The cultivation theory identifies that human behavior and the way we tend to view media, is a result of mass medias projection of their ideas to us. This can be extremely harmful considering the media typically projects ideals and fantasies that would be most intriguing to their general target. A prime example of this in culture today is the use of pornography. The wide viewership of pornography based media has a negative result. Porn can alter expectations, distort intimacy, and hyper sexualize our fantasies. I knew a kid in high school that bragged about watching pornography and his sexual fantasies where distorted. Presumably, he did not have that great of a sex life due to his distorted intimacy as a result of watching pornography.

In our culture, the media controls a very large portion of the information that civilians see from around the world. The Agenda Setting Theory outlines this reality by saying that the media tells us 1) what to think about and 2) how to think about it, a sentiment that is surely reflected in the coverage presented by “news” stations like FoxNews. George Gerbner’s Cultivation Theory goes hand-in-hand with the Agenda Setting Theory because television has become society’s storyteller. One example that clearly demonstrates the Agenda Setting Theory and Cultivation Theory is the longstanding campaign for tobacco products, despite the scientifically proven results that show the addictive and harmful effects of cigarettes. Because tobacco companies are so wealthy and the crop has been such a central part of the growth of America since the 17^th century, they have an inordinate amount of power and influence, especially through their lobbyists in Washington D.C. This is a perfect example because, while cigarette companies have been falsely advertising Agenda Setting ideas to shape the way that people think, they have also influenced the advertisements against potentially rival products like medical marijuana. In the pictures below, a Marlboro advertisement presents a cute baby and a smiling white male in a suit responds in bold “Yes, you need never feel over-smoked…that’s the miracle of Marlboro!” Many other cigarette ads would feature doctors endorsing their “favorite brand” to shape the way people think and make people believe that cigarettes are in fact important for a happy and healthy lifestyle. Even in television, the cool protagonist often smokes a casual cigarette, and who could be uncharmed by the likes of Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction or Brad Pitt in Fight Club? Even Hannibal Smith of the A-Team, one of the biggest badasses ever (portrayed by George Peppard in the show and Liam Neeson in the movie) always wears a smile and lights a stogie upon completing a successful mission. However, the influence for cigarettes in the media is nearly as strong as the influence against marijuana, even though recently the U.S. is beginning to realize that the absurd amount of time and money wasted in the “War on Drugs” seems insane. When I was younger, I remember an advertisement on TV that showed two young boys experimenting with pot for the first time. After smoking, one boy says to the other “Hey want to see my dad’s guns?” and even though the friend protests that his dad would be angry, the son takes it out anyway, now consumed by “reefer madness.” The scene fades to black as a loud gunshot is heard. Yet, there has never been a reported death from marijuana while thousands die each year from cigarettes, and marijuana displays many curative properties – yet the media and television have made sure that we think about tobacco positively and marijuana pejoratively. In the advertisement below, a crying mother holds her son’s sprawled body next to a pipe with the caption reading “MARIJUANA” in blood-red letters followed by “What will your mother say when she finds your corpse?” In Cultivation Theory, George Gerbner says that television gives us an exaggerated belief in a mean and scary world, and in this case it tells viewers to associate marijuana with violence and failure. Contrarily, commercials for beer and alcohol constantly appear on television showing people singing, laughing and having fun, even though alcohol is a depressant that makes people more violent and also causes thousands of deaths each year. In the third advertisement below, we see a photo of Michael Phelps smoking a bong at a party that gained significant attention. The picture was initially used by the media in a smear campaign against both marijuana and the most decorated athlete in Olympic history. However, pro-marijuana advocates reshape the message saying “14 Gold Medals, 37 World Records, 2 Awesome Lungs” and following with scientific research saying, “unlike heavy tobacco smokers, heavy marijuana smokers exhibit no obstruction to the lungs small airway. That indicates that these people will not develop emphysema.” CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta came to similar conclusions in his documentary “Weed” and article “Why I changed my mind on weed.” Recently, celebrities like Seth Rogen, Jennifer Aniston, and Morgan Freeman have begun using the media for their own agendas regarding marijuana, one shared by many throughout the country as evidenced by the legalization of recreational use in Washington and Colorado last year.

The Agenda Setting theory states that, ” the mass media have the ability to transfer the salience of issues on their news agenda to the public agenda.” I have seen this most evidently in recent media coverage with the missing airplane. I rarely watch the news and am generally pretty unaware of what is happening worldwide, but I have been able to keep up with this story easily due to the huge amount of coverage and promotion of the event and investigation process. This tragedy was certainly conveyed to the public as important through the repetition of and extent of information that was delivered to the American people through every media outlet available. The more often something is talked about, the more important it is considered to be. There is an unconscious process in the human brain that associates the number of times something is referred to with the level of significance it has in the world. While there are so many other very important events occurring all around the world, the first current situation I would have thought of in the past few weeks if called upon to discuss one probably would have been the Malaysia plan crash, because I have heard so much about it. The Agenda Setting theory certainly proves its point through this media outburst regarding the plane crash.

