Easy Way Out

So my group discussed about how BET has changed its mission and basically became a sell out, but this makes me think about a question that was said in class which was, why shows that are cultural aren't getting much attention. Well, let’s think about that. We live in a country were the main focus of every media is the almighty dollar. As much as we don’t want to admit it, that’s the main goal. We live in a capitalist nation and if a certain technique such as stereotyping makes money no matter what then why not use it? It’s the easy route. Besides why does it matter what is being shown in media if its purpose is to entertain us, right? Besides, no one is forcing anyone to watch a specific network. Now I think the reason as to why media pieces that are culture centered are not getting much attention is because media is maybe a way to escape reality of someone’s life or situation. Or it’s because, as a society, we have grown so accustomed to stereotypes that it’s just part of our media. The possibilities are endless. 

But, while we all know that the purpose for media is to entertain us and some can be about sending a type of message, does everyone understand that media is solely for entertainment and not to be taken too seriously? The issue with media is the lack of media literacy people have. While we did not talk about this in our class this is something that I thought of during class. Yes, Marxism Analysis discussed how the ruling class manipulates mass media ads, but as a society have we learned to really understand the messages that media is showing us, do we take the time to think about the message of media, who’s message is it and why is it being shown. Or are we just following the same ideas of capitalism and just finding the easy way out on viewing media.