One day I hope “media literacy”stops being a pop term that allows you to like evil or bad characters without criticism and goes back to meaning you have a personal understanding of social implications, cultural / historical context, character motivations, plot, overarching themes and symbolism - ThreadSky

jokeb0i.bsky.social • 12 days ago

One day I hope “media literacy”stops being a pop term that allows you to like evil or bad characters without criticism and goes back to meaning you have a personal understanding of social implications, cultural / historical context, character motivations, plot, overarching themes and symbolism

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nerd-on-fire.bsky.social•12 days ago

I remember the term "media literacy" from my college days, over 15 years ago. Now everyone thinks they sound smarter by using it. Even when they're misusing it.

launa-moe.bsky.social•12 days ago

the craziest part is when people do try to tell them "media literacy doesn't mean you like an evil character, it means 'do you understand the subject matter and why it's bad that it happens in real life too" yet people only plug their ears so they can continue to treat works like junk food (1/2)

launa-moe.bsky.social•12 days ago

a work could hold the most sincere messages with so much heart but it'll always be downplayed as "it's just fiction/a drawing bro it's not that serious" so they can downplay/ignore an author's true intentions and only consume the aesthetics around it. it's sad to see

sekudog.bsky.social•12 days ago

Hmmm, I think "media literacy" is dead....

jokeb0i.bsky.social•11 days ago

Like, my favorite character is the joker but if you hate me for that you actually have every right to feel that way because he is intentionally written to suck shit, it’s not complicated

nocatsnomasters.bsky.social•11 days ago

I think part of what people who use 'media literacy' are pointing at is the ability to take a character (the Joker being an excellent example) who has become an important part of one's internal narrative landscape, a powerful symbol who's stories and character have significant resonance with you....

nocatsnomasters.bsky.social•11 days ago

...and understand that significance and understand how it is a part of you _without_ deciding that makes the character one of the Good Guys or is Right and Good somehow. It's a matter of understanding that an eidolon of that sort is not 'an ideal', but rather 'a psychologically load-bearing symbol'.

nocatsnomasters.bsky.social•11 days ago

It's a matter, in many ways, of a larger ability, both innate and cultivated, to understand ambiguity and the ways in which characters and narratives can be complex, self-contradictory thing without succumbing to the urge to resolve those ambiguities by flattening the symbol into something its not.

nocatsnomasters.bsky.social•11 days ago

And it does demand an understanding of how the symbols that make up our self-understanding affect who we are and the choices we make. Therein, of course, lies the rub; lots of people very much do not want to examine what it means that the Joker is a huge part of their inner narrative.

nocatsnomasters.bsky.social•11 days ago

And it shows in other ways, of course. I hardly need point out the amount of, shall we say, transgressive smut in the world or that many otherwise perfectly decent, normal people enjoy their particular flavor of it very much. And a lot of people don't want to dig into the _why_ of their tastes.

jokeb0i.bsky.social•11 days ago

I’ll be honest,That has more to do with personal interpretation and empathy than it does with understanding source material which is a nebulous feat to begin with

Media literacy, as I understand it, is about objective observation and how certain things are interpreted by the general populace

nocatsnomasters.bsky.social•11 days ago

Fair point. I think that's the distinction between understanding one's own relationship to the source material vs understanding the larger culture's relationship to the source material. Both are a kind of media literacy, I think, because both require understanding the source material.

matthewabel.bsky.social•11 days ago

Tell me why you like the joker. I love comics and would genuinely enjoy hearing it if you're willing to share. My favorite villain is probably Doc Ock.

jokeb0i.bsky.social•11 days ago

I enjoy his variety and flamboyancy, and the part he plays within Batman narratively, a kind of nebulous representation of crime as a concept

Just a very classic example of a villain that can also bend and change dramatically depending on whatever the tone of the plot is, I like that flexibility

matthewabel.bsky.social•11 days ago

I think he also works well as a chaotic foil to Batman's hope for order, his bright clown stuff is evil and Batman's dark grit is good. Classic villain, imo.

whiskerfjords.bsky.social•12 days ago

Watching "Media Literacy" as a term go from "understanding the media you consume" to another "calm down, it's just a drawing" has been fascinating

tropicpenguin.bsky.social•12 days ago

It sucks cause there genuinely IS a massive ‘drought’ of media literacy with the deeper themes of things constantly being lost on or wildly misinterpreted by audiences, but so many people nowadays use it as just “you didn’t like the thing I like, clearly you’re just an idiot.”

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