Sparring partner Marshall McLuhan said, “All media exist to invest our lives with artificial perceptions and arbitrary values”. Yet the media is very important in how so many people get to know the world around them. For example, when the lower and middle class do not interact with the upper class, it is impossible for them to understand about the upper class. The only way most of the other classes understand the upper class is through media portrayal. Media is one of the biggest networks in the world at the present day. It has been the significant part of the human life.
Everyone is directly involved in and spends so many of his or her waking hours with some form of the media. Television, radio, newspaper, books, internet & social network and many more are the frequent source of information that people go through in their daily lives. Film celebrities who are recognized as the upper class people in society are the most discussed and displayed images in the media. Celebrities are highly admired and followed by huge masses of people as their idol. Accordingly, media usually portrays those celebrities as a real life heroes. It only focuses on their positive aspects and good deeds.
Media often broadcast their charitable and social activities, but mostly do not display the dark side of their life. In spite of the fact that news, articles, television shows are meant to reflect the real world, it usually filters the content and only displays what people like to see. Such biases in interpreting the actual portrayals of the film actors and celebrities have resulted in creating misleading images and stereotypes. Although it is believed that the media depicts the actual life of celebrities who belong to upper class, the images of Leonardo DiCaprio portrayed in the media is misleading.
News of celebrities in the media do not always circumscribe the complete fact. The biases and fabrication of news are more prevalent when the particular news is related to the higher class people with money, power and fame. For example, DiCaprio has received huge praise from media for his contribution in the environment conservation campaign. At the 2016 Oscar ceremony, DiCaprio won the award for Best Actor and his Oscar speech, went viral instantly in the media, that express his appreciation and worry for the environment when he said: Climate change is real, it is happening right now.
It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species, and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating. We need to support leaders around the world who do not speak for the big polluters, but who speak for all of humanity, for the indigenous people of the world, for the billions and billions of underprivileged people out there who would be most affected by this. For our children’s children, and for those people out there whose voices have been drowned out by the politics of greed (Griffiths).
This news was broadcasted all over the world depicting DiCaprio as a real hero who is working at his best to save the world. Of course, this was met with a nice round of applause from almost all sectors of media. In contrast, “Despite his climate change advocacy, he took six private jet flights in just six weeks last year, it may prove hard for the actor to justify the need to avail himself of more than $200,000 worth of private travel between LA and New York in such a short period of time” (Dickey). This act of DiCaprio has been just against his campaign on global warming and environment issues.
This clearly shows that he is not practicing what he preaches. Unfortunately, such news is rarely focused on media and most of the people are still unaware of it. The following describes what happens towards the end of the short story entitled “Dancing in the moonlight”. “She must have thought I was one of those rich jerks ruining the neighborhood” (Moshfegh 28). In this story, Nick was being misunderstood by his appearances and dress up as a rich guy. But in fact, he did not belong to the upper class. His appearance is only the partial image of his reality.
Therefore, prior to conclusion, complete understandings of the person is necessary In the same way, Media when excludes the other half of the total fact, can misinterpret people with their misleading images. The portrayal of the celebrity in the media are more irrational than realistic. When media display the images of celebrity, it overly exaggerates their deeds and gives them the entire credit for the work that they are involved in as a team. For example, in 2014, DiCaprio marched with the Indigenous Bloc at The People’s Climate March. He further delivered his speech at the opening of the United Nations Climate Summit 2014.
But he was not the only person responsible for the campaign. Media only focuses on DiCaprio and almost neglected the whole team. But in fact, he was only the participating member of that project. Moreover, DiCaprio purchased an entire island in Belize to build a multimillion-dollar ecotourism resort that displaces the community of small indigenous people. The following paragraph describes how the action of DiCaprio was evaluated by the critique that was mentioned in the article “Poverty And Environment In Films Set In Africa. ” But, what does King Leo really mean by “save the Earth”?
In similar fashion to how King Leo is now col-opting the global indigenous movement and attempting to be the face of the human Western response, he has long been considered the face of the mainstream celebrity portion of environmentalism (or more honestly, its faux aspects). But, if you look at all of his work for the environmental movement, it has been nothing more than the combination of exclusivity of white privilege, the intense commercialization of all designated renewable resources and the exorbitant cost of making this available those at the highest rung of the class and social order (Bereton).
Media is not being realistic while it portrays DiCaprio as a philanthropist. It is true that he has contributed in environmental and indigenous welfare campaign, but it is also true that his lavish lifestyle and the multimillion dollar ecotourism resort project have the adverse effect on the indigenous community. Little knowledge is dangerous. Media sometimes only provides the partial information which can mislead people. Most of the people visualize DiCaprio as an ideal role model which in fact is not the truth. Media did not displays his playboy images that most of the people are still unaware of. Leonardo DiCaprio may be one of the most indemand actors in Hollywood, but the same can’t be said for a role as son-in-law! Kelly Rohrbach’s parents don’t approve of her new relationship because of Leo’s long list of exgirlfriends” (Brockington).
This is a completely different image of DiCaprio of how he was interpreted in the media. Failure to depict complete information by media create the false image of the person. The following describes what happens towards the beginning of a short story entitled “Sparring Partners”. County jail’s not like a TV would have you think” (Dearnley). Enus the leading character finds the actual images of the county jail, completely different from what it was shown on television. This clearly shows how media’s negligence on complete detail can create false images. Upper class celebrities are the most popular and followed figures in the media. Their images and stereotypes are completely dependent on the way the media portrays them because the media is the only medium in the middle and lower class people to learn about their favorite celebrity.
Although it is believed that the images of celebrity shown in media are reliable, the portrayal of DiCaprio does not capture the accurate picture about him. Media have only focused on the positive aspects of DiCaprio’s life. In addition, some of the information is even amplified and fabricated that results in creating fake images. He is strictly depicted as an ideal man who is deeply involved in environmental activism and philanthropy. His lavish lifestyle, irresponsible acts and the “playboy image” are extremely neglected by the media, thus creating misleading images.
