What does this MEAN??!! : Critical Theories for Analyzing Media

Semiotic:
I like this theoretical approach because it allows multiple interpretations within a single theory. The whole idea of symbols and culture is very true to life as one can see when studying color connotations. Red, for example, can mean passion, anger, or authority depending upon the cultural lens one places between the color and their interpreting eye. The whole theory is based upon how meaning is created rather than what the meaning is. I find myself leaning towards this approach to most of the texts I teach in class because I ask my students to spend more time on their explanations of an assigned meaning than the meaning itself. I put little stock in the end result if my students are not aware, themselves, of how they got there in the first place. One way in which I teach this to my students is to present them with vague pictures that, I feel, have some sort of a connection to what we will be/are studying. Without any priming, I have the students jot down any thoughts they have about the image components and then hypothesize as to why this particular image is in class. As we go around the room, each student tells the class how they arrived at their conclusion. The different answers that result seem to run along cultural lines, which I find fascinating.

Feminist:
I’ve also been a long time fan of feminist readings of various media. The whole idea of gender roles interests me because despite our society’s grandstanding about how far we’ve come, most media portrayals would suggest otherwise. Using a feminist lens to view media makes this much more obvious. In recent years, there has been a boost of strong women characters in action movies. In many cases, these women are incredibly independent, which is a positive step, but they also still cling to an idealized form of beauty often achieved with editing techniques and makeup. Also, Beach’s discussion of wrestling and the Coors commercials suggests that media still clings to antiquated ideas of what males should be as well. The beer drinking, football loving, slightly overweight men depicted as fans of these things constantly lust, often successfully, after the idealized women. Another, more recent example, exists in the Swiffer commercials where a woman is the target of a, seemingly male, mop’s attempt at winning her back through romantic gestures. In each case, the woman rejects the advances of the cleaning tools, which suggests strength, but at the same time it is always a woman in charge of the cleaning, and the tools are always depicted as males; and rather stupid ones at that. It seems that the feminist lens is a very effective way to break down the fantasy land that media often thrusts upon us.

Post Colonial:
Post Colonial readings of texts seem geared to best deal with stereotypes placed upon non westerners. Traditionally, non European minorities have been depicted as exotic and primitive beings; usually people from Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Post Colonial theory looks at these regions and people in a way that takes into account the western influences placed on them. In class, just the other day, we were looking at an old “Frito Bandito” commercial as a way to build discussion of stereotypes. My students were quick to point out the dress (poncho, sombrero, bandoliers, and guns), outrageous accent, and physical features (short, insane mustache, beady eyes) of the cartoon character meant to be a typical Hispanic man. In breaking down the stereotype, we commented on how it reminded all of us of the Mexican cowboy image from western movies. At one point in the conversation, an Hispanic student whom had been to Mexico many times to visit family commented that the only people that ever wore sombreros in Mexico were American tourists and men that made a living catering to them in a mariachi band. He went on to say that they dress just like all of us unless they’re trying to get money from Americans because they know what Americans “expect” of them. Shortly after this comment, another student spoke up saying, “you know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Hispanic person eat Fritos before. Like, ever!” We wrapped up the conversation by talking about the different ways both cultures influenced each other to perpetuate the stereotype depicted by the Frito Bandito. Best part: this all happened in an eighth grade classroom!

Rhetorical/Audience:
Since the September 11 attacks, this type of text reading seems more important than most. I believe it was Theodore Roosevelt that expressed an extreme hatred of “armchair parlor jingoes” because of their blind and often ignorant patriotism; especially when they did nothing to back up what they said. Since 2001, the media has done a good job at creating a forced sense of patriotism in many who before the attacks seemed rather ambivalent about the whole idea. Commercials, movies, and television shows started using more red, white, and blue in their images; touting American values; and even suggesting certain things that might be ‘anti-American’ with little or no evidence to support them. My favorite ploy was when the government came out and said (paraphrased, of course) that we should go out and spend our money, do our shopping so that the terrorists couldn’t have the satisfaction of having scared us. Soon after this, stores began running sales with patriotic themes offering incentives to buy large ticket items en masse. The media had effectively turned shopping into a patriotic exercise. I also like to watch the local Fox News station for good examples of stories that attempt to force a way of thinking for an audience. In a very informal way, I noticed a few winters ago how in every Fox newscast, there was a story about a fire, a “dangerous” everyday use product, and an over sensationalized version of the upcoming weather. Basically, scariest newscast imaginable every single night. It is apparently in Fox’s best interest to keep the public scared about something. What that something is doesn’t really matter.

