
The media is one of the strongest
influences on our society. No matter how
hard we may try, we cannot escape
today’s media culture.

Media literacy is a way to help students
control the interpretation of what they
see and hear.

Media literacy is the ability to analyze
the messages presented to us in
everyday life and in today’s digital
world.

Technology is all around us but using it
and understanding it are two very
different meanings that need to be
addressed in today’s world.

Being media literate is about being able
to notice what is or is not there. It is the
instinct to question a production’s
motives and values and to be aware of
how these factors influence content.

There are important questions to think
about when viewing an advertisement
like: how did they capture my attention?,
who is the message intended for?,
whose voices are or are not heard?, etc.
Media literacy is not about having the
right answers. It is about asking the right
questions.

One of the greatest examples to use for
understanding media literacy in our
culture is “Iconic Superheroes” and the
huge influence they can have on many
people.

The superhero iconic image has been a
part of our culture, ever since the first
superhero, Superman was created in
1938.

Within its context and history,
superheroes are used for commenting
on social and political issues as well as
been known to reveal idealized popular
values within the western culture

The superhero image over the years has
evolved widely through pop culture and
the media.

In the United States today, superhero
movies have soared into our societies
through large blockbuster movies, television
shows, games, and comic books

Our media alone has spent 12 billion dollars
on influencing children regarding superhero
styles, qualities, and perceptions

The media uses kid’s meals at restaurants as
well as clothing to emphasize their idea of the
“awesome role model” for today’s children

Superheroes have always infiltrated
controversy as a role model for society,
however because of the change in pop
culture and push into digital technology, Mass
media has created Superheroes to be further
intensely transformed, exploited, and even
seek aspects of injustice, which is contradicting
term in the superhero realm

Today many superheroes actually use
justice and caring as a kind of excuse for
violence, explosions, and revenge.

In the Dark Knight In the movie, Batman is filled with
luxury. In one scene he asks his servant for a modest
car, only to choose a very expensive, Lamborghini.

The other latest movie, Iron Man also emphasizes
fame and wealth as the only ways of being
successful in life.

Both examples reveal idealized fortunes and the
greedy ideals of consumption that further promote
the expansion of overconsumption in the United
States.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?featur
e=player_embedded&v=ojm2RlrnmMI

http://youtu.be/Ly04xcEmmlA

Female bodies carry the look a Barbie
doll and are constantly seen with
unrealistic and tight clothing, and very
few carry a leading role within the
storyline.

Superheroes also maintain a level of an
impossibly perfect physique on both
female and male forms.

Comparison

the media has also pronounced its
influence on and promotion of
becoming a slacker, sidekick, or class
clown

Movies like the Green Hornet, and
Hancock all have some act of
emphasizing the “slacker/Careless” role
for comedy

http://youtu.be/QnuUNAUBRbA

The best thing to do regarding
superheroes is to become media savvy
and be able to find lies within marketer’s
tools on influence.

Superheroes can have a positive impact
for our society.

Superheroes aren’t just super strength,
and good looks. They should embody
the act of justice and/or positivity and
good will. Everyone can be a superhero
in his or her own right in the everyday
world.
Everyone take out a scrap piece of
paper
 Write down something that you have
done that was heroic once in your life
--Or, what has someone done for you that
was heroic?
 We will be sharing your ideas with the
rest of your classmates


To understand media literacy with art you
will then create a 1-2 page comic strip of
themselves as a hero in a daily life situation,
first by drawing on paper. Once their comic
strip is complete, the class will then scan
their comic strips onto the computer.

Adobe Photoshop will be used to learn how
to draw digitally, add color, dialogue
bubbles and text, and then finally to print
the completed comic strip.