Society for the most part makes decisions based however the media depicts it. That’s what we discussed in class. People have a hard time differencing what they see in a movie or on the news for how things go about in real life. We watched a documentary in class about how power can be used for good, but ultimately for manipulation and self-use as well. The Stanford Prison Experiment was a social psychology experiment conducted back in 1971, to see psychological effects of perceived power.  The experiment was conducted between people playing roles as prison guards and prisoners. At first, the experiment didn’t really seem to startle anyone. The guards tried to get into character by trying to mess with the prisoners but most of the prisoners took it as a joke right away. However, as days went on, the prison guards found their roll and started to get inside the prisoners’ heads. Torture tactics started to increase, and prisoners started to feel like they didn’t want to be their anymore. Prisoners started asking if they could get out of the experiment, but it seemed as though the more power the guards gained, the more intense and real the experiment was. We can’t really say if its good or bad.

Another thing is how news is reported and depicted. There are cases of people who watch tv that have violence or experience any violence on media are more subject to violence going forward, however there is no real case for it. People have different viewpoints towards certain issues along with different ways that their mind processes events. We watched a Jon Stewart talk show clip in our last class and the news anchor and reporter went from talking about government surveillance and spying to a breaking news case regarding popular singer, Justin Bieber. You would think the government surveillance topic would get more attention, but Hollywood has a large impact on media consumers. Most people I bet didn’t even blink an eye when the breaking news came on because it was more interesting already to them than the government topic. Why is that?

Hollywood has a crazy impact on society between shows, movies, celebrities and more. There is so much media that one cannot focus on everything on the media, but still have focus over certain aspects which still gives Hollywood an upper hand. Scandals drive up the ratings for sure. When the news of a celebrity doing something wrong breaks the Internet, everyone is invested because one way or another they feel a connection towards them. That’s why catching scandals is so good for the news because this one big topic will drive in viewers.

Jason Berardicurti