Happy Tourists: A Quest for Freedom
Bauman says that when you want freedom, you usually go to a different place where you can be free from daily life constraints. Travel documentaries symbolize freedom to explore new cultures, landscapes, and experiences. Usually, they carry an optimistic image of tourism, which is perceived as a mechanism for enlightenment and self-discovery. On the other hand, one cannot fail to consider the possibility of manipulations in these representations. Travel documentaries show glamorous and curated images far from reality and the experience of a visiting destination to please audiences. This, however, is a form of manipulation whereby people are induced into consuming more, or tourism is encouraged on the pretext that these artifacts provide an educational experience (Briggs, 2020, pp. 96).
Hence, although travel media purportedly seeks to broaden our horizon of knowledge and understanding, we should be aware of possible ideological distortion. These publications frequently depict foreign cultures as exotically and simplistically. Such representations tend to be more profitable than genuine cross-cultural communication. Our duty as global citizens is to balance openness and sensitivity toward how depictions shape and construct reality about privileged perspectives. For a real connection, one must acknowledge the complications of intercultural meetings.
Liquid Lovers: Navigating Security in Consumer Culture
The concept of liquid modernity defines the members of liquid lovers as those individuals who seek safety in a volatile and inconsistent environment. One example of Liquid Lovers as a cultural artifact includes a commercial for a security software product. These representations reflect calls for safety on the internet in response to concerns about security and personal information privacy (Atanasova et al., 2023, p. 5).
In this way, such depictions are beneficial in informing viewers about possible dangers and means of improved safety measures. On the other hand, this downside may include overstating threats and generating a climate for sales fear of security products. How individuals are manipulated through fear increases ethical questions concerning what motivates such portraits (Cousineau et al., 2023, p. 453).
Identity Values in Cultural Representations
Identity values advocated by Happy Tourists include seeking adventure, exposing yourself to new situations, and believing that traveling is life-changing. These could consist of an oversimplified understanding of what is being visited because people may end up looking at them from an ethnocentric point of view, thereby furthering their stereotype against foreigners. (Mohanty, 2020, p. 101).
The identity value of Liquid Lovers relates to a longing for security and certainty in an increasingly digital world. Nonetheless, it might cause an irrational fear of danger and excessive reliance on digital gadgets that undermine cognitive capacity, resulting in cyber-phobia (Harsin, 2023, p. 82).
Consequently, although such portrayals purport to provide information for the public, the underlying objectives might need to be revised. However, as threats become excessive to prompt spending, there is a skinny line between caution and paranoia. We have to do this as citizens as we try to keep discrimination in these tropes. Although safety is always a good thing to consider, we must be careful about calls for altruism that stem from selfish motives. A better and more ethical way of securing community well-being is by closely examining security values and rhetoric.
Conclusion
Finally, Happy Tourists and Liquid Lovers illustrate the issue of freedom and the feeling of safety underpinning Bauman’s work. These selected cultural commodities/texts reflect the intricate nature of the contemporary world, combining both positive and negative portrayals. Some representations seek to educate, while others use manipulation for a consumerist agenda. It is essential to critically evaluate the media’s effect on people’s perception of themselves regarding the identity values associated with these portrayals.
Reference
Atanasova, A., Eckhardt, G. M., & Husemann, K. C. (2023). Liquid Consumer Security. Journal of Consumer Research, ucad047. https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/31066/
Cousineau, L., Ollier-Malaterre, A., & Parent-Rocheleau, X. (2023). Employee Surveillance Technologies: Prevalence, Classification, and Invasiveness. Surveillance & Society, 21(4), 447-468. https://ojs.library.queensu.ca/index.php/surveillance-and-society/article/view/15763
Harsin, J. (Ed.). (2023). Re-thinking Mediations of Post-truth Politics and Trust: Globality, Culture, Affect. Taylor & Francis. https://www.routledge.com/Re-thinking-Mediations-of-Post-truth-Politics-and-Trust-Globality-Culture/Harsin/p/book/9781032484198
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Malherbe, N., Seedat, M., & Suffla, S. (2021). Understanding community violence: A critical realist framework for community psychology. Journal of Community Psychology. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jcop.22660
McChesney, R. W. (2008). The political economy of media: Enduring issues, emerging dilemmas. NYU Press. https://monthlyreview.org/product/political_economy_of_media/
Mohanty, B. (2020). Understanding Media Portrayal of Rohingya Refugees. Citizenship, Nationalism, and Refugeehood of Rohingyas in Southern Asia, 97-111. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-15-2168-3
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