A Brave New Audience
Over time, technology has become increasingly more advanced. This is unfortunate for mankind because the more advanced, the more serious television gets, the worse it is for its viewers. It constantly feeds people information with which they take in without even knowing its perils. What they think is an excellent source of information, is actually a dangerous medium through which millions of Americans reduce their intelligence. According to Neil Postman, it is simply just a detriment of content because it focuses more on images, rather than content. In Postman's essay, "The Huxleyan Warning", he exhorts readers that Huxley's prophecies are beginning to be realized. He claims that society will enslave themselves through their love for their own tyranny; the technologies that disable their abilities to think. This technology comes through the form of a television screen. These prophecies, which were first introduced to us by Aldous Huxley, are visible in the movie The Truman Show. "Truman", is a normal human being, unknowingly being watched by billions of viewers ever since his birth. Viewers are stuck to their television sets watching his every move. What is unfortunate is that Huxley's beliefs are beginni
However, society has not always been drowned out by technology. Culture used to rely on traditional tools, not technology. Tools do not affect the dignity and rectitude of the culture to which they are introduced. Unfortunately we are presented with the phenomenon of technology, most notably the television and computer, which has greatly affected our lives. It is referred to as a phenomenon because it controls its users minds, yet the users cannot even conceive this because they are so deeply involved. "... in the latter half of the twentieth century, [television] has reached a perverse maturity in America's consuming love affair with television." (Postman 295-296). The audience of The Truman Show is a perfect example of this type of civilization. By watching The Truman Show, its viewers have revolved their lives around it. Viewers are glued to their television sets and do not want to leave, nor do they want to be disturbed. At one point in the movie, security guards who are watching the show, tell a customer to wait as they are too busy. They are so involved in the show that it is affecting them into doing their own job properly. These are the actions of a "television-based culture" (Postman 298). The same culture which watches of The Truman Show every day and night. Technology has redefined society's beliefs so that they fit its requirements. Society seeks its authorization through technology, find its satisfactions in technology, and takes its orders from technology. Although The Truman Show is simply a movie, i
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Approximate Word count = 1029
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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