Intro to media and society paper 1

Reflections on reality

For this paper, you need to pick a particular type of media that you consume and think about the reality represented there. Specifically, your paper should have these two components:

1. A discussion of the type of information you get from your consumption of that type of media. There are many options you could choose here…think about your media habits. Are there certain TV shows you like to watch? Is there a particular genre of book you like to read? A kind of video game you like to play? Are there particular news sources, blogs, etc. that you regularly visit? Any of that could work. For example, I’ve watched some television series about politics (House of Cards, Veep), so I could write about the information I’m receiving about the political process, about what politicians are like, about what Washington DC is like, etc. Think very critically about the information you get too. One of the points you’ll find in the course content on “reality” is that much of the information we’re collecting is coming to us in a non-conscious way. For example, I don’t watch Veep(Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.so that I can learn about politics and I don’t think about what I might be learning when it’s on…I just watch it because it makes me laugh. But at some level I am still collecting and internalizing information from the show. So step back and think hard about the kind of information that’s being presented in the genre you’ve chosen to write about.

2. A discussion of how this information departs from reality. You’ll want to bring the “next-step reality” perspective from the book here to help you illustrate the distinctions between the information you’re receiving (which is grounded in some dimension of reality, no matter what genre you’ve chosen) and the “real world.” One of the big picture points of the reality module (a point which will come up again throughout the rest of the course) is that the information we obtain from our media exposure is not completely accurate, but it still does influence our perceptions of reality, usually in a non-conscious way. That is, even though I’m not watching Veep to try to learn something, and even though at a conscious level I know Veep is fictional, the information it’s presenting about politicians, our political system, etc. does still influence my perception of politics and politicians. So write about what the distinctions between media and “reality” are in your case as a way to set up how the media world might be subtly influencing your perceptions of the real world.

This paper cannot exceed two pages, typed, double-spaced, in a standard font. Any sources used need to be properly cited using an accepted format (APA, MLA, Chicago). All assignments must be turned in on Canvas. Papers MUST be submitted in .doc, .docx, or .pdf format.

Rubric

Some Rubric