Media Literacy
Media Literacy
Through Critical
Thinking
Student Workbook
By Chris M. Worsnop
Edited by KC Lynch
Produced by NW Center for Excellence in Media Literacy. Our goal is to improve the training,
research, and service opportunities for both adults and teens across Washington State who are
interested in media literacy education and have particular interest in addressing teen health issues
from a media literacy perspective.
Made possible by funding from the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Acknowledgements
Media Literacy Resource Guide: Intermediate and Senior Divisions by Ministry of Education.
Copyright 1989 by Queens Printer for Ontario.
Political Cartoon by Jeff Johnson. Copyright 1999 by Jeff Johnson. Reprinted with permission.
The Camera Always Lies by Chris M. Worsnop, from Screening Images: Ideas for Media
Education, 1994. Reprinted with permission.
Women of the 90s: A Cyber Fantasy by Linda A. Fox, from Toronto Sun newspaper, August 4,
1994. Reprinted with permission.
Hamburger Photo, from Adbusters magazine. Reprinted with permission. www.adbusters.org.
Slice of Life: Ad Deficit from USA Today, June 1999. Copyright 1999 by USA Today. Reprinted
with permission.
Battle of the Mind by Dave Cravotta and David Ferman, from Adbusters magazine. Reprinted with
permission. www.adbusters.org.
Cover Photo from Art of Vogue Photographic Covers by Valerie Lloyd. Copyright 1986 by
Valerie Lloyd. Reprinted by permission of Harmony Books, a division of Crown Publishers,
Inc.
The Far Side by Gary Larson. Copyright 1981 by FARWORKS, Inc. Used by permission. All
rights reserved.
The Walk to Paradise Garden by W. Eugene Smith, 1946. Permission granted by the Estate of W.
Eugene Smith / Black Star.
West Seattle Street Festival from The Seattle Times newspaper, July 4, 1999. Reprinted by
permission of the West Seattle Junction Association.
Tuning in to Women by Kay McFadden, art by Jeffrey Neuman from The Seattle Times newspaper,
July 4, 1999. Reprinted with permission.
Contents
Introduction
13
20
31
32
38
39
46
47
52
53
62
63
67
75
Final Project
80
Introduction
As you are learning to think critically about media, you will be experiencing,
thinking about, talking about, and making reports about many different kinds of
media.
Media
The Media are the channels that bring us our communication. Media means more
than just the traditional mass communication, such as the press, the broadcasting
industries, and films. A medium (the singular of media) is a way of communicating
meaning within a culture. Here is a partial list of media:
As you become more experienced in the skills of critically thinking about media
and your understanding of the media increases, you will add other items to this list.
Coffee shops, including the pictures, posters, room layout, even the logos on
their products;
Sports events, including all the souvenirs used to promote and celebrate
sports and sports personalities.
Mass
The term mass when applied to media describes one set of media that are
different from the rest. A mass medium is one that can be presented in exactly
the same way to multiple audiences in different locations. A movie is a mass
medium, but live theater is not a mass medium because it can be different each
time it is performed.
Text
The media communicate messages through texts. You are probably used to
thinking of the word text as a description of a particular kind of book you see in
schools, but in the following activities you will learn to use text to describe
anything that is a communication. A text could be:
Media Literacy Through Critical Thinking
Student Workbook
Introduction
A recorded song
A television commercial
A newspaper article
A webpage
Graphic Overview of
Media Literacy through Critical Thinking
Below is a graphic overview of the materials presented in this model. As you
follow the arrows, you will see the progression of skills needed to analyze mass
media. The final assessment gives you the opportunity to demonstrate the skills
youve learned.
Taking a Second Look
Media Texts Have Purposes and Target Audiences
Final Project
Step 1:
Step 2:
Step 3:
Step 4:
Step 5:
Introduction
Introduction
Annoying: We might hear a line in a song we had missed before and find that
it bothers us.
Think of a time when taking a second look at a media text has led you to modify
your reaction to the text. Make a few notes, but do not write out the recollection
completely. Then find two or three classmates to form a group, and tell each other
your experiences. From the ones told in your group, pick the one that best
illustrates the theme of "taking a second look", and use it as your group's
contribution to a class discussion.
Media education is about taking a second look.
Let's begin with some simple examples. Look at the picture below. Make a mental
note of what you see. Now, turn it upside down and take a second look. What's the
difference?
Here's a point to think and talk about. Was that second interpretation of the picture
always there for you to perceive, or did it appear only when you turned the picture
upside down?
Try another picture.
Write down what you see when you first look at the image. Do you see a black
letter "H" within a white diamond, or do you see four white arrows on a black
background?
Usually some people see one thing and others see the other. A few are aware of
both images right away. At first, many people can see only the image they saw the
first time. They have difficulty seeing the alternative image, and may even deny
that it is there at all.
A question to think about here is: are the alternatives still there even if some
people cannot see them?
Let's look at a third image.
What so you see in the picture? Again, some people will see a rabbit, and others
will swear it is a picture of a pelican. As in the picture of the "H" (or of the arrows),
some people will have more difficulty than others in seeing both.
Try this one on your friends. Copy the top image on the next page onto a piece of
paper, and show it to one person after saying, "I want you to write down the letter I
am going to show you." Then, show the same image to another person, but this
time, say. "I want you to write down the number I am going to show you." What
happens? How can you explain it?
By now you will be close to forming some theories about what people see and
why. For instance, some people will see what they are expecting to see, and will
have difficulty seeing anything else (e.g. "A letter is a letter, and can not be a
number at the same time.") Other people will see what they first see, and have
difficulty seeing anything different.
Before we go on to something more complex, here are a few more examples to
practice taking a second look.
