Final Reflection

 After completing this course, I have a stronger sense of confidence in collaborative work and exploring new forms of digital media. I still have a ways to go in mastering the use of digital media as evident in my blog portfolio, but I do find myself enjoying the discovery process in it. The group projects helped me get more comfortable with the process of creating presentations and lesson plans as well. I found the weekly reading posts that asked us to envision how we would approach a given topic as an instructor the most helpful in learning about the type of educator I would like to be in the future. I also grew a stronger appreciation for the ideas surrounding teaching media literacy to K-12 students. Initially, I intended to graduate this December then go into a teaching credential program that would allow me to teach high school students. However, my experience in this class combined with some of my other classes made me realize that I do want to pursue my master's degree in the interest of teaching at the community college level. I'm looking to start the master's program here at CSUN starting in Spring and I look forward to finding out what the future has in store. 

Weekly Reading Posts

 In terms of Nichol's discussion, his article "Race and Ethnicity in Film" helps me understand how class and socioeconomic status allows those within the same ethnic community to subjugate each other in the name of getting ahead. Parasite illustrates this concept in the ways that Nathan Park is unable to see himself in Mr. Kim due to the significant gap in their socioeconomic status. Yet it is for this very reason that Nathan Park is unable to see how his family is infiltrated by his own perceived inferiors. The movie echoes Nichol's discussion of "othering" and how it is used to often deceive oneself into the fairy tale of superiority within the global 1%. The underlying message of the movie suggests that the 99% is very capable of using saavy and survival skills to thwart the power of the dominating few. Nichol's work helps explain the motivating needs and greed behind the mindset that allows the ruling class to self-delude and justify their actions. The human tendency to draw a distinction between oneself and an "other" reinforces a sense of hierarchy that feeds a void with a false sense of security. The power that money and asset hoarding provides establishes that hierarchy and affords the 1% the audacity to maintain that hierarchy by any means necessary.

 

After watching Parasite, my understanding of Harvey's discussion of neoliberalism expanded beyond my initial interpretation of the reading. Initially, neoliberalism just felt like another way of describing capitalism with added details pertaining to free market rules. However, the movie exposed me to a global understanding of neoliberalism and the conditions under which people in lower economic classes live in Seoul Korea. The disciplining, cheap labor aspect introduced in the pizza box folding scene made me think differently about the outsourcing of labor that my former employer engaged in just to save money. They didn't even attempt to hide this fact and everyone knew better than to question it. A significant portion of our work would be completed in India by workers who were paid a fraction of what they deserved with an untenable work load. During meetings, perceived weaknesses of our assistants in India would be discussed and nominating some of them for termination was a regular occurrence. They were easily blamed for a backlog in work and we rarely got to know any of them on any sort of personal level. The family living in the basement in Parasite checked my conscience and brought me back to that time where I turned a blind eye at work despite feeling like part of the problem. Within the context of Harvey's discussion, Parasite reveals the convenient blind spots in the systemic exploitation of globalization and points a finger at the viewer in a way that provokes personal reflection. The movie is both a work of cinematic resistance and a veritable call to action.

World Film Reflective Essay

 

Weekly Reading Posts

 After reading "A Brief History of Neoliberalism" by David Harvey, I'm convinced that the term neoliberalism is another term for capitalism. I wasn't familiar with the nuance and inherent contradictions of neoliberalism until reading this article but the capitalist outcomes ring true given the current state of the world. Similar to the importance of teaching media literacy in classrooms, I think it's vital to teach students about the inner workings of neoliberalism as laid bare in David Harvey's article. Reason being, media literacy arms students with the ability to discern between false and reliable sources of information. Given the current climate of genocides and wars in the vein of neoliberalism, it's imperative that students apply lessons in media literacy to their understanding of power structures within a neoliberal framework. While the neoliberal stance feigns interest of the individual over the collective, lesson plans that emphasize the overall inequities suffered by both the individual and the collective under neoliberalism is necessary to critical thinking and true individual empowerment for students to be functional adults in the world later in life. Teaching David Harvey's article in the classroom could lead to restructuring of society as a whole since students would be armed with the understanding of how class, race and political ideology informs the "body politic" of this country. This understanding ultimately has the power to shape a student's personal belief system and how they may choose to show up in the world. Thus education on neoliberalism reinforces the need for equality and how students can decide to contribute to that fight as a grown adult. 

Media Literacy Group Project (Submitted via email on 11/11/23)

Media Literacy Group Project

Weekly Reading Posts

While reading chapters one and three of "The Video Game Theory Reader 2" by Bernard Perron and Mark J.P. Wolf, I thought of the way my little brother would move his fingers in his sleep simulating his "habituated responses" from playing Super Mario Bros all day. However, it wasn't until I read this article that I could see a similarity between reading and playing video games. Occasionally, I would battle it out with my brother playing Super Mario Bros or Sonic the Hedgehog but, for the most part, I could be found cozied up in a corner with a Nancy Drew or R.L. Stine novel. Admittedly, I deemed myself more intellectual than my brother back then because to me, he was simply moving his fingers around without gaining any insight into the world around us. I didn't see a deeper meaning to be found in video games at that precocious age of 9 years old. However,  reading "The Video Game Theory Reader 2" gave me new insight on how similar reading is to playing video games. As stated in the article, "[The] requirement of habituation prior to full engagement with video game play is parallel, in part, with requirements for reading.  The initial process of controller assimilation and habituation is analogous to the process of learning an alphabet, grammar and syntax" (Perron and Wolf 51). Given this similarity, it is easy to see how the use of video games can facilitate learning if incorporated into K-12 curriculums. Prior to reading this article, I felt like video games would be a distraction for the learning process in secondary schools but I'm now convinced that video games can tap into an innate curiosity that may help students gravitate more strongly to academia. 

