I

Beyond Killing Us Softly: The Strength to Resist
 

I. Analysis of Image Based Culture

Activities

  1. Keep a log of the number of the advertising images they see each day as they go about their normal daily routine. Write down what the image was selling and what clues helped them understand what the image was selling, both overtly and covertly.
  2. Watch television to research how often the screen changes from one scene to the next. It is useful to separate the genres so that students can time screen changes for advertisements, drama shows, news, MTV and children’s shows, especially cartoons. Which genre has the most screen changes? What do screen changes do to/for the viewer?
  3. Read a book and then watch the movie version. Require them to write a description of the visual aspects of two or three characters as they imagine them from reading the book. After seeing the movie, they can discuss in class how they now see the characters. The next project could be to reverse the process whereby students watch the film first and then read the book. One issue to explore here is to examine which genre was more powerful.
  4. Watch an old movie and keep a log of how often the screen changes. Also, explore how the dialogue, the camera techniques and the development of the story are different from present day movies.

II. Images and Ideology

 

  1. Watch the evening news on the same channel every day for one week. Who actually gets to speak? What do they speak about? Are they “subject matter experts” or do they have another role? Which groups do these people represent? Observe how often during the week the stories of racial or cultural groups other than white European- Americans are featured.
  2. Examine how minority groups are represented, how they are depicted. Are they shown as experts in a field or as examples of people who do not conform to the American dream through choice rather than lack of opportunity?
  3. Watch several sit-coms, police dramas and talk shows to see whether minority groups are “symbolically annihilated”.
  4. Find examples of alternative media. Discuss in class what makes the text and images challenge the prevailing, mainstream media
  5. Explore how consumerism is promoted as a way of life and as a solution to problems that are created as a result of the unequal distribution of money and power.
  6. Design an advertising campaign for a product which students find useless. Their job is to sell the product to the class in a way that makes it appealing. Consider what goes into a “real” advertising campaign: target audience(s), geographics, profit potential, creating a need for products that may have little use or value, etc.

III. Body Image

  1. Think aloud how they feel about their bodies. Write the responses on the board so they can get a sense of what others think and the commonalties and differences between the feelings. (Or, you could hand out 3X5 index cards and ask each student to write down 5 phrases which indicate how the student feels about her or his body. Then you could write the comments up on the board, putting checkmarks by the duplicate answers.)
  2. Bring in advertisements of women in order to explore how these images construct particular notions of femininity.
    1. Examine magazines geared to “larger women” to see if these models are portrayed differently than those in the regular magazines. And importantly, how large are these women really, who represent the “larger women”?
    2. Explore the placements of food ads in the magazines. Are they located near an image of a thin model or any ad or article on diets?
    3. Look for alternative images of women. What makes these images challenge the predominant, mainstream images?

IV Pornography

  1. Discuss their experience with pornography. When did they first see it and what affect did it have on them?
  2. Visit an adult bookstore (if students feel okay about this, do not go alone but go in groups). Take notes on the titles of the movies and the different genres on sale. Observe the social interactions of consumers in the store. Can they discern patterns of interaction that are different to those in other stores?
  3. Explore the themes in pornography.
  4. Analyze from whose point of view is the image? Does it take on the position of the female or the male?
  5. Examine how the female body is portrayed, what are the facial expressions, does she look like she is enjoying the sex, are there suggestions of violence and coercion?
  6. How are men portrayed, are their bodies scrutinized by the camera in the same way as women’s bodies?
  7. Are there any connections between the participants other than sexual?
  8. Consider what the image would look like if women made it? Would sex be portrayed in the same way?
  9. Think about what is actually missing from the image/ story? Does the images seem like a realistic representation of sex in this culture?
  10. Develop ideas on how sexual representation could be constructed differently to show an egalitarian relationship between the participants.
  11. Explain why the majority of pornography is still bought by men. While there is a tendency in the media to say that women are now buying pornography in greater numbers, the empirical evidence suggests that this is industry hype.
  12. Examine if there are any differences between erotica and pornography? For those who see differences, ask them to find images of erotica and to explore how these images differ from mainstream pornography.
  13. Consider what is sexual liberation for women and men? What type of images would provide illustrations of this liberation?
  14. Explore what sexual images might look like if penetration was not the main theme.
  15. Research how pornography is linked to major corporations who own pornographic web sites. How have pornographers adopted business models to develop the industry? What is the estimated size of the industry? (This material can be found in the business magazines such as Forbes and computer magazines.)

 VI Resistance to Media Images

Ask Students to:

  1. Decode the mainstream media to see how hegemonic ideas are encoded in mainstream genres such as news, shows, sit-coms, etc. (You might have students get into small groups and each group analyze one genre.) Examples of hegemonic (dominant) ideas might be that America is a meritocracy, that women exist to be looked at, that capitalism is the only economic system that works, that African-Americans are violent by nature, that the poor are poor because they are less intelligent and not because we live in a society that has poverty built into the economic system.
  2. Examine how texts can be polysemic. One useful method is for all the class to see a movie and discuss how they interpreted the text. Often, there will be a range of interpretations and this highlights how the text is not a closed meaning system.
  3. Find examples of progressive and conservative alternative media and examine how they differ from mainstream media owned by corporations. A good example is to compare mainstream teen magazines with “Teen Voices,” a pro-feminist, multicultural magazine aimed at teenage girls. “Ms. Magazine” is another good source. For the conservative magazines, students could use right-wing religious magazines aimed at youth. Another way would be through internet sites.
  4. Watch some independent movies see how they differ from mainstream movies in content, narrative structure and ideology.
  5. Take a particular event in the news and examine how progressive alternative magazines such as “The Nation,” “Mother Jones” or “Utne Reader” approach the issue. What kind of points do these magazines explore and how do they frame these issues within a progressive paradigm. Compare the coverage of the event to that of a conservative magazine such as “New Republic” or even mainstream media such as “The Wall Street Journal.”
  6. Find magazines that are more conservative than mainstream media and explore the “taken for granted assumptions” in the stories. A good example would be the magazines of the N.R.A. or the right to life movement.
  7. Write an article on a topic of interest and submit to a progressive magazine/newspaper or produce a video and submit it to community television in your area.
  8. Interview the editors, writers or owners of some alternative magazines to explore how they perceive their role in providing a different way of thinking about events and issues.
  9. Search the Web to see how alternative organizations are using this technology to organize their supporters and plan events such as protests, letter writing, boycotts, conferences and local meetings
  10. Choose at least one area where you can take a personal activist stance: