CI 5150 Week 7 – Why Popular Culture in the Classroom?

PART ONE - RATIONALE

Dear Parents and Legal Guardians,

Despite our personal feelings toward the fashions, music, movies, video games, television, internet, mobile technologies, literature, and celebrities that our children consume (or as we may argue are consumed by), most of the education that truly matters to our students is taking place in the popular culture vs. academic sphere (Walker and White, 2008, p. 1). In fact, the authors of Tooning In: Essays on Popular Culture and Education propose that the argument can be made that “popular culture has become the most influential education institution for our children in our society” (Walker and White, 2008, p. 4).

Regardless of the connotations we associate with particular contemporary popular culture artifacts (e.g., "slutty" fashions, "raunchy" music, "violent" video games, and so on), such a claim is hard to dismiss. Consider the most anecdotal and circumstantial pieces of evidence - our students are practically human billboards advertising for brands such as Hollister, Abercrombie and Fitch, and American Eagle; our students spend hours of their days, not to mention billions of their / our dollars per year, consuming popular music, movies, and video games; our students spend hours of their days consuming video and audio content from television and the internet; our students send and receive thousands of text messages per month to network with their friends; and so on and so forth. In fact, I am sure that you can include some examples of your own that I’ve missed.

When these anecdotal / circumstantial pieces of evidence are paired with empirical research as collected and interpreted by associations such as the Pew Internet and American Life Project, the argument that popular culture has become the most influential education institution for our children is even harder to ignore. For example, in 2004, the Pew Project found that 45% of teens possessed cell phones. In early 2008, this original figure was found to nearly double to 71%, and no doubt continues to rise (Lenhart, 2009). And if it is indeed true that the mobile device will become the primary internet connection tool by the year 2020 (only 10 years away, mind you), our students will continue to consume, or perhaps be consumed by, popular culture at an increasingly exponential rate regardless of time and place (Rainie, 2008).

Given the pervasiveness of popular culture, as well as the power which it holds to educate our children and contribute to the shaping of their ideologies, assumptions, values, and overall world views, Walker and White (2008) pose the following question: “Does popular culture have a role in the education process of our young?” (1). Although the anecdotal and empirical evidence supports the initial claim that yes, popular culture does play a role in educating our young (and a potentially enormous role at that), critical examination of contemporary popular culture artifacts in the classroom remains virtually absent in contemporary schools. In other words, the artifacts and texts that arguably shape and “teach” the ideologies, assumptions, values, and overall world views that our students will later possess remain left out of the formal / traditional education process.

Given this disconnect between what is truly “teaching” our students, and what is actually being “taught” in the day-to-day realities of the formal / traditional classrooms across our nation, it is our social responsibility to critically engage popular culture artifacts in the classroom. If we expect our students to become global citizens capable of not only consuming the resources of their realities, but critically questioning and effecting some sort of global change if they do not like what they see and / or the direction these resources position them as a global people, it is our responsibility to integrate critical analysis of popular culture into the formal / traditional classroom (see attached assignments for what such integration might "look like" in the classroom). If we continue to neglect critical examination of popular culture artifacts, their power will quite literally remain unchecked vs. under the control of our students and future global citizens.

In closing, it's no doubt that popular culture is an extremely powerful force in our students' lives. If we do not teach our students to be critical consumers of popular culture, we potentially run the risk of our worst fears coming true - popular culture consuming our children.

Sincerely,

Rick Lee Filipkowski

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PART TWO - ATTACHED ASSIGNMENT(S)

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ASSIGNMENT #1 - POP CULTURE CONSUMPTION LOG

Unlike certain teachers, parents, and additional contemporary popular culture "others" who may perceive pop culture as something "foreign," "uncomfortable," and so on, our students are generally the exact opposite, perceiving pop culture as a completely "natural," "comfortable," and so on component of their everyday lives. One argument for this differing perceptual orientation between many teachers, parents, and students may be a sort of saturation factor; in other words, various repeated popular culture stimuli across mediums habituate students to said stimuli, thus reducing their levels of conscious, critical perception. For example, the video game violence that strikes certain parents and teachers as relatively horrific, deleterious, and promoting of "undesired" sets of ideologies, assumptions, values, world views, and so on (e.g., killing prostitutes for their money in the popular Grand Theft Auto series) is often perceived as otherwise "normal" stimuli to many students. As such, where certain teachers and parents experience a sort of hyper conscious critical orientation toward what their students are consuming (often favoring the type of negative connotations as described above), students tend not to process these otherwise "normal" experiences with the same, or arguably any, level of conscious, critical awareness. With that said, the following VIEWING LOG assignment might be an interesting way to dehabituate students to these experiences, and force them to confront the popular culture that they are consuming with a more critically conscious vs. passive orientation.

NOTE: This activity is not necessarily intended to transition to a discussion / prescription of value judgments regarding various popular culture artifacts (e.g., video game violence is "destroying" our culture and teaching our students to "hate," text messaging is "destroying" the English language, and so on). Instead, this activity is intended to be more DESCRIPTIVE vs. PRESCRIPTIVE in nature, working instead to reveal not only the amount of time students consume popular culture artifacts, but the types, themes, ideologies, assumptions, values, world views, and so on students possibly perceive these artifacts to either reinforce or challenge.

Also, if sent home with the accompanying letter, parents and legal guardians could feel absolutely free and / or be likewise encouraged to take part in this activity as well in order to become part of the conversation themselves!

TO BE COMPLETED AS Homework:

Step 1:

-Provide whatever conceptual framework(s) regarding popular culture YOU deem appropriate for YOUR specific learning context.

