Media Magic- Mantsios

        [quotes] To me this article was not new information but more detailed in terms of class. I am a film major and a communication minor so media is a big part of my life. I have even taken communication classes on the subject, like Mass Media & Society. It tended to deal with more broad topics though and not as much on class. Which is why I thought this article was interesting since it has to do with my interest in media. I have to agree with the idea that, "mass media is arguable the most influential in molding public consciousness." It is something that is around us literally 24/7. We get exposed to it at a young age and I feel it molds the way we think about things like class. "The media plays a key role in defining our cultural tastes, helping us locate ourselves in history, establishing our national identity, and ascertaining the range of national and social possibilities". The media tends to shape our thoughts as we grow up on who we are as a person, where we fit in, how to feel about different kinds of people, etc. 
           
              The article talks about how we fit in as a class and how we see other classes. Classes such as the poor. We are told through media that the poor "either do not exist", are "faceless", are "undeserving", a nuisance, and "should only blame themselves". I think just referring to them in these ways makes already creates us as the "superior". It creates such a wide gap in between the classes and depicts them as foreign and undeserving. The media only aids this idea by either ignoring them or bringing them up in a negative light. They also talk tend to talk about them as the "other" and mostly showing images and stories of minorities and immigrants when talking about poverty. Mantsios saying this best by stating, "the flip side to creating a sense of "we", or "us", is establishing a perception of the "other". I mean the news stories we tend to see about poverty center tend to showcase minorities, when in reality much of the poor are white. It is something that unless you look into it this can really mold your mind. We have this thought that if the media tells us something that it must be true and it is essential that we find sources elsewhere. Not to say that the media is always false and deceiving because there are many instances where it is not true but it does happen quite a bit.
          
          While the media also paints the picture of the wealthy and the middle class we must acknowledge that they, "do not share the same interests or worries". These are two separate classes depicted in two separate ways. When we think wealthy class we think wall street, whereas the media paints the middle class as less privileged but yet never seen to blame the wealthy for that. The middle class blames the poor for creating an economic mess which never allows them to advance to the wealthy, they never seem to blame the wealthy though. This social class system is created largely through media and tends to reflect it in popular culture. We see so many TV shows that do not know how to deal with the issue of class or deal with the way the media shows them to. Although, there are some shows that have got it right and have addressed class the way it should it. It is not shied away from but actually addressed and dealt with. And then you have those shows that either do not address what is right in front of them or play into the media's stereotypes of class.