Communication 121 - Intro to Media and Culture
Fall
2018
02
3.00
Alex Bordino
TU TH 2:30PM 3:45PM
UMass Amherst
72458
Pierpont House room 101
abordino@umass.edu
Even skeptics among us believe that in the U.S. and around the world, media make a difference in our democracy and our everyday lives. This course takes that belief to heart, asking about the social and cultural role of mass media in advanced, post-industrial Western societies (primarily in the U.S.). We consider how media and their surrounding economic and institutional framework affect cultural, political and ideological processes. We consider a range of media forms in historical context to understand how today's media systems came to be. We examine how scholars have understood media power and influence and, finally, we turn to sites of agency-how media makers and users produce and change media form, content and meaning.
Open to first year Communication Majors RAP students in Pierpont. Communication majors must complete 3 of the following 5 courses: 118, 121, 122, 125, and 140
COMM 121-02
See http://www.umass.edu/rap/communication-majors
This course is an introduction to media and how they operate in our communities, our nation, our world, and our personal lives. We will take a close look at the industries that produce media narratives, the content of those narratives, and the audiences (us) who consume them. We will explore various forms of media, newspaper, radio, film, television, video games, the Internet, and the social, historical, economic, and political contexts in which they exist. We will also examine how our cultural assumptions about the social world are shaped by the media that surround us.
The course invites students to ask and seek answers to such questions as:
-What are we really worried about when we say that the content of mass media is becoming more violent, graphic, and sexual?
-Who gets to tell the stories of our culture, and why is it that some groups of people are excluded from telling their stories?
-Why are we drawn to reality TV shows like American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and Jersey Shore?
-How have social movements like Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter, used existing and emerging technologies to further their cause?
-How do advances in technology shape the form and content of media narratives?
Ultimately, my hope is that students will engage in deeper reflection about their own media practices, about the stories media tell us and the stories we tell about media, and what those stories mean to us in our everyday lives. The course will be dynamic, incorporating lectures, class discussions, interactive group activities, and reflective exercises.
COMM 121-02
See http://www.umass.edu/rap/communication-majors
This course is an introduction to media and how they operate in our communities, our nation, our world, and our personal lives. We will take a close look at the industries that produce media narratives, the content of those narratives, and the audiences (us) who consume them. We will explore various forms of media, newspaper, radio, film, television, video games, the Internet, and the social, historical, economic, and political contexts in which they exist. We will also examine how our cultural assumptions about the social world are shaped by the media that surround us.
The course invites students to ask and seek answers to such questions as:
-What are we really worried about when we say that the content of mass media is becoming more violent, graphic, and sexual?
-Who gets to tell the stories of our culture, and why is it that some groups of people are excluded from telling their stories?
-Why are we drawn to reality TV shows like American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and Jersey Shore?
-How have social movements like Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter, used existing and emerging technologies to further their cause?
-How do advances in technology shape the form and content of media narratives?
Ultimately, my hope is that students will engage in deeper reflection about their own media practices, about the stories media tell us and the stories we tell about media, and what those stories mean to us in our everyday lives. The course will be dynamic, incorporating lectures, class discussions, interactive group activities, and reflective exercises.