Integrating Media Studies in the ELA Classroom

Perhaps one of the most powerful ways to integrate media, particularly film into the classroom is to use it to study the rules and manifestations of genre. Many students struggle with being able to identify certain indications of a specific genre in a text. For example, a western can be recognized by a hero character, some sort of quest or journey, and conflicts between good and evil. In reading a text, students may struggle identifying some of these more abstract concepts. Film and other media studies can be a great way to scaffold students in understanding these concepts.

One particular lesson, continuing with the theme of a wester, may revolve around the reading of Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian." This text would probably be taught to advanced, older high school students. The text describes a young boys journey across Mexico with a band of scalpers. It is not your typical western story, but exemplifies some of the constructions of a genre. Students may struggle understanding how it fits into the genre. Instead of simply showing a film adaptation of the novel, which I don't think even exists, film can be used in another way to augment student understanding. The teacher can show other film westerns, including stereotypical John Wayne westerns. In this way, students will be able to visually see qualities of westerns. They will then hopefully be able to apply this analysis to the novel in order to make more sense of the action as a western.

In this way, media can be an extremely useful supplement to student learning in the classroom. Learning theory tells us that students learn more effectively when they are able to dually code information. By presenting a text in both written and visual form, students will be able to code it into their schemata in a more meaningful way. This will not only help students that are struggling in class, but also all students. For these reasons, and myriad others, media should be an integral part of all ELA classes.

My Media World

During a typical week I use more media than I am probably even aware of. I am an avid DVR TV watcher. My schedule is such that I am never home to watch TV during the prime time hours. In a given week, when the show is in season, I watch Heroes, Gilmore Girls, Lost, Friday Night Lights, The Office, My Name is Earl, and Lost, probably among others. I don't really watch much cable TV, except for shows and documentaries on TLC. Overall, I watch NBC, ABC, CW, and TLC most. I was surprised to find what corporations own these stations. AOL Time Warner owns the CW, Disney owns ABC, and General Electric owns NBC. These

I am also on the internet every day. My internet service provider is Comcast. I am generally dissatisfied with the customer service provided by Comcast, but there frankly are no other service providers in my area in Saint Paul.

I don't frequently listen to the radio, but when I do I usually listen to the Current on 89.3 which is owned my by Minneapolis Public Radio. I occassionally listen to Cities 97.1. More often than not though, I listen to music that I own on my iPod or computer. When I go to concerts, I usually see shows at First Avenue in Minneapolis. These shows are somtimes sponsored by radio stations, such as Drive 105. Drive 105 is owned by Disney, which is very interesting. I definitely wouldn't connect Disney with some of the concerts that I've attended recently.

The more I research, the more surprised I am by who owns what in the media. I can absolutely no idea that General Electric owned media. This just exemplifies our society's obsession with capitalism and wanting to own sales in this country. We must critically analyze the role that these corporations play in the content provided through these media.

Oh Conor...

Finally, one of my favorite media-music! Ever since I was really young, music has been a huge part of my life. I've played in orchestras and jazz bands and am an avid listener of all types of music. Asking me to choose my favorite music and genres is like asking an English major to choose her favorite authors or books, but I'll give it a shot...

My iTunes library is filled with almost every possible genre from country to hip hop to indie rock to classical. What I like to listen to depends significantly on what I'm doing or how I'm feeling at any given time. Overall though, my favorite music is probably classified as indie rock or alternative. I'm not entirely certain if that's the appropriate title for the genre, but I think it does it justice. Currently, my favorite artists are Bright Eyes, Jenny Lewis, Belle and Sebastian, and Wilco. I've been to live concerts of all of these bands as well. My favorite thing about these artists is their lyrics. I think that some musicians have become the modern day poets, and these artists exemplify this. Each of these groups or singers also represents a wide range of genre as well. Some Bright Eyes songs sound like old fashioned country, while others are louder rock. On the flip side though, you can also frequently catch me listening to rap and hip-hop from 2Pac to 50 Cent. Again, the lyrics of some rap can be compared to poetry and really attract me. Even on tracks where the lyrics are admittedly not very deep, I still can't stop listening because of the rhythms and the beat.

