why consume media critically?
So what I’m saying is that it’s fine to ask questions about the social impacts of questionable depictions of relationships in media. It’s natural to have concern about the society you live in. Those video game fearing parents that I mentioned in an earlier post felt the exact same thing. It’s human nature to be wary of unknown effects of media consumption.
But creating a discourse culture that actively encourages the use of literary theory and critical thinking can take us from shoving away all uncomfortable things, to actually making meaningful social analysis of the kind of context we’re living in. Types of representation that might be lacking. We can wield this type of ability to become more knowledgeable, discerning people. We can even like things that we know are bad in real life. Maybe you love Disney princesses, even though they are enshrouded in outdated ideas of femininity and propagated by a corporation of such scale that it might one day rule our lives. Maybe you’re obsessed with serial killer biopics. Maybe you love the tropey reylo ship, how the dynamics of these two characters coming together sparks your imagination, you might find that tension between your own real-life interpretation and the media depiction fascinating to pick into, like me!
There’s something for us here. Becoming a critically literate person is so fulfilling. Even learning the most basic foundations (how does a text reflect or connect with the cultural context it came from?) can equip you with the kind of tools to find value in a huge range of media, even something as abysmal and surface level as 50 Shades of Gray, or as insulting to our expectations of a rich and interesting female character as Star Wars IX’s Reylo.
Isn’t that amazing?












