English Teachers: “Lets now analyze and decode the deeper meaning the author meant in chapter 23 paragraph 6”
Authors: “There was supposed to be a deeper meaning?”
Being able to analyze a piece of writing for authorial intent, conscious and unconscious, intentional and unintentional, is a good skill to have.
That’s not even getting into understanding metaphor, simile, and symbolism in writing which can also show the author’s intent and how the author views topics.
A fun little example by me:
I was velociraptoring around the kitchen at 2am.
The cheese cried out, but it’s pleas fell on deaf ears.
There’s a lot that can be interpreted from those 2 sentences. Why was it written? What does it describe? What metaphors are deployed and why? What symbolism is used? Why was symbolism used? How does the writing make you feel? What was the author doing in their kitchen at 2am? How does the author view their actions at 2am? And on, and on, and on the analysis can go. And it only stops when you choose to get off of Mr Bone’s Wild Ride.
Now a less fun example is the kind of language someone might deploy when describing a group of people they do not like. How would a fascist report on a crime? A new food bank? The results of a sporting event? The release of a new video game? A new movie? Etc, etc, etc.
Being able to parse media is the biggest defense against being manipulated by propaganda.
So take the time to take a proper gander at the media you see and consume.
EDIT: TLDR Media Literacy is a learned skill that anyone can and should learn and practice.
EDIT2: me seeing the results of praising media literacy in an anti-media literacy thread
Also:
English Teachers: “Lets now analyze and decode the deeper meaning the author meant in chapter 23 paragraph 6” Authors: “There was supposed to be a deeper meaning?”
Death of the Author is real and the creator doesn’t really matter once the art is finished.
Sometimes the curtains are just blue
And sometimes they’re not. The point is to know how to recognize when there’s a difference.
English Teachers: “You are already dead"
Salman Rushdie: “I know that was figurative, but it still hurts!”
Salman Rushdie:“I support genocide and zionist fascism!”
Being able to analyze a piece of writing for authorial intent, conscious and unconscious, intentional and unintentional, is a good skill to have.
That’s not even getting into understanding metaphor, simile, and symbolism in writing which can also show the author’s intent and how the author views topics.
A fun little example by me:
I was velociraptoring around the kitchen at 2am.
The cheese cried out, but it’s pleas fell on deaf ears.
There’s a lot that can be interpreted from those 2 sentences. Why was it written? What does it describe? What metaphors are deployed and why? What symbolism is used? Why was symbolism used? How does the writing make you feel? What was the author doing in their kitchen at 2am? How does the author view their actions at 2am? And on, and on, and on the analysis can go. And it only stops when you choose to get off of Mr Bone’s Wild Ride.
Now a less fun example is the kind of language someone might deploy when describing a group of people they do not like. How would a fascist report on a crime? A new food bank? The results of a sporting event? The release of a new video game? A new movie? Etc, etc, etc.
Being able to parse media is the biggest defense against being manipulated by propaganda.
So take the time to take a proper gander at the media you see and consume.
EDIT: TLDR Media Literacy is a learned skill that anyone can and should learn and practice.
EDIT2: me seeing the results of praising media literacy in an anti-media literacy thread
Well that, at least, makes sense in that it’s really just an exercise in finding evidence for your argument.