Born on the 4th of July

Born On The Fourth Of July

Pop culture, advertising, sports, and other forms of entertainment or media work in many ways in our society. They are used as a tool for promotion, news, information, a platform for sharing ideas and are the voice of many organizations that want to spread the word about whatever point it is they are trying to get across or product they are trying to sell to the local or national audience. It is one huge factor in our environment that influences people's decisions, attitudes, opinions and goal settings especially amongst our youth today. Sometimes the messages that the media projects, however, are not all positive.

The media markets pop culture through magazines and advertisement. The media would then, make it look attractive so that it would grab the attention of its customer. The media would also make it so that people would think of it as a "must have thing", and they do that by viewing the thing over and over again so that it would be at the top of your mind. With evidence to support, many people believe that media has an influence on or affects our society, the way we think and the things we do. Ron Kovic in Born On The Fourth Of July is a prime example of how the media can influence the way your opinion and make you set future goals for yourself.

When you're young its normal to have someone that you admire or look up to, a "hero", that you want to be just like when you get older. Kovic loved to watch baseball on the TV, go to stadium or and play it with his friends outside. For Kovic his childhood hero was, one of the New York Yankee's all-star baseball players, Mickey Mantle. More then just watching baseball players on TV he tried to be like them in real life "I was Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and all my heroes, rolled into one." is his description of how he played baseball with his friends when he was a kid. This was kind of positive influence that Kovic experienced as a kid; that led to plenty of fun hours with his friends and a dream of one day becoming a professional baseball player like his hero.

Another thing everyone, when their young, does is look forward to their birthday, you do it when your older as well but for most people it's the birthdays they celebrate as a child that are the most memorable. Being born on the fourth of July meant a lot to Ron, he says "Being born on the exact same day as my country I thought was really great." and "I was so proud." At the same time everyone was celebrating the fourth of July he celebrated his own birthday party with all his friends and family with presents and cake so I'd imagine he felt like it was almost one big party that everyone in the country was invited to have fun in and celebrate. From the very date on which he was born he had been influenced, in this case he was influenced by the fourth of July which had a very large