Media: Role Models

Written by Marta M. Mobley~The New Media Foundation Co-Founder
As human beings, we often connect to characters in the media just as if they were close friends, or the mother, father, brother or sister we wish we had. It is not that we don’t connect, it is the level and depth we connect to another that inspires the influence. Although some people may feel a connection to fictional media characters, there is no reciprocity of emotion; our relationships with these fictional characters are only one-sided. That is why I believe it is even more important that these media role models exhibit positive and healthy actions and behaviors.

Television fans often seem to know more about their favorite characters’ lives then the actors who play them do. It has been proven time and time again in cultural studies and social sciences that the fans of various television shows and movies have embraced the characters and "universe" of the shows and made them their own. In most cases they participate in the continuing saga of the characters of the story by fashioning their own narratives based on the series. By far the most famous of these participatory series is Star Trek.

Viewed by millions of people in his famous last lecture on youtube.com and written in his National Best Selling book, The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch wrote, “ For ambitious Young boys with a scientific bent, there is no greater role model than James T. Kirk of Star Trek. In fact, I seriously believe that I became a better teacher and colleague–maybe even a better a better husband—by watching Kirk run the Enterprise.” He continues “I learned so much by watching this guy in action. He was the distilled essence of the dynamic manager, a guy who knew how to delegate, had the passion to inspire, and looked good in what he wore to work. He professed to have skills greater than his subordinates. He acknowledged that they knew what they were doing in their domains. But he established the vision, the tone. He was in charge of morale…Over the years, some of my sophisticated academic colleagues have turned their noses at my Star Trek infatuation. But from the start, it has never failed to stand me in good stead.”

If parents today could begin asking themselves hard questions like whether today’s media is modeling our behavior, or whether we are modeling behavior that we see in the media. Are the characters in our media defining what our world should or could look like? Are the messages in the media teaching us what is acceptable and not acceptable in our society? Is media shaping our family values?

From 1996 to 2001, the Parents Television Council estimates, there were 102 torture scenes on TV. From 2002 to 2005, there were 624, and the torturers were increasingly portrayed as heroes rather than villains. The hit Fox action drama "24" featured 67 torture scenes in its first 5 seasons and most of those depicted torture being used by "heroic American counter-terrorist agents. “Sahid,” a major and very “likable” character on J.J. Abrahams’ show “Lost,” is a known torturer who uses his “skill set” on the island; this is a perfect example of how a show can glorify a negative role model.

Our children are being molded, their life blueprints being influenced, by what I have termed Media Role Models. These unhealthy media role models are very attractive, strong and glamorized. Our children’s newest, dearest friends are teaching them that there are no consequences to their actions, and that there is only good and bad with no shades of gray in our world. These media role models are modeling unhealthy and ineffective ways to respond to life’s difficult challenges.

Watching all these violent and unhealthy media role models is teaching our children not to care about others, and they are becoming more and more desensitized to real life tragedies in our world. They are learning to solve their problems through violence. And even more importantly, it is teaching our children to disconnect and become separate from one another.

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