About Understanding Media: Process and Principles

Every day, we are bombarded with hundreds, if not thousands, of media messages. Some messages are easy to recognize. We know that TV commercials and Internet advertisements are there to sell us products. We know that movie trailers are made to entice us into theaters. We look with a critical eye at the ads we see in newspapers and magazines because we know they are trying to persuade us in some way. Other media messages aren't as clear. This course will teach you to look for and decipher the "hidden persuaders" in those messages. That's the term Vance Packard, journalist turned social critic, gave to these subliminal media messages in his book of the same name in the 1950s. While this is nothing new, modern technology and a deeper understanding of the human psyche have made it easier to embed -- and harder to detect -- hidden messages. Many individuals accept everything on the Internet as factual; they forget that the Internet has no gatekeeper. Volatile issues -- such as abortion, war and gun control -- have made politics more partisan as they polarize like-minded people into distinct camps. People often accept without question "facts" presented by politicians who share their values. This course will help you deconstruct and analyze political and social messages. It will also help you understand the sophisticated and subtle means of persuasion marketers are using to sell you their products. The aim is to make you a critical consumer of various messages so you can make more informed decisions.