| Spending one’s
life in different parts of the world defines one’s
state of mind significantly. This is to say that
the mindset of an individual living in a town
would be quite different to that of an individual
living in the country side. This is because of
the fact that they each are exposed to entirely
different lifestyles. Indeed, these lifestyles
may consist of an array of influences that are
developed on the basis of societal progress. In
a village for instance, there is hardly any scope
for development industrially speaking, while in
the cities there was immense growth visible. Particularly
during the age of mechanization, this was experienced,
and from then on, there was a high degree of dynamics
visible.
City life in contrast to country life has an
impact that can shock a countryman. If one is
not used to the speed with which people live in
cities and experiences for the first time, it
can be quite disorienting. In view of this kind
of effect on the minds of individuals, one might
be compelled to consider the ways in which people
living in cities are so used to these influences
that they are hardly affected, in fact, it is
part of their life without which they would feel
quite odd. Why are these people so used to the
speed with which they live? How can they manage
living with the images around them? Like these
questions, there are several others that emerge
in view of the way that the age of communication
has enveloped city life. Indeed, city life is
well encased in images. In this post-modern age,
one can see how images lead or mislead people,
the media being one of the main tools in doing
so (Baudrillard, 1983, 21-23).
People are in fact very taken up with the media;
people thrive on what the media has to offer.
Indeed there is no shortage of entertainment in
city life, but people are still more taken up
with the media. This does not just simply refer
to television entertainment, but also refers to
news coverage on television as well as in the
print media. However, aside from the news media
bringing the more serious side of life to people,
whether it is real, unreal or enhanced, entertainment
too is considered to have immense power. This
specifically refers to melodrama. This is because
of the fact that “a great deal of melodrama
interweaves pathos and action” (Charney
& Schwartz, 1995, 55). These words can be
considered as an accurate description of entertainment.
As it is known, entertainment stupefies people,
and takes them away from reality. However, one
cannot really say that entertainment really does
that in every case. This is because of the fact
that forms of entertainment vary considerably.
For instance, the taste for reality is exploited
through films that cater to them; people tend
to thrive on violent cinema creations. They believe
that what they see is reality, and the action
movies that are produced today are prime examples
of this (Cinematic Spectatorship Before the Apparatus,
1995).
These views of entertainment need to be exposed
in a broader perspective for one to understand
exactly what has happened and what is continually
happening. Indeed, in this effort Singer’s
views are essential. This is because they help
expose the manner in which ‘modernity’
has taken control of urban living. He asserts
that “Modernity implied a phenomenal - a
specifically urban one” (Singer, 1995, p.
72). This phenomenal is one that consists of elements
like random activity, chaos and the like. The
modernity that is referred to here is one that
is related to post modern ways of life. This specifically
refers to the manner in which one life is greatly
influenced by images; one does not really know
what is real anymore.
There are so many images that lead and mislead
individuals that they follow whatever their instincts
tell them. For instance, the media tells them
one thing, and since all the news channels verify
a particular event, it is believed easily. This
leads to a mass belief in a particular event,
which results in entire national sentiments. As
far as melodrama is concerned, it must be asserted
that people take to this entertainment as easily
as they do to news media; they follow what is
being portrayed on TV meticulously, and are led
to the conclusions that the filmmakers have in
mind. Hence, individuals do not make conclusions,
but are rather led by a few individual who are
in charge of the outcome in particular films.
This kind of entertainment is indeed in complete
contrast to any other epoch in human history (Landy,
3-23, 1994). Prior to the revolution of radio
and TV, life was very different.
It appears that since there is more communication
around, there is more ‘noise’. In
addition the ‘communication’ playing
an immense role in these times, it is also ‘transportation’
that is greatly responsible for the “unprecedented
turbulence of the big cities traffic, noise, billboards,
street signs, jostling crowds, window displays
and advertisements”. As a result, “the
individual faced a new intensity of sensory stimulation”
with the emergence of transportation and communication.
It also must not be forgotten that a major part
of this also lies with understanding “the
pressing schedules of modern capitalism”
(Singer, 1995, p. 72). This is because of the
fact this has in fact emerged from the age of
mechanization and blossomed into what one sees
today.
Aside from communication and transportation, there
are other features that are entangled Capitalist
processes. Some of these may even pertain to particular
genders. An example of this is the way that women
are enraptured by shopping in this modern era.
Undoubtedly men also shop considerably as it is
seen in the UK, but women are more taken up with
the idea that they can go out and spend considerable
time looking for household products and clothes.
Singer’s ‘Modernity, Hyperstimulus,
and the Rise of Popular Sensationalism’
is in sync with such a process because of the
fact that this is a modern way of living for women;
if they were cut off from all that is available
in the market to them, it would be a denial of
their rights in these modern times (Disseminations
of Modernity, 1995). Speaking of ‘Hyperstimulus’,
it is interesting to note that shopping is one
of those things that can really stimulate a woman.
As an example, if she learns of any new product
in the market, she immediately has an urge to
get to the market and at least check it out.
Considering the manner in which technology advanced
through time, so did consumer behavior. This was
because of the fact that along with communication
and transport being ameliorated, businesses also
improved considerably, which meant that the public
could be communicated with more comprehensively.
However, prior to shopper trait awareness, these
were situations in which consumer behavior would
quite naturally not be taken seriously or even
bothered with to say the least.
Major issues such as war and post-war times are
ones that so naturally inhibit the way that people
look at life; it is natural that they would not
be able to think of life styles when major social
problems existed in their midst (A New Era of
Shopping, 1909-1914).
In view of all the major movements arising from
the development of communication and transportation,
one may assert that modern life has been ‘invented’.
This is something that is true to say along with
asserting that man has also indeed decides his
own fate. The pace of life that he has created
is one that can take him in any direction from
this point in time, and it is indeed up to him
what to do wit the resources and the developed
world he has created.
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