Wuthering Heights Big Connection

In my last post, I emphasized how the media was an important part of society, and how it served as the lens for our perspective and our ideas. The media blinds while informs, and through the act of providing information shapes the person and what they become through fed intelligence. The big question of how media shapes society and our view of ourselves is evident in Wuthering Heights, or more specifically the lack of media. The nature of humans and the nurture of the characters through the untamed nature is shown in Wuthering Heights, as they have no contact to the outside world throughout the book except for the relationship between the Heights and Thrushcross Grange. The media in it's large role of providing information on how society should function through the use of conforming and norms are non existent in the story. Wuthering Heights reveals how media shapes our views of the world and ourselves by providing a barbaric connection to which we can compare our experiences, similar to a control group in science. Wuthering Heights is an untamed environment trapped in passion and uncontrolled emotions. This untamed passion can be revealed through the thoughts of the late Catherine Earnshaw, who selfishly decides to play with the feelings of Edgar and Heathcliff,"Well, if I cannot keep Heathcliff for my friend--if Edgar will be mean and jealous, I'll try to break their hearts by breaking my own. That will be a prompt way of finishing all, when I am pushed to extremity!" (Bronte 107). If their was media in the time, she would most likely, knowing her passionate nature, watch many shows on love and the such. The media would shape her views by providing her with the negative image of a selfish destructive woman, (Miley Cyrus, Lindsay Lohan, Simon Cowell's Ex-Wife/Booty Call/Baby mama) and instead mold the image of never giving up after one's love and the idea of true love, (Cinderella, Majority of Disney movies, Pitch Perfect, Bieber, etc) that is deeply ingrained in the fantasist minds of the many teenage girls of a Hollywood age. The lack of media in Wuthering Heights helps illustrate how different a world with media can shape our view of the world and ourselves. 

How does the media shape our view of the world and ourselves?

How does the media shape our view of the world and ourselves? The media in the ever growing world of technology plays a pivotal role in our view of the outside world, as in most cases it is our only view. I like this question because as society grows more secluded, more satisfied with the dimly lit screen that becomes the sun of their world, social networking and media sites are the only way that they get their information and news. It is saddening yet at the same time scary, that the media could be biased and therefore hinder all perspectives on a topic. This question resonates with me on a personal level too. The media in recent days has revealed that the U.S government will strike Syria with missiles. It is not a question of when, but that they will do it with utmost certainty, today. The media, how do they shape our view of the world? They illustrate that the missiles are a sort of disciplining tactic, to push forward a forced diplomacy. It is to show that we, the Americans, "ain't messing." This military intervention, well it affects me more than others for I have friends and family that are enlisting in the air force and army. I heard from a friend yesterday that the soldiers in the military were requested to write their will. The implied message, it makes me scared for my family and friends. The media doesn't show this part, this consequence of the strike. People stationed in the middle east, they are prepared to die, they seem like they are preparing for a war to strike. The media shows that we are punishing Syria for chemical warfare on the people, however they do not show that soldiers are preparing for war. The media shapes how we view the world more than anything, but how does it also blind us while providing us vision?

The symbolic metaphor of media blinding us while providing us vision, it is similar to Oedipus and the motif of eyes and truth throughout the whole story. The media of today, how it shapes our view of the world and ourselves, are the eyes of Oedipus. Oedipus sees only what he wants to see. His perspective, his denial of the truth that he is the killer of his father, shapes his view that he is the hero king of Thebes battered by lies and clouded obstacles. It is only by gouging out his eyes, or turning off the media, that he finally finds truth and all perspectives on the view of the world and himself. To first hand see for himself the real truth in the world, he had to stop relying on one sense, or one perspective, and learn the world through all senses, or all perspectives.