Critical Discourse Analysis:
I find this one to have a lot of real world applications and, without mentioning the actual title of it, find myself dishing out CDA in my classroom most of the time. The suggestion that a particular discourse is greatly responsible in assigning identity rings true in almost any situation. Lawyers root their identities in the discourse of the law, different classes root their identities in a common language and behavior sets as do races and age groups. In addition to forming identities, these different discourses can come together to help create meaning. I was having a discussion with a former student the other day about his current legal trouble. He came out of a store and saw somebody scratching the paint on his truck. He approached the vandal and broke his nose by smashing his head against the truck and then holding him there until the police arrived. He was mystified as to why he ended up in trouble as well as the vandal. He claimed he “had the right to retaliate” in this situation. He was operating under the discourse of his stereotypical white, southern male culture in which retaliation equates with physical violence; something I saw quite often while teaching in the Shenandoah Valley. The problem was that he was actually operating in a legal discourse in which one’s rights are described in great detail. What he did, did not qualify. Without the proper discourse, he could not effectively assign the correct meaning to the actions that occurred and therefore did not understand why he was being held accountable for anything at all. I think it is important for us as educators to hit CDA theory well with our students so that they understand the importance of code switching and when it is appropriate to use one set of discourse rules over another depending upon the situation or text presented to them.

Serious Absurdity

Have you seen that weird "Nannerpuss" commercial before? You know, the one that announced the free breakfast at Denny's? Well, here's a mildly academic discussion of it via video ant. If it's hard to see, I apologize. I can redo it in a new format if this doesn't work out well.

A Great 2nd Turning Point

This scene comes from what I would call the second turning point of Michael Mann’s “Heat”. Much of the affects come from camera angles and shots as there is not much dialog to speak of.



As the scene opens, we see Neil McCauley and his crew in a nice 3-shot as they go over a plan, presumably, for their next heist. One gets a bit frustrated watching this shot because we don’t yet know where the crew is. In a film that has been very up front about the characters’ activities, this doesn’t sit well with a viewer.

We get a bit of a hint in the next 3 shot, which includes shipping containers. McCauley begins pointing out escape routes to his fellow thieves but we as viewers don’t yet know what’s going on here until the quick medium shots of a prone photographing, and listening detective break into the scene. It is now clear that this scene is here to show us that the crew if thieves is being tracked. The first sequence of this scene ends with a 2-shot of the detectives leaving their hidden post and a shot of the crew leaving in their vehicles.

The turn of events begins in the next sequence when the entire team of detectives walks onto the scene, taking the same path that McCauley and his crew did in the previous sequence. This suggests a possible change in positions between these two teams in a game of cat and mouse. However, the detectives are presented here in a series of establishing shots. This is the first time we can see exactly what the thieves have been casing; a bunch of shipping containers, a scrap yard, and an oil refinery. During the dialog between the detectives, we get an enhanced feeling of frustration and confusion through a series of close up shots of each detective as they attempt to discern what the next heist is going to be.

The close up shots of Detective Hanna have a slight difference to them. He is the only character with sunglasses on, which suggest he knows something the others don’t. As the sequence progresses, we see more close up shots of Hanna than the other detectives, which leads us to believe that we will also know what he knows. The other characters in the scene continue to look confused and frustrated.

Suddenly, the mood of the sequence changes as we are presented with a series of slower establishing shots from Hanna’s point of view. It’s at this point that he suggests to his fellow detectives that he might know what the thieves were looking for. At this point, the shots seem to “digress” as we get establishing shots of the detectives paired with low angle shots of Hanna suggesting his superiority over the others.

