Media Vs. Ideology

Is "media" simply a synonym for ideology? For some reason this question seems really easy to answer: Yes. One culture's media content will depend on their particular ideology. In class we have viewed two movies now: Frank Capra's "You Can't Take it With You," made in 1938, and Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor's "Crank," made in 2006. Using a couple of examples from each movie, I believe I can adequately defend my answer as well as use Todd Gitlin's Media Unlimited, to relate it all to the concept of speed.

The first movie, You Can't Take It With You," is an older movie, though it features stunning black and white color schemes and it is even filled with explosions! In the movie's content, however, certain ideologies can be noted that are even used in today's movies. For example, as you view the story line you learn that the Kirby family members are filthy rich bankers that have all the characteristics of their upper class status. At dinner in the restaurant, the Kirby's sit around their table with other upper classers and make jokes and visibly judge Mr. Kirby's future daughter-in-law, as she is of a lower economic class. This can be even further examined when they are all in jail. Mr. Kirby starts ranting about his "jungle" and "sharp claws" and notes that he uses them so that he doesn't end up as "scum like these [prisoners] still in the gutter." Both of these examples are still the ideologies of the middle class in today’s world. This is all you see in the media, be it radio, paper, or news. Upper classers wanting more, and lower classers ending up as the "scum in prison."

The second movie we watched, "Crank," was one of the dumbest movies I've ever seen. It was a movie whose plot was so abstract and hard to follow that I ended up getting lost often. This doesn't mean that there aren't some good examples to back up my theory though. The movie is about a guy named Chev, who is an assassin that gets injected with a special poison where if his heart rate drops too low, he could go into a coma and die. This means that he has to be fueled by adrenaline, and what better adrenaline is there than sex... in public places? Yes, in order to get his heart rate up, Chev starts having sex with his girlfriend, Eve, in the middle of a crowded China Town. In media, we are