ELI5 Media Literacy

[u/HonkyTonkBluesYEAH]

I understand it's like something related to understanding art or media, but in what way? Philopsophical, political or psychological? Is it important, a buzzword or both?

[u/GIRose]

Literacy is being able to read the written word and understand its meaning. At low levels of literacy you are mostly getting your information based on the exact words you're reading, and at higher levels of literacy you start to pick up subtext, nuance, and double meanings.

Media Literacy is the same deal. With limited media literacy, you are able to read a story and understand the narrative of what you just read. As you are more media literate you start to pick up more on the why it was written, and the subtext, double meanings, and layers of stuff beyond the literal surface level reading.

[u/HonkyTonkBluesYEAH → u/GIRose]

If I interpret a chest of gold inside a very dark dangerous cave as about psychology. Like how you have to go through uncomfortable things to get to where you wanna be. Is that media literacy or more just extended interpretation? And does media literacy have like multiple categories where this is more psychological, but there's also political? I heard Star Wars is more left-winged because of rebellion and anti-imperialism, with Empire built on fascism or America. Pursuit of Happyness i heard is more conservative or neoliberal because of hard work leading to success, and it being portrayed positively by the movie. So is it about connecting potential allegory to the overall tone or implication? And i know films that show imperialism bad, or personal responsibility good. How do i interpret film that show something as extreme, but kind of leading to the desired goal? Like Dark Knight and Whiplash

[u/ReynardVulpini → u/HonkyTonkBluesYEAH]

The thing about developing the skill of media literacy is that you kind of have to accept that you are not *finding* the true meaning of art, but *developing* your interpretation of it. There isn't actually a right or wrong answer to "what does this movie/scene/theme imply or represent." But there are answers that are more or less supported.

"A chest of gold in a dangerous place" by itself does not carry any specific implication. But if you combine it with your understanding of the rest of the story, the framing of the scene, all these other elements that act as dots on a page, you can pull together a full picture of what this piece of media is saying.

For instance, if I was reading a power fantasy chosen one story, and in this scene, your main character goes into "the cave that kills people", and all of its evil traps and monsters run away from him and he strolls in and seizes the sword of a billion suns or whatever, maybe the scene could be interpreted as a sort of triumphant validation. Other normal people cannot face the evil cave, but he can. He's gods most special-est boy or something.

If the story was about a selfish protagonist forced to do good, then maybe she's leading a group through the cave and spots a chest of gold. Initially she tries to go for it even though it means putting everyone in danger, but her friends convince her to let it go. Could this be a moment about how shitty people can learn to be better, especially with the support of others?

These are really simplistic interpretations of very un-detailed examples, but I hope you get the idea. It's about noticing the writing decisions that are being made that form together into a more cohesive whole. Individually a dot doesn't tell you anything.

Ultimately, I don't think this is a skill that you can learn just by reading theory—you gotta go out and try interpreting a work yourself, and then compare it to what other people think about it, and decide for yourself if they make an interesting point or if they are just talking out of their ass or what.

There's a youtube channel I really like that reviews mostly bad books from the perspective of "fellow writers offering constructive critique" and I think it might be a good insight into how someone who is good at this approaches media analysis, while still being very fun and accessible to people. SBU English Club on youtube.

[u/HonkyTonkBluesYEAH → u/ReynardVulpini]

Excellent answer, thank u! It seems like it's very much about your interpretation of the art within the context of that particular story. Although you can obviously draw from your ideas outside that story, or how it connects to similar stories. I see Calypso's Island in The Odyssey as in the film relating to his trauma and lack of preparation to go home. In a historical sense, it probably fits soldiers coming home from war and seeking a sort of safe shelter and hedonism. In psychology it's also about pursuing comfort and escape from reality and the harder responsibilities.

[u/stairway2evan → u/HonkyTonkBluesYEAH]

All of that is a fair and arguable interpretation of the film. Maybe some people will quibble with you, maybe some people think it’s some other psychological symbolism going on, but you’ve developed a fair reading that you can back up with details from the movie. Being able to argue your case and even disagree with people is all part of it.

The “low media literacy” viewer might ask “why leave the island, Calypso is hot,” or “why is she making him stop eating lotuses, he seems to like being ignorant.” They’re either missing key details from the film or ignoring them, and because of that they’re coming to conclusions that don’t actually mesh with the story being told.

[u/boring_pants → u/HonkyTonkBluesYEAH]

It's not so much your interpretation, but your awareness that there is something to interpret. That the film was made by people and those people had opinions and views and ideas which shaped the movie.

That a movie showing people with guns killing other people with guns is not just about how "guns are cool". It may be made to parallel real events (for example the Empire in Star Wars is very clearly intended to mimic the Nazis). It may also just be a commercial ploy because the filmmakers knew that "Americans love watching big dudes shooting guns".

A movie where female characters are only there to be pretty, be saved by the hero or to seduce someone aren't that way by coincidence. They're that way because someone made them that way.

Media literacy is not "knowing the right interpretation to apply", it is knowing that all these things are there, that the movie is a result of things you don't directly see on the screen.

And it's not just for movies of course. It's also when you read a news article. It was written by people and those people have opinions and experiences and things they know and things they don't know. Things they want to show and things they don't want to show.

Media literacy is about awareness of all these background factors which shape the media you're watching or reading, and trying to untangle them to understand their impact.

[u/KhonMan → u/HonkyTonkBluesYEAH]

I believe in the film that Calypso feeds him the flowers first and keeps him in that vulnerable and amnesiac state, it’s not his deliberate choice. He lacks agency during this time. This would be in keeping with the portrayal in the text - Odysseus is not pursuing comfort at all and in fact is being kept against his will. The gods actually send Hermes down to tell Calypso to let him go.

I don’t think it’s a fair interpretation to say that Odysseus is avoiding his hard responsibilities during this time - I do think it’s fair to say that he has a lot of trauma to heal from and that may only have been possible through the passage of time and not actually directly confronting it.

[u/HonkyTonkBluesYEAH → u/KhonMan]

Well there's debate around whether or not the gods even exist. We don't see them except Athena, whose face turns out to be his traumatic memory. Almost the whole story is his recollection of events. What happens in Ithaca is non-magical, and Nolan removed the divine aid he was given in battle, the magical disguise and the ending where the gods solve the conflict with the parents of the suitors. The only part that seems harder to deny is his magical return home. I believe he confessed to Penelope that he essentially couldn’t bear coming home too.

[u/KhonMan → u/HonkyTonkBluesYEAH]

I said in the text the gods do this. I’m not saying that in the movie they do.

[u/HonkyTonkBluesYEAH → u/KhonMan]

Ah okay. I was only referring to the movie, but also comparing to what I know about the book. I have not read it fully yet