Media, subtext, representation and priviledge

This post and the above tumblr post are inspired by a conversation I had on Sunday.
Media means nothing. Anything beyond the text is imaginary to all 'normal people' and anyone else is just 'thinking too much'. Yes, I've had an encounter with a genuine Privilege Denying Dude. He thinks he doesn't have privilege because he's Welsh in England, and has dyslexia*. That he's a straight while cis male doesn't mean anyone treats him any different. Oh, and all those nasty affirmative actions are bullshit.**

Online discourse has made me somewhat more sensitive to my own privileges [and lack thereof; white but not male, for example]. The modules of my university education dealing with media made me more aware of text, subtext, representation and other constructs. Fandom has made me more aware and respectful of certain issues and approaches. To hear someone speak so blatantly against everything I've learned, against what I believe, what I know is true, what criticizes something so important to me – creative work, by this standard, is meaningless - is hurtful, and frustrating.

Attitudes do not come from nowhere. Your family, friends, education and religious beliefs all impact on what you believe, as do the media you consume be it books, television, radio shows, artwork, billboards and social network sites. To deny that there's any deeper meaning, that representation isn't important, to say art is utterly meaningless, is naive.

Sure, if you insist that if you listen to 'Alejandro' backwards, Gaga is saying 'My Lord' and it proves she's a satanic illuminati who's trying to take over the world***, I'm going to decide you're some sort of conspiracy theorist with too much time on their hands. But if you say that there's Cara/Kahlan subtext in 'Legend of the Seeker' and give me in-depth analysis - maybe with video clips, un-manipulated still pics, and other sources referenced – then I'll say, 'that's absolutely one way of seeing their relationship'. Because media has multiple levels of meaning, depending on who is viewing it and what lenses they are seeing it through.

For anyone wanting to learn a bit more, here are a few sources you might find useful:
And We Shall Call This Moff's law This is so important; it quotes Moff as saying [italics are my emphais]:

'First of all, when we analyze art, when we look for deeper meaning in it, we are enjoying it for what it is...Now, that doesn’t mean you have to think about a work of art. I don’t know anyone who thinks every work they encounter ought to only be enjoyed through conscious, active analysis......[but] Believe me, the person who is annoying you so much by thinking about the art? They have already considered your revolutionary “just enjoy it” strategy, because it is not actually revolutionary at all. It is the default state for most of humanity. So when you go out of your way to suggest that people should be thinking less — that not using one’s capacity for reason is an admirable position to take, and one that should be actively advocated — you are not saying anything particularly intelligent. And unless you live on a parallel version of Earth where too many people are thinking too deeply and critically about the world around them and what’s going on in their own heads, you’re not helping anything; on the contrary, you’re acting as an advocate for entropy.'

Powerful stuff.

Introduction to Representation GCSE level [up to sixteen years old] so is presented in a very easy to understand format

Why Media Representation Matters A short article on gender in media vs reality

White Privilege Backpack PDF file. An eye opener for those of use who get white privilege, and specifically mentions media representations featuring people of a particular race as being an example of privilege, along with affirmative actions, and everyday things like greetings cards and magazines.
( notes )