Sociology Essay Sample - The Effect of Media on the Society

Introduction

The main point being communicated by the author is the effect of the media on its audience. The author used the case of the National Rifle Association who decided to popularize the role of a gun through the media to the young audience. The association overlooked the negative effects of popularizing the use of a gun. The author goes on to cite and explains in detail how the media via the film industry by Disney centered gunplay and use of a gun in all its films. As a result, every child and young person valued the gun and viewed it as a hero to have in life.

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Effect of Media on Violence in the Society

This went to a point whereby the children would ask for real guns from their parents because the toy guns did not shoot to kill as was in the films they watched. The youth generation went craze for guns and this resulted in a violent and unsafe society. The author used the examples to show how easy and strong the media can affect its audience. The author, however, does not directly state how popularizing the gun through the media resulted in a hostile environment for the young audience or how the media has this huge impact on the beliefs and behaviors of its audience.

Examples Identify Media Bias and Its Effect on Society

The author has used cases that happened during and before the Gun Control Act to support her point (OBoyle, p.23). According to Sarah Nilsen, twenty years after the National Rifle Association started its motion of popularizing the use of a gun, toy guys were the largest preference for the boys boosting the sales to over $100 million per year. In addition, the children's game preferences changed to bow and arrow and shooting just like the games played by cowboys. There were increased gun injuries as well as their frequency. Also, Sarah says that by the time the Gun Control Act was enacted, the gun craze had grown tremendously which was evidenced by the sales of 45 million small arms to the domestic civilian market which was almost equal to the amount that had been sold in a period of half a century before (Herman, p.68).

Nielsen’s media study is mainly about the effect and power of media to its audience. The author used the case of popularizing the use of guns; how it started as a harmless idea to celebrate and value the American history on the use of a gun. The NRA used the media in order to sell the idea to many people, to reach a huge audience at the same time and encourage people to appreciate the use of guns by not fearing them and also allowing them to celebrate their present because of the use of the gun in the past (Preus, Per Gjermo & Vibeke, p.45). The media then intensify the use of a gun; turn it into a heroic act with every film all about the gun. As a result, the audience changed their attitude towards guns; in fact, the sale of guns to the domestic civilians was $45 million (Marsh, p.245). All this change was achieved through the intense filming, writing, and advertising that were done by the media.

Secondly, through this article, it is clear that the media shapes and determines the needs, behaviors, and beliefs of the audience. In the beginning, the idea was just to celebrate American History through the use of guns. The media, however, took advantage of this to retain the huge number of viewers and brought out another idea; that using a gun made people heroes. Through the several films of military, war, and violence, articles written and topics discussed, the audience was made to believe that only through guns that they would be future heroes or would be people of relevance. That childhood without owning a gun made you less of a child. Through this, every child was made to believe that owning a gun was of importance to their childhood, and their behaviors changed to cowboy (violent) games such as shooting.

Thirdly, it is clear that the media reflects society. This means that whatever is happening in the media is what is happening or will happen in the society. People tend to believe in media life since it looks simple, enjoyable, simple and affordable. The society thus copies what the media feeds them overlooking the effects of what they borrow from it.

Media and the Effect It Can Have On an Audience

Sarah Nielsen is a professor and author in Film and Television Studies specializing in the history of television and film. In this article, she tries to show how the media has powerful effects on its audience. She, therefore, stands a better position to fully understand how much the media can influence the society. However, Sarah does not bring out any positive effect of the media considering that she is in a better position to understand.

Why Government Should Regulate Social Media

Nielsen media research is mainly intended for the government and the legal bodies that control the media. Sarah purposely informs them by bringing out the power of the media to the society just through the content it feeds to the audience. She intends for the legal bodies to see the damage the media can cause if it is not controlled. Sarah wants the government through the media council in charge of the film industry as well the television and other media platforms to act as gatekeepers and protect the public by controlling what goes to the public through the media and the extent the public should be exposed to (Elms, p.956). In summary, the point is not to accord the media total control of what is fed to the public.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the author makes her point known about the effects and power of media to the audience. However, the point is not brought out clearly to know who is to blame the media and the parents who are not controlling what their children should see. However, Nielsen media research is best described as the one that helps greatly in learning about the power of the media and how it greatly shapes and defines the behavior, beliefs and the perception of the audience.

Works Cited

Elms, Alan C. "The crisis of confidence in social psychology." American Psychologist 30.10 (1975): 967.

Herman, Daniel Justin. "Hunting and American Identity: The Rise, Fall, Rise and Fall of an American Pastime." The International Journal of the History of Sport 31.1-2 (2014): 55-71.

Marsh, Jackie. "From the wild frontier of Davy Crockett to the wintery fiords of Frozen: changes in media consumption, play and literacy from the 1950s to the 2010s." International Journal of Play 3.3 (2014): 267-279.

OBoyle, J. G. "Be Sure You're Right, Then Go Ahead." Westerns: The Essential Journal of Popular Film and Television Collection (2013): 83.

Preus, Hans R., Per Gjermo, and Vibeke Baelum. "A Critical Comment to the Practice of Article Analysis and Evaluation Faveri et al. J Evid Base Dent Pract 2014; 14: 7072." Journal of Evidence-Based Dental Practice 15.2 (2015): 85-86.