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John Morales

Professor Rodrick

English 115

September 29, 2017

In the year 2016 the entertainment and media market were valued at 630.71 billion U.S.

dollars becoming the tenth-place industry that drives the United States economy. This industry

has become a power house to the United States economy, proving that more people are spending

money on their media outlets than automobiles or the real estate industry. Countless statistics

prove that the entertainment industry has grown to an immense size and has not only affected the

US economy but as how we live our daily lives, and the reason why? Technology. Every 9 out of

10 Americans use the internet, 118.4 million homes in the United States have television access,

150 million Americans are known to play video games, a whopping 77% of Americans have a

smart phone, all these statistics from the Pew research center prove that most of our society

today is now exposed to technology. Its hard today in our day and age to not be involved or

exposed to the entertainment industry when on many of our technological devices the industry is

exposing us to their content, this then affects our personal identities. Merriam-Webster defines

identity as the condition of being the same with something described or asserted, when we are

exposed to many mediums of the entertainment industry a certain part of it will stay in our

minds, converting to what I think becomes ones own identity and how they define themselves.

The entertainment industry plays a major factor in the structure of a persons identity due to our

constant exposure to the industry from technological advancements.

The entertainment industry is a big multi-business industry that is hard to not be exposed

to in this century, but the industry uses many form to allow people to access their medias. Big
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companies started to use the internet after the noticeable decline of cable television due to the

start of Netflix and other streaming medias. Netflix gets rid of commercials and all the episodes

are available for the user to watch, this made it more accessible and beneficial than cable tv.

However, both medias expose people to the art of television production and major motion

picture. These outlets allow people to watch tv shows and movies and connect to them in their

own personal way. Back when television was the new source of entertainment, new ideas started

to come around and consumers grew attached. They grew attached to television shows, their

characters, ideas from the show that soon translated into the way they talked, act with one

another, or even what life choices they would choose. Many of those aspects stick with us today,

with pop culture, major tv shows and cult classics. Many of us are caught quoting our own

favorite line from a tv show character or taking their ideas and making it them our own. Now

new platforms like YouTube, which has been around since 2005, have recently become a major

source of media and entertainment for many people using the internet. Since humans are more

enticed to watch shorter 10 minute videos than 30-minute-long show times with commercial

breaks in between, this entices more people to spend their time on YouTube than watching

television. This has given us another change in culture; most tv show stars portray characters that

dont address their fans directly, YouTube allows fans to be completely in contact with

YouTubers. Popular YouTubers have each their own distinct charisma that draw in their own

personal fanbase, creating their own style and speech. Many people from these fanbases are

likely to have a connection with the youtuber and will take certain parts from them within

themselves.

The entertainment industry has another type of medium that changes identity and that is

gaming. The advancement of technology has allowed the creation of computers to be developed
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and later down the line the creation of the first video game system was created. In the beginning

not much created a connection between people and video games but as time advances so does

technology. When technology advanced enough, characters in games could talk more, speak, and

even move realistically, and this is when I believe people became invested. Video game creators

had more freedom as technology became more advanced allowing them to tell a story in a more

intricate and emotional way. This is when these games made for entertainment were affecting

peoples identities. People get connected to video game characters, to its story and it setting and

much like television shows, they start quoting from it too. They take from these stories and make

It a part of themselves, they could connect to character in the game. When the introduction of

online gaming came into mainstream media so did online characters and online personas. People

could be invested in the way their character looks, talks, walks, etc. Putting a piece of their own

identity into an online persona.

When it comes to entertainment radio has brought personal emotion and stylistic talent

through music to its listeners. Music is one of the oldest platforms that we still have today that

connects its audience to a group or person. It is easier to listen to the radio now since many radio

stations are partnered with radio streaming apps. Many radio stations are hosted through the

internet making it more accessible to everyone with a working internet connection. Radio

stations play top artists songs for their listeners depending on what genre the station is. When

you listen to an artists piece of music you are listening to their own emotions, thoughts, and

personalities, and through this the listener connects with them. The music is a public door to their

personal identity and from that you take a part of it too. When you hear a verse, you can relate

too or have some connection to, you automatically memorize it. It is these trivial things that take

part in our own identities.

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Our own identities are molded by the things around us, the things we associate ourselves

with and how we connect to those ideas. We are constantly expose to the entertainment industry

through our smartphones with working internet stability, through our computer were its more

accessible to access the internet and its vast abundance of resources, through our televisions

where pictures are becoming so clear that it looks like you are staring at another place in the real

world. It is impossible to escape technology, so it is impossible that technology wouldnt affect

our personal identities. We are experiencing a cultural shift, a new era, something that has never

been experienced before so its only natural to know, that our identities are shaped by the things

around us and what is around us, technology.

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Bibliography

Eklund, and Roman. Do Adolescent Gamers Make Friends Offline? Identity and Friendship

Formation in School. Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 73, 2017, pp. 284289.

This article is a data oriented research article that recognizes the shift in cultural changes

and how differently people, and the topic of this article adolescents, make friends through

the internet and off. It mentions that there has been constant research on how adolescents

make friends online but little to none on how this affects their social life outside of

games. Previous studies have shown that similar cultural interest affect social interaction

and they hypothesis that games will befriend other gamers in real life. The study was

conducted in Sweden and had a sample of 10th graders around of 16-17 years of age. The

research showed that gamers preferred to be friends with other gamers in the school.

Josef Nguyen. Performing as Video Game Players in Let Plays. Transformative Works and

Cultures, vol. 22, 2016. Transformative Works and Cultures, 21 September 2016, Vol.22.

This article is a argumentized article on how lets play show the nature of video game

players and how they publicize their performances on the internet for their fanbases.

Article goes on to show varies samples of lets plays as well as defining the term and

describes each video shown. Addresses that lets plays are different from gameplay

since video creators often have their own reactions and interact with their fanbase.

Concludes that normalizing video games for all audiences, finds ways to emphasize their

'everydayness' in contemporary media culture as well as letting fan bases interact with

each other and sharing each other opinions on a video or outside source.
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O'Connor, Erin L., et al. "Sense of Community, Social Identity and Social Support among

Players of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (Mmogs): A Qualitative

Analysis." Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, vol. 25, no. 6,

Nov/Dec2015, pp. 459-473.

Article is an informational study that goes into detail of the world of MMOs (Massive

Multiplayer Online) games and how their virtual world increases or decreases their social

communication skills. Mostly looking at 22 MMOG players in an MMO RPG (Role

Playing Game) called World of Warcraft. The results from the studies showed that the

users in a MMO environment show social interaction within the game with better positive

behavior. Some online gamers even providing emotional support to other players.

Concluding that these online communities built within these virtual worlds have a

positive enhancement on personal connections with other online players.