To Resist or Accept?
Stuart Hall argued that we, the masses are not “cultural dopes” and that we are always on the “battlefield” fighting between “resistance and acceptance” of mass media messages. I believe that is true, but I also believe that we are resisting less and have become more accepting as we are constantly bombarded with media messages. There was a time when viewers of media were more discriminating in their acceptance of media texts. I vividly remember my parents asking some trusted friends if a particular movie would be appropriate for me to see. They wanted to take the whole family, but they were concerned that the PG rating might indicate bad things for me, their seven-year-old daughter. What was the movie? Star Wars (A New Hope). It was determined that this movie would be okay for me and our whole family stood in line for an hour to get into the t...