When I first read the question “Discuss a theory/concept (e.g., ideology, hegemony, media literacy) and apply it to your own everyday media practises”, I thought I have never heard a definition for these terms before. The first thing I did was look up the definition for each term to decide which term would reflect my life right now.
According to Jane Tallim, Education Specialist, media literacy is “the ability to sift through and analyse the message that inform, entertain and sell to us every day” (Tallim, 1)which in other words means being able to see the true meaning behind anything we watch or read in the media. Media literacy is defined in a three step process, according to Elizabeth Thoman, the Founder and President for Center for Media Literacy: Know how much media you consume each day and to manage your time; Learn how to analyse what you are viewing; and go beyond and seeing the other issues (Thoman, 1). These are steps that need to be learned to be media literate and to have a power over certain medias. Media literacy is meant to be applied to all of our media practices.
The importance of media literacy is to understand where information is coming from and who is benefiting from it. When we buy a movie, we know the company who produced it, but the question is who else is behind this picture? I recall a lesson from my Internet and Survey Research class, where our teacher showed us this website that was promoting a certain product but in reality believed in the opposite. The purpose is to understand the differences between credible and non- credible web sites. This helps explain media literacy and the importance in knowing the whole picture. You never really know the truth until you go looking for it. Chandler states in his excerpt, “Everyday references to communication are based on a transmissions model in which a sender transmits a message to a receiver...” (Chandler, 1). There will always be a message being transcribe to us through media and beyond that there will be those who send the message.
Media literacy plays an important part in my life, it’s explored in my classes, and it’s what I’m learning to apply to everything that mediates my life. Not only is it in my classes but it is in every advertisement, every paper, every movie that I read or see, it’s me understanding the hidden message. Going into Public Relations is especially important that I am able to analyse things I read in the newspaper and knowing how to decipher the truth away from the ‘white lies’.
Media Literacy reminds me of the book we had to read called Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud.
He explains “When we abstract an image through cartooning, we’re not so much eliminating details as we are focusing on specific details. By stripping down an image to its essential ‘meaning’ an artist can amplify that meaning in a way that realistic art can’t. Film critics will sometimes describe a live action film as a ‘cartoon’ to acknowledge the stripped- down intensity of a simple story or visual style. Though the term is often used disparagingly, it can be equally well applied to many time-tested classics. Simplifying characters and images toward a purpose can be an effective tool for storytelling in any medium. Cartooning isn’t just a way of drawing, it’s a way of seeing” (McCloud, 30-31).
If you apply that to an advertisement, you take the main issues of the ad trying to find the main message. If we simplify the ideas, it will help us better understand the purpose. Media literacy helps understand the true meanings of media.
Till the next time,
Sarah Young
Works Cited
Chandler, Daniel. "Semiotics for Beginners." 1994. 30 Sept 2008. <http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/>.
McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. 1st. New York, USA: HarperPerennial, 1994.
Tallim, Jane. “Media Awareness Network.”2008. 06 Oct 2008. http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/teachers/media_literacy/what_is_media_literacy.cfm
Thoman, Elizabeth. “Media Awareness Network.”2008. 06 Oct 2008.
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/teachers/media_literacy/what_is_media_literacy.cfm
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