It is very important for students to have an understanding in media literacy, in order to not fall into the traps of the "illusion world" behind the screens. Daniel Greenwood, the author of "Action! in the Classroom" compares this to the famous allegory of the cave by Plato. He points out that the world portrayed within television is a mere illusion, which is similar yet very different from the real world we live in. Five points are presented which helps students think critical about the mass media around us.
1. Who created this message?
2. What is the purpose of this message?
3. What technniques are used to attract and hold attention?
4. What point of view is presented in this message?
5. What has been left out from this message?
1. It is important to first analyze the media and figure out the creator of the message. Was it a reputable service organization interested in public safety or a marketing firm inrerested in selling something? Was the creator an organization or an individual? Determining the background and bias will give the sudents insight into the creator's motivation.
2. Once the biases are brought out to the open, interpret the purpose of the message. Was the media piece created to inform? To entertain? To persuade? having students identify the purpose of the message forces them to assess the message and move to a level of intellectiual, not just imotional, response.
3. With the purposes realized, look into the techniques used to attract and hold attention. Video makers have amazing control over the medium used to convey the messages by using various techniques. It is important to understand that the creator has total control over what you are seeing and hearing during a media piece. Thus, students will be able to separate the product or information from the techniques used to attract and manipulate emotion.
4. Having knowledge of the point of view the media piece is presented in is also important in media literacy. In each message, students should identify whose perspective is being represented and then take into abbount the bias that person may bring into the story.
5. With all of 1 through 4 spread out and analyzed, figure out the empty pieces within the message. A message can be factually correct, yet misleading if it is taken out of context or if some details are simply omitted. Nothing. NOTHING tells the full story. Each creator has their own unique background, bias, purpose, techniques, and point of view. Students should always be skeptical towards any piece of information given to them, especially if they do not have extensive
knowledge on the topic.
Daniel suggests in the end that it is our ability to "willingly suspend the activity of disbelief" which puts us into the illusion within the cave. This is our ability to turn off our innate skepticism, practical knowledge of real life, and understanding the laws of physics so that we can be entertained by unrealistic events and sensationalizing stories. It is important to understand that we are doing this while watching media, and that we are subconsciously being dragged into the world like the one Alice has wandered into.
Biases exist everywhere. Until college, we have been taught to ignore such biases and gobble down all the information. Recently however, I am starting to feel that it is more important to question even the most common ideas. If this takes a lot of research and time, fine. Just figure out both sides of the argument, and hae your own opinion. This is what I will do for my research writing essay.
I found the reading interesting as well(To other people: we take the same class). It really related to the stuff I'm doing in Introduction to Cultural Studies, breaking away from the manipulation of the media. One example the teacher presented was the Olympics and Fukushima. He said that all the attention the media is giving to the Olympics is creating a shadow for the problems in Fukushima, and the audience, being manipulated by the media, sees the positive parts and forgets about the negative parts. I think the same thing can be said about almost all of the information that we acquire from the media, so its important for us to first be willing to take that extra step of thinking if the information is trying to manipulate you or not. In any case, I'm personally interested in TV as a occupation, so am going to keep on thinking about the responsibility the media had over society during my university years.
ReplyDeletewow loads of grammar + spelling mistakes.
ReplyDeleteTerrific post, Koji. This sounds like a great class, and I appreciate your summary of Greenwood's ideas and how the media manipulates us. We do tend not to realize we are being taken in.
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