How do movies or TV affect people?

People become more confident and seldom give up after watching the movie Forest Gump, they stop smoking and begin to do exercises after watching the TV program about smoking ruins one's health, and girls try hard to lose weight after actresses in movies and television tend to be thinner and thinner. All these changes, indeed, has much to do with mass media. It is obvious that, teenagers talk a lot when gathered together about sports games or newest Hollywood movies, whereas adults discuss the world's political situation or social problems when having time in their offices. The topics that they focus on, in most cases, are acquired either from television programs or from movies, and so forth.

Movies and television influence people's behavior by satisfying their imagination. Heroes and heroines achieve great success of their business, attain sweet love of their life, and gain high respect of their fame so easily within a two-hour long movie. When watching it, audiences can experience the same events, share the same feelings, and this whole process would fulfill their fantasies, as a result, cause them to find balance in their lives, or, to some degree, lose the balance, which depends on not only the movies but also the audiences themselves. All in all, mass media, including movies and television, has a significant correlation with people's behaviors. To put it differently, tasks are arduous for mass media to bring people laughter, joy and relaxation, and at the same time some pedagogic meanings.

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