Sunday, June 19, 2011

“The Bias of Language, The Bias of Pictures”

Postman and Powers claim that there are differences between stationary pictures, moving pictures, and language. Stationary pictures by themselves cannot deal with the unseen, the remote, and the internal, of the abstract and cannot present a concept about the world (Gray-Rosendale, 2008, p.485). Words must be used to describe what the picture is representing as related to the point being portrayed. Pictures just show a particular thing. Moving pictures can represent and evoke emotions and ideas. They help to capture the attention of an audience quickly. Language is what makes the stationary and moving pictures understandable (Gray-Rosendale, 2008, p.485).  The differences between the three are extremely important to the larger point of the essay. If the audience does not know the difference between the pictures and language then the essay itself will not make any sense. It is a must to know the difference and importance of all three to be aware of how the media and television show capture their audiences.
The author’s claim about today’s newscast is that we as a society are only getting part of the truth. The media mainly shows the part of the story that is going to grab our attention during a short amount of time. They use images and language of destruction, death, etc. because it is what appeals to human nature. I believe that the media definitely distorts the truth to grab ratings. I have stopped watching the news at one point because I was tired of all the negativity that was being broadcasted daily. It starts to make one lose hope humanity and the future. The positive things that are being done on a daily basis get only a few seconds of spotlight during the news whereas a shooting or murder gets makes primetime.
Reference:
Gray-Rosendale. (2008). Pop Perspectives: Readings to Critique Contemporary Culture. New
York: McGraw- Hill.

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