Essay Sample: Image and Reality

As of today the line between image and reality has become blurred. Originally an image was the representation of the external form of a person or a thing. In contrast, the reality was the state of things as they actually exist. However, the value of image over reality has affected people by defining the two.

Images are subtly present to the point that they unconsciously shape our reality.  The main reason images shape our reality is perception. Many images present biased perceptions that are unrealistic and influence people's perception of reality. It is clear that each individual perceives the world differently but it cannot be helped that images shape our reality. A perfect example are beauty advertising campaigns. They present a product used by unrealistic portraits of models to influence the reality of the buyer. Advertising campaigns influence the buyers by purposely presenting a promise to the buyer. In the case of beauty campaigns, the images of models snd products promise the buyer they can reach the image standards with their product. Many other businesses industries resort to unrealistic images to influence the reality of the buyers. Another common example of images shaping our reality are fast food places like MacDonald which subtlely show an enhanced version of their hamburgers. The first expectation a buyer makes on the hamburger image is that it's delicious. However, the image cannot be expected to be a certain way because there is manipulation within the image. 

Manipulation of an image plays also plays a big role in images shaping our reality. The current technology allows us to photoshop and manipulate images to show a fabricated reality. For example, a range of people manipulates images in order to show a fabricated persona. The best example is governmental candidates, they purposely present the public with “visually reinforced images..to give a certain image of a candidate but once you dig into the detail of the image there is a completely different context” Evidently people resort to fabricating a persona and reality because it is easier to obtain. The access to obtaining the desired image has impacted our value of image vs. reality.

We currently live in a social media-focused society which has influenced the value of image over reality. Society values image because it’s an unrealistic representation that people can manipulate as desired. Especially in social media, the platform allows people to create an image of their desired look, the perfect life or to show a desirable object. In any case, these images are deceptions because of the missing content behind the image frame. For example, YouTubers have professional sets to shoot their videos and cameras will only show a frame of what is happening. These people only show unrealistic images and people follow them because it's the standard of perfection. They get caught in the “perfect image” that social media portrays.

Influencers in particular influence the value of image because they portray an unrealistic person or way of living.

Thus, normal people are influenced to focus on the image because it allows them to take on a persona of a particular person. 

Is it harmful to value one over the other? Explain. 

The value of image over reality causes harm to society and the individual. 

The reality contradicts the portrayed image and it is easier to create the reality

Instead of me trying to deal with things I don’t like about myself, I will go online and present myself in the way I’d like to be seen, without any changes to me. 

It’s dangerous, and very deceptive. If you look at the history of psychology, we’ve spent the last 100 years trying to help people know themselves better, deal with their shortcomings, deal with things they don’t want to have, so we have a very reality oriented atmosphere in our Western psychology."