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Mass media influence on culture
Mass media influence on culture
How does media influence the perception of contemporary society
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In the world of Appalachia, stereotypes are abundant. There are stories told of mountaineers as lazy, bewildered, backward, and yet happy and complacent people. Mountain women are seen as diligent, strong, hard willed, and overall sturdy and weathered, bearing the burden of their male counterparts. These ideas of mountain life did not come out of thin air; they are the direct product of sensational nineteenth century media including print journalism and illustrative art that has continuously mislead and wrongfully represented the people of Appalachia. These stories, written and told by outsiders, served very little purpose to Appalachian natives other than means of humiliation and degradation. They served mostly to convince readers of the need for so-called civilized people and companies to take over the land and industry of the region, in particular the need for mineral rights, railroads, and logging as the mountain folk were wasting those valuable resources necessary for the common good.
While Appalachian stereotypes changed over time early images of the land and people are seen as very separate entities. The land being lush and the fertile while the people are shown as the crude and undeserving of such a beautiful home. These separate images would gradually fuse together as the arts industry gradually took over the changing social and economic landscape of the Appalachian Mountains.
The Appalachian Mountains in the nineteenth century landscapes are often depicted in a grand, glorious, and often spiritually uplifting form. The Hudson River School artists painting in the romantic style engages viewers to tell a story through naturally occurring images as well as interior knowledge of the times at hand.
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... of Scenery: Travel Writing from Southern Appalachia, 1840-1900. Knoxville: University of Tennessee, 2004. Print.
Strother, David Hunter. "A Winter in the South (4th Paper of 6)." Harpers 16.January (1858): 167-83. Print.
Strother, David Hunter. In Memoriam Feby 9th 1887. 1887. Pen and Ink Wash. West Virginia Historic Art Collection.
Strother, David Hunter"A Romance Concluded".1858 A Winter in the South, by David Hunter Strother. Harper's Magazine 16 (January 1858)print
Strother, David Hunter"Going to Mill".1858 A Winter in the South, by David Hunter Strother. Harper's Magazine 16 (January 1858)print
Strother, David Hunter"Going to School".1858 A Winter in the South, by David Hunter Strother. Harper's Magazine 16 (January 1858)print
Strother, David Hunter"Kan Foster".1858 A Winter in the South, by David Hunter Strother. Harper's Magazine 16 (January 1858)print
Part I of A Sand County Almanac is devoted to the details of a single piece of land: Leopold’s 120-acre farmed-out farmstead in central Wisconsin, abandoned as a farm years before because of the poor soil from which the "sand counties" took their nickname. It was at this weekend retreat, Leopold says, "that we try to rebuild, with shovel and axe, what we are losing elsewhere". Month by month, Leopold leads the reader through the progression of the seasons with descriptions of such things as skunk tracks, mouse economics, the songs, habits, and attitudes of dozens of bird species, cycles of high water in the river, the timely appearance and blooming of several plants, and the joys of cutting one’s own firewood.
Seguin, Juan N. The Personal Memoirs of John N. Seguin. San Antonio: The Ledger Book and Job Office, 1858.
...Stuart." The Journal of Southern History 69, no. 1 (2003): 188-189. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30039884 (accessed November 14, 2013).
Being raised in the rural, rolling hills of West Virginia provides a childhood that is unforgettable. Being able to see the four different seasons and how they always change so beautifully into each other is beautiful. The hills are sprinkled with timbered forest of many types of trees, accompanied by different types of wild flowers and wild life. Passing through all of the small towns and hollers, you can still see the small farms that have been passed down from generation to generation within the families.
In the introduction, Hämäläinen introduces how Plains Indians horse culture is so often romanticized in the image of the “mounted warrior,” and how this romanticized image is frequently juxtaposed with the hardships of disease, death, and destruction brought on by the Europeans. It is also mentioned that many historians depict Plains Indians equestrianism as a typical success story, usually because such a depiction is an appealing story to use in textbooks. However, Plains Indians equestrianism is far from a basic story of success. Plains equestrianism was a double-edged sword: it both helped tribes complete their quotidian tasks more efficiently, but also gave rise to social issues, weakened the customary political system, created problems between other tribes, and was detrimental to the environment.
