In this module we will challenge taken-for-granted ideas about media consumption, examining our own and other people’s engagements with different media, exploring how we make sense of, for example, advertising, how we create meaning and identities from the products we purchase, use or discard, and how power might be implicated in those choices. Engaging with research and experiences of a wide range of communication technologies from the shopping centre through to the TikTok platform we will explore how media, consumption and everyday life are entangled; we will examine cultural artifacts, such as music, films, books, art, and other forms of media, in order to experience and understand the culture(s) they represent. Through media we can explore and experience culture (our own and others), we also interpret the media or culture we consume. What kinds of evaluation do we make and on what basis? According to class, gender, race, nationality, heritage? How do we then integrate our media or cultural experiences into our personal lives, how are our beliefs, attitudes and behaviour affected by our choices? What kinds of reinterpretations and recreations might we engage in - what creative expressions might we employ: through shopping, technologies, remixing music, creating fan fiction, creating art, videos, snapchats etc?
Your understanding of different cultures of consumption and exploration of social and economic power will be developed through the study of key theorists, themes and case studies. You will consider real-world contemporary examples alongside your own experiences with media and cultural forms, to explore how recent social change from a 'production' to a 'consumption' society has implications for social relations and your own reflexive identity.
Study visits to, for example, a cinema, shopping centre, theatre and museums will enable evaluation and application of theoretical approaches through critical reflection on your own experiences and the presentation of those experiences according to academic conventions. The module also aims to develop your ability to work with theoretical concepts of consumption, communication, applicable to journalists, digital marketers, social media influencers, and beyond
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