Welcome!

This is a blog I am creating for a Youth and Media Seminar I am taking at the University of Minnesota. Media consumes our society and has a strong cultural and social impact on the opinions of the public. Sometimes without us even knowing, our morals, and realities are determined by what we have consumed from the Media. This is especially true for youth who can easily be persuaded by the strong and influential messages that media outlets are able to sell.

The Objective of this seminar is to get students thinking about how a critical media literacy lens can be used to contemplate images of youth in media and to understand that not only are media messages constructed, but also most media messages are organized to gain profit and/or power.

The critique will be based on 5 key concepts and questions for us to deconstruct media images.

Concepts:
All media messages are constructed
Media messages are constructed using creative language with its own rules
Different people experience the same media messages differently
Media have embedded values and point of views
Most media messages are organized to gain profit and/or power

Questions Asked:
Who created this message?
What creative techniques are used to attract my attention
How might different people understand this message differently?
What values, lifestyles and point of view are represented in, or omitted from, this message?
Why is this message being sent?

I hope you Enjoy!