PSA - Save our Black Cats!

For our Media Literacy Class, we created a Public Service Announcement about black cats, since we wanted to create something in the spirit of Halloween. Almost our entire group loves cats, so it was a perfect fit.

Keep your black cats indoors throughout October!

How to slay your day in six steps!

You may be wondering why your day may have been a not-so-good one. Maybe it was that person behind the Tim Horton's counter messing up your order. Maybe it was that assignment you got back that received a less-than-fabulous grade. Or maybe you came to the realization that your crush plays for another team. If life is giving you too many curveballs for you to handle and you've now lost your confidence in baseball, then stop. Actually stop. Look up at this chart. Read each step carefully. Follow through each step tomorrow and watch the magic happen.

It's okay, I'll wait…

All done? Great. Now, when you're all done that awesome day you just had, and you're ready to hermit until sleep pays a visit (or once you're all finished that episode of Scandal or *insert extremely popular show here*), when you wake up from the world's best sleep, repeat all those steps again. Do it. You did it once, so I know you can do it again!

The Advertising Machine

It's a scary feeling for me to have my face on even a fake magazine, let alone a real one. If I were to be in a public media outlet like a magazine, I would immediately be worried about the comments and feedback that I would be subjected to. For example, GQ is usually about good-looking, handsome men, which is obviously quite wonderful. The only problem is that if there are men within the section pertaining to the handsome men, they're immediately placed under the public's microscope. Are they really as hot as the magazine says? Who is on the list? What standards does the magazine use when curating a list of men for the final draft?

Although women do receive an awful lot of scrutiny within the media about body image and self-esteem, men also receive a substantial amount of criticisms about their image. Whether people comment on a man's body hair or lack thereof, his weight, his face, his facial features, his fitness level, or even his ethnicity, the moral of the story is that, within advertising and other media, all individuals receive their fair share of criticisms on a daily basis already, and when this is compounded with media influence, it's no wonder eating disorders and mental illness have become more relevant over the years. Are media messages really who we should be answering to, or are we smarter than the machine?

How does this media machine work?

Honestly…how does the media work? What sorts of questions are posed behind the scenes of your favourite show? What exactly are those different strokes used in your favourite art pieces, and what conversations do they create? Do the most popular songs on the radio hit high notes with you, or do their messages, or lack thereof, leave you singin' the blues?

These questions and more point towards what are called media literacy skills. These critical-thinking skills will help to identify holes and/or questionable content in various media. Asking questions such as, "Why are these particular people in this commercial?" or, "What image is my favourite singer creating with their brand new album, and what do their songs say about themselves?" or even, "Why is this actor such an inferno of red-hot heart-throbbing unfair attractiveness?" show that critical media literacy skills are taking place. Even observations/opinions such as "TV producers will usually choose attractive people for their roles to boost ratings and increase total viewers," show that there is critical thinking taking place.

How does one become media literate, and what sorts of questions and statements will help aid in media literacy? This TED Talk by Andrea Quijada shows her first steps to becoming media literate, and her concepts of what it means to decode media can be applied to other mediums, as well, not just the advertisements, TV shows, and movies referenced in her talk.

Still interested? Stay tuned to this blog for more information about media literacy and how to sharpen your critical eye!