This is one of the most important lessons of the media. It is abound in television and films. Whenever someone dies, one must search the body for important goods, primarily weapons and ammunition. At a minimum, one must pickup a gun from the dead body. This applies to all sorts of people, especially police officers, FBI agents, and criminals. However, I believe television is trying to tell me that if I end up in a situation where I'm around a dead body, it's best to pick up a gun regardless of who I am. It's better to be safe than sorry, but that's a different lesson.
The media considers this such an important lesson that it created training programs to teach us the gravity of remembering to pick up items from dead bodies, namely video games. In video games, people are scored on their ability to scavenge from the dead. We practice this so unrelentingly that we hopefully will remember to do it in a real crisis situation. In video games we learn that the dead do not just have ammunition and guns, but also food, diaries that help explain crazy events, strange pills and syringes, money, tools, magic potions, and even tape recorders. The next time that I find myself in a chaotic, near-death experience, I know who to find for help: The guy who scored highest in Bioshock.
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I've spent most of my life watching and listening to media. I think they've taught me some important lessons. Yes, I'm a bit sarcastic, but I really have learned these things from the media, for good or ill. Some of the lessons are ridiculous, but they might come in handy. Who knows the next time I'll find myself accidentally invisible?
About Me
- Shana Heinricy
- I am a media scholar, particularly focusing on television, so I watch an awful lot of television. I am an Instructor in the Department of Communications at Xavier University in New Orleans. I am writing my dissertation for my doctorate in Communication and Culture from Indiana University. I have a master's in Communication from San Diego State University and a bachelor's in Philosophy and Classics from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. I like school.
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1 comment:
it reminds me of an ad for cell phone service (some kind of circle of friends thing?) where a guy gets accidentally vaporized by a wizard's magic wand, then in the next shot, a pal is searching the vaporized dude's leftover clothes and other pal says "dude, what are you doing?"
that is the section of the ad that has made me wonder the most. I am not part of the video game market, so that behavior was kind of new to me, although I know I've seen it in films. I guess I was in the "what are you doing?", when I should have realized it's the media savvy thing to do.
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