Work with a partner to see what you can find in this image. You may have to get
help from another pair of students after a while.
The final example in this series is a reproduction of a painting by the famous
Spanish artist, Salvador Dali. The title of the Painting is Old age, Adolescence and
Infancy. It was painted in 1940, and is on display at the Salvador Dali Museum, in
St. Petersburg, Florida.
To examine this text, you will need access to the Internet. The image is available
at the Dali Museums website: www.salvadordalimuseum.org. Form groups of four,
and make notes on the results of your joint second looking.
Here is a political cartoon that offers rewards to people who take a second look.
For most people, the first look will focus on the dialogue bubble the political
message against government regulation. But most people who take a careful
second look at the details of the picture are rewarded with a humorous
commentary on the political message in the dialogue bubble.
So far, your experience in this section has been in finding a second or a hidden
picture within visual texts. However, taking a second look can be applied to any
media texts. You may:
Realize that an advertisement of a product does not say anything at all about
the product itself.
Decide that a movie you thought was okay while you were watching it had
some faults or shortcomings when you think about it later.
Read a poem or hear a song a dozen times before you realize that there is a
level of meaning deeper than the one on the surface.
Read a mystery story a second time and discover a flaw in the plot
10
Listen to the songs of a certain performer over and over, and it leads you to
understand that the performer has a view of the world that you find
particularly attractive (or objectionable).
Even if you have never experienced any of the examples listed, you can probably
remember a time when you discovered something new in a media text after taking
a second look. Remember, taking a second look is most useful when it leads to
seeing something new.
Find three media texts and fill in the charts below:
Media Text #1
In the first look I saw
In the second look I saw
Media Text #2
In the first look I saw
In the second look I saw
Media Text #3
In the first look I saw
In the second look I saw
11
Review
Learning to take a second look at media texts is probably the most important skill
you will ever learn in media education. Practice taking a second look:
Try keeping some personal notes about what you have found in different texts
from taking a second look. These examples will be useful later in this unit on
media education.
The next five lessons will help you guide yourself when you are taking your second
looks, by teaching you the five key concepts of media education: five things about
media texts that you can look for to help you better understand media.
12
to instruct
to inform
to sell
to persuade
to explain
to provide pleasure
to provide direction
to argue
to profit
13
Next, find media texts that are examples of the purposes listed below. Find at
least two different media texts to support each broad purpose.
Broad Purposes
To argue
To inform
To profit
To persuade
To explain
14
For media texts to be effective, the text will usually try to convince the target
audience to believe in or do something. In creating effective media texts, several
things are considered when determining the characteristics of the target audience.
Factors such as age, sex, education, economic and social status, occupation, and
lifestyle may define the target audience and determine the purpose and
construction of the media text. During the process of considering the relationship
between target audiences and broad purposes, the purposes become specific.
Some specific purposes of media texts may be:
Find a media text for each of the examples below. Identify the broad purpose,
target audience, and the specific purpose of the media texts.
The broad purpose of the newspaper editorial
15
More Activities on
Media Purposes and Techniques
Working with a partner, start your list of media purposes with:
Profit
Pleasure
What would be the purpose in each case for the media texts in the list above?
Stay with the same partner to do this next exercise, which is really the same as the
last one, only inside out.
List two examples of a media text for each of the purposes listed below.
To argue
To inform
To propagandize
To persuade
To explain
Next, form a group of four by combining with another pair of students. Check out
the work each pair did on the first two exercises, then pick out two different texts to
use in a challenge with another group in class. Make sure that all members of your
group are agreed on the purpose of the two texts you have chosen, and then see if
the other group agrees with you.
Make a class display of sample texts classified by their purposes. Attach a short,
written rationale to each text in the display.
In order to achieve their purposes, media texts employ techniques. Each medium
has its own techniques, and the more familiar we become with each medium, the
more techniques we can discover. This program is too short to try to explore all the
Media Literacy Through Critical Thinking
Student Workbook
16
Appeal to reason ("The only rational conclusion you can make is)
Celebrity endorsement ("I'm a film star, and I'm going to vote for)
Just plain folks ("We don't need any fancy arguments when our common
sense tells us)
False logic ("My grandmother took these pills and she was 98 when she died,
so if you take them)
Avoiding the issue (" You ask why our vehicles have so many accidents. Well,
let me tell you, those same vehicles are the best value on the market.")
TV, film and radio also use these techniques. But they also have additional
techniques specific to each medium. Here are a few examples:
Film and TV
The use of music to signal the emotion of the text such as a suspense film
The use of editing to give rhythm and pace to a visual text such as a rock
video
The use of camera angles, lighting, color, camera movement and framing
to add detail and interpretation to a sequence of pictures such as a chase
The use of sound effects to make a text sound more real, such as in a
radio drama
The use of overdubbing to make music richer and deeper, or to make one
artist sound like a chorus
The use of editing to bring material from many sources into one program,
such as in the news
17
The group task is to analyze the cartoon above, explaining how it works as a piece
of humor.
Use the following questions as a guide for your group's discussion of the cartoon.
Appoint one group member to make a clean copy of your group's final decision
about each question. Appoint another member who will later present your group's
findings to the class.
18
Some people may not find the cartoon funny. What could be some reasons for
this?
People who do find the cartoon funny will have some knowledge or experience in
common. What will that be?
What exact visual details in the cartoon do you need to see before you can "get"
the joke?
Look up the word "allusion. Explain how this cartoon is an example of an allusion.
Describe another example of allusion that you know of. (Perhaps from a song or a
music video.)
19
The first key concept of media education states that all media are constructions.
