The mediums that our society is exposed to have a great influence on their day to day lifestyles and interactions. Although some may have their favorite mediums in which they feel attached or obligated to be with them, media is all around us through several different and hidden ways. These artifacts, and how addicted we are to them, demonstrate the power that the dominant media has upon us. Supported though James W. Carey's thoughts on the power of developing media, we learn that our culture moves fast and is always looking for the next big thing. Through mediums, the developers of technology and enforces of media create a message to express to viewers, often subliminally. My favorite Xbox game, Halo 3, is a good example of how the creators of such mediums have a large influence on consumers, such as by supporting violence. Through their video game, the creators of Halo 3 impose thoughts of violence and crime on their consumers.
Halo 3 is an Xbox game where the characters attempt to kill each other by using weapons, vehicles, and combat. To gamers and consumers, this game often becomes an addiction, which allows the creators to easily impose their media message into our brains. People blindly follow the message of this game and stay up all night virtually killing people and imposing violence into their soul. The message this medium is invoking into my brain is a thought of violence and crime that becomes almost natural to me. "The effect of the [media] on ordinary ideas: the coordinates of thought, the natural attitude, practical consciousness, or, less grandly, common sense" becomes a permanent message in our brains (Carey 210). Our culture has become addicted to media and it is a huge part of our everyday life and basic thought process. Shown in the pictures and video provided, Halo 3 is an extremely violent game which shows realistic deaths and lots of gore through combat. The goal of the game is to harm others; therefore this medium imposes an instinctual reaction to impose violence upon others during a confrontation. Myself included, our culture is moving towards a need for violence through media and entertainment, and Halo 3 is a perfect example.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW6SW8XzLQI
This video is from youtube, it is about five minutes long and it shows many of the killing and violence included in this Xbox medium. All of the pictures and the video I found are from Google Images, and YouTube. The quote from James W. Carey is from the class assignment we read for homework called "Communication as Culture".
