How Fantasy Becomes Reality: Seeing Through Media Influence

by Karen E. Dill

It's a common belief that the stories we encounter through mass media--whether in video games, action movies, or political comedy skits on Saturday Night Live --are just entertaining fantasies that have no tangible impact on our everyday lives, attitudes, and choices. Not so, says Karen Dill in
this lively and provocative book. As much as we may want to deny it, the images, sounds, and narratives that bombard us daily have ample power to alter our realities.
Dill, the author of the single-most-cited study on the effects of video-game violence, draws on extensive research in social psychology to show not only the myriad ways--for good and ill--that media influence us, but also why we resist believing they do. Vibrantly written and packed with
eye-opening examples from everyday life, her wide-ranging analysis encompasses everything from gender and racial stereotyping to social identity, domestic violence, and presidential politics. She discusses the ways that super-thin models and actresses have altered women's self-images, dissects the
manipulative strategies of advertising aimed at children and medical consumers, and explains how the "fake news" of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report may offer more authentic and incisive coverage than the cable channels and network newscasts. She also assesses the growing importance of "new
media" like text-messaging, blogs, and Facebook in how we communicate and process information.
In a media-saturated society, Dill argues, understanding precisely how these powerful forces affect us and learning how to deal with them are vital to the very way we function as citizens. How Fantasy Becomes Reality shows what we can do to move from the passenger's seat to the driver's seat as
media consumers.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sociology

320 pages, Hardcover

First published August 4, 2009

Reviews

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Encontrei este livro por acaso quando estava pesquisando sobre outros livros que poderia ler em PDF. Como tem a ver com aquilo que eu pesquiso, pensei, hum isso pode ser interessante. Bem, de certa forma foi e de certa forma não foi. Karen E. Dill encara o fato da fantasia virar realidade a partir da influência da mídia nas pessoas e não a partir da narrativa, da psicologia ou do nível social, algo que interessaria mais. Ela vem dos estudos dos videogames e tem uma visão apocalíptica sobre a influência da mídia no comportamento humano. Não gostei do estilo de escrita da autora, que é extremamente coloquial, ao mesmo tempo que isso fica estranho porque ela cita extensivamente diversas pesquisas sobre a influência da mídia, em especial a dos videogames e da televisão com conteúdos violentos. Embora o livro traga alguns insights relevantes, principalmente na primeira parte, em que a autora trabalha mais com conceitos do que com os inúmeros e enfastiantes resultados de pesquisa, é um livro que nos cansa rapidinho, seja pelo estilo, seja pela forma ou por algumas decisões do conteúdo.

[Bruce Genaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’re ignorant, how do you know it? That’s what I kept asking myself while reading Pop Culture: How Fantasy Becomes Reality: Seeing Through Media Influence, by Karen E. Dill. Wouldn’t your ignorance be something you were ignorant about? By ignorant here I simply mean, unaware. As Dill states, her book is about “…media influence—its power and our propensity either to deny that power or at least to fail in understanding fully how to deal with it.”

She implies that while most people are cognizant that media tries to influence us, they also feel immune to that influence because it seems so blatant. But what about more subtle marketing, say a can of Coke (product placement) sipped by a sitcom actress? Or the apartment in a “family drama” rich in architectural details and furnishings? Dill suggests that “…watching idealized lives makes real lives seem substandard and can result in a personal sense of dissatisfaction or ennui. This dissatisfaction is a blow to our personal well-being, but a boon to advertisers
…marketing the promise that their products will make us happy and fulfilled.”

If the media weren’t so pervasive it might be easy to dismiss its impact. But when everywhere you look (TV, Internet, magazines, movies) everyone is thin and beautiful and rich, how can you ignore it? Personally I read a lot of men’s fashion and fitness magazines because I find the information useful and entertaining. And it’s only natural that I compare myself (consciously or un) to the models with ripped physiques sitting by pools in palatial homes. Could there be collateral damage to my psyche, my self-esteem that I am unaware of?

Dill covers a lot of ground here and includes interesting studies and statistics to back up her assertions. The information is fresh and accessible. Of particular interest to her are the ways in which video games can lead to violent behavior, advertising can lead to stereotyping and racial profiling, and the general blurring of the line between real journalism and “fake” news (The Daily Show and The Colbert Report). “The brain,” she writes, “responds very similarly whether you are doing something or watching someone else do it.”

We have become a society obsessed with the ingredients, the calories and the fat content of our food. But what about our media diet? Dill asserts that we should be equally diligent about monitoring the media we (and especially our children) consume. But how? Well, reading this book would be a good place to start.