That means that all media texts are carefully put together. Sometimes what we like
best about a text is the fact that it is so well manufactured. We love special effects
in movies, for instance. At other times, we tend to forget that the media are
carefully constructed, and we assume that texts are just natural. We know that the
shot in the rock video that we like was probably rehearsed a dozen times, and may
even have been filmed many times before it looked just right, but we often forget
that we know it.
Look at the Calvin and Hobbes cartoon above. In it, Calvin is complaining that life
on TV seems to be much better than his own life. The joke is that he ends up
thinking he can fix things, not by recognizing that real life is not like TV, but by
trying to make real life more like TV - by getting some script writers for his own life.
When we say that the media are constructions, we are referring to things such as:
Movies and TV are not simply natural events in our lives, but are deliberately
made using cameras, lights, and technology of all kinds. They use camera
angles, special lenses, editing, music and scripts to bring us the pictures that
look so "natural" to us when we see them.
Newspapers and magazines are not simply natural events in our lives, but are
deliberately made using photographs, drawings, colors, headlines, bold,
italics, underlining, CAPITALS, large fonts, different fonts. They use layout
20
Key Concept #1
21
Key Concept #1
-bylines
Why might some newspapers use more pictures and color on their front pages
than other newspapers?
22
Key Concept #1
Technique
Target Audience
23
Key Concept #1
Occupant
444 Debbie Drive
Glenbrook, IL 000000
24
Key Concept #1
Search through magazines and newspapers for examples of two media texts that
show different purposes and techniques. Complete the following form for the two
texts:
25
Key Concept #1
All of the previously mentioned techniques are used in print media as well as other
media, but each medium also has its own techniques as well. Here are a few
examples:
26
Key Concept #1
Each one of these clues is a clue in the format or construction of the text that tells
us about what we can expect in the content.
Of course, if there are signs that attract us, the same signs might put other
audiences on their guard. Some people hearing a certain sort of music as they flip
through radio stations will hurry on to the next, while others will tune it in as a
favorite.
Work with a partner to decide what kind of content you would expect from these
formats:
27
Key Concept #1
Discuss in groups of three the way that the cartoon "Non Sequitur" illustrates key
concept # 1. Use the following questions as guides.
Make up some message scenarios like the one in the cartoon and demonstrate
how form and construction influences the content (e.g. a young man hires a skywriter to propose marriage to his girl friend, or a teacher gives a student a letter
asking for a change of behavior in class).
Media Literacy Through Critical Thinking
Student Workbook
28
Key Concept #1
Activities
1. Form groups of four, and select one of the following media as your group's
topic:
A movie
A TV drama
A TV news program
A newspaper
A magazine
A radio show (not a music show)
A music CD
A computer game
Appoint a recorder in your group and examine your media sample carefully
together to find examples in it that show that it is "constructed. Appoint another
member for your group to make a short presentation to the class outlining the
group's findings.
Which medium did you choose?
29
Key Concept #1
How does the construction of your media text achieve its purpose and appeal
to the target audience?
A child of eight
An adult who has never thought much about media texts
A person your own age, who has lived in a culture without media
Another audience of your own choice
Deliver your explanation in class, and have your classmates assess how well
you communicated with your intended audience.
30
Key Concept #1
EXPLANATION LINKING
EXAMPLE TO KEY
CONCEPT
When we watch TV programs,
we sometimes think they are
just taking place, but thinking
about script writing, even in
news and documentary
programs, reminds us that TV
programs are carefully put
together, or constructed.
When Calvin realizes this, he
complains about it, because
he realizes his life is not put
together the same way.
31
Sometimes it is only after you realize that something in the depiction of an event
was incomplete or distorted that you understand you are talking about a
representation, not about a real event.
32
Key Concept #2
Key Concept #1 told us that all media are constructed. Key Concept #2 takes us
further to the understanding that what the media construct for us is not reality
itself, but only a version of reality.
Read the following articles, The Camera Always Lies and Women of the 90s: A
Cyber Fantasy.
I spent a couple of hours recently going over old photographs with my daughter. We kept
coming across pictures of her when she was younger, and she asked if we could throw
some of the pictures away. Why did she want to do this? Simply because she didnt like
the way the camera made her look. Even at the age of ten, she knows that the pictures
she was looking at were not so much a reflection of any reality that existed at the moment
they were taken, as they were a representation of that moment, (or rather a part of it) a
version of it, an interpretation of it to her mind, a misinterpretation of it. She was clearly
objecting to the interpretation, not the picture. Still, we didnt throw any away.
Consider this scene: A group of about a dozen protesters parades in a street, holding
placards in the air. A television news team has been sent to cover the event, but there are
not enough in the parade to make a good picture. The reporter sets up the camera and the
paraders move in closer together, walking in a tighter formation. They all want to be on
television. The pictures on that nights newscast show close-up shots of what looks like a
large group of protesters, jostling shoulder to shoulder.
Were a very sophisticated visual society. We understand that Hollywood filmmakers and
their counterparts around the world have developed many ways of creating the impression
of a thing happening without actually having to go to the expense of making it happen. We
are quite content to see models of ships fighting momentous battles at sea; we accept that
horses and space ships go faster when the camera is cranked slower than usual; we
understand that prehistoric monsters are hard to find and that they are usually represented
in films through the use of special effects; we go to films sometimes just to see the quality
of the special effects.
It hardly matters what the circumstances are: it doesnt take a person long to realize that
there is no such thing as objective reporting; that no picture can possibly tell the whole
truth, even if only because the camera does not have the range of vision of the human eye;
that no report is free of some sort of interpretative bias; that any message we receive
through any of the mass media is, almost by definition, only a version, a selection, an
interpretation of reality, an attempt to make us see something the way the maker of the
image wanted us to see it.
The realization is one of the most important understandings that a student of media will
ever have: All media are engines that construct reality for their consumers.
