Response to Prompt 7 (Influence)

Yes, I would definitely second the idea that the media could possibly give you ideas and influence you to do something; however, I do not think that you could blame the media for the bad actions of a person. I think the media (music, movies, books, television) is a means of expressing ones passion through their particular art form. Art is supposed to be evocative and produce certain feeling and emotions but when I hear about people committing criminal acts or reenacting some psycho acts that someone has seen and/or heard about I am appalled that someone can be so weak minded to believe fictional acts committed by fictional characters. I highly doubt that the writer of a song, script, or book has the intentions of giving crazy people ideas or fantasies to live out. In a way, I feel that when someone takes an artist's idea and doing it is tarnishing the artist's work. I really feel bad for that unstable person out there who has no ethical or moral values The news is played all day everyday on just about every channel reporting on any and everything, I think hearing about what people do or have done in real life can be more influential than a fictional movie, book, or television show. Many things I have seen and heard through the media have influenced me; starting with music, I love music, I am a musician and when I hear a talented vocalist I will try and imitate their style then make it my own, if I hear a good song I think about making a cover of it. A really playful example of the influence music has is this new dance-songs movement, when you hear songs like Walk It Out you start walking it out, when crank that Soulja Boy came out with Crank Dat everybody was doing the dance, and more recently Beyonce's Single Ladies; although it is not a "dance-song" it made everyone want to do that choreography and women all over began to pressure their boyfriends to "put a ring on it." When I watch a music video or live performance from an artist I highly respect I will take note of what their doing and why people love them. There are certain books and movies that have been made specifically to inspire and influence certain actions like the "Chicken Soup saga." I think movies contain the most "i want to do that" moments and everybody will say that but at the end of the day, its all fiction.