Media, in its largest sense, hypothetically is one small page in the large "book of life". However, nineteenth century society has based an entire chapter of their lives on what happens in every medium used for communication. Through the creation of radio and of television in the late 1940's, and the modernization of newspapers and magazines, specifically, American culture has devoted themselves to a mass communications lifestyle in which they base most of their well being upon.Cynical as this theory may seem, the representation of the young and popular everyday seen on television and in magazines, prevails over a more realistic view of life. "When I open Vogue, for example, I am simultaneously infuriated and seduced, grateful to escape temporarily into a narcissistic paradise where I'm the center of the universe, outraged that completely unattainable standards of wealth and beauty exclude me and most women I know from the promised land. And this doesn't only happen when I'm reading Vogue ,...Special K ads make most of us hide our thighs in shame. On the one hand, on the other hand-that's not just me-that's what it means to be a woman in America." Any number of modern day magazines and television advertisements can conclude the same theory. A perfect example of the narcissistic behavior Douglas talks about on television today is a nighttime soap opera on Fox Network, Ally McBeal. This show, after gathering my own conclusions from viewing it, represents a sexy, love-crazed, fantasized woman, who cannot develop a normal life because of the absence of a husband/boyfriend. "Fox TV's Ally McBeal centers on a female attorney who works with her former boyfriend, who is now married to another attorney in the firm. Despite the prestigious job, Ally is emotionally confused and man-hungry."2This "lost" woman also happens to belong to an auspicious law firm. This is the true irony of television in itself. We have managed to keep th...