The camera always lies - even when it is trying its hardest to tell us the truth.
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Key Concept #2
Female Ideal?
We feel that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, said Johnson. And the computergenerated images is a still life of the female ideal.
Johnson maintains it is not a dishonest image to portray a woman who is a composite of
parts. Both magazines and newspapers enhance photographs of crime scenes or accidents,
she says.
I think the difference is we are admitting our woman is not real, said Johnson. While in
other media profiles, the public is asked to accept the enhanced as reality.
34
Key Concept #2
After reading the two previous articles, consider how these articles relate to Key
Concept #2, Media construct versions of reality.
The Camera Always Lies
35
Key Concept #2
36
Key Concept #2
The picture shows fake snow being sprayed for a scene in a movie. When the film
crew shoots some scenes of this snowman, the pictures are going to look as if
they were shot in winter.
A U.K. company called Snow Business
(www.snowbusiness.com) made the fake snow for this scene, using materials like
paper, plastic, starch or foam.
The best filming weather is in the summer, so filmmakers often have to construct
winter conditions to fit their shooting schedules. Rainstorms in films are another
example of manufactured weather.
Can you think of any other examples of manufactured weather in the media?
37
Key Concept #2
EXPLANATION LINKING
EXAMPLE TO KEY
CONCEPT
Hamburger ad
Make out another chart or make a note linking these same texts to key concept # 1
Media Literacy Through Critical Thinking
Student Workbook
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Key Concept #2
39
39
Key Concept #3
Is anyone in the group prepared to say outright that texts showing tobacco
consumption are bad? Why?
Is anyone prepared to say outright that there is no problem in texts that
show tobacco consumption? Why?
Are any members of the group ambivalent (having two different, sometimes
conflicting reactions) or undecided? Why?
What has this exercise taught you about the way audiences "negotiate "
meaning in a text? How?
Heres another thing to consider. What audiences take out of a text is partly a
question of what they bring to it. For instance, if a text about hunting deer in the
bush were being considered, wouldn't you expect that an audience of citydwelling, domestic-animal lovers would interpret the text differently from a rural
audience of people for whom the raising and killing of animals for market is a way
of life? The reason for the difference in interpretation of the text would be in the
backgrounds of each audience - in what each audience brings to the text as its
own set of experiences and expectations.
Heres a simple illustration of this concept.
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Key Concept #3
Try talking in a group of three to tell the story each of you sees in this four-panel
cartoon. Compare the stories you tell and try to explain why some of them are
different from others. Always connect your explanation to key concept # 3.
There are probably as many stories as there are people looking at the cartoon, but
mostly two stories come out on top:
The story about the wolf who tried to blow over a house but could not
because cigarette smoking had left him (or her) short of breath. In disgust
the wolf walks off throwing a pack of cigarettes away with a gesture that
suggests he or she will quit smoking.
The story about the ending of the nursery story of the three little pigs and
the big, bad wolf. The wolf is at the last of the three houses, the house
made of bricks, and he fails to blow the house down, when he had
succeeded in blowing down the two previous houses made of straw and
sticks. The wolf, unable to accept defeat, blames his cigarette smoking
habit for the failure, and stalks off in disgust, throwing away his cigarettes.
The second of these stories (or meanings) depends on information that the
audience provides. People who are not familiar with the story of the three little pigs
do not bring their experience of that story to this text, and therefore cannot
negotiate the same meaning from the text as other audiences can who know the
story. Both stories rely on the previous knowledge in the audience about the
effects of cigarette smoking.
Take a look at the text below:
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Key Concept #3
In a small group
Identify the possible target audience (or audiences),
Identify the purpose of the text, and
Examine this text using Key Concept #1 (All media are carefully
wrapped packages). Be sure to consider every part of the text: the
written part, the use of fonts and font sizes, the illustration of the
billboard, the statistics, etc.
Next, each student should choose an audience role to play in looking at the text on
the previous page. Each group member then takes on the chosen role and
interprets the text through the eyes of that role. Possible roles to play are:
an advertising executive
a consumer
a television or radio executive
a statistician
Use the chart below to record how your chosen role interpreted the text.
42
Key Concept #3
Role title
In-Role
Response
Explanation
How does the above activity illustrate Key Concept #3, Media are interpreted
through individual lenses?
We have emphasized before that the media are sources of enjoyment. For all that
they are commercial businesses - out to make a profit first, last and foremost they are in the business of giving pleasure. Another way of looking at it is to say
they are in the business of audience pleasing. After all, we go to movies because
we enjoy the experience. We buy magazines because we expect to find some
pleasure within their pages. We watch TV because it is a pleasant way to pass
time. We buy music recordings because we like to listen to them over and over
again.
Audiences get a lot of pleasure out of the media. Nothing wrong with it! As
students of media, you are becoming more and more aware of how the media
work and are constructed. This might make you a more discriminating media
consumer than before, but it should not spoil your enjoyment of media.
Take the example of special effects (SFX) in movies. Everybody knows that
computer technology is making special effects more and more realistic and more
and more fantastic. SFX can create realistic-looking images of cyborgs who can
Media Literacy Through Critical Thinking
Student Workbook
43
Key Concept #3
regenerate their own bodies before our eyes after they have been totally
destroyed. SFX can create a landscape filled with running dinosaurs, or an image
of a ship in the ocean that looks as real as the real thing. SFX can create meetings
between fictional characters and dead U.S. presidents.
We enjoy SFX! They have their own way of pleasing us.
But what pleases one person may not please everybody. Some people delight in
watching horror or "slasher" movies. Some audiences think of them as a form of
comedy, others think of them as a kind of emotional roller-coaster. Either way, the
audience is finding a pleasure in the text that fits with their liking of laughter or
thrills. On the other hand, there are plenty people who do not like horror or slasher
films at all.
