CHAPTER 7 MEDIA Instructor Guide

Transcription

1 CHAPTER 7 MEDIA Instructor Guide OVERVIEW The overarching goal for Chapter 7 Media is for students to grasp seemingly contradictory truths about media: (1) media affect people in profound ways and yet individuals do not mindlessly accept media messages; (2) media create and perpetuate harmful ideas about gender and yet media also critique gender and offer alternative images; and (3) most people believe media are a powerful force, but believe they themselves are not affected by this power. Keeping these paradoxes in mind is essential for thinking critically about media. INTRODUCTION, p. 203 The introduction opens with a photo of the 1968 protest of the Miss America pageant and Thompson s vignette about how media coverage of this event and the killing and wounding of Kent State University students profoundly affected her. Key goals of the introduction are to introduce students to the idea of media paradox, what is known about media influence, and the role of media in democracy. On the surface of it, the chapter opening and Learning Activity 7.1 Your Experience of the Media (p. 207) are straightforward; however, part of the power of the media is the strong belief each of us has that we can resist it if we want to (but we rarely acknowledge that we do not want to resist!). Based on our teaching experience, we expect students to have no difficulty coming up with a meaningful media representation for the learning activity, but we expect they will resist the idea that media influence them. Students will likely choose a wide variety of media representations which will appear to reinforce the idea that we all pick and choose the messages we want to hear. We urge you to give the students less time to talk about their favorite media representation and why it is meaningful to them and devote the majority of your lecture/discussion to the underlying gender messages across media and ways in which they reinforce and challenge gender expectations. WHAT ARE MEDIA?, p. 207 Paradoxes haunt us again in the section on what are media. Although we ve suggested in the Introduction that you focus students attention on underlying gender messages, in this section we encourage you to challenge students (mis)conceptions of media unity. Depending on your media interests, you might want to compare and contrast variations between independent and corporate media; US and international; religious and secular. We also think it is important to get students to understand ways in which media conglomerates undermine democracy and to wrestle with distinctions between censorship and protest. Modeling Learning Activity 7.2 Gendered Images in Advertising (p. 210) may be a concrete way to grapple with these complexities. You might compare and contrast advertisements from different sources (independent and corporate media) and also show the commonalities of advertisements in different media within the same media conglomerate. You could bring in particularly egregious gendered ads to stimulate a discussion about censorship versus protest. FOCAL POINT: HAVE YOU COME A LONG WAY ON FILM, BABY?, p. 209

2 We had originally thought about entitling this section Have you come a long way, baby? but figured that was a reference to gender and advertising that would likely be unfamiliar to anyone under 30. To our surprise, we saw the slogan sincerely used to herald the successes of women in the film industry in 2010 and decided to use it for the title for our focal point on Hollywood films. Our choice of Hollywood films as a focal point was mainly our way of making a media focal point manageable. Keeping up with contemporary media is a full-time job. By focusing on films we hoped to narrow the scope while still covering all the bases of methodology (content analysis), media history, distinctions between representation and narrative, gender and intersectionality, and a global relational analysis. Our hunch is that if you are teaching gender, you have at least one favorite medium for exploring gender and can use our discussion of film as a jumping-off point. For instance, Box 7.1 Bechdel Test for Popular Culture (p. 216) can be applied to any medium. Learning Activity 7.3 Gender in Film (p. 221) can also be changed to encourage students to examine gender in other media. WHAT DO HOLLYWOOD FILMS REVEAL ABOUT GENDER AND MEDIA, p. 221 Although limited, we applied our analysis of Hollywood films to other media to reveal inequality in representation by gender and other social locations as well as narratives that elevate White, middle-class, heterosexual, able-bodied men and distort the lives and experiences of others. Research Example 7.1 Gender, Race, and Age in Video Games (pp ) is an opportunity to draw in students experiences with video games and to further analyze media. Our choices for the Power of Many (The International Women s Media Foundation and the Geena Davis Institute on Gender and the Media, p. 225) and Power of One (Lucila Vargas, p. 228) give you additional opportunities to draw attention to other media and to highlight media literacy and critical thinking. Learning Activity 7.4 Research on Gender in the Media (p. 228) will give students a chance to explore media research of their choosing. CONCLUSION, p. 229 Our hope for this chapter is that students will see not only the power of the media, but recognize their own power to critically think about media, to challenge harmful images, and to support media that are socially just and contribute to democratic ideals.

