The Effects of Entertainment on Culture - Research Paper Example

The Effects of Entertainment on Culture Entertainment refers to any activity presented in an attractive way primarilyto give pleasure to the intended audiences. People differ greatly with regard to their preferred entertainment, however the common factor is the fact that they all stem from common historical events which are easily recognized. The present Entertainment is a result of the evolving traditional entertainment which includes storytelling and traditional dances. Over the past years, entertainment has undergone great changes following this evolution to become a lucrative industry involving modern technologies such as television, cinemas, and video games and newly found arts such as different genres of music and sports. Today’s entertainment target particular groups of people basing on modalities such as gender, age, occupation, social standards and even physical abilities. Sadly, today’s fast growing entertainment industry has not come without its share of blame, particularly with regard to culture erosion. Here, culture is taken as the collective belief, customs, and social behaviors of a particular people in a given geographical region. Such is the case that culture function as a tool to identify a group of people simply put as “ totality of a people socially transmitted pattern of thought, manifested in the way they live, worship, relate with each other and perceive humanity” (Macionis & Linda 53). Entertainment is an important part of every culture, a factor that makes it part of both the past and today and even future generations. Such is the case that as the world changes so doe’s entertainment with its effect which is usually reflected on culture, sometimes in harmful ways. This works details Entertainment impact on culture which is often depicted by audience thought of the people involved, the communication style used, and content of the entertainment, place and time of the entertainment. Generally, audiences are influenced through entertainment into taking new patterns of socializing, thinking and response to inter-cultural communication. Entertainment results to culture clash, an effect that is experience across the globe, particularly following the internet era. Here, cultural interactions in the name of intertainment have resulted to a wide range of outcome, some good and others bad. For instance, Pop culture, widely associated with American entertainment industry is a trend that attracted large audience across America and other regions of the world. This culture that is associated with particular consumer clothing, music, movies, newspaper and television shows has slowly taken the better of the young generation. A good example is the sagging of trousers among young boys and wearing of tight trousers among girls. Such behaviors attract sharp criticism from societies that may view its proponents as ill mannered. Sagging in Africa is usually associated with the desire to walk naked, a factor that will also apply to girls who wear tight cloths. In this regard, entertainment if not well checked may come with its attached values that distract the harmony of the receiving culture. Secondly, Entertainment has led to poor modeling among the growing generation. Here, the new trends presented by entertainment have significantly changed and in some cases wiped out these values that once served as standards for modeling upcoming children. For instance, a study conducted in the U.S showed that three quarters of the American youths, particularly girls, were trying to live like celebrities seen in the movies, magazine covers, internet blogs and television shows (Deveny & Kelley 41). This unfolding raises the fear of what will happen to such young lives with the current negative celebrity’s image that keep on flooding our media. In the recent past Celebrities have been linked to vices such as drunkenness, drug abuse, promiscuity and other illegal activities, which may be picked by innocent young lives. For instance many Teens have been found to be fans of Miley Cyrus, who was caught on film smoking marijuana, Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, who went to jail for drinking and drugs. Teens consider this to be okay, and do not let instances like this hinder their idols’ likeability (Deveny & Kelley 38). Effects of such characters on our children if not checked will soon have a group of young children who mistakenly make the wrong things fashionable. The dressing code has not been spared the affects of poor entertainment as both young and old people wander far from their cultural trend to embrace new dressing code that profane. Other groups of youths, who may not have direct access to the technology, get to learn from their friends particularly through peer pressure. Lastly, societies have been greatly affected socially as youths prefer to spend much of their time on televisions and other Media, entertaining them at the expense of socializing with fellow friends and relations (Deveny & Kelley 69). Television and even social media addiction often isolate people from the society, and conflict with the inherent nature found in human race i.e. social beings. Entertainment can potentially encourage violent behaviors, particularly when presented with violent content (Kraidy & Sender 58). Video games are one of such entertainment that has been greatly blamed for promoting such violent behavior. Such is the case that even in societies with long standing values of peace and coherent coexistence of its members; video games have found a place, particularly among the youths and young children. The idea that they are mostly designed to suit young people, though not strictly, poses the greatest danger as these groups easily get influenced into acting what they have been ignorantly practicing. The general threat is that video games are slowly turning youths and small children who once were peaceful to become violent. Great caution need to be taken on video games since it presents an entertainment were the participants are actively involved as opposed to movies in which audiences take the passive role. With this knowledge it is obvious that people playing video games, especially violent ones, gain violence skills that can easily be used when provoked. A good example is the Littleton shootings in Colorado and Columbine killings in which the perpetrators were said to be great fans of video games (Kraidy & Sender 102). Typically, most developers of video games seek to present violence acts of heroism, a factor that may have been intentionally or otherwise intended. The young gamers usually fail to analyze the developer’s intention and frequently interpret the message of such games as those acceptable by the society. For example when children playing video game in which they are rewarded based on the number of building they “blow up” or the number of people they kill, they slowly get to the culture of getting rewards from wrong doing. This is a direct contrast of the psychological view point in which people get rewarded only after accomplishing positive deeds. In this regard it is true that when video games are allowed to further affect the upcoming generation, in