Welcome to
Sandy's Corner
                                
                                      

The Trail Blazers
  Sandy Dickson

    When Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers danced across the screen 50 years ago, there was a dance craze. Arthur Murray studios flourished to teach people who aspired to be able to emulate the pair.
     Especially during the 50s, there were musicals in which people broke out into song and dance in idyllic worlds where everyone the main singers encountered joined in and followed along in happy, hopping dance steps as they sang background and swayed to the music.
     When James Dean wore a black leather jacket and donned a wild side persona it set a trend just as Fonzie’s character did on Happy Days. Look at what happened when Jennifer Bealle’s character in Flash Dance wore an off-the-shoulder sweatshirt. That style became the rage and the fashion industry turned out off one shoulder women’s tops for that casual, rough-and-tumble but cute look. People fantasize and want to identify with what they see on screen, whether it’s the big silver screen or the smaller TV screen. Whatever shows in encouraging and certainly has an impact on trend, even what dog breeds become popular based on the latest endearing movie with a canine.
     We could go on endlessly with all the examples we could each site. The bottom line is that it’s easy to see that the visual media establishes a strong connection between itself and what is copied that turns into reality.
Yet on any given night, there are several simultaneous TV shows whose plots all include murder, violence, sexual immorality, gun violence and drug abuse. For those so inclined, pornography can also be readily found if they know where to look on the Internet and numerous other places in adult book stores, magazines and wherever else they are aware to seek it out.
     At the same time, the world near and far is rampant with crime in every aspect and measure. There are rampant murders, gun violence incidents, drug abuse and sexual crimes as well as sexual immorality having become an acceptable norm that includes multiple partners and abundant teen pregnancies.
     People wonder how things got so out of hand. There’s no mystery here as to the trail blazers. The bigger question to me is how can they wonder?

Copyright © 2008 Sandy Dickson. All rights reserved.