The Affects of Visual Media Consumption: Pros and Cons

          A lot of our recent class topics and current personal experiences have urged me to talk about a massively important subject that is surprisingly often overlooked, and that is how we have been and continue to be affected by the media we consume. A lot of artists who work in the media like ourselves are well aware of what movies and shows can do to us mentally (i.e. Stephen Spielberg did not allow his children to watch his movies until they were a certain age). Though this a topic that tends to be severely overlooked by the general public, it is definitely a very real occurrence.

          This does not mean to say that this issue is always bad. In fact, it is a 50-50 two-way street. Media, when criticized, is usually given credit to people becoming evil or overly obsessed (sometimes to the point of death), which is a huge issue. I don't think I have to tell anyone that there is a crap load of bad media out there. However, that shouldn't make anyone conclude that all of it is bad, or even that the human results are necessarily the fault of the media.

         The cons of this issue are massive, since they are the issues that we hear about the most. It's a very tragic experience when guilty people try to blame media for what they have done, and to a vague certain extent, it could be the truth. If people allow media to manipulate their mindsets in dangerous manners, people could start themselves to becoming dangerous. It is truly amazing how media can affect us, and yet it can be so easily overlooked by the people who produce it. Though our general mindset has changed for the worse in this country, where we have to be told, “don't try this at home”, there has always been a mentality that is gained from over-consuming media.

         There is only one good way to counter this inevitable issue: Make good art. Unfortunately, we can't stop people who make crappy art, and we can't stop people who will consume bad media and allow it to consume them in return. But we can give good, well-written media to the public, so that they can enjoy the consumption of something that isn't crap. Please don't think that I'm saying our art has to be wholesome Christian-community-like media, because that isn't what I mean at all. Just make good art, no matter what.

I'd like to take a moment to get personal with this topic, and mention the pros. In the most recent couple of years of my life, I have had to deal with many difficulties that were life-changing and hard to handle. Unfortunately, a road to mental and emotional recovery isn't something that is easily balanced during college (go figure). Cartoon media has always been a huge part of my life, as well as a decent amount of film.

However, I have never had a show legitimately help me in life as much as Supernatural.

At this point, you're probably thinking something along the lines of, “Oh crap, this crazy-ass die hard fanatic is about to tell us all about how her tv show obsession changed her life.”

I know the fan base for this show is insane, but just a heads up: In my situation, that's not the case at all.

One of the main characters in this show is a character by the name of Dean Winchester, a young man who loves his car, loves classic rock, and has a cut-throat, shoot-first-ask-questions-later attitude. He would die for his family, and protects his younger brother Sam with his life. Oh, and loves bacon cheeseburgers.

The honest truth is that I am exactly like Dean Winchester. Seriously. The only differences between us are that he is male, he fights supernatural monsters, and I like my jackets with hoods. If you ever want to get to know me as a person before meeting me, just watch a few episodes. He is the male version of me.

When I first started watching this show, I was shocked because of how much I related to him as I continued getting to know this character. I have never connected with a character from any story like I have with this, and it made me uneasy and cautious. But as I accepted/embraced it, it helped me in the weirdest way.

In my recent years, I have had to deal with a lot of death, something I have a very hard time dealing with. I apologize if this topic makes anyone uncomfortable, but I am used to speaking about it. In the past 4 years, I've lost my uncle, my father, my cousin, my aunt, and 2 close family friends, the most recent passing away last week. But how does this relate to Supernatural, you ask?

For those of you who watch this show, you know that Dean Winchester deals with a massive array of death of close friends and family quite often, most of the time losing them in horrible ways. As I've observed the way he deals with these constant situations, it has overwhelmingly helped me deal with death in such a better way than I have been dealing with it the past. Those who are around me have noticed this as well, commenting on how watching this show has helped me mentally since I now have a character I can emotionally connect and relate to. I've been through what they've been through, and see how they deal with these situations. 

There are many situations where people have had a similar occurrences happen to them with a character they connected with. So, though you may think I'm nuts, this show has legitimately raised my emotional stability as a person through the actions and personality of one character that I can relate to, and partially (VERY partially) look up to. I feel like, as a rising generation media creators, we should strive write great stories and characters that have the potential to help people like Dean Winchester has helped me. Plus, he's funny as hell in real life, too.

“It is truly amazing how

media can affect us,

and yet it can be so

easily overlooked by

the people who produce it.”