Media Studies

One of the rhetorical discussions within media studies departments in universities across the country focuses on the exact relationship between the media and reality. Do media influence reality? Does reality influence the media? Is it cyclical in nature? You tell me.

Picture taken from South Park episode #42 Chinpokomon aired originally on Nov. 3, 1999. The episode parodied the latest "Pokemon" craze with a twist; the Chinpokomon toys, cartoons, and accessories being imported from Japan were actually being used by the Japanese government to brainwash American kids into bombing Pearl Harbor. For a full episode summary, click here.


From China's Digital Agitprop [Asian Security Blog] posted Dec. 8, 2005:

"Today, thanks to the Marmot's Hole, I came across a New York Times article written by Jim Brooke that shed light on such video games. The article centered around S. Korea's ban of video games portraying N. Korean soldiers as villains (thanks to Seoul's appeasement policy) and more importantly, the Chinese Communist Party's progress in integrating video games into propaganda tools."

Somewhere, someone is writing a thesis about this. I just know it.