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The Interpretation of Meaning Pt. 2: Interpretation Response

Where as the last chapter we read was about the meaning of meaning, this chapter focuses on how to interpret meaning. The chapter offers several ways to think about how media is meant to be interpreted. This chapter asks the reader to think about texts by thinking about three questions. These questions are, what is the text to be interpreted, why have we turned to this text, and finally how does a text communicate. The chapter also discusses various techniques that can be used to interpret text. These techniques are narrative analysis, genre theory, semiotics, content analysis, and analysis of visual text. The paper ends with the conclusion that there truly is no one way to think about media and the information that the media is tying to convey.  

I found this reading particularly interesting. This is because the text makes me thinks about just how much media that I personally take in a day. With this in mind I now begin to narrow down the possibly millions of minuets of media I can consume in a day into any singular video, commercial, game, song, or text I read. From here the possibility of the fact that someone, somewhere may or may not have been watching, listening to, or reading it at the same time as me. Finally I arrive at the fact that any single one of these people based on their personal experiences may have a  totally different interpretation of that same piece of media than I did.To me that's just so weird and cool to think about.

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Media Criticism Class Review

Overall  I would say that I have learned a lot in this class. While this class wasn't entirely what I expected, I definitely got a lot more out of it then I expected. I certainly learned how to look at media and the messages portrayed in it with different lenses. I think I provided this example when we did this in the physical class but I will very likely remember the Madison Homecoming video. This is because on first viewing, as a white male who was raised in a largely white community I didn't see anything really that wrong with the video. in other words, to me the video seemed normal and non-offensive. However as soon as people started saying things and I started thinking about the messages that were being put across in the video and the actual contents of said video I started to put it together more that there were no racial minorities in the video. This made me realize how others outside my own race might have seen the video. It was from this moment on that I truly realized the importance of seeing things from different perspectives.

In general there isn't really anything about the class itself however there are just some minor things that I would've liked to have and that I imagine future students would want to have. Those being, a clearer description of what was required for assignments and when they were due, as well as a more integration of outside readings and videos into class discussions. The few discussions that we had in class I felt helped me better understand the idea of seeing things from other people's perspectives. Once again, I sincerely enjoyed taking this class and if given the opportunity to take another class with you Wachanga, I definitely   will!

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The Interpretation of Meaning Pt. 1: Meaning Response

The Interpretation of Meaning is a paper that attempts to explain what meaning is and how it relates to the real world. The paper also explains how to figure out meaning and the tools used to translate what is trying to be communicated. These tools, as defined by semiotics, are codes and signs and competency. According to the text codes are essentially languages. These codes can be as complicated as the and broad as spoken languages like Chinese or English or they can be simple and semi-universal as traffic signs.The second half of translating meaning according to the text are signs. The text explains that signs are words that come to mean physical objects. The example that the reading provides is that of a chair. It says that the chair that you are sitting is not a sign, however if you were to write out the word chair, that would be a sign. The final part of meaning that the text says meaning relies on is competency. Competency in this case means the ability to decode or understand messages to the point of being able to function mostly normally in society.

How are you supposed to respond to a paper about “the meaning of meaning?” I mean the whole thing was pretty much saying that there is no one for sure way to interpret anything. However I guess the text is trying to say that there are ways to at least attempt to understand the meaning of things. Hopefully by using the tools as described in this text interpreting the messages in media (including the paper itself)  should be easier. Or if not easier at least do able.

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Mickey Mouse Monopoly Response

Mickey Mouse Monopoly is a documentary about the Disney Corporation and their near total control over various types of media. The documentary starts out by talking about how the company controls its image, going as far censoring what images of the parks can be shown in books and other types of media. In fact based on what was said about the Disney Corporation in the documentary it's surprising that this documentary still exists. The next sections of the video discuss the inherent sexist and racist themes that are present in many of the company's older works and even some of their modern ones, which for when the documentary was made would have been the in the late 90's or even early 2000's. For example one woman interviewed in the documentary talks about how one of her friends children heard a group of African American children laughing and playing and he immediately associated the noises they were making with the sounds that the hyenas in The Lion King made. This is problematic for obvious reasons. Another example of something obviously problematic that Disney went ahead and portrayed as a good thing was the Beast's and Belle's relationship in the movie Beauty  and the Beast. According to Dr. Carolyn Newberger, a professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School, Beast shows all the signs of being an abusive person and despite this Belle goes on to fall in love with him and eventually "changes" him for the better. Since this documentary's release, Disney has only begun to expand even further. With the eventual purchase of Lucas-films, Marvel, and even as recent as this year FOX Disney's media empire continues to grow. It should be noted that Disney's representation of various cultures has improved however the hold that the company has over all kinds of media still has many people worried about monopolization and the messages that Disney chooses to send.  

