Does this work? If yes, we will watch some.

Does this work? If yes, we will watch some. Reel Injuns (2007) http://www.movieslead.com/Watch-Reel-Injun-Online.html

Does Media Representation Matter? Only about 1/3rd of Americans know a Muslim person but…40% believe Islam is “More Likely to Encourage Violence” than other religions. Source: Pew Research <http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1921/poll-islam-violence-more-likely-other-religions-peter-king-congressional-hearings>

Lecture 2 Week 9 A Little Bit More About Race and Representation Tying things together Analysing Media Texts

Last Airbender • Clip from the Anime • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9LLE4xG26I&feature=related Clip from the Live Action • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMoGFeMmhKA • …notice anything?

From Anime to Live Action… Source: Racialicious.com

Critique of The Last Airbender’s Casting • The film heroes are mostly Caucasian, while the anime has clear representations of an “Asian” culture for the heroes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBda7b9tRdk&feature=player_embedded#at=42 • When the casting for the film was announced, there was a lot of criticism among the fans.

M. Night Shamalyan’s Response • “Here’s the thing. The great thing about anime is that it’s ambiguous. The features of the characters are an intentional mix of all features. It’s intended to be ambiguous. That is completely its point. So when we watch Katara, my oldest daughter is literally a photo double of Katara in the cartoon. So that means that Katara is Indian, correct? No that’s just in our house. And her friends who watch it, they see themselves in it. And that’s what’s so beautiful about anime … • I was without an agenda, and just letting it come to the table. Noah [Ringer, who plays Aang] is a photo double from the cartoon. He is spot on. I didn’t know their backgrounds, and to me Noah had a slightly mixed quality to him. So I cast the Airbenders as all mixed-race. So when you see the monks, they are all mixed. And it kind of goes with the nomadic culture and the idea that over the years, all nationalities came together.” Source: i09.com <http://io9.com/5504967/shyamalan-addresses-airbenders-race-controversy-and-answers-your-questions>

Tying things together…

How can we put together what we know to look at a media text? • For any media text you look at, you should at least ASK and TRY to answer the following:

This might involve you making an educated guess. Is the audience young or old? Male or female? Rich or poor or middle class? Western? What language do they speak? This might be hard to do without research on an exam, but if you know a basic fact – eg “this is a major American newspaper” that is good to include. In a news text, you could talk about the anchor or reporter if they are on screen, in addition to the subject of the text itself. Not all texts will have an obvious ideology. But some questions to ask: Marxist? Capitalist? Religious? Fascist? Communist? Feminist? None of the above? You should know the definitions of all of the narrative theories mentioned here. IMPORTANT but might not apply to everything. “News” is a genre of media. Examples of film genre might be “Science Fiction” or “Horror” or “Romantic Comedy” for example. Television genres might include “News” or “Talk Show” as two examples.

Lets walk through one together. • Watch this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ1Rb9hC4JY

Kids. Maybe also their parents. “Hypodermic needle” theory. “Uses and Pleasures” theory. Disney. A major entertainment corporation that now owns lots of media outlets. Gender: male versus female roles. Who controls the rug? Who acts scared? The workers versus Princess and Aladdin. Heterosexual romance. Fantasy and adventure. Travel Maybe too short a clip to find Todorov or Levi Strauss. Propp’s Character Roles, for sure. Romance, adventure.

Early break and then to A1…

GROUP EXERCISE 1

GROUPS 1 AND 2:Coke Ad • Watch the following: Coke Ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce2JrUG3JRU • Take 20 minutes to -answer the AIRING questions (you might need to do a little research –) • Then Share With Class

GROUPS 3 AND 4AJ News Story – Analysing a Media Text • Watch the following: “Anonymous, The New Face of Cyber War” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i2-naTYsAM • Take 20 minutes to -answer the AIRING questions (you might need to do a little research – • Then Share With Class

Review for Test and Preparing to Review for the Exam…

Topics to Focus on for Progress Test (and the Final Exam, too) • Basic Media History: When was stuff invented and where on earth? • Events in Radio and TV History • Connotation and Denotation • Narrative Theories – what are they? • Media Ownership – how has it changed in last 50 years? • Media Ownership – Public Choice Model versus Public Interest Model • Models of Journalism • Propaganda – definition and methods • News values • Murdoch and Newscorp • Public Relations – what is it? • Political Communication – what is it?

Topics to Review for Progress Test (and the Final Exam, too) • Regulation: Who regulates the media? • Ideology: Definition of the word, how to talk about ideology in media. • Rhetorical fallacies: three main types and recognizing examples of subtypes • Political Communications: Themes (Personalization, Scientificization, etc) • Current Trends in the Media Industry: debates over new media, the changing (?) role of print and television.

GROUP EXERCISE 2

HEADLINE <-- PHOTO(and beneath it, the CAPTION) SOURCE – Anonymous person, in this case.

Exercise – Response to Print Media • In PARTNERS (Groups of 2) in A1 • Read these two articles about Wikileaks • One from the Guardian: Julian Assange's lawyers 'preparing for possible US charges' • (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/10/julian-assange-lawyers-us-charges ) • One from Global Voices: Actions to silence Cablegate and Wikileaks, threats against Assange (http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/2010/12/05/actions-to-silence-cablegate-and-wikileaks-threats-against-assange )

Exercise – Response to Print Media • 1. Compare the headlines of the two articles. What differences do you see? (5 points) • 2. Compare the photographs and photo captions used to illustrate each article. What are the implications of the choice behind each image and its caption? Why do you think the photos might be so different?. (5 points). • 3. Choose two sentences from each article (that’s four sentences total) you think are interesting for the words used. What do these sentences suggest about each writer / news organisation’s point of view? (5 points) • 4. A source is someone the author quotes to help support the story’s information or the point they are making. Identify two sources quoted in each article (that’s four sources total),How are these sources similar and different? (5 points) • 5. Who do you think is the intended audience of each article.? Give evidence from the article’s context (e.g. what Web site it is from) as well as from the article itself.(5 points)

Does this work? If yes, we will watch some.