One song that I particularly love that exemplifies my musical tastes is "Make War" by Bright Eyes. The song begins slowly with just a guitar and Conor's voice. Slowly the drums come in and the song begins to pick up. The song deals with the themes of fear in society and compares that to the fear people can have of eachother in any kind of relationships. A few lines in particular say: "And so we've learned to be faithless/stand behind bullet proof glass/exchanging out affections through a drawer." I love that the song deals with larger societal issues such as the level of fear that is generated through media and other factors and relates them back to the personal, a relationship between two people. I think that everyone can relate to these ideas in some autobiographical way.

Thanksgiving

With the upcoming holiday, I've found Thanksgiving and familiar traditions to be a hot topic for discussion. For example, I have a close friend who has never had a Thanksgiving dinner at home; his family always eats out at a restaurant. My family, on the other hand, has always had a huge home cooked meal that takes days to prepare. I think it would be interesting to film a documentary about Thanksgiving traditions and beliefs about the holiday. In my documentary, I would like to raise questions about the origins of the tradition of the Thanksgiving meal, people's perceptions of these origins, and the ways in which the practices have evolved.

In this documentary, I would interview a wide variety of people. I could envision interviewing three generations within a family - small children, parents, and grandparents. I would ask them why they celebrate Thanksgiving in their family. Children may cite learned stories about the original meal between the pilgrims and Native Americans, while parents and grandparents may understand that this story is a myth and may cite family ties as a reason to celebrate this holiday.

I would like to compare and contrast two approaches to the holiday. My family, for example, prepares months in advance by deciding which family member will host the meal. We begin cooking about a week before the meal and invite over as many people as the house can hold. Other traditions, though, include visiting the same restaurant with a small group of friends year after year.

Creating an authentic, realistic portrayal of family traditions should be fairly easy. However, in order to make a statement with the film, I would like to interview historians and teachers in order to analyze how the tradition has evolved and the real story of the first "Thanksgiving." If I could provide this sort of balance through juxtaposing the roots of the tradition and how families practice the holiday now.

Kare 11 Sunrise

Since being introduced to blogs and RSS News Feeds a few years ago, I haven't been one to watch my local television news stations for information. It really surprised me when I sat down the other day and actually paid attention to what was on these news broadcasts. I watched the Kare 11 Sunrise News this morning at 7 am. I was able to see about the first thirty minutes of the program. The first three or four minutes were devoted to a preview of the morning's programming and headline reviews of the weeks elections and the final vote counting in Virginia and Montana. From here, the program jumped into the local weather reports, filled with winter storm warnings! Then, there were a couple of short news segments on local community stories. For example, the first highlighted a charity event that the restaurant Dave and Buster's is putting on in order to raise money for the Emergency Food Network with the holiday season coming up. The second short report highlighted Westview Elementary School in Apple Valley. The clip focused on workshops that the students have been using in order to build community in the school and resolve conflicts. Both students and teachers at the school were interviewed. Lastly, right before I turned the program off, they were transitioning into an interview with a national college admissions counselor who was giving tips for high school students getting ready to apply for college.

During this thirty minute clip, I have to admit that I wasn't entirely surprised by what I saw. There was very brief coverage of the week's national political events, and then the focus completely shifted to national news. The rest of the stories were really geared towards the typical viewers of the Sunrise news show. Although I haven't read any demographic statistics, I would imagine that many of the viewers during this early time are parents who are getting their kids ready and out the door for school that day. The content of the news clips-the focus on the elementary school and the college admissions counselor-were very well suited for this type of audience.

