Do mass media simply reflect culture or actually create it? The course offers a critical examination of the history, evolution, structures and functions of mass media. We will explore relationships between audiences, texts, technologies and society. This introduction to media is framed through both academic notions of meaning-making (theory) as well as contemporary analysis of popular culture (practice).
This course introduces major traditions, concepts, theories, and approaches of media criticism since the 1940s to the present. The emphasis of the course is on identifying the convergences, divergences, and ideological trajectories of each of the research traditions within which various media texts are subjected to criticism and assessed for their significance and role in society. The aim of the course is to learn to understand the analytical power and limitations of various media research traditions, and to apply various conceptual apparatuses to media texts for the purposes of generating intellectually justified criticism, debate, and knowledge.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
- Distinguish and articulate core concepts in the analysis of mass media and communication.
- Contextualize current evolutions, trends, political events, and perspectives about new media technology within a broader history of mass media and the fundamental scholarly approaches to understanding it.
- Identify key social and ethical issues at stake in today’s media environment and be able to articulate what it means to be a “media literate” consumer and citizen.
- Apply critical methods to the analysis of everyday media events.
- Acquire a theoretical and practical foundation for more advanced media study or practice.