These people see no humor in the films, and do not like to be scared out of their
wits.
Another example is computer games. There is no shortage of people who take
enormous pleasure out of spending time at the computer playing video-style
games. There is no shortage, either, of people who consider playing computer
games a complete waste of time. (It might be more accurate to say that some of
those people have not yet found the computer game that would keep them at the
keyboard or joystick for more than a few minutes.)
Work in groups of three.
List first individually, then as a group, your favorite media - the ones
that give you enjoyment and pleasure. Use the chart on the next page
as an organizer.
44
Key Concept #3
Medium
Personal
Reason for
Liking the
Medium
Source of
Enjoyment in
the Medium
Level of
Agreement in
Student
Group
Reasons for
Agreement or
Disagreement
Explanation
of How this
Connects to
Key Concept
#3
45
Key Concept #3
TEXT
EXPLANATION LINKING
EXAMPLE TO KEY
CONCEPT
Make out another chart or make a note linking these same texts to key concepts #s 1 &
2.
46
When you look around your classroom, how many ads can you see? Look at
things like student clothing, classroom display materials, and book covers on
textbooks.
When was the last time you watched a TV channel that did not have
commercials?
How many radio stations can you name that do not have commercials?
How many pages of the newspaper in your community are taken up with
advertising? What percentage of the total column inches is devoted to ads?
How many pages of your favorite magazine are taken up with advertising?
List ten ways that the names of products are brought to your attention other
than through direct advertising (e.g. a radio announcer mentioning a product
by name).
Since the media are businesses, they have to make some money. Businesses
cannot operate without income. In our society, the media get much of their income
from advertisers. Newspapers could not survive only on what we pay to buy the
daily paper, and we do not pay anything at all for network TV or radio. Even films
now depend less than before on the money we pay at the cinema for their
revenue, and more on sales of videos, related toys and other paraphernalia.
Big budgets are available to pay for high quality TV shows, movies and music
videos because these products are commercially successful. If they did not make
money, they would have lower budgets and perhaps less quality. TV shows that
do not make money for their sponsors get cancelled. The same can be said about
professional sports. (And professional sports are a form of mass entertainment,
after all.) If audiences did not flock to the stadium, or watch sports on TV in the
millions, there would be no money to pay the sports celebrities their huge salaries,
and the quality of the game "entertainment" might suffer.
47
Key Concept #4
48
Key Concept #4
Now lets look at some examples that are less obvious. Lets think more
specifically about how newspapers (and all their elements) are related to Key
Concept #4.
Look at the table of contents (or index) of the newspaper. Do you notice a trend in
the order of its contents? Why are certain sections toward the front? Toward the
back? Before or after other sections?
How does the day the newspaper was published affect whats included in the
newspaper?
What does the placement of certain ads say about the importance of the ads and
the target audience?
Why do newspapers have travel, car, fashion, food, business and entertainment
sections?
Here is another set of topics for you to explore in relation to this key
concept.
What time of the day are you more likely to see more children's
television shows? Why?
List the souvenir items you possess that are linked to a movie, a
sport, or a television show.
49
Key Concept #4
Read Battle of the Mind by Dave Cravotta and David Ferman, and do an Internet
search to find out all you can about an advertising practice called "product
placement.
50
Key Concept #4
Write a definition of product placement to explain the practice to people who have
never heard of it before. Use some of the materials you have found on the Internet
to illustrate your explanation.
Brainstorm with a partner as many examples of product placement as you can
think of. Try to find examples in newspapers and magazines so that you can make
a bulletin board display in class.
With your partner, make up a zany project for a new kind of advertising like the
ones in Battle of the Mind.
Another side of key concept #4 explores the ownership of the media.
You can find information describing the centralized ownership
of North American media on the Internet at Who Owns What,
http://www.cjr.org/tools/owners/.
Use the Who Owns What website to explore the following true
scenario:
In 1996, a film called Space Jammers was released, starring Michael Jordan. Time
magazine devoted a cover story to the movie. Junior Sports Illustrated filled an
entire edition with material related to the movie.
51
Key Concept #4
EXPLANATION LINKING
EXAMPLE TO KEY
CONCEPT #4
Make out a new chart or write a note linking these same texts to key concepts 1, 2 & 3.
52
53
Key Concept #5
Next, take turns in your group to talk about your personal response. Remember,
no one's personal response is ever wrong. It may not be to your liking, but that
does not make it wrong - just different. Use questions that ask for more (rather
than ones that attack an interpretation) like:
Who are these young people, what are they like, and what kinds of things
do they believe in? How do you know?
What are the clues and signs in the picture that help you decide what these
people are like?
What is in the background that helps you understand the values and
ideology? (Why this kind of building? Why this kind of fence? Why the flag?
Why the big expanse of sky?)
What is in the middle ground - the group of young people - that tells you
about ideology and values? (How are the people arranged? What are they
wearing? What kind of feelings or attitudes do they seem to be expressing?
What are they sitting on?) Try to sum up your impression of this group
"photo" in a single word or phrase.
54
Key Concept #5
Analyze the words (there are only five words in the main message, plus the brand
name on the bottle and the two words on the corporate emblem).
Why do you think the entire message is printed without any capital letters?
Which words are intended to connect strongly with visual clues in the text
about values? What does the word real add to the message?
Why does the ad use the word fragrance instead of perfume or scent?
What is there about the shape and design of the bottle and its cap that
supports the overall message of the ad? What period in history, what
materials are you made to think of?
Talk next about how members of the group negotiated the meaning of this text
(key concept # 3). What choices were there?
