Theory/Praxis

Media literacy. This is a term that was foreign to me prior to this course. I never appreciated the need to fully understand everything I saw and heard from the media, until I realized how much I didn’t know. When watching a commercial, or listening to the radio, I rarely looked beyond the surface of the ad. After reading McLuhan, and seeing the Media Autobiography presentations, I am better able to conceive the truth behind the message, or rather decipher the equivocations. Through researching the theory, I came across a definition I find to be parallel to my own understanding, “Media literacy education must aim to produce students who have an understanding of the media that includes a knowledge of their strengths and weaknesses, biases and priorities, role and impact, and artistry and artifice” (AML). I’d heard the term “don’t trust everything you read” but didn’t know how ignorant I was to the impact of the media. I really appreciate the idea of media literacy. To me it means taking something for more than its face value, to find out what is really being said (or meant), and to think critically for oneself. I am so easily sucked into ads, and am the target of cross merchandising. Now I can actually see the marketing behind the advertisements; I’m able to see why certain companies use celebrities, and who they’re appealing to.
Rather than taking everything at face value, people should look deeper and find the true meaning behind the message.


Works Cited

“What is Media Literacy?” The Association for Media Literacy. 06 October 2008.