How The Elite Shapes Society

Of course the elite cannot turn out entertainment that only tells their stories. That would turn off regular viewers and not generate much profit. They rely on the “flyover” regions for revenue generation. And while most live in exclusive suburbs their base of operations is in the cities. They seek writers and directors, who generally come from urban environments, and while not top elite they perceive themselves as sharing the same ideals of those with position. So of course they write plots that rely more on oft-used caricatures of what people outside their enclaves must be like. And of course the people who make the final determination as to what goes into movies and TV shows are closer to the elite and are even more separated from authentic reality than the writers and directors. Interestingly enough the majority of American audiences appear not to mind having simplistic images fed back to them; and one could speculate that many adopt the behavioral “norms” fed to them on TV as authentic as they grow up on these media images.

Furthermore, how about an example of how powerful images in media can be? Are you aware that one of the big reasons for the sharp decrease of birthrates in Brazil has been TV entertainment? The idea was that if people see small families presented as positive, and the norm, in what they see on TV they will absorb those norms into their own minds. And whether you see this as positive or not one cannot argue that entertainment can have a huge impact on people’s internal values, maybe even more than religion; thus the average person in Brazil, although Catholic, generally uses birth control. And it works that way everywhere, yes, even in (especially in?) the USA and western world. The elite will want to use their entertainment selections to promote the way they think people should live. After all, in a more modern application of social Darwinism isn’t there a notion that those with degrees from prestigious learning institutions should use their position to help “enlighten” the masses? So while plots on prime-time may be quite simplistic there is always a message. As Orwell noted, all art is ultimately propaganda.

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