Meaning and the Media

Media defined meanings.

Meaning is developed at a very early age from within an individuals’ social environment. This has changed in modern society with the explosion in media technology. Many societies have lost their cultural essence at the hands of these elements that pervade our daily lives.

Long ago the idea was that it took a village to raise a child, now that seems so strange, to think in such a manner. The Caribbean region has been evolving away from many of its indigenous traditions and adopting the western way.

The cultural artifacts which were handed down from one generation to the next is being replaced by the digital world, where the owners are disseminating there knowledge and customs on our future generations. Local content has to fight through the jungle of western ideals, the images of glitz and glamour which seem to addictive to the young minds that continually roam this digital safari.

According to Hall, Jhally and many other scholars meaning is based on ones culture and is formed through learning and practice. Well by our youths practicing the western way our essence, the meaning of being uniquely Caribbean will slow have any relevance and eventually disappear.

One might ask how this is possible; the answer lies in what images are purported continuously. The dominant ideology seems to be that what the American and European media offer is far superior to what the rest of the has developed. Has anyone other than American or European won an Oscar in any of the major categories? The Emmys’, TVs’ equivalent also has shown a bias towards the American and European programming. Ever so often they offer up a trophy, a drop in the bucket as it were to some other media industry as an appeasement to the masses.

The use of images are clear representations of the western society and its’ system of belief. There customs and values take center stage in all their content offerings. What it means to be beautiful, how evil is represented, what roles races should play and the structure of how society should be. Content such as the Disney characters are a clear indication of this. The male are always almost of Arian race whose is strong and can overcome any obstacle. The women are also mainly of the same race and are slender, almost to the point of being sickly, are subservient, always docile and need to be rescued.  The evil persona is always dark in complexion; they are often from lower end of society’s spectrum and are always envious of the hero and his life.

So then, if our children are continually bombarded by these what then can be the end result?

Can our way of Life survive this onslaught and emerge stronger and clearly defined?

What then?