Deceitful Media: Reflection on To Die For

After watching the film To Die For, I felt that the dark and gloomy tone of the film made media even eviler in my mind. A line said by Suzanne catches my attention, “It’s like if you get too close to the screen, all you can see is a bunch of little dots. You don’t see the big picture until you stand back.” I found myself couldn’t agree more on this, especially when I realized that it’s getting harder today to tell if what we watch on television, or on other media plarform, is true. When reality shows first came to be popular, audiences were immensely attracted to the intimacy and proximity of idols that the shows presented. We thought without doubts that the realest part of idols’ life and their personalities off the stage and behind the scenes had been exposed to us. In this way we were getting closer to them by knowing their personal life. It seems like tremendous benefits were brought to audience at the first, and stars were further consumed to satisfy audience’s voyeurism. However, as the hidden rules of the production of reality shows has been gradually revealed, audience are shocked to accept the fact that those reality shows are not real, at least to a great extent. Reality shows are just another tactic used by media to allure audiences into its trap, without their consciousness that all these “reality scenes and plots” are weaved by media. Although it’s not fair to assert that media is completely delusive, for there are many media workers who are fighting for revealing the truth, it is still a trend that media is losing its audiences’ trust by misleading audiences to believe what media contrives is true over and over again.

Back to the film, the ending of Suzanne is miserable, but satisfactory to audiences. She is killed by a hitman hired by Larry’s father and hidden in the frozen lake. Yet in the film nobody seems to care where she has gone. Media is surging toward her family, her husband’s family, and the two teenagers she utilizes. While the murder case and stories of Suzanne are gaining national attention and finally make her a “celebrity” as she wants, Suzanne, the protagonist of the topic, is abandoned behind these superficial attentions placed on her. What the media/mass want is only a catchy story. In this sense, isn’t Suzanne a big victim of this media-driven age after she’s been so enthusiastic and devoted to it, and has done anything, including scheming to murder her husband, to achieve her career ambition in the media field, and finally becomes a victim of what she deeply believes in? While most audiences tend to pity for her husband and three teenagers she utilizes, I, on the contrary, felt bad for people like Suzanne, who are deeply dazzled by the seemingly glorious appearance of celebrity created by media, and firmly believe and are also deceived by what they hold firmly as axiom.