The Met Gala and Media: Impact on General Public

Introduction

Met Gala 2019 was the iconic style platform where celebrities and stars were gathered for the fundraising activity of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It was also for the grand opening of the Costume Institute annual fashion exhibition i.e. Camp Notes on Fire.

It was a platform where celebrities and known personalities like Priyanka Chopra, Lady Gaga, Harry Styles, Serena Williams, Katy Perry and many more came from all over the world. The celebrities were having dramatic costumes in the event with a special theme.

The Met Gala was covered by different Media like Vogue etc. The celebrities were discussed and judged by the people on social media and in newspapers as well. The best-dressed celebrities of Met Gala 2019 were highlighted by the Media. The Met Gala looks were eye-catching and worthy to watch. The digital Media devices like Projectors, Mobile devices, Cameras were being used to cover the whole event. The media devices were installed to welcome the celebrities and the outclass performances by them.

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All of them were having unique entrance performances exhibiting and showing off their costumes fully. The entering performances were outclass and were wholly covered by the Media from start to end.

Communication and Design Theories

There are different theories related to Communication and design (COMD) that suggests us that how Media plays its role in highlighting, sometimes exaggerating and even manipulating the whole scenario. Media can create the buff to mold the mindset of the audience fully and can let the audience to think in the perspective about an event, person, and incident the way they find it.

Actor-Networking Theory

Actor-Network Theory (ANT) states that the network of human and non-human factors are equally having influence for technological advancements and at the end giving successful outcomes. The celebrities that were a human factor in the event and the non-human factors like the technology being used i.e. cameras to cover the event.

Agenda Setting Theory

Agenda Setting Theory (AST) is the Media that decides how much attention a new story gets and how the general public is going to take it.
Media has the unforeseen authority to create a situation in the market that is desirable or which the Media thinks can create hype and get the ratings/ views of the people. It is all about the ability of the Media that how the info about the event or the story is going to prevail in the market or among the people. In other words, Media has the authority to manipulate the situation.

The Met Gala was discussed in very detail discussing the celebrities and admiring the costumes of some of the celebrities and also making fun of some of the celebrities' costumes. The Media covering Met Gala was including print, social and electronic media as well. Media highlighted and discussed each and every known personality making comments on the costumes about the brands which they were wearing and also the theme which they were trying to show off on that night, on the red carpet on May 2019.

Confirmation Bias Theory

Confirmation Bias Theory states that people view the world selectively by focusing on information from the Media that reinforces their beliefs.

About the Met Gala people were having the belief that celebrities were wearing awkward dresses in the event. That they don't find it classy and trendy but funny. The Media discussed it in a way of making fun and discussing each and every stuff of the costumes they were wearing. So the belief of people got strong as the Media was discussing and highlighting the same thing as they found it funny and odd too. It strengthens or reinforced their beliefs that they are thinking in the right direction that it is not funny just for them but for other people as well. Even the feeds of the Social Media websites were fully bombarded with these discussions of the Met Gala event. People were making fun and enjoying the critical comments of people from all over the world.

Cultivation Theory

Another theory which is known as cultivation theory, it states that Media shapes a person's sense of reality. As people usually don't directly witness an event but Media sources like newspapers, Television, Radio, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, etc. These sources have some views about the event that is going on anywhere in the world. The people watching or listening to the source of Media they are using gets influenced by the views of the Media persons. For Example, if the Media is presenting the world as violent or unsafe to live. People will start perceiving and getting worried and feared about the little things which are massively highlighted in the Media.
Social Learning Theory suggests that people learn from each other by observing the behaviors and attitudes of others.

Whatever people see on the Media, they find it classy and trendy and also try to follow what the other people are doing or following around the world. In the Met Gala general public who were keenly observing what the celebrities were wearing on the night so that they could follow the same or some of the styles, they were carrying on the red carpet. They find it as a charming and imaginary to follow. People even note down the behaviors and attitudes of the celebrities to follow and learn and then apply into their own lives.

In the case under discussion of Met Gala, all Media sources discussed and even criticized the dresses worn by the celebrities on the red carpet. The general public watching the arrival of the celebrities on the Television and also being discussed minutely on the dresses by the Media emphasized the public to think in the same direction as Media wanted them to. People found it funny and made fun of the dresses different celebrities were wearing.

Conclusion

Concluding the above event along with the theories, it is found that Media has an impact on the power to establish thoughts and views of the general public and even can mold the views of the general public prior to the event has actually taken place.