The topic of this blog is to explore the need to teach students how to analyze mainstream media images and messages. Today, students are constantly bombarded with media images on television, online, in movies, and in magazines. Given this fact the media has become a shaping device for society morals, codes, and norms. However, it is quite infrequent that students are given the tools to interpret and analyze popular media. I recently read an article written by Neil Anderson titled, Making a Case for Media Literacy in the Classroom (Want to Read the Article? Click Here!), which focuses on media literacy. Andersen claims that part of teaching students to become what he calls “functionally literate” involves instructing them to digest, analyze, and address mass media and the topics which mass media brings up. What we watch both in film and on the television affects how we see the world around us. While we all want to state that popular media does not affect us, it does. When you take a step back and look at popular media, it does indeed set the conventional wisdom, and uses images to influence how viewers see the world around them. This is why it is important to teach children to deconstruct what they are seeing in popular media, just like they interpret and analyze written text. Students live in a world surrounded by movies and film. Movies and television shows are a daily part of children’s lives and they need to be equipped to deal with the messages which are constantly shoved at them.Due to the inaccuracies and flaws of popular media it is important to teach children to become critical consumers. Giving children the tools to deal with the images and message popular media presents is important because it allows them to gain power over popular media. Children won’t blindly accept things as truth, rather they will be able to form their own opinions. How do you see this working in the classroom? Do you believe this is relevant to teachers? I personally believe that this topic is extremely important to address within the classroom from a young age. If we teach students the skills necessary to analyze and address mass media then they will begin to see that truth is not necessarily what is presented in popular culture.
In my experience working with young people, television, the internet, and video games have become the dominate activities to engage in. However it was not until college that I was taught to look at these sources as things to be analyzed. My teachers never included in the curriculum time to stop and evaluate the messages that ads, television shows, the internet, and so forth create. Once students begin to stop and analyze these forms of communication they will begin to see the way certain messages are incorrect, skewed, biased, or faulted. For example in a popular culture class I took at UCI I studied the way corporations portray women in ads, television shows, and movies. After I begin to read on the topic and dissect the images of women I have been shown from a young age, I begin to see how the way women are being portrayed contributes to the continued manipulation of women by a patriarchal society. Please look at the AXE ad below and think about what messages this ad coveys about young females! If young girls can learn this then hopefully they can overcome the power these images hold over women. If children become critical consumers of popular culture how would this affect what messages are put out?
Citation:
Andersen, N. (1992). Making a case for media literacy in the classroom. Media and Values, (57)
This is a very interesting topic to blog about. Although I realize how much media controls our views and influences children, I hadn't thought about teaching students how to differentiate between fact and fiction. Teaching this could enable the next generation to think more independently about what they are exposed to.
I think it’s really good that you’re drawing attention to this issue. Since kids spend so much time under the influence of mainstream media, it’s really important that they learn how to look at it critically. When I was in high school, my teachers would always talk about how bad television was because of what it did to your attention span. Unfortunately, they never talked about any of the negative images and attitudes mainstream media conveyed. Although these topics come up a lot in college classes, they are generally not part of the high school curriculum. I think teachers can begin to look at these issues with their students as early as grade school.
I agree with Safia that it is good that you are drawing attention to this issue. It is something that is rarely ever talked about. I first came across this issue in one my college courses. We looked at different advertisements some that were appealing to children and other to adults and analyzed the different messages that could be given from the ad. It wasn't until this class that I realized all the under cover messages that are present in advertisements. It shocked me. I think it is important to address this issue when they are young and more willing to fall into peer pressure.
Nice post! I really liked what you said about deconstructing popular media like we do with written text. I think it is a great idea to include this in the classroom. A lot of my college classes had us do this exercise as well, but I think by starting it as a practice earlier on, we can avoid the lies we so often believe that the media feeds us unawares. I think we can include these in different subject matters in the classroom such as adds on diet products for health class and political cartoons for history. Maybe we could even assign the students to analyze whatever cartoon they go home and watch in the evening to help them figure out what message Spongebob or Wizards of Waverly Place is telling them in those 30 minutes.
I wonder how many teachers know how to unpack a media message or propaganda. They might need professional development opportunities for looking at how media stories influence students' consciousness and practical strategies for helping students keep a critical eye. I want to learn more about this too. R-J
This is a very interesting topic to blog about. Although I realize how much media controls our views and influences children, I hadn't thought about teaching students how to differentiate between fact and fiction. Teaching this could enable the next generation to think more independently about what they are exposed to.
ReplyDeleteI think it’s really good that you’re drawing attention to this issue. Since kids spend so much time under the influence of mainstream media, it’s really important that they learn how to look at it critically. When I was in high school, my teachers would always talk about how bad television was because of what it did to your attention span. Unfortunately, they never talked about any of the negative images and attitudes mainstream media conveyed. Although these topics come up a lot in college classes, they are generally not part of the high school curriculum. I think teachers can begin to look at these issues with their students as early as grade school.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Safia that it is good that you are drawing attention to this issue. It is something that is rarely ever talked about. I first came across this issue in one my college courses. We looked at different advertisements some that were appealing to children and other to adults and analyzed the different messages that could be given from the ad. It wasn't until this class that I realized all the under cover messages that are present in advertisements. It shocked me. I think it is important to address this issue when they are young and more willing to fall into peer pressure.
ReplyDeleteNice post! I really liked what you said about deconstructing popular media like we do with written text. I think it is a great idea to include this in the classroom. A lot of my college classes had us do this exercise as well, but I think by starting it as a practice earlier on, we can avoid the lies we so often believe that the media feeds us unawares. I think we can include these in different subject matters in the classroom such as adds on diet products for health class and political cartoons for history. Maybe we could even assign the students to analyze whatever cartoon they go home and watch in the evening to help them figure out what message Spongebob or Wizards of Waverly Place is telling them in those 30 minutes.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many teachers know how to unpack a media message or propaganda. They might need professional development opportunities for looking at how media stories influence students' consciousness and practical strategies for helping students keep a critical eye. I want to learn more about this too. R-J
ReplyDelete