Deck 6: Television and the Cultivation of Authoritarianism: a Return Visit From an Unexpected Friend

Question 1

While some critics have depicted video games as benign and even emancipatory, portraying them as opportunities for players to experiment with new virtual identities, hone their hand-eye motor skills, engage in harmless pleasures, or even challenge capitalism, other critics have been notably less sanguine, with mental health professionals, for example, warning of ______.

A) how much time people spend playing video games
B) the highly addictive qualities of video games
C) the damage to one's eyes that might occur when staring at a television screen
D) the effects video games might have on older players

Answer 1

B

Question 2

High hopes and great expectations have been expressed worldwide that television would enrich children's lives, stimulate their imagination and creativity, broaden their education and knowledge, encourage multicultural tolerance, narrow social gaps, and stimulate development and democratization processes.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

The American Psychological Association's study on the sexualization of girls found that there was ample evidence to conclude that sexualizing girls "has negative effects in a variety of domains." Some of these effects include ______.

A) less awareness of sexually transmitted diseases but an increase in mental health, and higher self-confidence
B) more risky sexual activity and higher rates of depression, but with less social inhibitions, they tended to have more active social lives
C) higher suicide and self-harm rates but engaged in risky sexual activities less often
D) more risky sexual behavior, higher rates of eating disorders, depression, and low self-esteem

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Even when the content of video games is not overtly violent, the medium conveys an educative "message" that instrumental manipulation of the world, self, and other is both ______.

A) positive and helpful
B) unavoidable and influential
C) negative and detrimental
D) natural and desirable

Question 5

In this account, the self-manufacture of erotic images constitutes, in effect, a form of unpaid sex work that conflates female bodily display with prostitution even in the context of an intimate relationship.

Question 6

Some Internet commentators have argued that ______ will inevitably adapt to social media in a manner that reduces the threat of privacy invasion or even eliminates the need for privacy altogether.

A) cultural norms
B) social norms
C) political norms
D) advertising

Question 7

Behind Mattel's portrayal of Latino/Latina identity lies a(n) ______ that sells itself as authentic but that ultimately either depicts Latino/Latina culture as homogeneous and exotic or repackages the doll's Latinidad in an assimilated form, whether to make her more attractive to more assimilated Latinos or to market her more effectively in places where ethnic diversity is not particularly marketable.

A) system of representation
B) organization of false imagery
C) structure of racism
D) collection of misunderstanding

Question 8

As the article states, ultimately, both sides of the slut/not slut binary exercise similar effects of strategically separating Jessica's own subjectivity from the slut, disgust manages the separation from a "slutty" Lady Gaga in the interview with Joely, whereas disavowal of the slut in her father's presence allows Jessica to protect her position within regulatory age-based requirements related to girls' sexuality.

Question 9

While this is not a new argument in the discourse of cultural imperialism, American programming for children has been strongly criticized around the world primarily for being stereotypical of ______.

A) geopolitical relations
B) economics and finances
C) gender and race
D) women and feminists

Question 10

The lack of female engagement in digital play is related to deeply rooted understandings of ______ in the culture at large.

A) gender differences
B) gaming dynamics
C) online communities
D) psychology

Question 11

In order to truly treat each other as equals, males and females have to willfully attempt to ignore years of cultural conditioning, which ______.

A) exemplifies understanding
B) demonstrates social class
C) expands on gender politics
D) codifies inequality

Question 12

Media targeted to women create a social reality that is so overwhelmingly consistent it is almost a closed system of messages. In this way, it is the sheer ubiquity of the hypersexualized images that gives them power since they normalize and publicize a coherent story about women, femininity, and sexuality. Because these messages are everywhere, they take on an aura of such familiarity that we believe them to be our very own personal and individual ways of thinking.

Question 13

Many of these images are of celebrities--women who have fast become the role models of today. With their wealth, designer clothes, expensive homes, and flashy lifestyles, these women do seem enviable to girls and young women since they appear to embody a type of power that demands ______.

A) publicity and fame
B) attention and visibility
C) money and empowerment
D) to be taken seriously

Question 14

Social media is the first ______ in history where girls and women participate at equal or greater levels than boys and men as content producers, distributors, and consumers.

A) artistic site
B) digital community
C) mass media platform
D) public forum

Question 15

The global status of television can be claimed because similar debates over television's role in ______ have emerged globally.

A) the entertainment market
B) political activism
C) advertising
D) the lives of children

Question 16

According to the article, under a critical public and media eye, ______ walk a fine line in terms of their engagement in "sexualized" performances, perpetually risking harsh condemnation and concomitant falls in popularity.

A) male artists
B) female artists
C) both male and female artists
D) gender nonconforming artists

Question 17

The practice of individual consumption of entertainment commodities (which further dampens consumerism) supports collective reflections and discussions that make it difficult to reach democratic impulses and relations.

Question 18

A consistent ______ organizes moral conflicts and elite responses to challenge in all Disney features.

A) hierarchical aura
B) ethical paradigm
C) cultural contradiction
D) heteronormative structure

Question 19

Barbie's embodiment of a diversity of feminine images reflects Mattel's efforts to ______.

A) stay relevant in an increasingly digital world where children are not as interested in toys so much as they are interested in video games
B) market to continuously changing and increasingly diverse groups of United States and international consumers
C) advertise according to current trends and social interests
D) make their product line larger, so they can sell more toys and continue grow as a company

Question 20

In the last decade, Disney has made some significant changes in its representations and storylines, but it remains at odds with ______ by globally distributing entertainment narratives that simultaneously soften and normalize messages of social-class hierarchy and antisocial hyper-individualism.

A) authoritarianism and cultural representation
B) societal progression and gender role representations
C) democracy and social responsibility
D) social responsibility and cultural authenticity

Question 21

Explain one of the ways in which media impacted you as a child.

Question 22

The author argues that the best thing about video game culture is the way it burrows down into the marrow of human consciousness to influence the moral.

Question 23

What is cultural norming and what does the "stereotype effect" do to norming as a paradigm?

Question 24

The ability of minority populations to succeed in an environment from which they were previously excluded appears to be related to percentages. Once a certain numeric threshold has been crossed, members of the minority population are less likely to feel the effects of stereotype threat.

Question 25

How is gender identity contextualized? In what ways, positive and negative?