When taking in the information of a story of any format whether it be a show, movie, book, play, or even a painting, the most important thing is to understand what is happening.
Understanding the plot and the drive of the characters, the decisions that the author makes versus the decisions that the characters make, and what happens in turn, is called media literacy. Having a good sense of media literacy is something that this generation should strive to have; before the use of technology people would form groups to simply read a book and then meet up to discuss the events, but now with social media and the internet people can post their takes on media out into the web and wait for anyone to see and give a response. This is not all a bad thing; old book clubs would only hear the takes of their members but now you can hear countless takes from across the world very quickly.
That said, it’s easy to hear an unconstructive opinion, a simple “That album was terrible” or “That show is the best show ever” with no explanation, and then have your opinion challenged, where it is then easy to be offended and even easier to respond with a simple statement of like/dislike just as the challenger did. To avoid all of this, and to better understand the various stories and media out there, here are some tips to strengthen the average person’s media literacy so that they can be confident in their opinions and give clear responses when challenged or just when talking amongst friends.
Re-absorb the information
When finishing a segment of a story, whether that be an episode or a chapter, the best thing to do first is just sit on the information. Digest it and let it go through the mental process to form new opinions based on the initial reaction. When learning new information there is going to be an initial reaction then followed by nuances, the best thing to do after those nuances when you’ve sat on the topic for long enough is to Re-absorb the information. Watch the episode again, re-read the chapter, or give the song another listen. The new opinions that will come from that won’t replace the old ones it will help to fine-tune and expand the original viewpoint.
Focus on one topic
When going back to a previous segment of the story or even when reading the next part of that story, focus on one specific topic. It could be a character, it could be some imagery that keeps appearing trying to represent something, or it could even be a certain instrument that keeps coming back in an album when things get heavy into one emotion. Look at the minute details and figure out their patterns, See where the artist tries to hide metaphors, really trying to analyze the writing of a story will help you see what the author intended. Yet again adding another layer of depth to the growing opinion.
Imagine yourself as a character
If there is a character that’s being focused on, a protagonist or even a side character who is getting attention try and imagine being that character and seeing through their eyes. Try and rationalize their decisions and think about what you may have done if it were you. This will help to make the characters feel more real and will be a good way to picture who they are. If a character does something that seems terrible or that no one should ever do, then putting yourself in their shoes gives them some humanity that either gives the reader perspective onto their actions or proves the original reaction that the character is in the wrong. This could go either way even looking at a generally seen “good character” who you could start to notice is not as good as they seem.
Media literacy is most simply defined as intelligently understanding a work of art and being able to express that understanding to other people. This is an important skill to have in a world and a society that values art as much as we do. Even if someone doesn’t find themselves to be reading many books, almost everyone watches television and even more than that most people listen to music. Even if it’s only to embolden someone’s understanding of one song, strong Media literacy is worth having.
