Amplification and Reduction

As an avid T.V. watcher the media logic section of class discussion was especially interesting. I am a social television watcher where if I am not watching it with someone else and commenting on everything happening on an episode, I have no reason to watch. However, lately I have been thinking more about how television shows shape what is “normal” and desirable. I, like many others, was completely oblivious to all the influence but now I am starting to watch television under a new light. A part of media logic that I particularly enjoy is the idea of amplification and reduction. Take Teen Mom, which I love, for example. In the first episodes when the show was just getting started and I’m sure the producers weren’t positive how people would react it is interesting to look t the girls lives. I mean, these girls at the beginning of the series didn’t dress well, didn’t live in nice houses, didn’t have a nice car, and the content was a little boring, This is where amplification and reduction came into play. As the show progressed, even into a new season, the girls’ lives were unrecognizable. The girls were suddenly in the best clothes, driving less than a year old vehicles, and had their own houses. The producers reduced all the money talk and the girls never once mentioned how they got all their new possessions. What was amplified? The drama. Their lives were now completely drama filled from abuse allegations to divorce. Amplification and reduction did however make for better television and glamorized being a teen mom. Nowadays I watch T.V. alone just for the sole reason to analyze the ridiculousness of the episodes.