[ไม้ไต่คู้ · Rating 4 out of 5]

เรามักจะเชื่อว่าคนที่มีวิจารณญาณสามารถเสพสื่อ problematic ได้โดยไม่ได้รับผลกระทบ เพราะคนที่มีวิจารณญาณจะสามารถแยกเรื่องจริงออกจากเรื่องแต่งได้ แต่ผลการศึกษาจำนวนมากพบว่า มนุษย์นั้นเปราะบางต่อผลกระทบของ media influence ไม่ว่าคุณจะมีวุฒิภาวะหรือระดับสติปัญญามากแค่ไหนก็ตาม

ในระดับจิตรู้สำนึก เราอาจจะตอบได้อย่างแม่นยำว่าภาพที่เราเห็นบนจอทีวีเป็นแค่การแสดง แต่สมองของเราแยกไม่ออก สมองของเราตอบสนองต่อภาพบนจอทีวีว่าเป็นความจริง เท่าๆ กับภาพแฟนที่กำลังนอนเกาตูดอยู่นอกจอ

อีกทั้งเมื่อเราเสพเรื่องแต่ง เราจะอยากปล่อยใจไปกับเรื่องเล่า ด้วยการ "ระงับความไม่เชื่อไว้ชั่วคราว" (suspension of disbelief) เราจะลดความคิดเชิงวิพากษ์และการตั้งข้อสงสัย เพื่อที่เราจะได้จมลงไปในเรื่องแต่งราวกับมันเป็นความจริง และติดตามมันไปได้จนจบ

นั่นทำให้คนมีแนวโน้มจะเชื่อข้อมูลที่แฝงอยู่ใน fiction ว่าเป็นข้อเท็จจริง ซ้ำร้ายคือเมื่อเวลาผ่านไป เราจะลืมว่า source ของข้อมูลนี้มาจากการอ่าน fiction และมั่นใจแบบผิดๆว่าข้อมูลนี้เป็นข้อเท็จจริง (sleeper effect)

ส่วนเรื่องความรุนแรงในสื่อ ผลการศึกษาจำนวนมากชี้ว่าการเสพสื่อที่มีภาพความรุนแรงส่งผลให้มีพฤติกรรมก้าวร้าวมากขึ้นจริง มันเยอะมากจนคนในแวดวงเลิกเถียงกันไปแล้ว แต่คนในสังคมจะไม่ค่อยเชื่อ เพราะสำนักข่าวชอบไปคลิกเบทว่า "เล่น GTA ทำให้เป็นฆาตรกร" ทั้งๆ ที่งานวิจัยไม่ได้บอกแบบนั้น

ผู้เขียนเปรียบการเสพสื่อเหมือนการกินอาหาร คุณจะค่อยๆ กลายเป็นสิ่งที่คุณเสพ สุดท้ายแล้วคนกินเฟรนฟรายส์อาจจะไม่เป็นมะเร็งก็ได้ แต่ทุกครั้งที่กินสุขภาพคุณก็ค่อยๆ แย่ลง ส่วนคนเล่น GTA ก็อาจไม่กลายเป็นฆาตรกร แต่มันไม่ได้หมายความว่าความรุนแรงที่คุณรับมาจะไม่ส่งผลกับคุณเลย

ผู้เขียนไม่ได้บอกว่าต้องแบนหรือเลิกเสพไปเลย เขาเองก็ยังดูยังอ่านสิ่งที่มี negative influence อยู่ แต่เราต้องเลือกเสพสื่อที่ positive มารักษาสมดุลด้วย,เพิ่ม media literacy ด้วยการตั้งคำถามกับสิ่งที่ดูเสมอว่ามัน represent ความจริงแค่ไหน ผู้สร้าง romanticize value อะไรอยู่ เป็นต้น

[Carlos Allende · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book that made me want to study media psychology and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the matter. Not only students, but anyone interested in learning how media affects us. Dill is an expert and she has a subtle, yet sharp sense of humor that's never cheap and makes the reading entertaining and pleasant: "Anyone who has gone to college (or primary school, for that matter) has had an education on the fundamentals of science." (p. 71). She sounds like a combination of Steven Pinker and Alan Bennett writing for Jezebel: knowledgeable and clear, witty, and slightly irreverent. You'll end up devouring this book as if it was a thriller. It makes you sad when you reach the end.

[Diantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed reading this book. Dillen writes accessibly, informally, even colloquially, which could undermine her credibility but that, in part, is the message of the book, and the way she concludes her whole story. While reading this book, I became increasingly aware of the many, many ways in which media - ALL media - tries to manipulate you, and I truly think this book will have helped me look at media in a new way.

[Ulyera · Rating 3 out of 5]

At one point she said she understood what a black man felt like because of her identity as a woman... and that didn't sit right with me. But the content holistically was very intriguing.