 Hi, everyone. Welcome to this last conversation that we're going to have on critical media studies as a part of this particular round of videos and discussion here. So this is what I have taken to calling the greater whole of critical media studies. So what does that mean? Well, it comes from an expression that is attributed to Aristotle who said this. Our buddy here, Aristotle, said that in the case of all things, which have several parts, and in which the totality is not, as it were, a mere heap, but the whole is something besides the parts. There is a cause. Now, this quote is commonly quoted, really, as the sum is greater than the whole of the parts, but really what he's saying here, the whole is something besides the parts. In other words, it's not necessarily greater, but it's different than. When we look at the different parts that we have in critical media studies, the different critical lenses that we've examined, they are all unique and important in their own right, but there's a whole that is something else entirely. There's a whole of this idea of critical media studies, as we talked about in the first couple videos in this series, what is critical media studies and how do we do critical media studies in general. We know that there's something more to it than just these individual lenses. Again, the individual lenses are great there. They're an important part of something, but there's a whole that is something else entirely outside of just those parts. So that's what I want to look at today. What's the whole that we've been looking at? How do we pull all this together and think of it as a whole? Another way to think of it in a little more modern terms is if we've taken an entire engine apart. This is a car engine. We've taken the whole thing apart. We've examined each part. We've examined the head. We've examined the pistons. We've examined every piece of this individually, this engine individually. But now that we've had a chance to look at those individual pieces, those individual lenses, we want to put it all together and see how the engine works altogether. It's not just this collection of parts, but there's something else entirely that happens when we look at it as a whole. So that's what we're going to do. Let's just to review real quickly. So we looked at a variety of different types of analysis and critical media studies in a couple different categories here. If you followed along first, there were the theories of the media industries. These include things like Marxist analysis, organizational analysis and pragmatic analysis that really have to do with the media industries. The way that the kind of the business of media and how these things get created in the first place and some of the different financial aspects and just the industry, the business of media in general. So we've looked at the theories that relate to those media industries. We also looked at some theories of media messages, how are things communicated through the media, including things like rhetorical analysis, cultural analysis, psychoanalytic analysis, feminist analysis and queer analysis. We've taken a look at all of those individual items, individual lenses. And so we've looked at critical media studies and how it operates through these different theories of messages, how we can be critical of those artifacts and examine those artifacts through the different ways that those messages are created from the creation standpoint and also through the interpretive aspect of it. So we just took a look at the different messages. And then finally we've taken a look a little bit at some of the different media audiences and discovered that the audience themselves is an important factor in examining these different media. So we looked at reception analysis, we looked at sociological analysis, we looked at erotic analysis and ecological analysis, all of which have to do with the audience's reaction and the various audience responses and the audience interactions with these different media. And what does that mean? What does that tell us as people who are examining this and looking at not only that artifact itself, but the impact of media on our culture in a broader sense and on just the individual audience members. So we took a look at a variety of different things related to the media audiences. So we looked at all these different categories, industries, messages and audiences and looked at lenses within each of those areas. Maybe the big question now though, we've taken a look at all these individual lenses. Like I said, we've got to handle on a lot of these or we've been introduced at least to a lot of these different individual lenses. But the big question is now what you have all this new knowledge, you have all these new perspectives, right? You can see the media in a variety of different ways than you could before, maybe or at least a few that you have gained some insight on and really have a new perspective on how we can examine the media and how we understand the media that we're taking in and that we're exposed to on a daily basis. But now what? What do we do with all this information? What do we do with these new perspectives? Well, I want to suggest a few. There are a couple of common ways that we look to apply critical media studies and look to the application of critical media studies. The first of which, the first level is media literacy, which is really just an understanding of what we mean by what, you know, where the media comes from. What the industry is that creates as we talked about those different theories of industry. But, you know, who makes the idea that media is created by someone and that there is a point here. So there's a message there somewhere. So being aware of those things and not just being kind of this, you know, mindless vessel that takes in media and never really thinks about where it came from, what it might mean or any other kind of, you know, subtle message or subtextual message that may be coming through there. But just having some basic media literacy, understanding the basic industry of the media and the basic principles of media and the purpose of media. We'll give you that media literacy so that we can have just that foundational level of analysis and examination when we come across media. We can step beyond media literacy and get into what we call media resistance, right? Sometimes we look at things like culture jamming and what's called culture jamming, which is essentially just ways to kind of resist media and to