171 Assignment 7

"The Hills" Promotional Poster Season Five
Retrieved from: http://www.celebritysmackblog.com/2009/04/01/the-hills-season-5-promotional-poster/

The concept of "symbolic universe", and the connection it has to acting as a cultural and social "structure of legitimation" in the way that it somewhat organises the social world, was prominent in the World Fairs that occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These World Fairs expressed narratives of progress, and the idea that the technological advancements at the time were leading societies towards a utopian future.

This concept of a "symbolic universe" is still created in modern times, for example, through reality television. The reality television program "The Hills" is set in Los Angeles, USA, and follows the day to day lives of a group of wealthy young adults. From it's first airing on the 31st May 2006, viewers have been seduced by the cast's glamorous lives for six full seasons, every episode showing their "real" lives. With the same intensions of the concept of the "symbolic universe" the show The Hills seduces viewers into what may seem as a utopian life, but in fact is showing something unreal and inconsistent with real life. For example, in the image I have posted of a promotional advertisement for the show, the three of the main characters are shown in glamorous ball dresses, air-brushed and posed. How can this relate in anyway to real life? I cannot understand how this can come under the bracket of reality television. The world that the show depicts expresses the ideal world for some, and what they aspire too, however untrue it really is. Viewers cannot help but imagine themselves living the lives of the characters on the show.

Media and design in a modern society has implicated this construction of a "symbolic universe" because the development of television and other modern technological advancements similar, have made this image of an ideal "realistic" world easy to project and be received. The editing through new media has enabled producers of shows like "The Hills" to cram a months worth of a characters "real life" into a short 22 minute episode. Even in the promotional poster shown the figures have been photoshopped and edited to seem perfect and poised, nothing what they look like in real life. Modern media and design technologies have resulted in dramatic advancements in the way we can edit and change the way a "real", utopian world is perceived.