3 CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES Learning Activities Assess the skills your students need to develop and then assign one of the learning activities in Chapter Your Experience of the Media (skill: identification, analysis, and reflection) 7.2 Gendered Images in Advertising (skill: systematic data gathering and application) 7.3 Gender in Film (skill: systematic evaluation and anticipation of consequences) 7.4 Research on Gender in the Media (skill: determining relevance, summary, and analysis) Provide an overview of the skills and their importance. In whole class, small groups, or pairs have students share the findings from their assignment. Have volunteers share the highlights of their work. Lead a whole class discussion, connecting their work to the relevant chapter section. Research Example Assign one of the suggested articles annotated at the end of the chapter or another research article. Pirofski, Kira Isak Race, gender, and disability in today s children s literature. Critical Multicultural Pavilion Research Room, EdChange. Schilt, Kristen and Laurel Westbrook Gender normals, transgendered people, and the social maintenance of heterosexuality. Gender and Society 23 (4): Ask students individually, in pairs, or small groups to analyze all or a portion of the article(s) following the format of the research example (e.g. description of the research issue and methods, findings, contributions, reflection, and conclusion). Lead a whole class discussion of the ways in which the research example reinforces, extends, or challenges the arguments presented in the chapter. Ask students to provide evidence from the reading to support their argument. Imagery Suggested documentaries: The Strength to Resist: The Media s Impact on Women and Girls The Codes of Gender, how popular culture conveys ideas about masculinity and femininity. Ask students to look at the photo of the 1968 Miss American protest in the chapter opening (p. 203), Halle Berry (p. 210), use one of the above documentaries, or bring (or have them bring) in a photo, video or film clip, advertisement, or commercial of your choosing that is related to the chapter. To help students develop their observational

4 skills, ask them to describe what they see. Then ask each student to write a short paragraph evaluating the significance of the image as it relates to the topic of the chapter (e.g. media images of feminists, Hollywood films). Have volunteers read their paragraph and then discuss what they have learned. Recap the discussion and connect to what the imagery reveals about gender, intersectionality, media, and social change. Power of One and Power of Many Have a media literacy resource day in class. Assign students individually or in groups to investigate one of the media literacy websites found in the Power of One, Power of Many, or in the suggested links below. Have individuals or groups prepare a poster with their findings about (1) the mission, purpose or goal of the resource, (2) how critical thinking about the media is encouraged, and (3) the social impact of the resource. Divide the students/groups depending upon the number of students (½ if a smaller group; ¼ if larger). Have one portion of your student group set up their posters in stations around the classroom. Have an equal number of students/groups be the audience for one individual or group presentation about the poster. Ask each audience member to write one thing they learned from the presentation. Then have the next set of students set up their posters and repeat. Set the amount of time/presentation so that each student/group will have a chance to present at least one time. Determine how to divide the students and the time by the number of students you have in class and the amount of time you have. Before dismissing class, ask each student write an overview of what they learned about media literacy and (1) ask for volunteers to read what they have written and/or (2) collect students writing and select ones to read at the beginning of the following class. Discussion Questions Select one of the discussion questions. For instance, What are ways to increase media literacy about gender and other systems of inequality? How can organizations harness the media to raise consciousness about social issues and advocate for social justice? What are some of the challenges that confront organizations and individuals that strive to create a more socially just media? To address these questions: Ask students to identify the elements of decent work. Ask each student to select a job they (or someone they know) have held and to evaluate it based on criteria for decent work. Group students into pairs or small groups and ask them to compare and contrast their lists with attention to the dominant gender in the occupation, other social locations, and where it fits into global capitalism.

5 Lead a discussion of what they have learned about decent work and how it relates to gender, intersectionality, and globalization.