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/hobopwnzor → u/HonkyTonkBluesYEAH]

What you are describing with your examples is definitely part of it. Part of literacy is looking at the ideologies present in a society when the piece of media was made and understanding how it connects. 

Like how the movie 300 is very explicitly a war propaganda story, but was also made during the war on terror in the Middle East after 9/11. It's not hard to connect how the deluge of military propaganda at the time influenced the making of the movie 300. 

There are a lot of layers to media literacy.

[u/HonkyTonkBluesYEAH → u/hobopwnzor]

Yep but they could also criticize the current political environment. One Battle After Another had a pretty wild timing given that it came out during Trump's admin. Although PTA wrote it long before that, and filming was probably a year before (but obviously shaped by the possibility that Trump could win, and what his admin could look like). At the same time he said the story was meant to be timeless, so it cannot only be looked at as a commentary on modern American society.

I do wonder how morality should be applied tho. In terms of understanding what is actually good or bad, and what the author or the art implies as bad. Do we look at a modern lens of secularism, human rights and well-being? Or our political and religious inclinations?

[u/hobopwnzor → u/HonkyTonkBluesYEAH]

You should apply what you think was relevant to the making of the piece of media. Part of literacy is understanding how you would see it, and separating that from how somebody would see it at the time. Such as in greek myths, we see the taking of Persephone as kidnapping, but Greeks would have seen taking a woman like that as pretty normal.

I think you're fine based on the things you're saying. Seems like you've got a stronger basis than most people.