Written in 1985, Neil Postman’s novel entitled Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business deals with television as the dominant media and how television negatively affected contemporary America. Neil Postman, a writer and educator from New-York City, has arguments that are very convincing in the beginning, but as we evaluate closely what he tries to tell us, his arguments lose strength and we become doubtful of him as a writer. He has several worthy opinions that correlate with history and has other points that were not necessarily incorrect, but definitely well overstated.
For example, Postman says people in contemporary America were adverse to overweight people, but in the article “In Struggle With Weight, Taft Used a Modern Diet” an article published in October 14, 2013 by Gina Kolata, explains that many people knew President Taft was overweight and they did not care as much as Postman made us think. In this article, Kolata tells us that Taft did try to lose weight, not once, but many times. Kolata claims that Taft had a doctor and a personal trainer working with him to help with his weight problem. Taft, even when he was dying of a cardiovascular disease, managed to lose more weight than he did during his mid-age years. Postman’s argument in this special case was that images were not popular in conversation between contemporary Americans, therefore, people never really observed Taft’s weight problem. He also claimed that people only thought about Taft by the way they would hear him, as radio was the popular medium in that period of time since television was not developed yet. He also claims that Taft would have never been elected in today’s society because the importance of images to people made ...
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...eper way, not just the way it looked, but the way it worked. Postman wrote “Amusing Ourselves to Death” in 1985, a period of time where technology was not around. Once television was developed, Americans loved it, we can tell because nowadays we still love it. We think TV is the closest to living in a world of fantasy. In this book, Postman also talks about media and how a dominant medium can change culture. In this case, Postman was right. Typography did change culture at that time, and television certainly rearranged culture. We are used to seeing images and figures flying by in every show that we watch. Even in news shows we can see this weird effect of figures floating around the newscaster. With all these said, Postman had some great arguments and some overstated arguments, but overall we can say that he was accurate in mostly everything he claimed.
As this suburban sprawl of the fifties took America by storm, Spiegel discusses how television provided a necessary means of escapism for frustrated families. The first television show, broadcast in 1949, was a very simple program in which a man and woman sit watching and discussing the TV. Although by today's standards this would be seen as unsurpassingly boring to audiences, this simple show provided a stress relief and easy entertainment; it seemed as though audiences enjoyed watching programs which, similar to their own situation, seemed more rewarding.
Television has always been an industry whose profit has always been gained through ads. But in chapter 2 of Jason Mittell’s book, Television and American Culture, Mittell argues that the rise of the profit-driven advertising television model can be traced back through American television history, and that the rise of the profit-driven advertising model of television actually helped to mold American culture both from a historical standpoint and from a social standpoint.
Jeffrey D. Sachs’s essay “ A Nation of Vidiot” focuses on his views about the American relationship with televisions. In his essay explaining why people should avoid watching TV too much. And the author also gives readers a reason to believe in the articles that he wrote. He explained the problem to television advertising used to sell the product and the country's politics. There are fine examples why developing countries the consequences that have ever television were created. And he has to convince his readers when he criticized some of the problems seen too much television can cause people watch television as reduced memory, and body weakness. However, for the children, the TV screens the main tool of the children. The authors also offer TV how difficult and dangerous for television viewers. Overall it’s a pretty interesting read, but one thing is sure: the essay is a
In the intro of my essay, I listed vague examples about how television impacts society. Throughout my content I did not elaborate on Postman’s believed the age of typography was, and the difference between the past and the age of show business today. In addition, I lacked comparing Postman’s argument to Francis
On the Halloween of 1938, H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds premiered on the radio in America, causing panic and confusion on a national level. To illustrate, Huxley’s theory that entertainment will impact a society on how its citizens think, how they record and display information, and how they communicate with one another is best displayed by the aforementioned incident. This incident arose because this radio drama (intended to entertain) was presented in a decontextualized and abrupt manner—stating that aliens had invaded the earth— and most people indubitably believed it. In addition, this situation can be supported by Postman’s term, “news of the day,” forming an image that society’s media can control its citizens to form opinions and emotions rather than take immediate action when presented with unorthodox news or
Many of the technological advancements in entertainment helped people live a much happier and exciting life. The television was wanted by almost every average American family in this decade and overwhelmed millions of baby-boomer children who’s relationship with TV has influenced the United States’ culture and politics. Television
Electronic media is inferior to print media due to the fact that electronic media can be bias, selective, and evasive for the purpose of entertainment. Electronic media serves as a form of entertainment with a main goal of serving their ratings rather than serving the people. It would seem that Postman would agree with this theory since he describes electronic media as a form of entertainment rather than a reliable source of information and facts in his book Amusing Ourselves to Death.
In his novel, Amusing Ourselves to Death, Postman describes to the reader, in detail, the immediate and future dangers of television. The argument starts out in a logical manner, explaining first the differences between today's media-driven society, and yesterday's "typographic America". Postman goes on to discuss in the second half of his book the effects of today's media, politics on television, religion on television, and finally televised educational programs. He explains that the media consists of "fragments of news" (Postman, 1985, p.97), and politics are merely a fashion show. Although Postman's arguments regarding the brevity of the American attention span and the importance of today's mass media are logical, I do not agree with his opinion of television's inability to educate.
Neil Postman’s thoughts toward television and education would sadly not change after thirty years, but more technologies such as laptops, tablets, cell phones, and even social media would be added to the curriculum. Neil Postman would most likely be appalled at the amount of information I learn through the internet, and the formats that I learn the information in. For example, BuzzFeed News is an application on my cellphone that give information through videos, music, and images. All the formats that television used, but quicker.
In “Wires and Lights in a Box,” the author, Edward R. Murrow, is delivering a speech on October 15, 1958, to attendees of the Radio-Television News Directors Association. In his speech, Murrow addresses how it is his desire and duty to tell his audience what is happening to radio and television. Murrow talks about how television insulates people from the realities in the world, how the television industry is focused on profits rather than delivering the news to the public, and how television and radio can teach, illuminate, and inspire.
Jones, Jeffrey P. Entertaining Politics: Satiric Television and Political Engagement. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2010. Print.
The United States is the biggest economical power in the world today, and consequently has also the strongest and largest media industry. Therefore, it is essential to take a look at the crucial relationship between the media and the popular culture within the social context of the United States for a better understanding of the issue. For a simpler analysis of the subject we shall divide the media industry into three main branches: Entertainment, News and Commercials (which is the essential device for the survival of the industry, and shall be considered in integration with Entertainment). Researches have shown that the most popular reason behind TV viewing is relaxation and emptying the mind.
Any act of conscious communication always true, in varying degrees, two fundamental objectives. One is to inform, instruct and describe, and the other is to entertain or occupy. The products of the mass communication industry made that mandate the particularity that are targeted to a wide receiver, whose acceptance is intended to conquer. The intent of the act is expressed with the term broadcast (spread through mass media), which once meant to sow broadcast the farmland. The cinema, especially the US, is the great communication industry of the twentieth century. Although in recent decades seems to have given primacy to television, the information, education and entertainment on Western culture influence is undeniable.
Postman, Neil. Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. Penguin Books, New York: 1986.
Vande Berg, L.R., Wenner, L.A., & Gronbeck, B. E. (1998). Critical Approaches to Television. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.