A few weeks back I noticed a lovers' spat at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn stop. It was your typical fight. He promised he would do something and didn't, but says he never promised. She disagrees. Back. Forth.

As they fought, scenes from movies and tv shows flashed through my brain. It all seemed very similar -- it was difficult to figure out which events were real and which were fake.

This brings me to the question at hand -- is life imitating art or is art imitating life? It's fair to guess that in the early days of different television genres the writers were looking to gather real experiences from life, but as the development of a genre progresses we begin to cut out anything that isn't entertaining. Usually this means focusing on the highest highs and the lowest lows of people's lives. This is true for both writing, scenery and performers. The lack of beautiful people and beautiful scenery is part of the reason why The Office feels so fresh. Most programs rely on creating what the writers believe is our vision of a wonderful, or at the very least interesting, life.

By this point, people have grown to wonder why their lives aren't as exciting as those portrayed in tv or film. On top of that, the concept of immersing yourself in a program nearly every day makes your show feel a little real -- it makes it tough to distinguish it from real life.* So, you start to bring pieces of the show or the writing style into your daily life. You quote movies or you pick up ways of speaking or even mimic argument styles. You are becoming Will and Grace or Ryan and Marissa.

Now comes the tricky part. As people start to mimic their shows and movies, writers pick up on what works and begin to give it more emphasis. It has become a horribly evil feedback loop. Life and "art" are joined at the hip and no one can argue with their significant other without subconciously referencing the last Hugh Grant movie.

This concept seems to tie into the greater concept of globalization and international economy, which has led to the lack of any true individuality. There is a McDonald's in 62% of the countries in the world and movies open up in up to eighty countries at a time. Yes, there are obvious differences between cultures and even neighborhoods, but it is getting tougher and tougher to find a clothing store outside of a major city that isn't owned by a publicly traded company.

For those who were hoping for an answer to the question I posed early in the post, you have likely figured out that it was rhetorical and my true intention was to point out how society is deeply affected by its media intake and it is leading us into a world where everyone is impersonating someone else. I don't know how to avoid this, but it is certainly an issue worth pondering

*Nurse Betty is a great example of complete confusion between real life and a tv show.