Reality vs. the Media

Blue, Toma

Intro: In the book titled "Sex, Drugs & Cocoa Puffs " the writer Chuck Klossterman's  purpose is to inform his readers that the media and technology can manipulate society and that it is responsible for having a huge influence on the minds of people today. Although his main focus is on the media itself and the effects it has on people, he makes another claim that almost every and anything can manipulate a person. He uses ethos, logos and pathos to justify his own special claim as a way to make readers understand how he sees the situation. "Sex, Drugs, & Cocoa Puffs" attacks the entire band of postmodern America: like reality TV, video games, Star's, and many more (Ethos). From his perspective these subject matters all relate to his rhetorical analysis and his claim, this also gives him a better lead way to forming a stronger argument. Based on his real life experiences (Pathos), Chuck puts forth the truth about himself to let people know that they are not alone in this situation and that he too is guilty of steering out of reality.

Chuck K looks at work by a writer named Douglas Rushoff who wrote the book titled "Media Virus". Rushoff had a theory that home video consoles were the reason kids raised in the 1980s naturally embraced the virtual mentality. He also believed that it seemed strange to him that they were able to manually manipulate what they saw on the video screen. Chuck stated that he agrees with Rushoff's theory, which supports the (logos) of the theme.

Chuck opens the story by saying “No woman will ever satisfy me. I know that now, and I would never try to deny it. But this is actually okay, because I will never satisfy a woman, either”. (Pg. 1). He blames the television shows for his lacking of satisfying a woman or being satisfied.  The characters in the shows are made up and to him those kinds of people with such behaviors do not exist. Klosterman goes on to justify this statement, by blaming an actor by the name of John Cusack. He goes on by saying “I once loved a girl who almost loved me, but not as much as she loved John Cusack.

(Pg. 2) Chuck thinks that since he isn’t as good looking and wealthy like John C, then he doesn’t stand a chance at all. He begins to get frustrated because he can’t understand nor get why women as a whole can fall for these TV stars, which may not have the same personality when the camera stops rolling. Chuck decides to give a ton of reason for why he believes what he does, he states: “We all convince ourselves of things like this, about any fictionalized portrayals of romance that happen to hit us in the right place, at the right time. This is why I will never be completely satisfied by a woman, and this is why the kind of woman I tend to find attractive will never be satisfied by me”. (Pg.3). Klosterman isn’t solely blaming women but he is blaming anyone who is stuck on the fictional characters and the fact that they are fantasized with the on screen relationships. This is all a fairy tale in his eyes; it the reason for his problems with women and his relationships.

Klosterman gives reason for why society is so easily influenced by the media and he's a victim as well. He emphasizes how society as a whole is influenced by these so called "manipulators"; The Media. TV shows, movies and video games to can manipulate a person, which often tends to take them away from the real world. This is known as “Reality” He believes that this world is too made up on the fantasized life and mostly everyone can be a victim of this or even guilty of believing what they see is real. Chuck does admit that he is guilty of participating in some type of fantasy life. He admits that purchased the Sims Video Game and the reason he purchased and played the Sims game was to make a perfect replica of his life. In his life of being a sim he could do the things that he wanted to do and reality didn’t matter much to him at the time. All of the previous troubles he had in reality weren't insight, as long as he kept playing the game. Klosterman’s purpose was to inform Americans that we have a huge problem that most of us are guilty of. He also includes his own personal experience to reach out to the readers who share the same issue as if he were some sort of guidance counselor. The media can influence us in many ways, for example Klosterman talked about his previous relationships and how the media interrupted them. He argues that women look at TV show relationships, as if they were supposed to be the same in real life. He suggests that he is very unhappy with the media and fairytale romances that are portrayed. This makes women especially believe in fairytale love stories, which almost never happen according to Klosterman. Although in the beginning he does focus on himself and the relationships with women, he realized that women aren’t the only ones affected by the media. Chuck thinks that anyone who happens to be stuck on the fictional characters; and the fact that they are fantasized with on screen relationships to be confused. This is all a fairytale in his eyes, and it’s the reason he has problems with relationships: as well as women.

The Real World (Reality TV)

We all know what reality TV has to offer to society and half of the time what I see on my own is a load of crap, if you ask me. This show was created by the makers of MTV and their purpose was to entertain their audiences at the time with what they thought was real. In Chucks viewing he felt like each season had a very different perspective but yet revolved around the very same subject. Basically he thought that the show was just "an artistic product that mostly seemed like a TV show about people arguing". These Real World characters weren't like your average person at all. Chuck stated that "the cast were horrible arguers; the seven cast members thrown into that New York Loft always made ill-conceived points and got unjustifiably emotional, and they all seemed to take everything much too personally”. This behavior to him wasn’t normal behavior that people in society engage in at all. It’s like the media has always either tried to portray things that they think are right or tell people that this is the way things should be. Chuck has also said that he’s met a few of these real world characters, well not the real people. He’s encountered individuals with the same characteristics as some of the real world stars. They didn’t exactly do the same things but they had some of the same views and attitudes. This is an example that people watch these shows and replicate the characters of the reality TV shows. Reality TV can have an influence on many, even though that probably wasn’t even the man point.

What’s wrong with our American Culture?

Can we try to deal with reality or are we to weak in the mind to handle it? Whatever the case is our society has a bad case of being obsessed with other worlds, including the false and fictional things that we see. We tend to get caught up in what the media as a whole has to offer, so therefore we often get confused with what’s real and what’s not. The media can affect people in many ways whether it’s, video games, movies, fantasy and virtual worlds, music, TV shows or cartoons. They all play a role on why people enjoy escaping to them because of the enjoyment these things give off. We are entertained by almost anything; it doesn’t even have to be creative at all. Americans just loved to be entertained and like to sometimes forget about the ongoing problems of reality. I admit I listen to my music whenever I’m stressed out, I don’t necessarily watch adventurous movies or escape of into video gaming worlds. My music stimulates my mind and it makes me forget about all the worries I had. I sometimes don’t even think about my problems well after because I engage in something that makes me very happy. Ultimately, our American Culture overall doesn’t know how to face reality head on sometimes. When certain things happen to us we jump up and want to leave right away, because it’s just too much to handle. As far as American Culture’s view on virtual worlds, people think that they are a great way to have fun and enjoy themselves, the things that they wouldn’t do in reality is now in the palm of their hands. Americans are more comfortable with interacting in virtual worlds with virtual characters than in real life. The lack of social skills and communication is now expressed and this isn’t healthy for any of us. How do many of us expect to get a job or an audition for a big show if we can’t properly communicate with an actual human figure? Many cannot answer this because their brains are so tangled up in The Sims’s Video Game, The Real World or they are too busy watching movies all day. America has to change this bad habit whether it’s making less fantasy worlds, making new music with different meaning’s or just getting rid of fictional subjects as a whole. Something’s got to give, but who’s to say that it’s an issue or to say that it’s wrong? That is why we have people like Chuck, Douglas, myself and many others in this world. People need to evaluate the world and see what affects us the most, so new things can be build off the conclusion. Overall, I feel that American Culture today can be heavily influenced by the media.