You like what the text says and stands for and you think it is "good. (Would
you buy the "fragrance?)
You dislike what it says because your own values are in some way different
from the ones in the text. (Perhaps you do not like the clothing or the
hairstyles of the models - or more likely - you do not like what those clothes
and hairstyles stand for in your interpretation.) Would you be inclined to buy
the fragrance?
You cannot make up your mind about the text. Perhaps you do not approve
of the use of the flag to promote a commercial product, although you feel
attracted to the values expressed in the text.
Appoint one member of your group to make a two-minute report to the class on the
discussion your group had, and the decisions it made.
55
Key Concept #5
Lets try a few more examples. Examine the text below. It is a Vogue fashion
magazine cover from 1941.
What can you see in this text that gives you clues about what the creator believes
in or stands for? Be systematic in looking at the picture. As you learned, nothing
is there by accident.
Practice your taking a second look skill by answering the questions below:
56
Key Concept #5
When you take a second look at the text, what new details do you find?
In groups of three, discuss how each person negotiated the meaning of this text
(Key Concept #3).
You like what the text stands for and you think it is good. (Would you
volunteer to be a woman in defense?)
You dislike what it says and stands for because in some way your own
values are different from those presented in the text. (Perhaps you do not
believe that women should work to support the war effort. Perhaps you do
not support war efforts of any kind.)
You are not sure of your opinion about the message of the text. (Perhaps
you see a different message. Perhaps you suspect the message may be
cynical, and the magazine is just profiting from the ad, or the ad is belittling
the importance of the war effort by reducing it to a fashion statement.)
Also consider what would happen if you interpreted the text through
feminist eyes
paternalistic eyes
economic eyes
The questions below may guide your investigation of the text relating to key
concept #5:
Which details can you connect together to help discover the intention of the
text?
This next series of texts is about the way some media texts promote agenda that
influence our viewpoints of social and political issues.
By social we mean aspects of society: what is considered important for groups of
people who live together in a town, city, country, continent, or even the planet.
By political, we mean relating to or dealing with the structure or aspects of
government or politics.
Media Literacy Through Critical Thinking
Student Workbook
57
Key Concept #5
58
Key Concept #5
59
Key Concept #5
60
Key Concept #5
The text on the previous page offers us an image of the two children walking away
from the camera (from a dark place) uphill to a place before them that is flooded
with light. This text invites us to examine our reaction to stock images (characters
we have no trouble recognizing, such as the sensible mother or the fix-it father)
and our social expectations of children.
Next, examine the text to see what it tells you or elicits from you
Is it important that the path the children are taking is slightly uphill? Why or
why not?
What stereotypical ideas (for example, instances of stock images) can you
detect in the text?
As a summary of your reactions to this text, complete the chart below to review
what you have already learned:
Key Concept
61
Key Concept #5
EXPLANATION LINKING
EXAMPLE TO KEY
CONCEPT
Make out another chart or make a note linking these same texts to key concepts # 1,2, 3 & 4.
62
Personal Response
to a Media Text
When you are asked to give a personal response to a media text, either spoken or
written, you are explaining to an audience:
Sometimes, when they are asked for their personal response, people do not tell
their response at all, but just re-tell the story of the text again, without telling about
their own reaction to it. Or else they merely say that they like it or dont like it
without any elaboration about why.
Sometimes people get all tangled up in talking about stars and personalities
instead of focusing on their own reactions and responses. Or sometimes they
spend all their energy telling about what kind of text they are discussing, (action
film, rap video), and describing what it is like.
The thing to remember is that a personal response is supposed to focus on
personal response and nothing else. References to the text are very important, but
only to illustrate points of response.
Now lets look at some examples
63
Personal Response
EXPLAIN
EXACTLY
WHAT IT WAS
IN THE TEXT
THAT CAUGHT
YOUR
ATTENTION
The statement
explains and
names exactly what
feelings and
emotions
(responses) the
writer felt.
Each of the four
examples of
feelings
(responses) is
revisited by the
author, and each is
then illustrated by a
direct example
taken from the film.
The author is
introspective in
explaining why s/he
responds exactly in
this way. S/he is
very clear and
honest about what
the film offered and
why it was
attractive.
The author
describes
specifically how this
text and this
response connect
to other thoughts 64
and experiences.
Personal Response
TEXT MAKES
YOU THINK OF
response connect
to other thoughts
and experiences.
EXPLAIN
EXACTLY
WHAT IT WAS
IN THE TEXT
THAT CAUGHT
YOUR
ATTENTION
EXACTLY
WHAT IT WAS
IN YOU THAT
REACTED TO
THE TEXT
WHAT THIS
CONNECTION
BETWEEN
YOU AND THE
TEXT MAKES
YOU THINK OF
Work with a partner to read over this sample personal response. It doesn't matter if
you have seen the film Titanic or not. You are looking to see how the student has
written a response, not to see if you agree with the student's opinion or not.
Work together to underline the parts of the response that refer to the descriptors in
the column to the left. Notice also that:
Media Literacy Through Critical Thinking
Student Workbook
65
Personal Response
The student does not focus exclusively on any of the stars in the film
The student talks about disaster films in general only so much as is needed
The student focuses all the time on the connections that the film made, and
on explaining those connections
This is the focus that personal response calls for. A personal response is not right
or wrong, it is either well stated, explained and supported, or not. Another student
could have written a totally different response to the same film, and neither
response would have been more "right" than the other.
Talk to your partner about media texts (TV programs, rock groups, fashion trends)
that appeal to some people your age and not to others. The examples you think of
are examples of personal responses that are different even when the text is the
same.
When you are preparing your own personal responses, try to use the following
questions as a guide to make sure you stay on track.
