Symbol vs Ritual In connection to my recent post about media convention, we may also relate it to the concept of symbol and ritual. Symbol refers to anything that is made significant through constant occurrences, while one must stress that ritual on the other hand is a practice that has become habitual, making it socially and culturally acceptable. In my previous example, the western features of the model symbolize the customary beauty in our society, while the habitual practice of opting for such models to endorse the cosmetics is the ritual which the audience are incognizant about. Logically, symbol is a subset of ritual. What is ritually constructed includes the symbol in a certain context. As a result of focusing too much on symbols, we become mindless and often overlook the consequences of us ritually accepting these symbols. One such consequence, taking from the cosmetics advertisements, is the superiority of the western standards over its counterparts.
