I’m one of those people others find annoying to watch TV with, mostly because I always have something to say about what’s going on. No, I’m serious. One time I was laughing so hard at a show my roommate was watching (because I thought it was ridiculous), she yelled at me and I had to leave the room until I could come back out calmer and quieter. I tried coming back out once, then just gave up and went straight to my room for the night. I’m working on being more open-minded, I swear. Through this course, I will try to reject the high vs. low culture hierarchy, and not be ashamed or embarrassed to sit through Dr. Drew’s special on MTV’s Teen Mom so I can spend more quality time with my roommate.
Media criticism is the systematic study of media texts, like reality TV, news and advertisements, to understand them as meaningful sociocultural symbolic forms and forces. There are critics of everything – art, sports, and scientific inquiries. Media is no different. One of the reasons studying media criticism is so essential is because being from a generation of those raised partially by electronic babysitters, I can attribute most of the influences to the little screen in the family room. Television especially allowed me the experience to pick up social cues, learn facts about medical conditions, law and forensics (thanks, CSI:NY), and provide me a play date with characters who serve as a partial functional replacement for real social relationships. But, I do have real friends, I promise.
Media has the power (and succeeds) to shape individuals, society and culture. Don’t tell me you’ve never wanted your parents to go out and buy you something when you were little because you saw kids having so much fun playing with it on TV. That’s another reason media is so important – it preys on the young as well as the matured. Bam.
What better example of a text to support Americans’ perceptions of values and culture than “Boy Meets World.” If you weren’t tuned into this show, then I’m sorry you missed out. In the unfortunate event you didn’t watch it (and you’re lucky you’re just reading this so as to save yourself from embarrassment,) I’ll summarize it. The show centered on three kids growing up together in Philadelphia. It’s an oldie but goody, because even though it’s not in syndication anymore, the show still provides perfect examples of how family life and growing up is perceived in society. The Matthews were a middle-class family with a dad who worked hard to support his wife and kids. The show dealt with getting good grades, relationships (platonic and romantic ones), and how to overcome obstacles. And they did it without cuing the corny scores that played when Danny Tanner was teaching his daughters about what values are important. I think that made the watching experience ten times better. It was like a 1990’s version of “Leave it to Beaver,” because it shaped America’s values of the time, and the mom still made the kids breakfast and packed their lunches before they went to school – happily.
I like that media criticism is mobile, in that you can take its tools and apply them to any text. I hope I learn the more formal ways to conduct criticism and apply them to everyday conversations with peers.
Communications theorist Marshall McLuhan said it best: “The medium is the message. This is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any medium, that is, of any extension of ourselves, result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology.” Of course television provides entertainment value, but don’t blow off the guy who critiques the medium you owe 1500 of your childhood hours to. That’s got to say something about taking criticism seriously.