NOTE: Because certain popular culture artifacts are highly visual, it might be important to cover how film and camera techniques are used to construct meaning. Although this is by no means a requirement for this activity, Rick Beach (2007) does a wonderful job of quickly breaking down how film and camera techniques convey visual meaning in chapter 3 of his text Teachingmedialiteracy.com: A Web-Linked Guide to Resources and Activities. Also, check out the visual literacy module created by Laura Boercker, writing instructor at North Harris Montgomery Community College.

Step 2:

-Select a time frame to run the viewing log activity that you again deem appropriate for your specific learning context.

-However, while designing this activity, I have about 1 to 2 weeks in mind.

Step 3 (now this is the EXTREMELY customizable part):

-Throughout the amount of time that you select, have students keep a viewing log recording various information regarding the popular culture artifacts that they consume. To keep this log as DESCRIPTIVE vs. PRESCRIPTIVE as possible in nature, I recommend considering the following type of categories:

-Time / date

-Duration of time

-Approximate quantity (more for mediums such as text messaging / IMing)

-Summary

(For artifacts such as television and movies, perhaps a sort of description of plot / episode summary of major events, what characters specifically wore, said, did, film / camera techniques, and so on. For artifacts such texts and IMing, perhaps a short of summary of main ideas of conversation exchanges. For artifacts such as fashions, perhaps a description of the style, colors, and so on.)

AGAIN, THIS IS HIGHLY CUSTOMIZABLE TO YOUR INDIVIDUAL LEARNING CONTEXT.

Then, TO BE COMPLETED AS A CLASS:

Step 1:

-Either in small or large group, have your students share their viewing logs. During this time, students could explore starter questions such as:

-What did you find surprising?

-What didn't you find surprising?

-How does your consumption of popular culture compare to others?

-And so on.

Step 2:

-Create a "master" log for the class, but with additional, customizable categories such as ideologies, assumptions, values, world view, and so on.

Step 3:

-Using the DESCRIPTIVE viewing logs that students have created and / or you begin to build as a class, begin to isolate and critically analyze various artifact trends. For example, if several students used Grand Theft Auto as an example, begin to critically analyze this artifact by exploring questions such as:

-What ideologies does this artifact support / challenge? How does it do so / how can you tell?

-What assumptions does this artifact support / challenge? How does it do so / how can you tell?

-What values does this artifact support / challenge? How does it do so / how can you tell?

-What sort of world views do this artifact support / challenge? How does it do so / how can you tell?

-And so on.

Overall, I believe that this assignment successfully positions students to...

1.) become conscious, critical vs. passive consumers of popular culture.
2.) practice and use a sort of "common" critical language.
3.) base conclusions on EVIDENCE vs. OPINION!

I feel that the direction that this sort of assignment positions students in how they critically consume popular culture is relatively limitless, restricted only by your creativity. Also, this assignment positions students to take on a much more independent role in critically viewing popular culture, such as self-selecting and analyzing print advertisements.

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ASSIGNMENT # 2 - STUDYING POPULAR CULTURE "CELEBRITY"

Although I created the following assignment for Professor Swiss's CI 5472 media class over the summer of 09, I feel as though it is very adaptable to critical analysis of popular culture. You could further adapt this assignment to your specific learning context to explore the following questions:

-What is / what defines a "celebrity"?

-How am I influenced by what celebrities do / say / act / advocate?

-To what extent is my perception of reality (ideologies, assumptions, values, world views, and so on) shaped by what celebrities have done / said / acted / advocated?

As stated above, it may be helpful to cover chapter 3 of Beach's (2007) discussion on the uses of film and camera techniques to convey visual meaning prior to this sort of activity. As similar to the previous assignment description, film and camera techniques will be useful for you and your students to cover as these techniques can be used as further evidence on which to base critical analysis (trust me, they are not difficult to understand, and are very fun to explore). And again, for an additional, quick resource on learning film and camera techniques, check out the visual literacy module created by Laura Boercker.

For an in class activity, you could split students up into groups of 6, distributing ONE picture to each group (or, you could have each group self-select an image to explore). Then, you could have students critically dissect and analyze the advertisements based on 1.) evidence including camera shots, lenses, lighting, special effects, and anything else from the film techniques chapters you'd like! and 2.) the specific effect(s) each being utilized to create.

Then, you could pose questions such as:

-What kinds of ideologies, assumptions, values, world views, and so on is your advertisement supporting? How are specific evidence / film techniques being utilized to support this?

For example, the first ad with Anjolina Jolie may be supporting the ideal and assumption that the definition of beauty is white, slim, and so on. The evidence / film techniques may support this by showing a close up of her flawless, beautiful white face. Also, you could argue that she is being digitally enhanced to look even MORE beautiful; more beautiful then she probably actually is.

-What kinds of ideologies, assumptions, motives, and values is your advertisement challenging? How are specific evidence / film techniques being utilized to support this?

For example, the 3rd and 4th ads of Queen Latifah may challenge the dominant ideology and assumption that the definition of beauty is being white, slim, and so on. The film techniques may challenge this dominant ideology / assumption by showing a close up of her face, which is rather heavy-set, yet still beautiful, in comparison to Angelina's. Also, Queen Latifah is of course an African American, and the close up of her face works to accentuate and beautify her physical features that are unfortunately often associated as "inferior" to white individuals'; her hair, nose, and lips.

For homework, students self-select an advertisement utilizing a celebrity and do a similar analysis, identifying AND analyzing...

-What evidence / film techniques are present.

-How they contribute to the overall effect(s) of the ad.

-AND how they work to support or challenge dominant ideologies, assumptions, values, world views, and so on.