Proseminar Language of the American Mass Media

This course is designed to help you gain an understanding of the intricacies of American mass media as culture. Our society has shifted in the past 2 generations from one using media in support of its values to one influenced by media values themselves. The goals of this course are to: • To increase your ability to better understand how media affect both culture and society. • To learn how media messages are structured, • To understand how media are involved in our social life. • To provide you with the analytical tools to gauge the effects of media operations and messages on you, other individuals and society. • To increase your ability to use, critique and enjoy the media by more fully understanding their many levels. ASSIGNMENTS: Journal: You are to post a weekly comment as part of your coursework. This operates as follows: • Go to Moodle for the Key concepts from each week’s work. • In your post provide a specific example from your life that demonstrates this concept in action. Use specific detail in this example that shows your ability to apply course concepts to the real world. Example: For week One if the concept is Media Forms on how a print culture differs from an oral or electronic culture. You would then recall your experience with a Book Club in your neighborhood and discuss how the group demonstrated a preference for linear messages, organized interaction and informed analysis. Media Analysis Post: You are going to analyze one favorite media product using key concepts from the course. Proceed as follows: • First select a specific media product to use: one film, one television program episode, one magazine issue, one music album or one book. This single object will be the object of your analysis. • Use, in order, the following concepts to analyze your product. a. How the product is constructed for your audience b. Media Function: What type of effects, mental and physiological, did you find in your media product? What Knowledge structures did you need to fully understand your media product? Were these of a low or higher order? By the end of the course you should have greater understanding of media processes and gain greater skill in deciphering messages. When you can understand the whole message you can better learn from the good and better resist the poor. Literature will be posted in moodle. Leistungsnachweis Grading: 4 weekly journal posts 20 points 1 Media analysis post 20 points 2 quizzes 60 points Total 100 points FB 02 Institut für Anglistik / Amerikanistik 4,2012e+11 Uni Kassel SoSe 2014 Anglistik/Englisch Anglistik/Englisch Zweitfach Dr. Nevius Frank