Issue writing episode 3

"The media (books, film, music, television, for example) tend to create rather than reflect the values of a society."

Media has always played a very important role in shaping up the society as a whole. It has been the most powerful agent ever which could change perspectives, instigate emotions, mitigate precarious situations, make someone an overnight hero or bring down stars to dust. Media has indeed often been guilty of having a predisposition to create, but it would be incorrect to say it hasn't been reflecting the values of society.

The pen is mightier than the sword. Truly said. Only that now the pen, apart from maintaining its own potency, has graduated into extended manifestations like the television and the internet which have only worked in media's favor. These newer incarnations have allowed a much wider scope of reaching out to various corners of the world at a much faster rate. And this has contributed into making media all the more important.

Media has indeed indulged in sketching characters and creating situations with which it sometimes becomes difficult to identify with. Characters like 'Harry Potter' and dracula while movies like 'The Dark Knight' present the creative best of the media which hardly reflect the values of society. But on the other hand, there are also examples of books like 'The God of Small Things' and movies like 'Hotel Rwanda' truly gather the essence of various aspects of humanity. ------

The tendency to create and to explore unchartered territories arises from the ingrained character of the human race to desire for what is not, to seek what has been elusive. Media caters to this demand and in the process does stray at times to create unreal characters. But, nevertheless, it won't be correct in its entirety to say they don't reflect the values of a society. Infact, many times it does happen that such characters are inspired from a living example. Also, mostly they are shown dealing with problems the society faces and the idealistic way of going about them.

Both in the past and in the modern times, media has certainly tended to go overboard in a few instances. The tendency to give too much emphasis on satiating the human urge to go beyond the truth of life gets underway at times. But never so much that they shirk from their fundamental responsibility to act as the society's mirror. It is said, our sweetest songs are those which say about our saddest thoughts. Indeed, this goes a long way to explain how media even if tending to create, do not completely lose track of the society's values.

The world has been on the path of progress socially and in the most harmonic way possible. If nothing, media can certainly be applauded for having played a major role in that. Yes, it has tended to create at more than one occasion, but saying it does not reflect the values of society and always relies on just superfluous creations would be stretching it too far.

___________________________________________________________

This is the essay topic I got in a test in the powerprep software sent by GRE conducting organization - ETS. Under timed conditions, this is what I could render. Not my best work, but I tried to be have a more poised approach instead of taking an extreme stand. But my first instinct after finishing the essay was that I had repeated ideas a lot. Let me know if you think that too.

PS1: 3 hours to take the train to home .. damn!
PS2: I realllllly need to be sure of the meanings of the words
PS3: I faltered in the verbal section which I gave immediately after this essay. I guess the 10 minutes break is indeed necessary.
PS4: I haven't yet attempted an argument-type essay :(