"Plato: The Allegory of the Cave" commentary

When reading the Allegory there was one particular part that caught my eye.  At the beginning of this section Socrates, or what I assume is Socrates speaking from what I have learned from history and what background information I was given about Plato's writings, is describing a prison like cave.  The man he speaks of cannot move his head and only sees shadows of what he assumes is reality.  When he is able to move his head and look upon the world it doesn't make sense to him.  His shadows seem more like reality to him than actual reality,  This reminded me heavily of todays media, specifically advertisements and porn.

When I was attending my junior college, Moorpark College, I took a Rhetoric of Popular Culture course.  It was one of the most interesting classes I have taken thus far which is partially why I chose to take this course.  In this course, we watched a documentary about the Porn Industry.  In this documentary, it talked about some of the long-term risks heavy porn absorption has on males.  Most males see these women in porn WANTING sex all the time no matter the situation.  They assume that is reality, they see it so often that it becomes their reality.  They think that all the women around them in the world constantly want sex because that's how it is in Porn.  So when the real world hits and they discover that is not true it takes a long time for them to adjust to the 'light' from the 'dark' as Socrates put it.

Another example of this is in advertisements.  A lot of advertisements have this unobtainable beauty standard for women.  These standards not only become male expectations but also female expectations.  Women everywhere think these photoshopped pictures are reality and it takes a lot of work to break that.

This relation helps us understand media influence because it shows how the media can skew our perceptions on reality.  How we see the world and what we believe is real can be altered by the messages mainstream media puts out.  It takes work to change those realities as well and it has real consequences.

Hello all!

My name is Michele and I am a transfer student in their junior year.  I hope to finish my education at CSUCI smoothly.  This blog is where I will post all my assignments for my COMM 345 Class to be turned in.  Feel free to read them if you like.