When Hanna finally says that the thieves are looking at “Us, the LAPD,” the shots of the detectives are shown only from high angles. In one case, an over the shoulder shot from McCauley, who has found a high perch from which to photograph the detectives. The entire sequence ends with the detectives in a subservient position (high angles and wide shots) and McCauley in a dominant position (low angles, high over the shoulder shots, and a close up of his grinning face). All of these elements come together to show us that the thieves are now in control. The second turning point of the film has occurred.

With the exception of one brief line at the end of this scene, I think it could serve as an excellent introduction lesson into the use of camera angles and editing to move plot and communicate ideas. Since the dialog is so sparse, a viewer has little choice in paying attention to the technical aspects of the scene.

As part of a larger unit or class, this scene would serve as a jumping point for a more comprehensive look at technical choices in media production for desired effects. Primetime TV shows constantly show us things that someone wants us to care about whether it be terrorists, certain products (a great scene in the 3rd season of "24" has a ridiculously large Ford truck grill in the foreground with the action happening almost as an after thought in the background), or even certain ideas of beauty. Learning ways in which producers, directors, and editors force our attention to certain things will help students start to question why we are to pay more attention to one thing over another in a media presentation.

Media Studies and Digital Literacies: A Rationale

Will this debate of whether or not digital literacies and media studies are a waste of time ever end?

Our current curriculum focuses on reading texts such as poetry, short stories, and novels; writing expository essays with evidence and commentary; and effectively telling personal narratives in print format. As usual, our current method of teaching these skills comes down to paper, pencils, and the occasional trip to the computer lab to simply type up what we have already handwritten.

To ignore the untapped resources available with our fabulous computers is a sin. All of the things we have been teaching our students are definitely useful, but given everything that has happened with technology in the past 20 years, we owe it to our students and society to start utilizing these things in the classroom so that our students can actually understand, analyze, and use them.

Reading and Analyzing Texts:
No one would argue that this is important. However, there is more than one way to go about doing it. The internet is full of short stories, poetry, news articles, how-to writings, and various commentaries on endless subjects. Rather than simply reading and discussing what we have in our textbooks, we can send students on “missions” to find both effective and non effective examples of poems, short stories, news articles, etc. We would be teaching them how to first find information and then how to analyze it looking for deeper meanings, hidden agendas, and overall correctness. We would fulfill all the same goals as before, but we would do so with a 21st century method, for which local and national employers will praise us once these students hit the work force.

Writing Expository Essays:
Rather than just throwing down some point/proof/commentary on a piece of paper that a teacher is going to read, why can’t we have students use blogs and wikis? When students write for an actual audience, they are more likely to put increased effort into their final product as opposed to a piece that will only be read by their Language Arts teacher. In addition to publishing work on the internet, students could search other blogs and wikis to see examples of similar work. This would both help feed their minds in approaching assignments and show them how wide of an audience they can potentially reach by posting online. Students could also see and comment on the work of their peers in a helpful manner thus yielding an even more positive product. In many cases, debate on the assigned/chosen topic of each essay may result, which would only increase student learning.

Personal Narratives/Short Stories:
This aspect of the curriculum would be enhanced by all the reasons in the “Writing Expository Essays” suggest, but would also provide a way for students to build community in the classroom by sharing and commenting on each others’ experiences. The entire process would be improved even more if teachers included some of their own work on a class blog or wiki.

In short, digital literacies are only gaining importance in today’s world. Multimodality is the way of the future as indicated by Beach, MTV, VH1, The Disney Channel, and even our new president with his fancy Blackberry, Twitter account, and other web communication tools. If we want our students to compete on the world stage, we must embrace these new modes of expression in order to teach our students how to use them effectively and responsibly. To not do this would be unethical and detrimental.

To accomplish this rather intense goal, it will be necessary for current teachers to undergo professional development experiences that will teach them how to present media studies and digital literacies in an effective manner. We need to know how to present media as a text rather than a passive experience such as watching a movie and answering a few questions. A shared process and language to this effect is the first step in preparing our students for a 21st century society.