Who do I think I am?

My relationship with the media is, for the most part, as a consumer and critic.  My media consumption comes from many varied sources: news aggregator blogs such as those of Gawker Media, the websites of various news outlets ranging from the New York Times to the Daily Beast, and various television shows, whether they be cable serial dramas or news talk shows such as Real Time with Bill Maher or Meet the Press.  I am loathe to admit it sometimes, but it is a fact that my personal political opinions are often shaped by, and sometimes directly adopted from the pundits and authors who appear on these programs.

I am also reluctant to admit that my own sense of identity is often shaped by the images and ideals that are depicted in various television shows and advertisements which tell me what products are superior, and promise the resulting superior lifestyle those products will afford those who own them.  One glaring example is a recent Cadillac commercial first aired during the recent winter Olympics, which came to be named by Gawker as “The Rich-Asshole ad.”  In it, a fast talking, alpha-male type walks from his pool, through his beautiful home, briefly acknowledging his perfect family, all the while explaining to the viewer why it is important that Americans work longer hours, take fewer vacations and are therefore necessarily superior to  our counterparts in other countries.

Jingoistic and seemingly tone deaf to the growing wealth disparity in this country, the ad soon became a target of much derision, even parody in an ad from Ford Motors, who used the opportunity to promote their own line of less expensive electric cars. The Cadillac ad and Ford’s response demonstrate an important point about the way that our common opinions and shared values help to craft media, just as media crafts our own beliefs and value systems.

While I cannot claim to be immune to all advertising or immune to the idealized lifestyles often depicted on primetime television or reality shows (though I abhor most of reality T.V.), I do strive to step back and look at the messages that underline those images and depictions – the essentially heightened reality that allows a group of children born into immense wealth (be they Kardashians or dynastic duck hunters), to portray themselves as normal folk who the rest of us should emulate.  Whether to sell products, increase box office revenue or Nielsen ratings, television, movies, and glossy supermarket magazines all work tirelessly to manipulate reality in order to sell images of an idealized world.