Realistically Biased

"Pretense becomes reality."


                             -Chinese Proverb


The crux of postmodern thought is that what an individual decides for themselves as "true" is thus for all rhetorical purposes true.  What this means for media is that what ever a a source of media shows an individual is what that individual will think of what reality actually is.  As secondary observers, their opinion of any event or story is only based upon what is told to them.  And what is told to the audience is the crux of what good storytelling is in fiction, and unbiased storytelling in non-fiction.

Reflexivity is anything that reduced the audience's belief in a film.  For movies this is what makes it believable.  For a specific fiction to be believable it must have rules that it follows, though not necessarily those that govern the real world.


For example, in Star Wars it is taken for granted that certain people have the abilities of a Jedi.  They can jump to extreme heights, deflect a laser beam with a flick of a lightsaber, and levitate objects.  The only explanation for this that the audience is given is that these are the results of "The Force."  Really this is all that is sufficient for the audience to believe this. 

Yet if someone were to lift something with the wave of a hand in a serious drama the spell would be broken, and the audience would suddenly be aware that they were watching a movie.  For an audience to suspend their beliefs a story must follow a set of rules.  These may not be the rules of reality, but they are rules (with exceptions).

Garbage In: Garbage Out

"Garbage In: Garbage Out"

Thus summarizes the thoughts of my mother on media consumption.  Yet this is somewhat of a simplistic description of her thoughts and philosophy.  As the oldest of three children I've witnessed not only my mother's rules and practices, but also the growth and development of my siblings and how media and other outlets have affected them.

In comparison to many of my peers the controls and restrictions that my parents have exercised have been fairly light in comparison.  Depending on academic performance and behavior t.v. time was allowed on weekends and occasionally during the week.  Video games were tied to t.v. time.  Computer usage was less restricted, although a distinction was made regarding computer games which, being video games, were regulated as such.


The restrictions on content were treated much more strictly.  For the most part they've use the rating guidelines to determine what we watched, but depending on the movie we were allowed to see more "mature" content.  As far as television was concerned my siblings and I never had much of an issue.  The reason why I believe was because our parents would watch t.v. with us during our favorite sitcoms.  They never watched cartoons with us, but those were mostly harmless anyways.


It's hard to criticize your parents, but all in all I think they did a good job.  I feel that their influence always superseded that of media and was a voice of reason in the noise and chaos. 

Media Conglomerates

Since 2006 there have been eight media companies who control and provide a great majority of the news and media that people receive.  These companies are Disney (market value: $72.8 billion), AOL-Time Warner (market value: $90.7 billion), Viacom (market value: $53.9 billion), General Electric (owner of NBC, market value: $390.6 billion), News Corporation (market value: $56.7 billion), Yahoo! (market value: $40.1 billion), Microsoft (market value: $306.8 billion), Google (market value: $154.6 billion).  Each conglomerate also controls many subsidiaries.  Many unique insights may be gained from observing the good and bad aspects of media conglomerates.

Disney is one of the primary examples of a media conglomerate.  It is composed of the divisions of Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, Disney Music Group, Disney-ABC Television Group, Walt Disney Theatrical, Radio Disney, Disney Interactive Media Group, Disney Consumer Products, and Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.  Disney’s subsidiaries are Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Entertainment, Playdom, Tapulous, ESPN, ABC Inc., and A&E Television Networks.

There are several benefits to these large corporations, especially in the case of Disney.  By bringing together the resources of several divisions, a media conglomerate can market and sell a product more effectively and in more ways than if each division acted alone, and no company does this as well as Disney.  Whenever Disney’s writers come up with the next big thing, every division will be selling a piece of it.  There will be a movie, a TV show, songs, a theatrical version, toys, and maybe a ride at Disney World or another park.  The benefits of a well organized and effective company is what allowed many corporations to grow to their size in the first place.

It goes without saying, however, that there are many problems, potential problems, and abuses that may or do result from the oligopoly of media conglomerates.   


“Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility” 
                                                                   --Ambrose Bierce, Devil’s Dictionary


There are certain faults to large companies, and ones specific to media corporations.  News sources rarely report on themselves and even less so in a negative light.  For example; ABC, which is owned by Disney, which manufactures toys, would probably hesitate to report about child labor being used to manufacture toys in China.  This is further complicated when several CEOs sit on the boards of not one, but many companies.  The worst aspect, perhaps, is that in large profit driven conglomerates, real news and journalistic integrity takes a backseat compared to the almighty dollar.  More so today than ever before, our “news” is often a form of cherry picked, and near manufactured entertainment.

When looking at the good and bad aspects of anything, it is especially important not to become too cynical.  Often we give too much credit to the dark, intentional, machinations of men and too little to the slippery slope of indifference, forgetfulness, and incompetence.  I do not propose that Disney or any company is intentionally manipulating the American public for nefarious purposes, but I am not bold in saying that many a wrong has been committed, many a truth manipulated, not “done in those ‘sordid dens of crime’ that Dickens loved to paint” but with a small sigh, an utterance of “just this once” and “it’s not that bad.”  What media conglomerates are today are organizations of people, with human virtues and failings, and it is by those aspects of humanity that they act as forces of good, evil, and of things that are neither.