LESSON 47: WHO WE ARE

This session is all about the way that the media constructs and then sustains representations of particular groups, places, events, ideas. if we are to be successful students of the media then this is a key element of our understanding.

We explore the basic issues.

The media is an important part of how we live our lives

We spend a great deal of our time with the media, using it for a variety of purposes. 

That something that we spend so much of our time absorbed in must surely have some impact upon us.  Specifically...

•       How we see ourselves [self-image;identity]

•       How we see others [ethnicity; gender; age; the’other’]

•       How we see the world [cultures; ideologies]

•       Our values and ideologies [beliefs; values; actions]

We need to consider the extent to which we are ‘saturated’ by the media and thus have our views, values, understandings, beliefs and actions shaped by it

What is represented? 

How is it represented? 

Why is it represented this way?

What is the impact of this representation in this context?