Should Media and Literature Influence Our Lives?

[Ghetsis-Dennis]

There have been books, movies, and shows that try to spread a message to the audience whether it's something at risk or something that may potentially happen (From Frankenstein to The Day the Earth Stood Still to South Park). Unfortunately, nobody seems to listen to these messages as we continue to destroy ourselves. I would have to ask: should we start taking lessons from the books we've read and the movies/shows we've watched?

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Pretty much, yeah. Just look at Dead Poets Society and Uncle Tom's Cabin. It's not like movies and books should be our conciense, but being able to put a coherent message or even just an inspirational spirit into one's work is a sign of a writer with good intentions (and a good writer at that).

 

[Shinobu]

The media already does influence our lives. It influences are perceptions of others, ourselves, and the world. Consider that the concept of the designated driver was pretty much created* by entertainment media.

I wouldn't recommend trying to explicitly guide yourself by entertainment media (maybe books are ok to learn from). Entertainment media has a tendency to portray many concepts and people pretty poorly, so you won't learn much valuable from most of it.

*The designated driver concept actually originated in Scandinavia. In America TV networks and movie studios were part of an effort to promote safe driving via the designated driver concept. The reason you have heard the term "designated driver" is because of TV and the movies.

 

[Dread Advocate]

There's no questioning whether it should because it already does, whether your on the receiving end or a creator.

 

[Infinite_L00p]

I feel like we should take lessons on everything, no matter what it is. Weather or not it's to do something or not do something, it's still beneficial to you in some way. The key is not to get the wrong message from a piece of media, and also staying away from things that have no real value or substance enough to actually have something you can take from it.

 

[Te-em]

One should consider the information given. It's like when a person speaks to you; some parts are worth listening to, others are not. However, movies can influence strongly if you are sucked into the story and thus open yourself to it. But everything shouldn't be swallowed without thought. One should reflect upon what one learns, and of course one can learn a lot from movies and books. Books I think contain more detailed information, but movies give information much faster (just as it takes shorter time to watch a movie than read a book).