Super curricular

Super curricular 1 - Summarised Article 

Media Magazine: issue 18, December 2006 

The media effects debate

‘Is tv dumbing down?’

 

The article was written by Sara Mills, and she is taking a step back from her usual articles on popular tv culture, such as shopping channels and lifestyle programmes, and is instead wondering whether these examples of ‘Trash TV’ can really be accused of ‘dumbing down’ their audiences – or whether they’re scapegoats for broader fears about class, power and media influence.

The dumbing down debate is the idea that today’s society is becoming less intellectual and that all aspects of the media (newspapers, television, education, exams etc) are becoming more easy and simple year by year. 

“Trash TV’ is seen as evidence of dumbing down, such as love island or big brother as they are said to be ‘dumbed down TV for dumbed down people’. Although Mills argues that dumbing down seems to be a way for certain people to dismiss elements of today’s culture that are new and different, and that they often just don’t like and don’t understand.

The BBC has a remit to inform and educate as well as entertain, and it focuses on intellectual and cultural improvement, giving the public what was good for them, rather than what they want.

The increase in mass education now means that people don’t have to rely on TV to educate them, so this could suggest why TV has been ‘dumbed down’, as people use it as an escape from their hardworking lives.

The information age – seemingly ‘old’ technologies are now being used for narrower purposes, as things like computers are relied on for learning so therefore the TV is used for some light relief.

Super curricular 2 - Triangle of micro/macro

Super Curricular 3 - A Level Media Theory Book 

For today’s homework task we were told to find a new piece of information from The essential revision guide - Media theory for A Level. I looked at Judith Butler’s theory - Gender as a performance and found that she says ‘our gendered identities are not naturally given but constructed through repetition and ritual’. I also learnt what the term ‘abjection’ means - it’s the process of constructing an object or person as repulsive, and Butler infers that this is used to suggest that non-heteronormative identities are unnatural (the view that gender is binary - either male or female).

Super curricular 4 - Shelter YouTube video

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_YfE4l69pAk

In this video, there is a montage of different people who grew up in social housing who are advocating for social housing for the new generations. They each have a different story to tell about how social housing helped shape them into the people they are today and how without it they wouldn’t have had the opportunity to grow and thrive in later life.

They use powerful, emotive language that not only highlights the importance of these houses for children, but also encourages the audience to do their part to help. This is because Shelter is a charity so their main goal for this advert is to gain support and motivate people to donate.