“The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses.”
 –Malcom X

The absolute avoidance of interaction with media texts is nearly impossible today. Billboards litter our highways, Pandora radio plays commercials intermittently between songs, and magazines generate most of their profits through advertisements. Even in situations where media absorption is not our goal, it stubbornly seeps into our unconscious.

Media in our lives.

My name is Annie Plowman and I am a senior at Towson University, working towards a degree is Mass Communications and a degree in English. One of the stepping stones towards these degrees is a Media Criticism course, in which we learn to decipher the signs we receive from media text, and understand these signs in relation to the way our culture is shaped. My generation is consumed by the media, bombarded by the connections formed through such an extensive variety of channels.

If you are sick, it is important to understand what is causing the sickness in order to acquire the medicine to fix it. If you are pursuing a degree, it is critical that you understand all aspects of the subject you seek to become an expert of. As with any consuming force, it is important to understand it thoroughly in order to maintain control over its influence.

Enter Media Criticism, from stage left.

Under every amusing plotline, behind each relatable character, there lies a constant flow of messages that work to entertain, inform, persuade, and educate us. We are molded by the implications of popular culture, and the fact that media saturates almost every aspect of society means that immunity is close to unachievable.

Are you immune?

Think about it.

Women, when you watch a television show, do you notice the haircut of the beautiful blonde protagonist? Make a mental note of outfits that you’d like to try later? Stifle unrealistic jealously for her passionate relationship?

Men, do you subconsciously notice characteristics that you find attractive in fictional characters? Take note that beautiful women seem to fall head over heels for Axe deodorant? Immediately search for new memorabilia as your favorite sports team hits a winning streak?

These are a fraction of the signs cascading from the media texts and infiltrating our minds, and thus, our culture. Without realizing the depths of the assimilation, we act in unconscious accordance with many values picked up from the media.

Prior to this class, I had never looked below the surface of my favorite television show, American Horror Story. The first season of this series began last fall, in October 2011.

The pilot begins with parents, Vivian and Ben, and daughter, Violet, moving into a new house with hopes for a fresh start for their fractured family. The viewer quickly realizes that ghosts walk alongside the living in this haunted house. This show doesn’t dabble in the paranormal, but blurs the line between reality and insanity and dissolves the permanence between life and death. Realistic characters, unforeseen plot twists, and well-timed flashbacks make this show so addicting, I rearranged my work schedule to ensure that I would be able to watch the new episode every Wednesday night.

Although the plot seems supremely unrealistic, the bare bones of all the issues addressed are surprisingly normal to our society.

American Horror Story

Vivian has a miscarriage, Ben has an affair, Violet takes a razor to her arms, Vivian and Ben want to rekindle their sex life, Violet falls in love with a boy her father hates, their neighbor has a daughter with Down Syndrome: these are all examples of emotional and physical pain we associate with in our society.

On a broader scale, American Horror Story tackles issues such as school shootings, illegal abortions, institutionalization, high-profile murder cases such as the “Black Dahlia,” and rape.

It certainly says something about our culture, does it not? These topics are not astonishing to us. The school shooting triggers our mind to think of event such as Columbine and Virginia Tech shootings. Ben’s infidelity is nothing new to us. We don’t avert our eyes in embarrassment upon viewing passionate sexual scenes.

Our ambivalence while watching gruesome scenes and highly immoral acts is largely due in part to our television intake. American Horror Story is not the first, nor will it be the last, TV show addressing actual horrors in our society.

In one scene, Ben and Vivian have heated sex after dissecting the void between them since her miscarriage and his adultery. The glamorous depiction of friction in a relationship plants seeds in society’s mind as to what is normal.

         Thus, the more that something is portrayed as normal, the more seamlessly does it become the perceived norm.

Understanding this concept is the first step towards the appreciation of thorough media critiques. Television should be enjoyed as unadulterated entertainment, as long as it is understand that TV occupies another level: a text through which values and ideas are infiltrated into our society.

I look forward to having a better grasp of my absorption patterns through media. This class is shaping up to be an eye-opening experience, so follow along with me here and enjoy the insightful ride!