Blog Post Week 2

Over the week, I learned a lot about debating and defining media literacy through class readings and discussions. One of the strongest discussions we had this week was about positionality and self-reflexivity in relation to the Allen Berube article. As Berube was reflecting on his own positionality with the white, well-educated gay population, he realized that within his activist groups, there was its own lack of reflexivity, This led him to argue how this was leading this gay population to limitations in their possibilities for the social equality they aspire for. They were excluded themselves, even though they did not see it. I think this same realization can occur in many activist groups like Berube's. In today's society, I think that it is key that we become self-reflexive in order to truly understand and apply our knowledge not only into our activism and beliefs, but also into the media and personal lives. We all are naturally objective towards our own viewpoints, which are shaped by our race, class, gender, experiences, and more. This positionality can not be changed or altered, as it is a nature part of our lives and shaped as we age and learn. I think it is important to understand our positionality clearly in order to sufficiently defend our values and viewpoints. It is important for media producers to take into account their audience's positionalities when creating media texts. If consumers feel a personal connection to a media text, a greater and more influential message will be transcribed. In the "Introduction to Media Literacy" article, many media literacy concepts and persuasion techniques are discussed, This are important for media producers to use in order to persuade and interest their audience effectively. In addition, understanding the text and subtext, as discussed on pg. 5, helps media makers enhance their messages. It can be easy to understand the written text and pictures and create a message. However, the more important meaning comes from the interpretation of a piece of media in the subtext. The subtext can be hard to solidify an exact meaning from piece to piece, as all consumers interrupt and find different meanings within the same media text. A media message becomes the strongest when a media maker can create subtexts that are geared towards their audiences experiences and values.