STUDENT SCRIPT - Englisches Seminar II - Universität zu Köln

MEDIA MEDIA MANIPULATION
MANIPULATION
MANIPULATION
By Vurdlak on January 26, 2010
Nieragden: ILCS 41
I don’t know if these shots were taken from an actual photojournalism, or were they just
used as a theoretical example, but either way consider this a pretty powerful demonstration.
See for yourself how our our perception can be easily shaped, and manipulated with by the
media. I believe it isn’t necessary to explain this optical illusion. Photos speak for themsel-
ves. Imagine you worked for an administration that wants you to show how soldiers have no
mercy when it comes to war. You would use the cropped picture on your left in that case.
However, if you worked for the other side, and wanted to depict soldiers as human beings,
you would crop the right part of the original photo. There you have it! Such powerful
example amazes me, but in the same time scares the sh*t out of me. Which makes me
think, should we be more skeptic to stories medias bombard us with?
MEDIA MEDIA CRITICISM
from from an an anonymous anonymous Internet Internet Internet Blog
Blog
Desperate Desperate Desperate Desperate Housewives
Housewives Housewives
Housewives Desperate Desperate for for Idealistic Idealistic Families
Families
It is apparent in each of the four main female characters of Desperate Housewives that the
equilibrium of a happy, stable family is constantly there in the background, but is never
achieved. Each woman claims at one point to want an ideal family life but their actions in the
series never fully allow them to achieve this desire. Gabrielle for example moved to a sub-
urban town without any intention of becoming a “housewife”. She had an affair with the gar-
dener, and her husband Carlos took her back. They decided to start a family in hope to
mend their relationship but needed a surrogate mother to do so. Carlos had an affair with
the surrogate mother and the baby she was carrying turned out not to be Gabrielle’s and