Affects of Media

I think that media definitely can have a huge impact on people. Media can affect other emotions, besides violence, or bring out other behaviors in people, besides just violence. It can also cause people to want to make a difference. The form of media I will be touching on is movies.

I think one of the main reasons I am not affected by violent movies, is because of my lack of degree of identification. Normally, I do not identify with any of the characters in these kinds of movies, therefore I am not affected. Sociological factors such as my parents, friends, church, and how I was raised also have an affect on the influence violence in movies has on me. I live in a quiet neighborhood, where I was always taught violence is not the answer, and have never experienced anything first hand that I would consider violent. Through these norms that I have consistently been exposed to in my everyday lifestyle, I am able to avoid the behavioral manifestation of aggression that others who were not brought up like I was might experience. Also because of my personal locus I am able to discern which effects I want to become manifested in me and which I do not.

Some movies that I watch though do have an affect on me. I watched the movie Crash about two years ago, and things about it still bother me to this day. Crash is about racism and prejudices between all different races and people. It has violence in it, but the way it affected me was not too make me act aggressively. Although I do not really have a degree of identification with any of the characters in this film, and the affect it has on me is probably not even anywhere near the affect it has on other people who have actually experienced something close to what is shown in this film, it still affected me. Movies that are based on real life and things that actually occur have the most influence on me. And the fact some humans treat people that are different than them the way that we do, as shown in Crash just makes me sad and makes me want to do something about it. I think that movies like this manifest a motivation of wanting to change or do something about the injustices in the world, in certain people. Therefore, although some movies can evoke aggressive behavior and negative feelings in people, it can also cause people to want to make a difference.

I hope in the future I can use media as a tool to learn by using my cognitive abilities. I want to be motivated to seek out more information about what I am shown through different forms of media, instead of just believing everything I see or hear.