Weekly Reading Posts

After reading David Buckingham's article "Media Education: Literacy, Learning and Contemporary Culture, I have a better understanding of the need for media literacy to be taught in K-12 curriculums. I've worked with non-profit mentoring programs in the classrooms of Los Angeles high schools and I've seen how a lack of resources can hinder growth in students. However, I wasn't aware of the lack in media instruction and how that affects how children see the world they're living in. It's easy to notice a lack of tangible resources like books and dilapidated classrooms. It's much more difficult to recognize how social class systems affect how students interpret media and interact with it. Buckingham explains the downside of this reality when comparing how middle class students tend to articulate their understanding of what is real or fake in television while working class students focus more on their likes and dislikes. This seems to point to a stark difference between the critical thinking skills that middle class students acquire in school versus working class students. Clearly, there's an implication for long term inequity among students K-12 based on Buckingham's research. However, there is also hope in the fact that curriculums that incorporate media literacy lead to a stronger sense of discernment in students between what is real vs what is fake. The need for students to learn to discern reality from falsehoods will only grow more important given our society of social media and AI issues.

Collaboration Myth Project

Collaboration Myth Slides

WEEKLY READING POSTS

 For this week's reading, I'm reviewing Hesiod's "Theogony" and how it is structured. In this myth, Gaia is the earth who conceives her children with the very sky that she births as "someone her equal" as a consummation myth (Hesiod line 14). It's interesting to note in this myth that only "Air" and "Day" are products of "love with Erebos" (Hesiod line 13) while the rest of the offspring in this myth born of Gaia and Ouranos are considered "dreadful" (Hesiod line 34). I'm familiar with some of the other stories about Zeus and his mischievous overlording of the other gods but I wasn't versed in the myth of Gaia and Ouranos before this week's reading. There appears to be an underlying notion in this myth that the elements have a pure, love based origin while the children of Gaia and Ouranos seem to bare a resemblance to the ideas of original sin, as seen in Christianity and Catholicism. This similarity speaks to the ways that humans share pieces of their stories with each other in ways that both inform and perpetuate their own traditions

 The importance of myths for our moment is one that can't be understated. The stories serve as a touchstone for cultural traditions and offers solutions to the dilemma of the human condition that often have us on an endless pursuit of meaning in life. They also preserve the history of certain marginalized cultures that may otherwise be erased. In a world of growing technology and artificial intelligence, the pure originality and timelessness of myths preserve connection and community.

 

Looking for the Light: A Review on Hemingway's "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place"

As an example of the modernist movement, Ernest Hemingway's short story "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" offers a critique of capitalism through a lens of individualism as seen in the dialogue between the young and old waiter. The younger waiter criticizes the rich, old cafe patron as someone who "has no regard for those who must work" in a symbolic conversation with the old waiter that challenges the systemic norms of labor exploitation (Hemingway 2). In juxtaposing the old, rich cafe patron to the old waiter, Hemingway directly challenges the lack of purpose in toiling away under capitalism given the finite human experience of time on this earth. More specifically, Hemingway appears to suggest that wealth isn't a shield against human suffering. This is seen in the compassion and empathy the old waiter expresses to the young waiter in defense of the cafe patron in the following lines: "I am of those who like to stay late at the cafe. With all those who do not want to go to bed. With all those who need a light for the night" (Hemingway 3). The symbolism of the light as comfort to both of the older men, regardless of socioeconomic status, further highlights the meaninglessness of spending one's life in pursuit of the mighty dollar as loss and mortality is inevitable. The young waiter's disregard for his own likely future plight, as foreshadowed by the older men, haunts the reader by intimating how the hamster wheel of capitalism is perpetuated by disregarding consequences in the interest of immediate, selfish gratification. 

 A Matter of Preference: A Review of "Bartleby, The Scrivener"

    In Herman Melville's short story "Bartleby, The Scrivener," the character of Bartleby haunts the reader with his repeated phrase "I prefer not to" as a response to various requests from his boss, the lawyer. The response seems curiously comical if not audacious at first. However, as the plot continues to unravel towards Bartleby's ultimate end, his repeated phrase of "I prefer not to" begins to feel like a protest that his boss fails to fully recognize. This phrase grows more significant each time the boss loses himself in his own internal ego driven monologue that keeps him from thoroughly inquiring into Bartleby's mental state. By "reserving it for [his] future leisure," the lawyer creates an ongoing, silent tension while simultaneously confirming that it simply isn't that urgent of a matter to him. (Melville 7). The lawyer's deliberately selective, conditional interest in Bartleby further highlights the difference between his own perceived status and that of the lowly worker. More disturbing is the ease with which the lawyer rouses his other employees, Turkey, Nippers and Ginger Nuts, into degrading Bartleby as an attempt to gain Bartleby's compliance. This personally resonates for me since I've seen similar tactics used against employees in various office jobs I've had over the years. Granted, the corporate America machine is far more "efficient" these days and a response of "I prefer not to" would likely result in immediate termination with physical removal. From a future teaching perspective, I think it would be interesting to ask students to consider what this short story is saying about capitalism and whether that lens changes the meaning of the story for them.