Media Portrayal of Men

Media Portrayal of Men

Analyzing a Written Argument

The general argument made by the Media Awareness Network in their work Media Portrayal of Men is that the media is telling people that it is important for a man to be masculine and to follow their standards of what it means to be masculine. More specifically the Media Awareness Network suggests that strong, smart, and while males are the definition of masculinity. They write, “Such magazines still rely on stereotypical portrayals of men and masculinity, featuring handsome, white, well built, and well-dressed men.” p. 539. In this passage, the Media Awareness Network is suggesting that the media says if you aren’t “handsome, white, well built, and well dressed, then you aren’t masculine. In conclusion, it is the Media Awareness Network’s belief that the media makes you think you have to do what they say to be masculine.

Planning Your Own Argument

In my view, the Media Awareness Network is right because the media has taken over and it is what people look to in order to find the standards of our time. For example, the media has set a unobtainable standard of beauty by making all of the models on ads and movies dressed up and photoshoped to make them impossibly perfect. Because of this the media continues to set standards that shouldn’t be true but they have influenced them. Therefore, I conclude that you don’t have to follow the media’s standards to be masculine.