The Influence Of Mass Media

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It is no secret that in the world we live in today we are reliant on the media as a source of information for what is acceptable in society and what is not. Due to the fact that technology has become widespread all over the globe and that we rely so heavily on it, makes it the best way to influence the masses on culture, social norms, and gender roles. How one is expected to look, dress, and act twenty four seven appears across screens of any kind. This form of socialization then divides us into groups of males and females forcing us to conform to the mold in which mass media portrays us to be. Media in today’s world takes many different forms; from movies, to advertisements, television shows, and comic books. The way each gender is expected …show more content…

This call has slowly triggered a small change in all the media we see in the world today. An example of this small but significant change is the modern twist in traditional fairy tales such as 2010’s Disney movie Tangled. Tangled is modern day film loosely based off of a traditional fairy tale from the brothers Grimm story book. The major twist in this telling of the story is that the princess actually saves herself and her man verses the traditional fairy tale of the prince saving the princess such as sleeping beauty, Cinderella, snow white etc. The timing in which this movie was released is no coincidence because in the recent years many people have become aware of the fact that the traditional bedtime stories they have been telling their children have portrayed men and especially women in a very specific way which is not always the most flattering for either gender. This is mainly due to the way these tales were used in the early societies. The traditional fairy tales were used in early societies not only as a way to entertain the children but as a “way of education” to engrain the gender roles and rules set in place by that societies culture into the children listening to the fairy tale. The women were the mothers, housekeepers, cooks, or the classic damsel in distress. In the majority of these stories the highly regarded women has all of

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