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Why Domestic Video Violence Victims Don’t Leave Video Response:

In her TED Talk, "Why Domestic Violence Victims Don't Leave," Leslie Morgan Steiner tells her story as a victim and how to recognize the signs of domestic abuse. She begins her story by telling the viewer how she met her first husband on the subway. She specifically mentions how kind and nice he appeared at first. She even says he revealed one of his "big secrets" to her telling her that when he was a kid he was abused by his step-father. This combination of nice and tragic backstory made her fall for him. Steiner then goes on to talk about the next step in the abuse cycle when her husband cut her off from her friends and family by quitting his job and moving to a small  New England town. It is here that she says the real abuse started. She goes on to detail how he would at first just threaten violence and then eventually going as far as putting a loaded handgun up to her head and threatening to kill her. Luckily Steiner was able to break her denial and realize what was happening and she told her new friends, coworkers, family and even total strangers. Now, Steiner is married to a good man, has three children and even a black lab.  

I found this TED Talk alarming. I mean, unfortunately you hear stories like this all too often, but it is still kinda scary to think about. Especially when you think about how obvious most of the signs are. And to me that's the scariest part, that from the outside these signs are very obvious but while you are in the situation you'd never recognize it.  

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League of Denial Response

League of Denial is a documentary produced by Frontline that discusses the history the NFL has with concussions and Chronic traumatic encephalopathy or as it is referred to as now as CTE. The documentary starts out by discussing what happened to Pittsburgh Steelers player "Iron Mike" Webster. Due to brain damage sustained from playing football, Webster became a completely different person. He had trouble with memory, became aggressive and angry, and also had trouble sleeping. Webster wasn't the only player to be affected by the repeated hits to head, numerous other players reported similar symptoms to Webster's. Several others who submitted their bodies to a medical examiner, Dr. Ann McKee, after they died revealed that they also had telltale signs of CTE. One of the most shocking cases that was brought to Dr. McKee was the brain of a 18 year old football player who died days after suffering a concussion. Even though he was much younger than most of the other samples his brain still showed symptoms associated with CTE. It was at this point the NFL could no longer ignore the mounting evidence against them. Up to this point the NFL had tried to cover up any evidence that connected football to serious brain damage.

I find the fact that the NFL would willfully ignore the health of their players horrible. The fact that players are expected to literally put their lives on the line in order to entertain is absurd. I'm not saying we should outright get rid of football. It's a good way for people to get together and have good time. I am saying, however, that the NFL should be held to higher standards when it comes to the health and safety of their players. Players should not feel the need to hide injuries just so they can get more playtime.

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Madison Homecoming Video Response

About a week ago the University of Wisconsin Madison released a video that was intended to highlight the school's upcoming  Homecoming events. It features students participating in various activities in and around the Madison campus. However what some might think of as an innocent enough video was very quickly taken down after a large amount of complaints were registered about the contents of the video. Upon further inspection of the video that brags about the diversity and inclusion of the school has literally no people of color in. I mean, the video specifically calls out the fact that there are something 137 different countries represented on the UW-Madison Campus and yet none of the people from any of these countries are shown in the video. 

Before I had watched the video, I wouldn't have even really noticed anything wrong with it. This is because I grew up in a city that had a large white majority population so I wouldn't really have been thinking about it. However now that I know about why this video is considered problematic I'm glad it got taken down and it was good that the committee took it down as quickly as they did. However I do wish that the committee that put together had been more aware of what they were doing. I realize that this slip-up was most likely entirely unintentional but that doesn't make it any better.  

