow.

But not only is Love affected in suych a way described. But anger, aggression, depression, jealousy, and vengence.

this is interesting this is one of the areas where i know what at least i myself am doing. when these questions are raised (or i suppose made fact by cactus) there are many other question that are asked than more answers sem to be given. for instance what is the media telling us that our society is? all the media only depicts the things that the comon middle class people do not do. what the media does is show you the other things that you are not, but in completely incorret context. the media is a huge part of our lives that is becoming a engine for the even bigger part of our lives, money, that is all that the media's goal is. when you reason out everything and put it all ( i mean everything) in perspective, then that is what you will see.

how this media effects the emotions of teenagers is not a simple question or topic to explore.

No, see the influence is not on the same level as "wearing the right clothes" or "doing the in thing", etc. Its on a level that effects all teens. Not something they can choose to deny. The constant media influence making their emotions larger than life. Making them think more about their emotions. And making them want a relationship more badly.

as for what you mean by this higher level, what exacty is it do you think that makes them want this higher relationship, in other words, what are you refering to in the media, TRL or Survivor or AbWorkOut infomercials or what? This would help me respond better to this statement and actually establish what you mean by a level.

when we are faced with this idea of relation ships i must also ask abnother question, is not love just an emotion, created by our brain over years of evoluion, and human nature. Is love just a fuel for sex, or would some of you argue that love goes beyond your mind, and that sex is just a fuel for love?

p.s. that only teenagers that i trust are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles™ hahaha

I'm loving the trademark insignia oeddie. Didn't know you could do that.

Oedipus, I am focusing around Movies, and Songs primarily. And the emotions being discussed are not just Love. Plus there is another thread about what love is if you wish to discuss such things as in the final paragraph of your post.

I need help writing this paper, I'm looking for a feminine (epistemelogicaly) discussion here though. Not a debate, or pointing out flaws in my ideas. Just ideas. I have a working topic and need help on it - not a thesis I'm attempting to defend. So input is deffinetely welcomed, actualy would be great help.

Oh and Oedipus "when these questions are raised (or i suppose made fact by cactus)" I'm not exactly sure if I am taking this the right way, but if I am then I say - don't be such a dick.

ahh but is love not the main focus, teenagers are driven to wating relationships yes, "love" or maybe jealousy and greed and lust and all those others ones, but the way that they seem to chose to exxpress this is "love" as almost in our society (created by the media) a relationship that is not based on love is seen as dirty or maybe just for sex. Personally I think that the media has taken love and commodified it....

Marshall McLuhan said 'The medium is the message'. Perhaps, to, the media is the society. But this does not mean that the society is the media. The adult population (when talking about the adult population, we are speaking about 18-44, the primary advertised group) in a society holds a certain overall spectrum of feeling on certain topics, has certain values and certain views of the future. The media has a way of taking these feelings, distorting them, and pressing them on the youth of the nation (please, please don't consider that sentance a promo for that HORRIBLE song). The media has an ability to change whatever the general consensus (or minority uprising) is into something they can sell (like you said, a commodity).

I don't know, just an idea to play around with. I'm exhausted from last night and heading off to attempt a new drug shortly so I'm not thinking straight.



Jack: A reporter once asked Paul McCartney while taping him at his house 'Do you do heavy drugs?'

McCartney looked at him and said something along the lines of; 'I'll be honest with you but you have to realize that if you air this it is not my fault that kids will hear it. I am simply being honest, you are the one who is choosing to show the kids that The Beatles do drugs. Not us, you.'

So McCartney was honest and the reporters showed the honest answer he gave (not the part I just wrote though) and then the media and the parents blamed the Beatles for influencing kids to do drugs. The thing is, The Beatles would never have told kids they did drug, it was the media's idea. Why? For money of course.

Maybe you can toss this idea around too.

Another interview I heard was a reporter asked McCartney about the meaning behind "I am the walrus". He said that it was to prove that people and the media could read so deeply into something completely bogus.

No no, Lennon.

There was a University prof. who wrote to John saying that he was thankful for all the lyrics John had turned out that could be analyzed. So Lennon strung together three parts-of-songs he'd written and made one big fucked up piece of shit that doesn't mean anything and reportadly turned t oPaul after and said; 'Let the fuckers figure this one out.'

so the greatest band out there,
with the most albums sold,
are fucking with the media..
that is awesome...

Ah ok cool, I like the concept of people reading really deeply into jubberish. Like Hotel California being about hell......seriously its just a song with no point.

id have to second that motion and propose that there are lots of songs with no point.