Williams, Michael Ann. "Folklife." Ed. Richard A. Straw and H. Tyler Blethen. High Mountains Rising: Appalachia in Time and Place. Chicago: University of Illinois, 2004. 135-146. Print.
The Appalachian mountaineers have been discovered and forgotten many times. Their primitive agriculture disrupted by foragers and incessant guerrilla warfare, thousands of them straggled out of the mountains in search of food and shelter. Their plight was brought to the attention of President Lincoln, who promised that after the war a way would be found to aid the poor mountain people whom the world had bypassed and forgotten for so long. The war ended, President Lincoln was assassinated, and so therefore Appalachia was forgotten. Appalachian people are considered a separate culture, made up of many unique backgrounds - Native Americans, Irish, English and Scotch, and then a third immigration of Germans and Poles - all blended together across the region. The mountains also figure into the uniqueness of Appalachia. The mountains kept Appalachia isolated from the rest of the country and from other people's involvement in their lives that they developed a distinctive culture. (arministry.org)
Perpetuation of Native American Stereotypes in Children's Literature Caution should be used when selecting books including Native Americans, due to the lasting images that books and pictures provide to children. This paper will examine the portrayal of Native Americans in children's literature. I will discuss specific stereotypes that are present and should be avoided, as well as positive examples. I will also highlight evaluative criteria that will be useful in selecting appropriate materials for children and provide examples of good and bad books. Children will read many books as they grow up.
Stereotypes dictate a certain group in either a good or bad way, however more than not they give others a false interpretation of a group. They focus on one factor a certain group has and emphasize it drastically to the point that any other aspect of that group becomes lost. Media is one of the largest factors to but on blame for the misinterpretation of groups in society. In Ten Little Indians, there are many stereotypes of Native Americans in the short story “What You Pawn I Will Redeem”. The story as a whole brings about stereotypes of how a Native American in general lives and what activities they partake in. By doing so the author, Alexie Sherman, shows that although stereotypes maybe true in certain situations, that stereotype is only
Trescot, William. "The Position and Course of the South.: By Wm. H. Trescot, Esq. “Making of America Books. Arleston [S. C.]: Steam Power-press of Walker & James,1850.Web. 16 Feb. 2014. .
Grant Wood’s American Gothic is one of the most famous paintings in the history of American art. The painting brought Wood almost instant fame after being exhibited for the first time at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1930. It is probably the most reproduced and parodied works of art, and has become a staple within American pop-culture. The portrait of what appears to be a couple, standing solemnly in front of their mid-western home seems to be a simplistic representation of rural America. As simple as it sounds, when looking deeper into this image, it reveals something much more complex.
Vilbert, Elizabeth. Traders' Tales: Narratives of Cultural Encounters in the Columbia Plateau, 1807-1846. University of Oklahoma Press, 1997.
in Baltimore, Md., June 7th and 8th, 1864. New York: Baker & Godwin, Printers, 1864.
"Chapter 2 Western Settlement and the Frontier." Major Problems in American History: Documents and Essays. Ed. Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman, Edward J. Blum, and Jon Gjerde. 3rd ed. Vol. II: Since 1865. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2012. 37-68. Print.
Landscape painting was extremely important during the middle of the nineteenth century. One of the leading practitioners of landscape painters in America was Thomas Cole. He visited many places seeking the “natural” world to which he might utilize his direct observations to convey the untainted nature by man to his audience. His works resolved to find goodness in American land and to help Americans take pride in their unique geological features created by God. Thomas Cole inspired many with his brilliant works by offering satisfaction to those seeking the “truth” (realism) through the works of others.