Thomas de Zengotita’s article “The Numbing of the American Mind; Culture as an Anesthetic” touches on many effects media and modern culture have on people, especially on emotional reactions. He suggests that we are too submersed in media, we have too many things going through our brain, we have too many choices, and the result is brief or indifferent emotional responses. He also talks about media creating a false reality and preconceived notions about many aspects of our lives.
Andy Warhol, the famous pop artist, used mass produced images and products in his art, such as Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Kennedy, Elvis, Coca Cola, Campbell’s soup cans, guns, dollar bills, lips, shoes, etc. His work symbolizes America’s obsession with consumer culture and mass media, and the replication of the mass produced. Many of his works were on a large canvas with the same image repeated numerous times. Some of the pictures may have altered coloring, but the main image was always the same.
"Isn't life a series of images that change as they repeat themselves?" – Andy Warhol
Warhol did a series of “Car Crash” pieces, repeating the same image of a crash many times on the same canvas. Instead of carefully looking at the one crash and taking it all in, the viewers eyes bounce around seeing glimpses of the same image. This repetition lessens the shock value and numbs the brain to nearly emotionless after a few seconds of viewing because it is so overwhelming. I think Warhol is demonstrating that this constant flow of media, like an image of a car crash, leaves our empathies calloused as if each viewing were a swipe of sandpaper, eventually hardening our emotions.
Andy Warhol, the famous pop artist, used mass produced images and products in his art, such as Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Kennedy, Elvis, Coca Cola, Campbell’s soup cans, guns, dollar bills, lips, shoes, etc. His work symbolizes America’s obsession with consumer culture and mass media, and the replication of the mass produced. Many of his works were on a large canvas with the same image repeated numerous times. Some of the pictures may have altered coloring, but the main image was always the same.
"Isn't life a series of images that change as they repeat themselves?" – Andy Warhol
Warhol did a series of “Car Crash” pieces, repeating the same image of a crash many times on the same canvas. Instead of carefully looking at the one crash and taking it all in, the viewers eyes bounce around seeing glimpses of the same image. This repetition lessens the shock value and numbs the brain to nearly emotionless after a few seconds of viewing because it is so overwhelming. I think Warhol is demonstrating that this constant flow of media, like an image of a car crash, leaves our empathies calloused as if each viewing were a swipe of sandpaper, eventually hardening our emotions.
"It's the movies that have really been running things in America ever since they were invented. They show you what to do, how to do it, when to do it, how to feel about it, and how to look how you feel about it. Everybody has their own America, and then they have the pieces of a fantasy America that they think is out there but they can't see." – Andy Warhol
Media finds a way to persuade thoughts and views, and creates preconceived notions and exaggerated fantasy. Hype is generated over new products or places, and maybe that new thing or place isn’t so bad, but you were expecting so much more that you are now let down. Warhol suggests film is the worst at leading people to believe in who they are supposed to be or, how life is supposed to happen, or how the world really is. It is harder to become skeptics of all the information that media gives us than it is to become numb to it. Listening and passively believing is one thing, but becoming emotionally respondent for every piece of advertising or news or image is a little unrealistic, and probably very exhausting. Yes, we agree that this car crash is terrible, but we have a self defense mechanism that allows us to not dwell on every piece of bad news that comes along. It isn’t that we don’t care, we just don’t have the mental strength to carry these burdens day after day, especially when we see things like car crash reports over and over again. We simply absorb the information, and move on.
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