Hey CJ... wrong! Hotel Calif was about my fucking job!

Hahahahaha

Hey Cactus,

If you want to see how the media plays with emotions, study commercials, this is where those emotion manipulating whores do their "finest" work. Music plays a big role. Study what types go with what products and the image of the product. Language is another biggie. How you say something, envokes how someone feels about something.

Also, there's evidence that shows how emotions has a strong hold over reason (but reason also influences emotions too).

This where I'd suggest to start. It look like it's been awhile, you may be done with your paper by now.

-Xenu

Commercials are deffinetely a good place to look of course, originally commercials showed the product in a simple "matter of fact" I guess fashion, now you rarely (if ever) see a commercial in which there is a fine example of the commodification of our feelings. I don't know if it has as much of an impact on our behavior as movies/music but I will definetely look into it, maybe they have more......

I don't know if it has as much of an impact on our behavior as movies/music but I will definetely look into it

The research will show that commercials have a great effect on behavior, just think about how many billions of dollars companies dish out on them each year. They don't do this for no reason.

Listen to a commercial and think about every aspect of it, such as music, colors, facial expressions etc. Ask why each element is the way it is.

Also think how many billions of dollars we as consumers dish out each year to watch movies. We don't do this for no reason either. I feel that movies provide an emotional rollercoaster ride, which we don't find in our normal lives anymore - all in the safety of a theatre.

I wish I had some source material for you, but my books are all packed from moving. The only thing I can think of is the psychologist (John B.?) Watson - his later, post-psychology books. He was a behaviorist who ran into a lot of trouble with his peers. He quit psychology and started into advertising and pretty much is responsible for why advertising is the way it is today - making a ton of money off of it. Pretty evil bastard if you ask me ;) If he didn't do it, someone else would have I suppose.

-Xenu

Hey Catus!

PM Lykan... he knows lots about this... :)

To help you...
Is it a coincidence that our society and our movies are usually violent...?

Originally posted by TruthSeeker

Is it a coincidence that our society and our movies are usually violent...?

Ahh, but which came first?

Are we violent because of violent movies (culture)?

Or do we make and like those kind of movies because we are already violent creatures?

-Xenu

We are violent because of the movies and, of course, other things...
They are created because of the violence and they, themselves, create violence...

Yes Nelson is correct. You see, violence was not abundant before video games and mass communications.

No I completely and utterly disagree. The Gladiators, or pancration, or martial arts, or lynchings of colored people. All violent forms of entertainment. Plus all the wars, and constant state of occupation, etc.

We have always had some outlet for our violence, now we realize that it is immoral to kill just for entertainment purposes, so we make movies and video games more and more violent, more and more realistic. The thing is there still are messed up people out there and they need a physical/real outlet for their violence, hence problems. Another thing is global communication can report every attrocity live as its happening, we cannot stay blind to the violence around us.

violence acutually seems to have been abeyed since the advent of video games, though the is nothing to change the anger that some people feel, whether it be video games or war.

I think that falls with what I just said, we realise it is immoral so now we create these fantasy forms of violent entertainment.

I don't say it is immoral:p
Of course I prefer simulated violence.
(paintball, martial-arts, virtual reality)
but tht is just because I value human life.


*a digital warrior has spoken*

about the teenage love issue, I think that many teens today date/ go out with other people because the media tell them its what they need to have the perfect/ normal life. Its the same with comercials, they say that you need this for the normal life.
The media is the most infulencal thing in socity.


Violence was, is and will be!

well I'm not obsessed with dating. More with computers:D
I'm quite a human emotion cold person who doesn't watch tv , only discovery channel, and here's the result->
computer geek, martial arts fanat, adores ancient history and science.
girls come somewhere after tht. I'm not normal:):p

I feel that the explosion of violent entertainment doesn't so much come from our "inner need for violence" but our "inner need to be active". Humans, like all animals, are active by nature, and our current society (I'm speaking from an industrialized U.S. point of view here) has all of these "time-saving devices" (which really in the long run don't save time), which takes all of the activity out of our lives. Our society has become so concerned in making life "easy" and "safe" that it has also taken the fun and activity out of our lives. To satify our brains, we fantasize about things which really are no longer feasible in our society, and hence movies, video games, plays, books - entertainment media.

But I also agree with truthseeker, violence becomes a spiral in nature. Our aggressive human nature, begets such violent media, which begets more aggresssion, which begets even more violent media, etc. (notice how each action movie tries to outdo the previous).

-Xenu