Is Hollywood Influencing Society?

Movies, music and many forms of media have played an important role in shaping how millions of people may see and think about their world. The mass producing and consuming of images has transformed the way you and I may see and understand the world around us. Technology has placed the modern media industry in the position of unprecedented power and influence. These images create the patterns of what our behaviour is going to/might be. "Visual imagery can be brilliantly affective in reinforcing established ideas or in shaping opinions. Viewers simply cannot help but be 'rippled' by the emotional gut-wrenching influence of huge moving colour images backed by stereo sound." (Randy Salzman, Atlanta Journal Constitution, May 19th, 1991, p.D1)

The most successful propaganda uses the arts. It is arts ability to subtly appeal to the heart and mind that makes it such a powerful force for cultural change. Companies, for example, spend billions of dollars a year in television advertising in order to persuade the viewers in regards to their product. Would they continue do this year after year if it didn't work? At least one company in Hollywood exists for no other reason that to analyse scripts scene by scene in order to determine where and how companies can best plug their products into a feature film. Millions of dollars are spent for the privilege, and millions more are spent in order to tie a company in with a particular film promotion, why? Because it works. Consider this, when Risky Business came out in 1983, sales of the Ray-Ban sunglasses, worn by Tom Cruise, went up 1,400%, and Marlon Brando played a biker in the 'Wild One' and leather jackets became one of the hottest fashion statements of the decade.