Overall, I had mixed feelings about the broadcast. Personally, I think that local news is very important and I really try to stay connected to the happenings in my neighborhood and community. I usually do so through neighborhood newspapers and local publications, but I definitely see the appeal in watching stories about your community on the news. However, the local news stories presented in the broadcast didn't seem to represent a wide range of opinions or experiences. I almost felt as if there was no important news going on that day, so they filled the time in with stories that, although very interesting, did not bring up bigger news stories. I also think that one can make a mistake relying entirely on local news coverage for information on current events because so much is filtered out through the lens of the local news programs.

hatch2006.org

In examining advertisement this time, I chose to look at a multi-modal form of advertisements. With the upcoming midterm elections, I analyzed Mike Hatch's campaign website. I consistently hear rumors that Hatch is far ahead in the polls. As much as I want to believe it, based on the politics, both national and state, of the past few years, it seems unlikely. Hatch's website is a amalgamation of media promoting his campaign. While Hatch himself is probably not responsible for the exact content of his website, his advertising directors know what the are doing. From the home page welcome that exclaims "Welcome Friend," you can tell that Hatch is trying to sell a particular style of politics. Throughout the site, Hatch markets himself as the "guy next door," trying to show that he is accessible to all voters. While approachability is important to win votes for any candidate, it is especially important for a DFL endorsed candidate. A large part of Hatch's campaign rests on criticizing the esoteric style of government that the incumbant governor endorses, serving the interests of big business and not those of the everyday person (according to Hatch). Throughout the website you see other media propaganda promoting this same approach. For instance, in the "family photo album," Hatch includes pictures of his golden retriever (what all-American family doesn't have a golden retriever) with her nine newborn puppies. Who doesn't love puppies?

Hatch also plays into the hands of his reliable voter base in his biography and history outlined on his website. He highlights aspects of his daughter's public and community service work. He knows, rightly, that many liberals will be swayed to his side by knowing that his family has a personal commitment to the survival of the community as a whole. Likewise, another important voter bloc for the DFL is teachers. In describing his family, one of the first things he notes is that he was educated in Duluth public schools and that his wife has taught elementary school for over twenty years. Aside from teachers, many people are issue voters who vote based on who has the greatest commitment to the public schools, which he makes clear even without detailing his policy.

The website also includes videos of all of his television campaign advertisements, which highlight his commitment to public health care and education, two very important issues to most DFL voters and to all espcially in the upcoming elections. Hatch is able to bring people into his website through anecdotal stories and information that helps him appeal to the general voter and then cna drive his message home through the media that the voter is able to download once hooked into the website. In terms of advertising strategy, the website uses the multimodality of the internet to its extreme advantage.

"Reality" Television

One recently developed media genre is the genre of Reality Television. From classics like "Survivor," in which people compete for a cash prize while stranded on a desert island, to a show in its first season, "The Biggest Loser" (overweight people competing to see who can loose the greatest amount of weight throughout the season), reality TV has quickly pervaded American media and entertainment. While the topics and premises of these shows come in myriad forms, they all follow some basic formulas.

First, almost every one of these shows takes place in an exotic or luxurious location. Project Runway takes place right in downtown New York City and Survivor strands contestants on a tropical, remote island. Both ends of the spectrum capture viewers' attention and offering them and "escape" from reality (and ironic plus from a genre titled "reality television") The settings also always afford drama and romance. On the Real World season set in Las Vegas, the housemates lived in the top floor of the Palms hotel right in the heart of Sin City. That in and of itself invites drama, but the layout of the house further encourages naughty behavior. Not only was there a hot tub in the middle of the living room, but there is a giant community bathroom in which they are put in close quarters while they are scantily clad.

Another landmark feature of the reality television is scripted roles and character personna. Males are usually portrayed as intelligent and leaders. Women, on the other hand are often seen as manipulative and catty or as sexual objects. There are also expected roles on each show as well. Usually there is a host or judges of some kind that serve almost as a Greek chorus. The shows also tend to have an underdog character, whom the audience usually really likes.

Regardless of whether or not you are a fan of reality TV, you have to admit that it's made an impact on American society.