CRITERION
exactly how you as an
individual connected with
the text
66
Evidence to link the text to one or more of the media purposes and the
target audience
Evidence to link the text to one or more of the five key concepts
67
Analytical Response
To see how students constructed their analytical responses for the media text
above, see the following two examples.
68
Analytical Response
Key
Concept
Key Concept
#1: All
media are
carefully
wrapped
packages.
Evidence from
the text
This ad is laid out
carefully using graphic
elements that will direct
the readers eye to all
parts of the ad:
--large fonts
--drawings
--webpage look
--to be here is smart
--Its the place to be
There are also examples
of upbeat language such
as festival and shake,
rattle, and roll.
Key Concept
#2: Media
construct
versions of
reality.
Connection or
Interpretation
69
Analytical Response
Key
Concept
Evidence from
the text
Key Concept
#3: Media
are
interpreted
through
individual
lenses.
The ad focuses on a
number of different
audiences:
Key Concept
#4: Media
are about
money.
The ad mentions
different activities, which
probably have costs and
fees:
appeals to children
(pony rides, mobile
train, ball pond, laser
tag, electric cars, a
mini Ferris wheel)
appeals to music
lovers (Latin,
Caribbean, Dixieland,
jazz, etc.)
appeals to wide
audiences (food,
music, dancing,
shopping, rides, and
games)
Key Concept
#5: Media
promote
agenda.
Connection or
Interpretation
Evaluative Statement: This ad is effective in informing its target audience (which is a variety of
ages) because it clearly states the different types of activities that will be available (games and
rides for kids dancing and bands for adults and young adults, street-side markets and shopping
for shoppers). The ad achieves its purposes of advertising because it directly advertises the
festival and indirectly advertise West Seattle. Key concepts 2, 3, 4 and 5 support the ads
effectiveness for its target audience and its purposes.
Media Literacy Through Critical Thinking
Student Workbook
70
Analytical Response
The second students example shows the student understands the text, but is not
good at explaining his or her ideas. Frequently the explanation is only a
restatement of the example or an expansion of it, instead of being a justification
of how the evidence connects to the concept.
Key
Concept
Evidence from
the text
Connection or
Interpretation
Key Concept
#1: All
media are
carefully
wrapped
packages.
Key Concept
#2: Media
construct
versions of
reality.
N/A
Key Concept
#3: Media
are
interpreted
through
individual
lenses.
Key Concept
#4: Media
are about
money.
Key Concept
#5: Media
promote
agenda.
N/A
Evaluative Statement: This text is effective in its purpose and message to the target audience.
71
Analytical Response
On the next page is a text for you to analyze. Begin by examining the text
carefully, and then use the Analytical Response Sheet to help you complete your
analytical response. Remember that you may not find evidence of all five key
concepts. Some may be obvious, others may be hidden, and others may not be
displayed. Try to choose the three key concepts that most strongly relate to the
text.
As a reminder
72
Analytical Response
Tuning in to women
Once, a glass ceiling was their limit. Now, its the sky.
The past three decades of local television news have been good to women and vice
versa. When females migrated from saucy weather girls to serious broadcast journalists in
the 1960s, almost no one could have predicted how much they would dominate their field
by the centurys close.
Today, women applicants outnumber male job seekers in TV news by a ratio of 2 to 1.
Theres no significant market in the country without at least one female in its prime-time
lineup. Women also work behind the scenes as assignment editors, producers, and
photographers.
Men still dominate the general manager and news director levels. But male executives
have to pay attention to audience preferences, which increasingly demand a female
presence on the screen.
Small wonder: More television viewers are female than male. And in some markets, more
females watch news than men as in Seattle.
No place illustrates womens rise to the top better than Seattle. Three generations of main
female anchors are on the air here: KCPG-TVs glamorous Gen-Xer Leslie Miller, KOMOTVs boomer representative Kathi Goertzen and, of course KING-TV pioneer Jean Enersen,
anchoring since 1972.
These women arent just primetime; theyre higher profile than their adept male co-anchors.
To a TV critic, they also offer a singular opportunity to scan the evolution of females in
news over a 30-year period.
Ken Lindner, one of the industrys top talent agents and author of Broadcasting Realities,
wrote, Broadcast journalism is one of the few businesses in which women can fare as well
and in many instances better than, men. To my mind, women are more effective
communicators than men.
Media Literacy Through Critical Thinking
Student Workbook
73
Analytical Response
Identify the target audience. Give evidence from the text to support your answer.
Fill in the chart below for the three key concepts that most strongly relate to the
media text. After completing the chart, prepare an evaluative statement.
Key Concept
74
To help with your analytical response, here are two more examples. The first is
well developed, while the second is incomplete.
75
Analytical Response
Connection between
key concept and
example
Analysis of
response
#1 All
media are
carefully
wrapped
packages.
Clear example of
construction, properly
linked to details and
examples from the
text.
#2 Media
construct
versions
of reality.
#3 Media
are
interpreted
through
individual
lenses.
76
Analytical Response
#4 Media
are about
money.
#5 Media
promote
agenda.
Media
Purpose
Media
Techniques
Good observations
demonstrating clear
comprehension of
the key concept.
Reference to
narrative or
entertainment alone
would be sufficient.
The addition of the
artistic comments
makes this an
outstanding answer.
Although some of
these examples have
been mentioned
before, they are
reworked well to
demonstrate
understanding of this
element.
77
Analytical Response
Incomplete Response
Key
Concept
#1 Media
are
carefully
wrapped
packages.
Analysis of
response
#3 Media
are
interpreted
through
individual
lenses.
#4 Media
are about
money.
It costs $8.00.
#5 Media
promote
agenda.
#2 Media
construct
versions
of reality.
