Critical Media Literacy: Core Concepts and Debates

The following quotes, taken from the following article regarding
critical media literacy, are listed and discussed below

Despite decades of struggle since the 1970s by individuals and groups, media education is still only reaching a small percentage of K /12 schools in the US.

I agree with this statement. This article is from 2005, the same year I graduated from high school. Being completely honest, I rarely used the internet for school work. The only computer related class I took in HS was keyboarding. There definitely didn't seem to be much, if any really, emphasis on media education. So I would say that my, and all the other students in my class, media literacy was limited to our desktops at home using MySpace and AOL instant messenger.

Although there are new media and literacies in the current constellation, books, reading, and print literacy continue to be of utmost significance.

Again, this article is dated, but this statement still holds true! I prefer to read ( for leisure and for school) from a book rather than to stare at a screen for hours on end. I've had a kindle for 3 years, and probably have only read 2 books on it. I still  have subscriptions to magazines as well. I think that books and other print literacy are here to stay, no matter how much more technology evolves.

The ability for students to see how diverse people can interpret the same message
differently is important for multicultural education, since understanding differences
means more than merely tolerating one and other.

This is probably my favorite line out of the whole article! This is so true and even I am still learning how to completely understand this quote. With all the ways people can interact with others from all over the world, it is important to understand that everyone thinks differently and just because you see something and it speaks very clearly to you on way, doesn't mean that someone else will get that same meaning. I like all of our blog postings because I love seeing all the different interpretations of the directions, assignments, and reading. They open my eyes to completely different views that I might have never thought of.

The following discusses my thoughts after watching this video regarding looks

At first, the video made me feel like the speaker was being rude by saying that beauty is a slender, pretty, white women. It made me instantly feel like I needed to defend everything/everyone who doesn't fit this description. As she went on, however, I see her point and can say that I even agree with her bigger, whole message. 

The video absolutely supports Postman's excerpt. He claims that people need to be able to see through all the BS and see what is real, what is useful. This talk is coming from a woman who "has it all". Beauty, money, fame, success... what does she have to be unhappy about we might ask? They way that she breaks down the stereotypes of what people can assume about her is a wonderful example of cutting the crap.

This video definitely makes me think more along the lines of what you see on the outside isn't always what is going on in the inside. As noted in the video, image is powerful, however, image is superficial as well. Image is constructed by professionals; they BUILD it to make us see what they want us to see. I feel it is definitely important to teach CRITICAL media literacy skills so that students have the ability to think for themselves and not just see what other people want them to see. Below are three quotes from the article that I believe support the fact that critical media literacy skills need to be taught.

Media do not present reality like transparent windows or simple reflections of the world because media messages are created, shaped, and positioned through a construction process. This construction
involves many decisions about what to include or exclude and how to represent reality.

..discussion of the representation of class, gender, and race in media such as television or film requires analysis of the codes and stereotypes through which subordinate groups like workers, women, and people of colour are represented, in contrast to representations of bosses and the rich, men, and white people.

Textual meanings do not reside in the texts themselves: a certain text can come to mean different things depending on the interdiscursive context in which viewers interpret it

What do you see?

I choose this picture because it is a popular illusion with two possible answers. Do you see a beautiful woman shy of the camera? Or do you see an old woman with a big nose? Once you see your initial interpretation, it isn't impossible to see the other one. I believe that media is similar to this. Everyone sees the same initial picture, but can and will interpret it differently. 

The standpoint that I most closely align with would have to the "media literacy" movement. A combination of all the readings that I have done so far in the digital media program, in addition to my personal life and teaching career, I can see that there is a great need from students to be taught how to utilize and understand critical media literacy skills. Technology is quickly making its way into classrooms and homes across the world. Students need to be up to date to assure they aren't left behind. They also need to be taught how to take in and feel/think about all the media they see/hear.