Media as a social manipulation tool on the example of the film "Patent leather gislaved"

The segment of society most affected by the influence of media outlets deviating from ethical values and the instability of educational policies, resulting in a values crisis, is observed to be the socio-cultural lower class. This negative trend has rapidly increased since the last quarter of the previous century. As a result, the critical thinking abilities of this segment are deteriorating, and by affecting other socio-cultural classes, it is paralyzing the society as a whole intellectually. This axiom forms the fundamental idea of this thesis. When considered together with the application film, the aim of this thesis is to create empathy between the audience and the other people in their surroundings thematically through the work, and to raise awareness about the power of media that influences the shaping of our society. Although digital technology-based new media is developing rapidly, it is observed that the segment considered as the socio-cultural lower class largely follows conventional media in today's world. Therefore, the theoretical analysis section of the thesis text focuses on fundamental mass communication theories. In writing the thesis text, qualitative research methods such as literature review, discourse analysis, and observation have been employed. Since the application film of the thesis presents a glimpse of our social reality, a realistic, direct, and simple cinematographic style has been preferred as much as possible. Keywords: Media Manipulation, Conventional Media, Post-Truth, Distorted Modernity, Ignorant Masses.