the name of entertainment, without proper guidance, future society will have distorted view on violence. Having said this, it is worth noting that not every game present negative influence, however parental guidance is encouraged to ensure only access positive entertainment content. (Kraidy & Sender 104). Entertainment leads to stereotyping by influencing the attitudes depicted by members of a given society towards others. As human beings, societies are generally expected to be well informed of their immediate surrounding as they continually seek finer details through constant interactions. Using the information picked from their surrounding, societies develop cognitive patterns that help them explain things and people as they are in reality. It is these cognitive patterns that determine how they view their surrounding and also influence their social characteristics, which include their emotional control, understanding and anticipation. Entertainment has been found to significantly influence this aspect of human cognition, particularly with its ability to create a lasting effect on targeted audience (Werder 634). Here, entertainment is shaping the way people believe and make their opinion, thus controlling their social life. The culture used here is not only intended at satisfying consumer needs but goes further to define them. Commercials try to suit all audiences by taking a universal outlook which is appealing to the large audience. The entertainment aspect of commercials achieves the goal of being appealing almost 90 percent of the times. It is in this sense that societies that have traditionally perceived different products or services differently are twisted to end up with the same opinion on the subject of advertisement. For example, the way commercials present female and male roles is a true reflection of the way gender is perceived in the traditional concept, where men dominate women (Deveny & Kelley 43). Although the target population may be aware of the negative effects of such generalizations, they often tend to conform to such stereotyping without taking serious attention of the long-term effects. Commercials have also been put on spot for manipulating political and social changes such as: women empowerment; the significance of the role of individualism and the revaluation and globalization of trends in social roles, based on their themes which are frequently centered on a society’s development, (Werder 633). Essentially, though the cultures might have come a long way to be what it is presently, the entertainment aspect in commercials often emphasize the negativities through stereotyping rather than encouraging positive change. Sadly stereotyping can substantially affect the society negatively by making its members believe the lie being propagated and thus negatively impact the victims. Entertainment has creates social differences. Majority of the human society are known for assisting one another in times of want. This is a culture that exists in the human race by default and stresses the idea having a closely knitted community. However, some emergent forms of entertainment have created divisions between people based on social classes. Society is gradually embracing the culture of self centeredness when spending on their preferred entertainment (Pearce 978). A good example is in sports where athletes have been known to earn millions of dollars in hours, growing their celebrity status. Society members who associate themselves with such high-paying sporting events can afford to attend matches and purchase merchandise branded by, or promoted through players who feature in the preferred sports. A practical example would be the Super Bowl Sunday, which attract a great number of viewers throughout the United States. Here, a Fan payment for a game which last for an hour amounts in excess of $2,500 and a television advertisement lasting 30 seconds costs more than $2 million (Pearce 979). The surprising thing, which is true, is the fact that American society has different cultures and different classes of people. While others can afford such extravagant spending, others barely manage one meal per day. Super Bowl Sunday is only an entertainment, and the cost of one ticket could easily feed several homeless families. Here we clearly see how entertainment, in the form of a sport, has created an ever widening gap between those who can afford a meal and those who cannot. Those who afford expensive entertainment care less about people who cannot afford such expenses, a factor that clearly shows how the togetherness culture of the human race is slowly but steadily disappearing (Pearce 1980). With such effects growing, the society will soon become unbearable for the poor prompting them to engage in vices such as burglary. The rich in the society will not be spared the same effects as they will be the target of such people. Conclusion In conclusion, Entertainment impact on culture is often depicted by audience thought of the people involved, the communication style used, and content of the entertainment, place and time of the entertainment. Generally, audiences are influenced through entertainment into taking new patterns of socializing, thinking and response to inter-cultural communication. In the present Societies, individuals are gradually leaving their contemporary entertainment in favor of new trends. On the other hand productions are continuously getting cancelled for not getting attention from large population. The main worry is on the fact that society is constantly under threat of values degradation in the face of the emergent entertainment. For instance, audiences are constantly taking after celebrities characters as seen on the media without taking a close thought to the negative effects that come alongside. The results of imitating this celebrities is indulgence in alcoholism, drug abuse, violence, poor public behavior and other outlawed activities. Commercials that frequently find its ground on entertainment to appeal to wider audience can potentially create and shape people opinion. In this case, such commercial can either change audiences from their original beliefs or emphasize such beliefs. In this regard, the society has the sole obligation of ensuring entertainment is presented in a manner that will not affect its very foundation values. The fight begins with parents who should train their children from the early age on proper values, a factor that will make these young ones keep off entertainments thought as profane. The government also has a great role to play in fighting the negative effects if entertainment. Here, relevant government personalities should come up with laws that guide on permissible entertainment and penalties for those contravening these laws. Works Cited Deveny, K and Kelley R. “Girls Gone Bad?” Newsweek 149.7 (2007): 40-47. Print. Kraidy, M and Sender, K. The Politics of Reality Television: Global Perspectives. New York: Routledge, 2011. Print. Macionis, Gerber and John Linda. Sociology. Toronto: Pearson Canada, 2010. Print. Pearce, K. J. Uses, Gratifications, and Depen­dency. California: Sage, 2009. Print. Werder, O. H. Media Effects Theories. California: Sage, 2009. Print. Read More