Module 2 Reflections

This has been a very eventful learning week to say the least. After completing the readings and watching the videos my mind was a bit overwhelmed. However the concept of visibility is clearer to me now once I was able to dive on into the course material. Since the week started out identifying five key questions us media literate people need to ask ourselves while reconstructing a media advertisement. I realized my media literate skills could be using some improvement. The five key questions are as listed (1) who created this message, (2) what creative techniques are used to attract my attention, (3) how might other people understand this message differently than me, (4) what values, lifestyles, and point of views are represented or omitted from this message, and finally (5) why is this message being sent. These questions are vital in using the correct tools to pull apart an advertisement and see what is really about. After establishing the knowledge of these tools the once hidden messages will now be able to become visible to our eyes and identifying the true message. Another hidden message theory I learned about was the Smurfette principal. This principal has to do with the unfair casting of men in movies and TV shows. In more movies than we realize there are only men dominating characters. Media sends out the wrongful message that women are weaker and women only exist in relation to men. Media does a wonderful job stereotyping woman and their roles in media. The Smurfette principal reveals that women in movies are often only pointed out as sexy figures or a sidekick to a strong man. Many movies such as Transformers a hit movie appears to be sexist modeling the only woman as a sexual figure. Often times this principal is not pointed out too often since sexism in movies is so normalized in the media. Based off the Smurfette principal was the Bechtel test. This test will be able to help you identify the importance of women in movies. If the movie can pass three simple questions, then the movie may appropriately resemble women. The questions are (1) does the movie have two or more women characters that have names, (2) do the women talk to each other, (3) do women talk about something other than a man. Both the Smurfette principal and the Bechtel test reveal the ways genders are often unequally valued in media especially movies. I challenge you were there any of your favorite movies that passed or did not pass any of these two principals?

The next topic I found important in this week’s readings was stereotyping. In Cortes article Struggling with stereotyping it address the issue generalizing verses stereotypes. There is often a difficulty in distinguishing the two in media and their meanings are misunderstood. Generalization can be described as group common things or groups of people in the media. Stereotyping can be described as pointing out the differences in groups and are quick to assume things that may not always be true. Cortes used the words “some and many” to describe commonalities in generalization and “almost or all” to describe stereotyping. (Cortes p. 149) I learned that generalizing requires more media literate skills to help clue together common groups in what they might do, and having an open mind. Opposed to stereotyping where there is resistance to new knowledge. Certain groups of people ought to act and behave a certain way is stereotyping which is wrong. We can never assume anything about people or cultures and their norms just because media reveals it in a certain way. Media enjoys being stereotypical towards groups of people and does not realize the offense that is being made. No culture or any person should be seen in a negative light.

Another example of stereotyping within media is the norm of men and women’s sexual orientation. In Larry Gross’s article Out of the Mainstream: Sexual minorities and the mass media, Gross describes the hardships lesbian women and gay men go through since there are often picked out and placed in a negative light in the media. The two major ways I read about how these men and woman are wrongly stereotyped is their families are not classified as normal and the wrongful way they are portrayed in movies. “The process of identity formation for lesbian women and gay men requires the strength and determination to swim against the stream” (Gross p. 410). Society is failing to accept that there should not be such a label on the norm. This article describes gay people having to go the extra mile to feel accepted in society. We live in a day and age where there should not be a labeled norm on what a family is. Families come in all shapes and sizes and are a community of people who love each other and want to feel valued. Gross’s article also touched upon how gay people are very often seen as invisible in the media (Gross p.411). When a gay person is starred in a movie they are often victims of violence, ridicule, or villains. They are also placed as misunderstood characters that are silly or weak. Media has been in denial that they are attacking people that are part of our society. Media needs to take a change in the direction of how all people are represented. We are all humans and need to be respected for the way that we are.

In Karen Sternhrimer’s book Connecting Social Problems and Popular Culture another terrible topic was introduced. The topic was realities of suicide and cyber bullying of the LGBT youth community. Reading this section was heartbreaking to see how student aged children not part and parts of the LGBT community are cyber bullied. “In a Colorado county study found that LGBT youth were more than twice as likely to report electronic harassment than those who identified as heterosexual (nearly 30 percent versus 13 percent)” (Sternheimer p. 53-54). That statistic really crushed me. Today it is likely that there is growing awareness and acceptance of gays and lesbians in society over the past years. My hope is that teachers now will intervene in these horrible situations and help instill in students the harms of what cyberbullying can do to a person. This section of visibility has opened my eyes to the harms media places on individuals. We are all affected by the media in one way or another. Learning to be aware of our media surroundings and treating everyone with respect will help flourish our individual media literacy.