They say that media studies is the land of the Feminists these days.
Talk to any media studies student and they’ll talk about the Male-Gaze, Hyper-Masculinity, and other buzzwords that sound like they came from a self-help book. They’ll talk about coding, racial and gender representation, amongst other things that sound bafflingly incomprehensible. There are a substantial number of people that think that all this talk of ‘equality’ and “lack of sexual, gender, or racial bias” is all claptrap. Who cares about this stuff? Some say. A movie’s a movie. I just watch it to be entertained.
Why should I examine Media critically? It’s just a show.
If it isn’t apparent by now, the point of this little diatribe is to disprove that train of thought, because I have feelings about this.
The argument is roughly the same as the analysis of literature – that media is technically art, and as such it has underlying thematic structures, techniques, and intents that deserve to be recognised.
Granted, in the same way not all novels are high literature and should be gauged on that level, so too should we not attempt to compare the Transformers franchise and The Godfather. Nonetheless, we can still attempt to recognise the intent and style of the media in question, and it’s strengths or flaws.
However, it seems to me that media should be analyzed not just on the basis that it can be analyzed, but rather that it matters. By its nature, we watch more television, movies and play more videogames than anyone has ever read books. Mostly because it’s more fun, and hey, you do you, but I digress. Nonetheless, because of just how easy it is to consume media, one should probably think about what it is they’re consuming in question.
Take last year’s Wonder Woman. A solid movie, and a comic book adaptation at that. It can be considered an action flick, and looked at for sheer entertainment. However, it also has intricate thematic structures that are worth noting. Wonder Woman delves deep, though not at all subtly, into the morality of humans, their intrinsic worth, and the choice that everyone must face when confronted with the ugly truth of the world. Yes, it can read in a shallow manner, that the action is good, and the movie is interesting, but then we fail to understand why. Why is it captivating? What parts of the human experience does it touch that resonates with us? There are reasons why the movie works, and why it doesn’t, and I think that it’s only right that we at least discuss it.
It’s true that it’s not for everyone, but we don’t look down on art critics, so why media studies?
(Okay we totally look down on art critics, but pretend that we don’t for a second.)
Now. Let’s talk about why Media is political.
Once again, because of the fact that almost everyone has consumed media at some point (I’m specifically referring to movies, comics, tv shows, and video games here), everyone’s also been influenced by it. Not overtly, and sometimes we don’t even notice it, but it does happen. Not just in obvious ways, like how Lord of the Rings influenced the entire fantasy genre (don’t lie to yourself it’s basically a trope codifier at this point), but in little ways.
That’s why propaganda films exist, they work. Not on everyone, but for a substantial number of people, the relentless portrayal of something as correct in media influences public perception. Take the Military for example. It’s cause they’re always portrayed so heroically in Media (honestly the army only endorses the movies and video games that make them heroes so it’s not as if they don’t know that representation and PR matters), it softens the whole ‘tool of the government’ angle.
Unfortunately, Media is politicised. Fiction or non-Fiction, because they draw from real life, they absorb facets of this life. Be it intentional, or subliminal coding, they exist. Bright, the Netflix Film, is so overt with its fantasy racism shtick that you couldn’t miss it even if you were blind. Conversely, Lord of the Ring’s portrayal of the only brown-skinned people in the universe siding with Dark Lord McGee is faithful to the books but…inherently problematic. Horizon Zero Dawn’s critique of religion is nuanced and easy to ignore, but it’s there. All these thematic ideas are part of what makes a story good, or bad, because they are what make up a story.
If a story lacks an element that people consider egregious; for example, take the flak at La La Land for having a white man wax lyrical about Jazz, a historically black movement, that’s justified. It doesn’t mean the movie is bad. It just has elements that should be improved on, like maybe not implying that a historically empowered race knows Jazz better than the historically disenfranchised race that makes it. It’s disrespectful, and should be acknowledged.
Even without the whole ‘subtext’ or ‘text’ thing, it’s important to consider representation as well. Maybe we should observe that the portrayal of women in Marvel Movies as complex, interesting characters in their own right could be improved. *Cough* Pepper Potts *Cough Cough*. None of this means that Marvel Movies are bad; just that they could and should be improved. Since gender-equality is now more of a thing, maybe we could consider making stories about women, for women. Just a thought.
Media reflects opinions. Within the story, or maybe even in how it was made. They are indicative of the culture that made them, and in the same way we can now say that Song of the South was a bad move, we can probably recognise that Transformers is not the most…socially aware film. It’s entertainment, but it does not exist in isolation. It is influenced, and it influences, and to willfully ignore that is a disservice to the many people that put their heart and souls into their work, the the society that consumes it.
Basically, the Critical Analysis of Media should be done, and it’s not for everyone, but hey it’s important so just let me overanalyze in peace okay y’all I just like to do stuff like this.
Source:
A Student's Apotheosis 