There is some
understanding of
movie economics in
this short answer, but
the writer needs to
make a stronger link
between the detail
and the argument to
explain how this
illustrates the key
concept.
This comes close to
understanding values
in the picture, but the
explanation does not
refer to valuesit
just expands on the
example.
78
Analytical Response
Media
Purpose
Because it is a funeral.
Media
Techniques
Mountains
The description of
purpose is
acceptable. It is a
way of saying there is
an appeal to emotion.
The explanation does
not address why that
is the purpose, but
only shows a reason
for the sadness.
This is an acceptable,
but unfinished
answer. An
explanation is needed
to elaborate on the
importance of
landscapeespeciall
y prairie and
mountains in western
movies.
79
Final Project
Overview
As a consumer, you are bombarded with media messages every day. Your
project is to choose a media text that targets your age group. You will be asked
to analyze, interpret, and evaluate a media text and give an oral and visual
presentation. Your presentation should be clear and concise, showing how the
text displays connections to the
Explore a variety of media texts from different resources. Select one for
analysis based on whether it is
a. appropriate for presentation to your class, and
b. clearly illustrates purpose, target audience, and at least three key
concepts.
HINT: Review the texts in Media Literacy Through Critical Thinking to give
yourself ideas on selecting your own text.
Collect information from the media text, filling out the Analytical Response
Sheet.
Check to make sure your analysis has met all the Scoring Criteria listed at
the back of this workbook (for a more detailed approach to the criteria, see
the Analytic Scoring Guide).
Complete a skeletal plan for your presentation. Be sure you
a. describe the purpose of and the target audience for your
presentation,
b. describe your media text,
c. explain how and why the media text is appropriate for your age
group, and
d. describe the demographics and cultural issues of the targeted age
group which influenced your choice of media text.
80
Final Project
81
Final Project
"Making" an argument
When you are trying to be convincing in an argument or a point of explanation or
persuasion, each point has to be emphatically "made". There are three parts to a
well "made" argument.
One of the most common problems in exposition is that the presenter states the
argument and offers an example, but leaves the audience to finish the job of
"making" the argument. It is the presenter's job, not the audience's to provide the
connections between the argument and the example. For instance:
An Argument that is not "made:
Argument: The Simpsons is an entertaining show.
Example: Bart is always saying funny things that put his father down.
In this argument all that has been said are two things: the program is
entertaining, and Bart talks to his father in a certain way. The presenter has not
explained how the fact that Bart talks to his father that way makes the program
entertaining.
The same argument, "made:
Argument: The Simpsons is an entertaining show.
Example: Bart is always saying funny things that put his father down.
"Making" of the argument: People, especially young people, like to see
programs where the young people get the upper hand over the adults. There
is an example of this in The Simpsons when Bart talks to his father in a funny
way that puts him down.
As you can see, in this second version, the presenter has gone on to explain why
the example of Bart talking to his father is entertaining to young people. The
argument is "made.
82
Final Project
Why did I have a difficult time with this particular part of my presentation?
My Presentation
Future Presentations
What is one goal I can set for future presentations?
83
Final Project
84
Final Project
Suitable Text
Inappropriate or
unsuitable; it does
not lend itself to
analysis
Score:
Quality of
Analysis
Provides clear,
perceptive, and
insightful analysis
Connections to at
least three key
concepts and a
purpose
Provides adequate
support
3
Provides simple
analysis
Connection to one
or two key concepts
and a purpose
Provides less than
adequate support
Analysis is unclear
and ambiguous
Attempts
connection to key
concepts and
purpose
Provides little or no
support
Score:
Audience
Makes insightful
and intelligent
connections
between own
purpose and
audience interest
and needs
Makes general
connections
between own
purposes and
audience interest
and needs
Makes minimal or
no connection
between own
purposes and
audience interest
and needs
Score:
Organization
Creates a fully
detailed, welldeveloped
presentation
Effectively uses an
interesting
introduction, welldeveloped ideas,
appropriate
transitions, and
strong conclusion
Appropriately varies
tone, pitch, and
pace of speech to
enhance
communication
Consistently and
skillfully uses facial
expression, body
movement, and
gestures to convey
tone and mood
Consistently uses
varied language
that is interesting
and appropriate to
the topic and the
audience
Develops effective
voice for the
audience and
purpose
Creates a partially
complete
presentation with
some supporting
details
Somewhat
organized with a
general sequencing
of ideas and some
transitions
Creates an
incomplete
presentation with
minimal or no
supporting details
Unorganized
presentation with
minimal or no logic
in the presentation
of ideas
Score:
Somewhat varies
tone, pitch, and
pace of speech
Uses some facial
expressions, body
movement, and
gestures to convey
tone and mood
Little or no variety
in tone, pitch, and
pace of speech
Minimal or no use
of facial
expressions, body
movements, and
gestures to convey
tone and mood
Score:
Occasionally uses
language that is
interesting and
well-suited to the
topic and audience
Occasionally uses
effective voice for
the audience and
purpose
Little or no use of
language or voice
that is interesting
and suited to the
topic or the
audience
Score:
Oral
Presentation
Delivery
Language
85
Final Project
Visual
Presentation
of text
Quality of
Analysis of Text
Score:
Format, Layout,
and
Conventions
Visual aid is
ordinary and
adequate
Occasionally
employs effective
layout, graphics,
and visual devices
to make the aid
visually appealing
Adequately
communicates
messages through
artistic, graphic,
and/or multimedia
presentation
Visual aid is
unoriginal
Has ineffective
layout, graphs, and
visual devices
which may detract
from the
presentation
Ineffectively
communicates
messages through
artistic, graphic,
and/or multimedia
presentation
Score:
86