Perception of Media Usa

We live in a world flooded with the mass media (television, films, videos, billboards, magazines, movies, music, newspapers, fashion designers and the Internet). Each form of media has a different purpose and content. The media wants to inform us, persuade us, entertain us, and change us. The media also seeks to engage large groups of people so that advertisers can sell them products or services by making them desirable.

America's Next Top Model is a reality television series in which women compete for the title of "America's Next Top Model" and a chance to start their career in the modeling industry. The winner will receive prizes that include a fashion feature in Nylon Magazine, as well as $100,000 cash and campaigns with Nine West and Smashbox Cosmetics, in addition to a modeling contract with LA/NY Models and being named the face of "America's Next Top Model" perfume Dream Come True. America's Next Top Model is not an intellectually demanding show. There is no need to think in an intelligent way to understand each episode.

The show reflects the lowest elements of human beings; envy, vanity, gossip, confrontation, conflict, cheating, lying. It is very superficial and stereotypical and viewers seem to have an interest in this. Others may be interested in modeling. It could be a variety of reasons, but I believe it is mostly because of the drama of having a house full of women all competing against one another and watching the interactions between them that makes the viewers watch the show on a regular basis.

There is no doubt that the ideal body size, as reflected in the style icons promoted in the media, is getting thinner. When I watch America's Next Top Model, I feel like the only way to succeed in the show is to be thin. Most of the models on the show are extremely thin, almost skeletal. I have seen a few beautiful plus size models but they never win the show. The models we see in the show have a negative effect on viewers, especially young women. Girls see these stereotypical images of what a woman should look like in these types of shows and in trying to achieve that look, they develop a low self-esteem and bad eating habits. With a low self-esteem due to the images in the media, young girls develop issues such as depression and anxiety. With these problems at hand, it becomes hard for young girls to feel attractive and accepted in our society.

Even though there is still the personal drama of reality shows, I like the way Tyra and the team plots out the competitions to pull together a working portfolio for the girls, giving them real world experience with the facets of the business of modeling, and hekping them work through their shortcomings. I would recommend America's Next Top Model to anyone who is looking for a show to follow for entertainment purposes.

"The Big Bang Theory" is a television comedy series that centers around the life of five characters; roommates Leonard Hofstadter and Sheldon Cooper, two physicists who work at the California Institute of Technology, Penny, a waitress and aspiring actress who lives across the hall, and Leonard and Sheldon's friends and co-workers, aerospace engineer Howard Wolowitz and astrophysicist Rajesh Koothrapali. In the pilot, the episode opens