Monday, December 14, 2009

What I've learned this semester

I definitely feel that I have come away from this class learning a lot; I have definitely gained a much greater understanding on how to analyze and critique various forms of media, whether it may be advertisements, a television show or a movie. I’ve learned about the how texts can be analyzed through various perspectives, such as class, gender, ideological or semiotic lenses. I’ve also learned about the different ways characters are presented in film due to their race, gender, and class; oftentimes “the other” is reduced to stereotypes or shown as being submissive through binary codes and other ideological representations. In fact, I’ve learned a lot about the use of stereotypes throughout the history of media and how they are still extremely prominent in movies/television nowadays, revealing that society has not made that much progress in defying stereotypes or including a more accurate racial representation in the media.

 

 

I’ve also learned about hegemony, which is the power or dominance that one social group holds over others. This directly affects the types of media that are created and shown to the public and can be used to explain why subaltern texts so rarely make it into mainstream media. Furthermore, I learned about the prominent role which ideology has in reinforcing myths in society and affecting the way one’s perception on reality. After taking this class I now also know the important role which narrative and genre play in the structuring of films. Various narrative techniques, such as light, costuming, casting, sound, music, color and composition, are used to elicit different emotions and responses in viewers and genre is an important mode used to attract viewers.

 

2 comments:

  1. I got a lot out of this class too :) Guess it was worth all the work!

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