Assess the postmodernist views of the mass media Essay

PM surround mass media be central to the PM possibleness, as the decline of traditional communities, time-space compression and on the t up to(p) production all derived through the media. PM argue the global purchase order is media-saturated, making it harder to distinguish amongst verity and hyper- concreteity, and making civilization disordered and unstable. PM challenge viewing audience as passive and easily manipulated, as they use media images to construct individual identities. The major criticism of PM is that their argument is based on abstract concepts and a lack of empirical evidence.Marxists criticise PM for ignoring inequalities in media access, and that the media messages can mislead the audiences, as the master(prenominal) effort behind them is maintaining profit for capitalists. PM argue the society today is media-saturated. BAUDRILLARD argues the media messages dominate and distort the perception of the domain of a function. People live media-led virtual lives, outgo time on affectionate networks (eg. Twitter) or playing such icon games as Second Life. Media-saturated society had created increasing uncertainty in the valet de chambre by making it hard to discern reality from fantasy.BAUDRILLARD notes mess ar bombarded with the mass media daily. As a result, the media define our sense of reality and self-perception. To stay, BAUMANN suggests passel live in a liquid modernity, where we base our identity close to consumption, and pick n mix identities. BAUDRILLARD agrees that identity is driven my media-created pressure to consume. However, Marxists argue capitalism is behind media-created pressure to consume, and the growth of consumerism represents the success of capitalism quite an than diverse media messages.Nonetheless, BAUDRILLARD still argues that identity is formed by media images, rather than circle and imposed values. PM argue the media actively create reality. BAUDRILLARD argues media images have replaced reality to such an extent that we live in hyper-reality, i. e. reality structured by electronic communication. In turn, the media present simulacra (artificial copies of real events), which is hard to differentiate from reality. in that location is no longer separate reality for things like TV programmes, highlighted by media stories well-nigh fictional characters.TUCKLE notes that the lives of TV characters have become more real to the audience than actual communities. For example, people felt so strongly about TV show Cheers that they created Cheers bars in America, similarly to creating Central nab coffee shops after popularity of Friends. More over, the media can create realities of such major events as fights. BAUDRILLARD argues that the First Gulf War was a simulation created by the media, noting that the war only happened on TV. While not denying the existence of conflict, he criticised its portrayal in western societies.However, the impact of hyper-reality and simulacra is uneve n between social groups. They be only significant to those who can access them. PM are criticised for ignoring that media images can increase perception of inequality. More importantly, PM ignore concerns over concentration of media ownership and ideological function hyper-reality whitethorn perform. Marxists suggest the RC may create the hyper-reality to repay their ideology, whereas Feminists suggest some aspects of hyper-reality, particularly games like GTA, reinforce patriarchy and misogyny.PM highlight the increasing importance of popular culture promoted by the media. STRINATI notes the mass media have caused a breakdown of distinction between high and popular culture, making popular culture dominate the vogue people define themselves. Popular culture has more influence on our lifestyles than social structures, as opposed to Marxist view that the media owners influence the media payoff thus influence our identities.However, PM are criticised for not being able to empirical ly prove the link between popular culture and reality of identities. PM conducted small scale ethnographic research, as they reject gap of discovering objective truth about social world. However, it severely undermines their argument. In support of PM, however, neo-functionalist PUTNAM found empirical evidence to highlight the breakdown of the real world social interaction and declining social capital due to the influence of the media, and especially new media.In conclusion, PM view of the media is influential in brief attention to the impact of the media on creation of identities and how consumption influence peoples ability to create their identities themselves. However, the major limitation of PM theory is reluctance to recognise the significance of the market forces and concentration of media ownership in understanding the media impact on the society. Moreover, PM do not accept the medias role of promoting and exacerbating inequalities among audiences.