Problems With Mass Media

I distinctly remember kicking one of my friends off my bed during nap time at a baby-sitters house because I saw Simba do it to Scar in the Lion King. When I went to tumbling class I had my leotard straps fall off my shoulders because that’s how Jasmine had her outfit in Aladdin. At my great-grandmother’s funeral, I put a flower in her hair (in the casket, mind you) like Ariel in the Little Mermaid. Needless to say, Disney really impacted my life as a child.

But sometimes grown-ups do the same kind of copy-catting, and I think that's one of the problems that exist in the relationship between mass media and society. Beautiful men and women flood the covers of magazines and movie screens. There was a recent study done that found the more couples watched chick flicks, the more unsatisfied they became with their own relationships. Viewing, reading, and listening to what we perceive as perfection affects us, and it’s not always for the better.