Date of Award

2-25-2005

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Sociology

First Advisor

Dr. Stephen Cobb

Abstract

Media--what does it encompass? As Americans, it includes anything and everything that we know. Our lives seem to revolve around the production of media. We come home after work and tum on the television in order to relax. The average American watches four hours of television per day which equals to 61 days per year which means that by the time the average American is 65, he/she will have watched approximately nine years of television (Putnam 2000)! Many Americans also spend their Friday and Saturday nights at the cinema or renting a movie. What is it about movies and television that is so appealing? Since learning that we could project a moving image onto a screen, the popularity of movies and television has only grown. Many Americans find themselves being more fascinated by celebrities' lives than their own. Upon approaching the cash registers at grocery stores and Wal-Marts, I always observe that the magazine stands consist mostly of Star, People, and Us Weekly, all of which are gossip magazines. It is rare to find a copy of Time or Reader's Digest at the front of a store.

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