5 A’s for Media Literate Citizenship ACCESS to media AWARENESS of media’s power ASSESSMENT of how media portray events and issues APPRECIATION for the role media play in creating civil societies ACTION to encourage better communication across cultural, social and political divides.

Appreciation How can we appreciate the necessity of media’s role in civil society? How do the subtleties of a media culture influence our social reality? How do the media build identity? How can we appreciate diversity through understanding media?

Three Part Series – Appreciating the subtleties of media cultures

“In a world with grocery store television screens, digitally delivered movie libraries and cellphone video clips, the average American is exposed to 61 minutes of TV ads and promotions a day.” “In fact, adults are exposed to screens — TVs, cellphones, even G.P.S. devices — for about 8.5 hours on any given day, according to a study released by the Council for Research Excellence on Thursday.” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/27/business/media/27adco.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

Body Image & Gender Representation APPRECIATION PART I Body Image & Gender Representation

Beauty and Body Image in the Media Images of female bodies are everywhere. “Attractive” Women—and their body parts—sell everything from food to cars Why are the media’s standards of beauty so different than the norm?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1993368502337678412

The Economics of Body Image How does the “thinness” message get across? The average North American girl will watch 5,000 hours of television, including 80,000 ads, before she starts kindergarten. By the time she is 17 years old, she has received over 250,000 commercial messages through the media.

The Economics of Thinness The diet industry is worth $100 billion a year—of that approximately $33 billion is advertising revenue. The barrage of messages about beauty and thinness tells women that they are always in need of adjustment —and that the female body is an object to be perfected. 69% of girls in one study said that magazine models influence their idea of the perfect body shape 75% of "normal" weight women think they are overweight 90% of women overestimate their body size.

Beauty and Body Image in the Media According to a 2005 study: Over 3/4 of the female characters in TV sitcoms are underweight, and only 1 in 20 are above average in size.

Men Vs. Women King of Queens “All family sitcoms — virtually all sitcoms now — are about a fat guy with a hot wife.” Rick Marin, former NYT television critic “Father Eats Best.” New York Times, November 24, 2004 According to Jim

Image of Couples of Different Weights Still Standing Family Guy According to Jim Whether the images are real or animated, the message is an overweight man can have a happy family life, but an overweight woman is destined to be alone...

Beauty and Body Image in the Media Researchers report that women’s magazines have 10 and ½  times more ads and articles promoting weight loss than men’s magazines do. Over three-quarters of the covers of women’s magazines include at least one message about how to change a woman’s bodily appearance—by diet, exercise or cosmetic surgery.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1993368502337678412

It’s not only a female issue…

It’s not only a message of thinness, it’s a manipulated message of thinness…

How ethical is the “photoshoping” of images? http://demo.fb.se/e/girlpower/retouch/retouch/index.html

Implications of retouching? Is it creating a greater disparity between reality and fantasy? In a capitalist society, where we all benefit from market models, what’s the problem? Can repurposing help us appreciate body image more? (knowtheNews - Knowrealbeauty)

TASK How would you, in this media culture, help people realize and appreciate beauty for what it really is, and not for what the media make it out to be?

APPRECIATION PART II MUSIC & Gender Next Week… APPRECIATION PART II MUSIC & Gender