push back against media, indicating we have an understanding of where this comes from, what you're trying to do, and we're going to push back. We're going to resist. We're going to use your tools really against you in creating some of this resistance for the media. We see this sometimes in mainstream media. We see different programs push back or take shots at mainstream media. For example, those of you who may remember Stephen Colbert before he took over the late show after David Letterman's retirement, before he took over that more mainstream show, he had a show in between being on the daily show where he started and the late night show. He had this program called the Colbert Report, right? And it really was kind of a media resistance piece, almost kind of a culture jamming piece, because he really played a personality. That character of Stephen Colbert was, you know, a caricature of mainstream conservative media personality, a little over serious and said ridiculous things. And it was there for comedy, right? It was on Comedy Central and it was more educational than you might have thought. But at the same time, it really was a comedy program at heart. And so the Colbert Report, though, taking aim at the different mainstream, especially conservative media programs, there is a form of media resistance. And then you have more explicit forms of what we would really call culture jamming. The examples like this, which is obviously a play on the McDonald's marches, and talking about associating McDonald's with weight gain and obesity, just a general lack of health associated with that, but really playing on the familiar images of the Golden Arches and the McDonald's sign and things, and even the phrase, you know, instead of I'm loving it, I'm gaining it. And so you have some familiar things there, but really pushing back against mainstream media in that way. Another example of culture jamming here, a play on the Starbucks coffee logo, indicating just the high prices there and what you're paying a premium for that. And really that we're paying a premium for the logo that's on it, you know, a little bit for the coffee, but mostly for the logo that's on the side. So you have different types of media resistance that you can get involved with, you know, pushing back against the use of media for maybe what you might consider less than ethical or less than savory purposes. You can use that media itself to push back and provide some resistance here. Another way that we can apply critical media studies and a really fuller understanding of the media and the impact that it can have is through media reform. We can look at media reform. One, having, for example, right now that's hot on media reform, there's always media reform happening, but one in our current day and age, our present day and age really has to do with sort of policing social media. And should social media be policing itself? Should there be more governmental regulation of social media? What is what is not allowed? Where's that balance between free speech and free expression and the balance between, you know, responsible expression, you know, expression that's not going to be harmful to other people. So should the platforms be policing this themselves? Should they be responsible for that themselves? And surprisingly, many of them are arguing no. In fact, they're saying we don't really want the responsibility that we would rather have the government come in and do some of this. They should take some of the heat off themselves. But so, you know, those types of things for media reform, we can get involved in that. We can get involved in, you know, different standards and practices with the FCC and just, you know, making reforms in media. Now that we understand, you know, we've kind of pulled back the curtain, right? Like in the Wizard of Oz, we've pulled back the curtain. We see what's happening in these media outlets and things. So we can use that knowledge to enact media reform or fight for media reform that we see as necessary. But we can do any of these, we can do all of them. They're not mutually exclusive. It's not that you have to do all of them or you can only do one of them. You can do any combination of these. But the point is now that we have an understanding of this, of what's happening here with the media, a deeper understanding, a more full understanding of the media, how it operates and how it impacts us as individuals and as a society, that we ought to be more responsible about the way that we use that media, the way that we engage in media. And so we ought to be on the front end here. We ought to be the tip of the spear in helping people understand that and guiding those efforts. I hope that this exploration and critical media studies, this whole series has been fruitful for you. I hope it's given you a deeper understanding of the media and where it comes from, how it's created, how we can engage in it and how we can provide analysis in that. More importantly, I think I'm hoping that as I said at the very beginning of the series that you've learned how to think a little bit more and think differently and think more critically and see things from other perspectives. Again, not that we have to agree with those things all the time, but that we can see things from other perspectives now and we can understand that there is a perspective being demonstrated in the media at all times. And so it's our job as examiners of that media and consumers of that media to try and identify, okay, what is this perspective and how does that affect the way that it's made and the way that it's interpreted and the way that it impacts our society. So hopefully these are some of the things that you're more aware of now as we come to the conclusion of this particular series. As always, if you have any questions, I hope that you'll feel free to email me any questions about critical media studies. I'd be happy to answer any questions that I can chat with you about any topics that you still have questions about or comments over. Please feel free to email me and I'd be happy to chat about that with you. In the meantime, I hope you'll get out there and really utilize, open the door here. Don't just look through the peephole of what the media has to offer us, but open that door wide open so you can see the full picture and the full perspective and have a much deeper understanding of the media, both the benefits and the potential detriments to our life and just how media fits in as a piece of our overall lifestyle.