Blog 5 Modern Day and Age Influences

Real life situations are often depicted in movies, music, and music videos. It targets an audience that is not as well aware about current problems within the world and can ultimately be positive. The media can be used, as it has been for years and years, to show what we as Americans take for granted. These are two example of how the real life influences the media and in turn these representations influence society.
One example of a song that discusses the issue of blood diamonds is Kanye West's "Diamonds are Forever." The cruelty and child labor in Sierra Leone influenced this artist to make this song and expose the horrors of blood diamonds. Kanye West is of the most known hip-hop artists and hip-hop itself has a huge influence on America and the entire world. So West uses his popularity in order to describe a terrible situation that is going on in Africa that many do not know about or care anough to do something about.
Another example of exposing the horridness of blood diamonds is the recent movie entitle "Blood Diamond." While this movie was indeed "Hollywoodized," it does reflect upon an actual situation occuring in Africa now. It exposes to the world the poverty and slavery that is still affecting the Africans. It shows the savagery that is not imaginable in this country, and by doing so, it leaves us with a sense of selfishness. In doing so, it influences society to try to make a difference in the world.