Part III: Reading Media Texts Critically

Culture Jamming

1. Instruct students to read the Warner essay.

2. Go to the website https://www.adbusters.org/spoofads/ in class and discuss how Kalle Lasn’s site changes (or doesn’t) students’ perceptions of brands and popular culture.

3. Furthermore, ask if any other Culture Jammers have been birthed as a result of the Trump election.

Queer Representation in Contemporary Animation

1. Instruct students to read the Padva essay.

2. Watch two segments from the episode entitled “Family Gay” from the animated sitcom Family Guy. They are available at here and here. In the episode, Peter Griffin (patriarch of the Griffin family) undergoes medical experiments to make extra money and gets injected with a “gay gene” (note: videos start after 5 s).

3. Lead a discussion in which you and the students discuss whether or not the satire in the Family Guy episode is as effective as in the episode of The Simpsons referenced in the article.

Media Portrayals of the Prison-Industrial Complex

1. Show students clips of the HBO series Oz and the Netflix series Orange is the New Black, both available on YouTube.

2. Engage in a discussion with students about the role of race in the two programs and the codes that the shows use to make their points.

3. Follow with a discussion about the encoding and decoding involved in representations and the opportunities for polysemic readings of a text, especially bearing in mind the Yousman article.