Media, Popular Culture and Literature, Essay Example

In the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” written by Joyce Carol Oates, different forms of media and popular culture are used throughout the story to help shed light on the author’s opinion of them.  For the most part, the instances of media such as the radio, music or the movies are implied to be very pleasant and even forced many of the characters to enter a sort of dream state or a trance.  This form of media as it was written by the author makes the reader believe that they are perfect, calming and even forms of meditation that allow the characters to drift away and think about things that are better than they are at that particular moment.

For instance, the main character Connie is a high school girl that has fallen in love with the joy of chasing boys, or rather them chasing her.  She loves being very pretty and falling into the popular culture mold for what it means to be a beautiful girl.  She has her hair perfectly done and wears makeup and jewelry to help make herself even more attractive.  The author even states that Connie has different laughs, different walks, and different ways of communication for when she is outside the house and when she is at home with her family.  She has these two separate lifestyles so that she can fit into the popular culture’s idea of normal, and so that she can appeal to all of the boys that are all alike.  They, too, have become victims of the norm of popular culture.  They all dress the same with the tight jeans, tucked into the boots, and tight shirts that show off their muscles.  They all wear belts to help show how thin they are so that they can appeal more towards the ladies.  The author almost makes it sound that anyone that did not dress or act in a particular way is considered an outcast, like the way Connie’s sister June was treated for being ugly and fat.  Arnold Friend even made the comment that he hated girls that were fat and only liked girls that were skinny like Connie – this is also a common trend in popular culture.

While popular culture has many different examples throughout the short story, the evidence of different types of media are spread out by the author as well.  As it was previously mentioned, music and the radio played a meditative role or even a hypnotic role in the short story for both Connie and Ellie, the friend of Arnold Friend.  Connie would fall into a trance and dream about things that would only appear in the movies, a form of media that the author makes the reader believe is also a perfect setting.  Nothing bad can happen in the movies, so the person having good looks, or a particular smooth way that Arnold Friend was speaking to Connie were all compared to the movies, where everything is perfect.  Ellie just happened to have his transistor radio with him that was tuned to the exact same station that Connie was listening to from inside the house.  The author wrote that Ellie was in a trance-like state and continued to stare off into the space where nothing really existed.  Connie could not tell if he was looking at anything or if he was just daydreaming.

The mention of music appeared in multiple places throughout the entire story and each time it never really had a negative connotation associated with it.  However, in the end Connie became scared of the music because of the effect it had on her and how it affected Ellie.  She could tell that something was very wrong.  The reader is forced to believe that the author wants us to understand that although music and the media may appear perfect and without a fault, it can have a negative impact on our senses and ability to see what is right and what is wrong.  The media can alter our minds and put us into a trance so that we never see or experience anything clearly.