While drifting off into space a couple of minutes ago, I had a thought. That thought was about the movie we call High School Musical. Although I am finishes with AOTD, this thought seemed to fit as a decent example of how television affects us. When High School Musical came out, we were all in elementary school and it gave us (or at least me) a completely superficial idea of how high school would be. I knew that there wouldn't be people doing synchronized dances on the tables during lunch or anything but I didn't think high school would be so… high school. I went into middle school (not high school due to Mayfair being both middle and high school) thinking, "Oh my gosh! What if a senior puts me in a dumpster?!" "I be the cafeteria food is great!" "Nobody really does drugs" "I wander if my outfit is cute enough" "I bet detention might be fun". Unfortunately, none of this was true or mattered. I didn't make a difference to seniors, cafeteria food isn't that great, people do drugs, nobody cared about my outfit because contradictory to my former thoughts, no one payed attention to me, and detention wasn't fun, it was not The Breakfast Club. And guess what else? I couldn't find a single Regina George! I quickly got the idea that High School Musical, The Breakfast Club, and Mean Girls really were fake high schools. The expectations I had of high school were all shaped by these movies I'd been watching as I grew up. It's kind of weird to know that television really does effect our expectations of many things, high school just being one.
-Camille Burrus
Hey Camille! You've got a really good point that I never would've thought to relate to this topic. You're not alone. High School Musical amongst other things I watched as a child didn't depict reality as I believed it did all those years ago. I feel that HSM gave me a superficial and idealistic view of high school. I mean why didn't they ever show the sleep deprived AP students or those horrible PE classes? It really is strange how much television affects us.
ReplyDeleteHi Camille! I agree with what you are saying television does give us a rather false perspective of reality. I am guilty of thinking that high school is going to filled with bullies,being judged for not dressing the same,or fearing the popular crowd. I do think that we are quickly influenced by what we watch on tv.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you Camille! High School Musical along with many other movies made me believe that the athletes were the kings of the school. More specifically basketball and football players. It seems like every time I turn on the TV and look at the guide there is a movie about some high school athletes winning a big game or going through adversity. It gives kids the false sense that if they play sports they will get special treatment from their teachers and peers. When in reality, athletes get treated just like everyone else and do not really stand out.
ReplyDeleteWent I first came to Mayfair I felt the same way you did. As I first entered the campus I already had a image of how high school would be, and it was so off from what high school really is. I had that image because of movies like the ones you mentioned and because of TV shows like That's so Raven and Phil of the Future. Those movies and TV shows paint a very false picture of what high school really is because they are made for entertainment, if they really showed what high school is like I highly doubt anyone would bother to watch them because I'm sure the programs would be very boring. In the end, I think it's crazy how much TV can effect our mental images of things.
ReplyDeleteHey Camille! I like the way you approached your argument using High School Musical as your example. Anyway I agree with you about how television has influenced the way we believe things are going to be before we experience them. It is kind of scary because I don't think I would have noticed this if I did not read AOTD. Honestly before I read the book I didn't notice how even the news is made to be entertaining instead of just being news! I'm just really glad i read AOTD because it truly put things in the right perspective for me. It;s funny because now I watch things on television a little differently.
ReplyDeleteI think everyone thought the same as you, Camille and we were all extremely disappointed. Television creates unrealistic expectations about literally everything. However, these movies or shows aren't to be taken seriously which the producers/directors hope we don't do, they're just made for our entertainment and fantasy. I agree with Ariel when she says these types of movies would be boring if we were shown how high school really is. Now that we are in high school we still watch movies like the "Breakfast Club" because we don't want to watch how high school really is since we already know how it it is. Teens want shows and movies that glamorize things like drugs, violence and have the whole high school romance thing.
ReplyDeleteCamille! I agree with what you are saying about how television affects our expectations. We constantly get a certain image of high school and other life events thrown at us with all of these different movies and television shows. At such a young age, we believe that what we see, even though it isn't completely true. That's where reality hits you and that's exactly what Postman is trying to prove. Television broadcast is not here to be informational and to give you the truth, it's here solely for entertainment and to be quite frank, they are doing a good job because I LOVE High School Musical.
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