1. How does the following quote set the stage for Pozner’s introduction: “Like the internet, reality television was once seen as an innovative media sphere where noncorporate voices could
potentially predominate- in this case, because the audience supposedly can view real people filmed in the midst of an unscripted situation rather than a drama scripted by writers and performed by
professional actors. However… reality TV is no less ideological than other forms of media storytelling in the way it constructs our ideas about market forces, individualism, and economic
inequality” (Dines & Humez, 3).
2. Please respond to the following, “Radio, television, film, popular music, the Internet, and social networking, and other forms and products of media culture provide materials out of which
we forge our very identities, including our sense selfhood; our notion of what it means to be male or female; our conceptions of class, ethnicity and race, nationality, sexuality; and division of
the world into categories of “us” and “them” (Kellner, 7).
3. Describe two contributions of a cultural studies perspective to media critique and literacy from Kellner.
4. According to Lipsitz, how has the television contributed to the making of collective and individual memory?
5. How many companies dominate the motion picture industry in the U.S.? How about the magazine industry? Live music? When thinking about major media companies, why does it become relevant that
the ownership is significantly concentrated? How do the news outlets factor into this? You should rely on Croteau, Hoynes, and Milan in your answer. This means citing specific pieces of the
chapter.
6. Using the Lull, provide a succinct definition of “hegemony” and why the theoretical framework of Classical Marxist theory is relevant to the critical study of media.
7. Define the following terms:
• Deconstruct:
• Encoding ideologies:
• Polysemic:
• Counterhegemonic:
8. Elaborate on the example of “Homer Phobia” in relation to encoding. Why is this example relevant to how ideologies impact media production and consumption?
9. Looking at Drew’s discussion of Survivor, how does the show rely on racism to pretend it is “postracial”?
10. According to Drew, what are some examples of the representations of communities of color in popular culture? How do these representations make whiteness “invisible”?
11. Do you agree or disagree with Cuklanz and Moorti’s examination of SVU? Why or why not?
12. According to David, how have female hip-hop artists addressed major feminist issues?
13. According to Warner, what is cultural jamming and how does the article weave in Jon Stewart to demonstrate this strategy of social protest and commentary?
14. In what ways does Padva argue The Simpsons rely on homophobia and sissy-phobia?
15. What do you think of Han’s discussion of how Asian men and their sexualities are represented in the media?