Apply two different critical lenses to a media text Feminist Marxist: class difference Poststructualist/deconstruction Reader-response/rhetorical Psychological/psychoanalytic/archetypal Post-colonial Critical race theory Critical discourse analysis

Marxist: Discourse of class Focus on power and social/class hierarchy

Use of the “social ladder” chart Economic factors shaping characters

Ideological positioning of readers/audiences Advertising as indoctrination of consumerism

Discourse of class: “Up” series/PBS: “People Like Us” Upper middle class: focus on achievement consistent

with institutional norms Judgmental about people who deviate from

expectations or “don’t seem to care” Working class: focus on interpersonal relationships

and a sense of fairness/equity http://www.pbs.org/peoplelikeus/

Cultural Capital Styles/manner/ways of expressing oneself Preferences/ways of valuing Cultural knowledge Familiarity/use of cultural “texts”

Literature, art, film, etc. Academic credentials

Feminist: Gender as Culturally Constructed Problems with binary categories based

on biological sex Study of historical/cultural aspects of

gender construction Wearing of lace as a masculine marker Matriarchy in Chinese myths

Gay/lesbian studies

Discourse of Femininity Media construction of identity Beauty work: sense of inadequacy Membership in imaginary communities

of consumption “synthetic personalization”

Mass audience treated as an individual “you” “synthetic sisterhood”

Postructuralist/Postmodern Challenge to structuralist/formalist notions

of language as a “prison-house” Language meaning a social construction Language categories are “slippery”/need to

be contested and challenged Language oppositions: “good” vs. “evil” Narratives as cultural constructions

shaping/limiting perspectives

Analysis (linked to discourses) What are the underlying categories?

“Male” versus “female” What meanings are associated with these

categories?: “Male” = control/aggression “Female” = flexibility/negotiate

What are the “master narratives” and how do the shape people/characters? Growing up to be “successful”: anyone one in

America can “make it” if they work hard.

Reader-response/rhetorical How audiences are positioned to

respond in certain ways by ads or films versus how they actually respond.

How texts seek to gain audience identification to a brand, idea, cause, etc., through uses of images and equations—equating having fun at a party and drinking Miller Lite.

Reader response/rhetorical Experiences/engagement with the text Construction of audience

Identification/empathy with characters How am I being positioned by the text?

What techniques/camera shots are used to position me?

Psychological/psychoanalytic Appeals to/creation of audience

needs/desires Use of images to attract attention Fantasy engagement with characters’

and worlds Mythic/archetypal images

Water = sexuality

Psychoanalytic Criticism Audience desires/needs: love, success,

status, power, affection, etc. Fantasy needs: imaginary alternatives

through identifying with “movie stars” or “celebrities”

Engagement with Reality TV characters’ need for power

Appeal of romance Dirty Dancing storyline: woman as nurturing force

Archetypal Images Nature/growth/summer/pastoral (green)

vs. death/destruction/winter/urban (dark) Seasons of the year Water as life/sexuality/renewal Imagery in Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit,

etc.

Hero images: Gendered spaces Heroes reflect notions of what is valued Feminist power

Super Ellen: physical prowess Tiger Woman

Scary Spice, Xena, Catwoman Challenge male dominated spaces Fang: adolescent sexuality

Parody of male power The Toaster

Students: create comics/ animation Analyze narrative development

What is the problem/threat? (Fang: as “evil”; crime; global warming; health care system)

Who will solve the problem? (hero = good) How will these solve the problem? (brute

force, “science,” universal health care) What are the underlying assumptions:

“force is the answer to solving crime.”

Postcolonial How media texts portray former

colonialist people as “other” or in negative ways.

“Orientalism” (Said): Mideastern or Asian people perceived as suspicious, deviant, mysterious in Hollywood movies

Critical Race Theory: Institutionalize racism Placement of people in social categories

Attaching meaning to groups Creation of hierarchies

Top group--economic, social, political power Conflict: maintain vs. challenge hierarchy Application of racial ideology to explain and

justify hierarchy “Blacks as lacking motivation to work”

Racial Ideologies as “Interpretive Repertoires” Common frames

Fear of the other; Token inclusionism “Racetalk”

Avoid being seen as “racist”/Archer Bunker Categorizing: whiteness as normalizing

“White lives” isolated in schools/suburbs/peer group

Whites as “racial tourists”-- “others defined by what whiteness is not”

Racism and Local TV News

Critical Discourse Analysis Discourses: ways of knowing/thinking; serves to

limit/restrain ways of talking Foucault: “madness”/hysteria Rules for talking/defining knowledge Subjects--represent discourse “mad” people Social practices for dealing with people

Schools: Mediated by a discourse of “manageralism” Distanced, technocratic stances “which disallows the speaking

of concern, of welfare, of collective experience” (Fairclough, 2003)

Teachers as needing to be “accountable” “pay for performance”: test “outcomes” Emphasizes productivity, efficiency, and performance, Disallows teachers from expressing alternative voices or

perspectives Statistical measures as objective representations of learning

(NCLB)