Essay Sample on Learning About Death Through Television

Paper Type:  Essay
Pages:  5
Wordcount:  1254 Words
Date:  2022-08-03

Introduction

Death is undoubtedly the most apprehensive term in the English dialect. Its undesired ambiguity impends the desire for societies to believe that life is eternal (Scambler, 2018). Dying and death are depicted in the media as quite revealing in today's news. It is being showcased as fear in televisions. Adults and children all over the world watch television shows and movies and the effect of death get depicted in all movie ages as well as cartoons. An instance of a film meant for children view is The Lion King animation which shows the killing of King Mufasa and 'the Titanic where different situations of death are portrayed.

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One of the interactions I had on learning about death was by watching 'The Titanic.' In this movie, two lovebirds are on board a ship that is destined to sink. When their vessel eventually crashes into an iceberg and submerges, the main male character- jack has to let go of his life to save the lady he loves. From the movie, I learned that the media depicted death in a very sensational way. In our daily lives, individuals face a meek, silent death (Scambler, 2018). Nevertheless, films tend to be dramatic to a certain extent to convey the finality and great sadness linked to death (Schiappa, Gregg &Hewes, 2004). The film additional depicts a universal interpretation of death. For instance, years following her lover's catastrophic demise, the female character still mourned him as she talks of that tragic event to a sitting of children. I think what the lady was trying to say is that death is shockingly overwhelming, permanent, and worst of all it is eternal. The grief of a member of society carries a profound impact on people particularly on those who knew or were close with the deceased.

The Portrayal of Death in Movies and the Media

Children might fail to understand how to deal with such a reality of dying because of being unexposed (Schiappa, Gregg & Hewes), hence such movies as the titanic aid in understanding the critical notion of death. The film performed an excellent job at portraying that diversity. At times it's like the media cares more about the storyline than the victims. The news, rather than concentrating on certain individuals losing their lives, the headlines read more along the lines of 'thousands dead on Titanic tragedy.' As we see, nowadays, televisions do not announce the death of a mother who lost her life while bringing new life to the world by focuses on essential individuals like the recent announcement of Kofi Annan, and music celebrities.

On the other hand, I think televisions do a terrible job of portraying death to its viewers and the society at large. Once you turn up the news, there is always a negative segment under discussion than positive stories. Every information they give is about the disasters occurring in some regions of the globe and the large degree of suffering that people undergo. From deaths caused by mass shootings, hurricanes, homicides to sudden illnesses, news in televisions are portrayed fully of tension and saddening manner (Derksen, 2016). I don't think a good job is being done of showing the different ways our cultures deal with death since I feel like the way televisions and media platforms are portraying it is more of a one-way street. Maybe if the media were to modify their portrayal of death topics during news presentations, then the society might as well grow in harmony in better understanding the matter of death prevalence in everyday living. But then, broadcasting of news is business. Therefore, the media do not care a lot about what they present since they follow instructions from higher authorities on what to broadcast.

The Portrayal of Death in the Media Compared to Scholarly Work and Personal Experience

Death in Titanic is not an unusual theme; humans are dying right and left in one way or another be it as a result of collapsing, trauma from a blunt force, temperature, disasters, or homicide. But Jack's death was not depicted as a mere demise in the show; it was brought out as a climax in the movie and an imperative denotation of the termination of the film. Jacks death was depicted as a nearly painless slow demise. I feel the producers did an exclusive work differentiating between the diverse type of death. Portraying various instances of dying through the sinking scene and demonstrating all the different ways in which the characters lost their lives helped me learn the emotional intensity of the physicality of death versus jack's loss of life. It seems that when death strikes, the way in which the American public handles the number of victims determines it (Derksen, 2016). When a celebrity passes away, fans mourn, if an individual dies, a family cries, but in the instance of the death of a hundred people in a mass shooting, we tend to find reasons and generalize the loss to that event.

Traditionally, matters of dying and death were never discussed openly, but since television shows and news have come out open with such issues, the young ones in the society get to be conversant with death from a very young age through televisions (Schiappa, Gregg & Hewes, 2004). I presume that such diverse portrayals are of benefit since they open up opportunities for several folks and their offspring's to freely talk about death. Previously, parents would ignore topics related to dying and mortality up to the moment when they lost a family member.

Conclusion

The human race happens to be the only creatures with a concept of time in motion. Humans are ever moving towards death, and we know that it is a stage that can not be avoided yet they are still afraid of it. Rather than viewing people as humans, televisions perceive them as just an added statistic to the death count. Humans are eliminated from this world many times with no chance of rejoicing, remembering, or greeting their loved ones. Whether it's through an unexpected tragedy or sudden accident, most deaths happen in an immediate manner instead of a romantic slow one like that portrayed in the Titanic.

The surrounding of death topics contributes to our learning of various ways of adapting it around us and frequently hear it every time. We learn about death at schools, read from newspapers, and watch from films. Therefore, learning about dying and death is not a matter that we can avoid. Televisions portray all the events that take place when one passes away including the mourning, church, and the different funeral practices. The latest being news on the death of celebrities and high-profile figures. I believe this to be a big reason as to why the society has a negative perspective on dying and death. Televisions hence play a significant part in influencing people's understanding of death by displaying it not only through the news in the media, but through magazines, twitter, and Facebook as well. No matter how hard human beings attempt to avoid illness and aging, it will still end up happening even if they deny the fact. Generally, death has played a significant role in the media and in our society.

References

Derksen, J. (2016). A portrayal of rooming houses in the news. Media summary.

Scambler, G. (2018). Death, dying and bereavement. Sociology as Applied to Health and Medicine, 121.

Schiappa, E., Gregg, P. B., & Hewes, D. E. (2004). Can a television series change attitudes about death? A study of college students and Six Feet Under. Death Studies, 28(5), 459-474.

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Essay Sample on Learning About Death Through Television. (2022, Aug 03). Retrieved from https://proessays.net/essays/essay-sample-on-learning-about-death-through-television

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