Genderlect states that men and women’s communication should be viewed as different types of cultural dialects. This is best seen when looking at ads that for men and ads that are based for women. You see certain themes for ads towards men that include strength and very masculine attributes with adds for women that are more based towards a feminine and more features that would appeal to them. There is also a more direct form of communication for men while women will be more subtle and discreet with how they are trying to get there point across to the women that aren’t seen in men that are seen for men.

The textbook states that according to Cultivation theory, Gerber believed that, “because TV contains so much violence, people who spend the most time in front of it develop an exaggerated belief in a mean and scary world. The violence they see on the screen can cultivate a social paranoia that counters notions of trustworthy people or safe surroundings.” The idea of a violent tv show having this much of an impact on me makes me think of the show Scandal, which I have watched many episodes of. There have been many moments of fear arise in me as a result of watching the intense violence that is part of this show. There is one character in particular, Huck, who does heinous violent acts to people and gets away with it. I wasn’t even aware of most of the techniques he uses, and the fact that he gets away with it every time is even more terrifying. I would have to admit that watching this show causes me to be more fearful of violent acts in the world than I am before I watch it or before I began watching it period.

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I found speech code interesting about looking at a shared experience between individuals. For example in the show New Girl the group of friends have mad up a game called True American. This game has rules and speech codes that would mean nothing to someone not evolved. The group that shares this experience though has a communicative conduct the group abides by. This is not conduct you would see other individuals partake in or they would normally do but the group has created this by themselves. They constructed this social norm between themselves and out of the social norm. Social construct

Cultivation theory talks about how watching television effects our culture and beliefs. Gerbner explores how watching too much violent television can lead people to believe in a “mean & scary world” allowing viewers to have a harder time trusting people. Gerbner categorizes viewers into two categroies: heavy viewers and light viewers. A light viewer is someone who watches about two hours of television per day and is labeled as a “choosy” watcher. Whereas a heavy viewer is someone who watches more than four hours of television every day and is labeled as a “couch potato”. The more you watch television the more viewers begin to view the world through TV’s lens. Television can also effect our perceptions on the health risks of smoking, politics, and specific gender roles. One explain of cultivation theory is the show TV drama Law & Order: SVU. This show is specifically designed to show viewers how dangerous the world can be, especially for females. Every episode someone is either raped or killed. It is extremely disturbing and when I was in high school I watched the show all the time. This lead me to believe that every time I left my house I was in danger of being raped and eventually I had to stop watching because I was so scared of the world.

Agenda Setting is the theory that the media is not trying to tell their viewers what to think, but rather what to think about. Agenda Setting is defined as “Mass media have the ability to transfer salience of issues on their news agenda to the public’s.” This is the belief that the power of the press exist however they are still allowing individuals to believe they maintain the freedom to choose what they believe in. Agenda setting is giving viewers something to care about and linking traits to it; now they are not just saying what to think about, but also how to think about it. For example, the most recent news that has been on almost every news station nonstop for the past month has been the disappearance of the Malaysian plane. The media had a frenzy with this and by putting on every news station and talking about the issue 24/7 it got people talking. I know that when I first heard about the plane missing I did not think much about it, however, it seemed to be getting bigger and bigger and the longer it was missing the more the news played the coverage and talked about the passengers and different conspiracies as to why it was missing. The media had successfully gotten Americans to buy into this story being a big deal by using agenda setting.

The agenda- setting hypothesis states that the mass media have the ability to transfer the salience of issues in their news agenda to the public agenda. This means that if something is covered often and for longer periods of time, it will be viewed as more important by the public. This media agenda is the pattern of news coverage across major print and broadcast media as measured by the prominence and length of stories. The media showed the importance of the recent plane crash to the public by spending large amount of time covering the story and providing updates. The fact that news and updates about the story were on every time I turned on the radio or tv or looked at the paper, made it clear that it was a very important story.

Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370: Co-pilot made urgent call before going off radar | News.com.au

The cultivation theory promotes the idea that society sees the real world based on what they have learned through movies and television programs. This theory states that mass media plays a major role in the mental framework of society. People in society use what they see in movies and on tv to develop their own ideas. For example, many kids use what they see of college in tv and movies to develop their expectations for college, this is due to mainstreaming. Mainstreaming is the blurring, blending and bending process by which heavy tv viewers from disparate groups develop a common outlook through constant exposure to the same images and labels. This clip from the show Greek gives a very unrealistic view on what sororities and fraternities are like. A teenager may develop an opinion on what these groups are like based on this television program. Using the accessibility principle, this small amount of information may cause them to make a judgment about the world of Greek life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aeE6A4kPn4