An Overly Complacent Society: An Analysis of Media's Effect on People Through Images

         One of the largest problems facing modern society is the false sense of security that many people feel towards global issues. People naturally try to take the easiest paths, and as a result they have a tendency to ignore large issues. I would argue that this seemingly lazy behaviour is not completely the fault of people. The media is also a large contributor to the complacent behaviour because it steers people’s views away from issues and belittles their importance. The images below demonstrate that people are unaware of the need to take action against large issues because of media’s influence on them.

Tiedemann, "An Elephant in the Room"

         Most people are quite familiar with the phrase “there’s an elephant in the room” and can name a few situations to which it applies. The phrase is used to point out, “that there is an obvious problem or difficult situation that people do not want to talk about” ("An Elephant in the Room"). Tiedemann's image of an elephant in the room implies that the media ignores large issues. This is demonstrated through the relationships between the subjects and the attitude of each subject. In the image, the three people on the left appear to be working together in ignoring the elephant. The three people are pointedly looking towards the left side of the image, and the elephant is looking more subtly to the right. The directions that the characters are looking separate them into two distinct groups. I believe that the three people in this image are representative of media in society and the elephant is, as stated in the cliché above, a largely ignored problem in society. The media group purposefully turns their backs on the elephant so that they can focus on other, more menial, issues. The attitudes of the subjects also helps to portray their emotions as they ignore the issue. Each of the characters is performing another action as they look away from the trouble. First, the woman is checking her watch, which implies that she is too busy to pay mind to the looming problem. The man in the middle also ignores the problem and appears to be actively adjusting his suit in an attempt to look busy. Finally, the cameraman on the very left has one hand in his pocket and the other on the camera. This could be to demonstrate that he is too busy to help with the problem as well. None of these positions are natural or comfortable stances. In my opinion, this means that the media members feel uncomfortable ignoring the issue, but they do it anyways because the problem is overwhelming—just as people often put off projects until the last minute because they are too stressed to handle them. Overall, this image blatantly points out that the media group is ignoring looming issues, which could prevent everyday people from acting on them.

"Climate Change Newspaper Collage"

         The climate change newspaper collage also displays that media overlooks known issues. This is done through the text scale and the arrangement of the photo. In the collage, the majority of sources are reporting signs of looming climate change, but there is still a source rejecting the problem. When viewing the image, the first thing that jumps out at you is the word “climate;” large, bold, and nicely centred in the collage. Scattered throughout the image are various other sources with the words “change,” “climate,” and “warming.” Finally, centred at the bottom of the image, the tiny words “Americans skeptical” appear. This image uses small text size to offset this specific headline from the others in a very effective manner, but the text size is not the only important feature. The word’s location is also key to the understanding of the image. The text is centred at the bottom of the collage and it’s the last thing read by the viewer. The words have an immediate impact in belittling the other headlines because they are different and final. Although most forms of media do relay the importance of the issue, there are still a few that don’t. In the collage, the skepticism accounts for at least 10% of the coverage on the issue. This may seem insignificant, but people have a tendency to want proof beyond the shadow of a doubt. This belief is reflected in our laws as things must be proven beyond reasonable doubt in order for a conviction. Because of this belief, even if only 10% of media is denying climate change, many people will see it as reasonable doubt and they will not do anything about the issue. 

"Imagine You're Homeless"

         Another imminent problem with media is its unyielding control over people. The image “Imagine You’re Homeless,” exposes the utter control that media can have over people through the relationships between its subjects and through the background’s monotony. In the image “media” physically turns a man away from a beggar and changes his perspective. The relationship between media and the man shows media’s ability to control. Both of the characters face away from the impoverished man, but media forcibly turns the man’s head. This suggests that without media the man’s perspective could be different and he might be able to see the underprivileged man. Because of this, it is not the fault of the man alone that he is blind to the poverty in his hometown. Contrast, or in this case the lack of, also plays an important role in this image. A filter, similar to those seen in social media, has been adhered to the image to make the penniless man fade into the background. At first glance, you would probably only see media and the man in his grasp, but upon closer inspection there is an impoverished man in the background. The lack of contrast shows how insignificant the poor man is in the eyes of the media. Overall, this image displays that media has a huge effect on people’s ignorance of the problems surrounding them.

Latuff, "Islamophobia"

         Finally, I present you with a political cartoon explaining the existence of Islamophobia. The picture uses contrast and arrangement to make viewers overlook the fact that the “devil” is not synonymous with  true image of the Islamic man. In the image, “Uncle Sam” embodies American media as he adds devil-like features to the shadow of the man. When looking at this picture, the eye is immediately drawn to its dark centre—the location of the fraudulent portrayal. The contrast of the dark to light scheme and its placement in the image help to quickly gain attention. At first glance, this is an accurate shadow of the devil, but you will quickly realize that the man who owns the shadow is no demon. This man is calm and peaceful. Unfortunately, as shown with the above images, people are easily swayed by media. In this case, many people came to believe media’s version of the story because they could not see the truth. Media was able to narrow the perspectives of many people so that they could only see the centre of the image, the devil, rather than the peaceful man and schemes of the media. By only showing people part of the story, media played a huge role in the wave of Islamophobia that swept across the Americas and other parts of the Western World. This further proves that media can change people's views on current events and make them ignorant to the truth.
  In essence, people are hard-pressed to escape the clutches of media in their everyday lives. Media often distorts stories to show them in the easiest, most believable way possible, but most people are still willing to follow blindly without thinking of the consequences. As demonstrated through the four images above, people's ignorant and inactive behaviors are largely due to the influence of media.

Works Cited

Climate change collage. Susanne Posel Investigative Headline News. N.p., 8 Aug. 2013. Web. 1 June 2015. <http://www.occupycorporatism.com/noaa-humans-responsible-for-climate-change-ignoring-geoengineering/>.

“An Elephant in the Room.” Cambridge Dictionary. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2015. Cambridge Dictionary. Web. 4 June 2015. <http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/an-elephant-in-the-room>.

“Imagine You’re Homeless.” Quiet Mike. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 June 2015. <http://quietmike.org/2013/07/22/imagine-youre-homeless/#prettyPhoto/1/>.

Latuff. Islamophobia. Muslim Academy. N.p., 5 Sept. 2012. Web. 7 June 2015. <http://muslim-academy.com/what-is-meant-by-the-term-islamophobia-and-how-it-evolved/>.

Tiedemann. “Labor’s Election Review Ignores the Elephant in the Room – the Greens.” The Mercury. NewsCorp, 31 May 2014. Web. 7 June 2015. <http://www.themercury.com.au/news/opinion/a-green-light-on-the-hill-for-labor/story-fnj4f64i-1226937759814>.