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Soldiers w/o Swords Response

During a time when African-Americans were less than second class citizens a way was needed to communicate issues that were affecting Black communities. A solution arose with the first newspaper written by and dedicated to African-Americans. In time many other such newspapers began to spring up around the country. These papers typically covered issues that directly affected Black communities. For example one newspaper, "The Chicago Tribune," put out ads detailing jobs that African-Americans could get if they left the Southern states and moved North. It was because of this and other things like it, that Southern establishments began to ban the distribution of these papers. Yet creative publishers found ways to continue distributing their message. The practice of African-American run newspapers ran well into the 50's after which many writers were accused of being Communist sympathizers. While these newspapers were enormously helpful while they were still in circulation, they have been largely rendered irrelevant due to the invention of the internet. However this doesn't mean that the contributions that were made by the writers of these African-American papers should be reduced in any way. In many ways these papers were the influence for the civil rights movement of the 60's.

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Documenting Hate Response

In August of 2017 a large number of Neo-Nazi’s descended on the city of Charlottesville, Virginia in an effort to supposedly "unite the right." Ultimately what this actually meant is they chanted racist and antisemitic phrases. Eventually they even went as far as straight up attacking counter-protesters who showed up at to oppose them.  The documentary follows investigative journalist A.C. Thompson as he explores the aftermath of the events in Charlottesville. He follows up with some victims and their family's and even tracks down some prominent members of the white supremacists and tries to figure out why they were there in the first place.

In my opinion the "Unite the Right" rally is quite possibly the most shocking event to happen in modern history. At the very least it's the most shocking thing to happen during a time that I can specifically remember. I mean, the sheer fact that people can still have these blatantly racist attitudes in today's world and get away with it is totally unacceptable. You'd think that with all the video footage that was captured on that day that more people would have faced consequences. However this is clearly not the case. Even in the documentary Thompson was able to find and talk to two people. So the fact that the police have to this date only arrested 11 is alarming. Overall,something like Charlottesville should never have been allowed to happen. Nobody should have to fear for their life because a few people got upset about a statue. However if something like this were to happen in the future, which it most likely will, I would expect those in charge of protecting the people to actually do something about it.  

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Danger of a Single Story (Revised)

In her Ted Talk titled “The Danger of a Single Story,”  Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie discusses just that, the dangers that come with believing a single story about any one group or culture. She starts out by talking about her experiences with children’s books when she was a kid. According to her, the books she read when she was a kid were mostly from England and America. As a result her earliest stories were modeled after the ones she read as a child. Meaning that all the characters were “...white, ate apples, and talked about the weather…” From here Adichie goes on to talk about how we can fall into the same trap when it comes to people and cultures. One story that Adichie tells about this is her experience with her American college roommate who thought that she wouldn’t be able to speak English very well or even how to use an oven. Another story that she gives is one time that she herself believed a single story. Adichie talks about how she went on a trip to Mexico during a time in America when the immigration debate was starting to heat up again. What she expected based on the media coverage of illegal immigration and the horror stories she’d been told about Mexico was totally different than what was actually there. Finally Adiche wraps with the idea that single stories create stereotypes and as she puts it, “...and the problem with stereotypes isn’t that they are untrue, its that they are incomplete.” 

Overall I’d say Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie does an excellent job discussing this topic. She has many pertinent examples and is a very good storyteller. There isn’t really anything negative I can say about her talk. As far as the main lesson goes, I’d say it’s don’t judge people based on stereotypes. Often these stories are incomplete and happen to be the things that media pick in order to prove their point. The reason that the media uses these stories and stereotypes is because they make it easier to get whatever message that they are trying to portray to their audience. Either that or the stories are built around what is normal for that culture such as the children's stories that Adichie read when she was a kid. Regardless of where they come from these stereotypes affect us. We’re affected by these stories because they’ve become just that pervasive. No matter where you go some kind of stereotype or expectation is being presented to us. As such these stereotypes begin to warp our beliefs about the world and the people in it. This can be seen in what Adichie says she wrote about when she was a child. She says she wrote about white children and their lives instead of her own because she was “raised” on the idea that this was the norm and what was to expected when it comes to stories. The world we know today faces this very same issue on a much larger scale. These stories are ones that we grow up with and are surrounded by on a daily basis. As a result, these are the stories that come to believe represent most of the world.