One F in Foley: Should Media Studies become a school subject?

Somewhat unsurprisingly, I’m going to say yes to my own question on this one.

Mainly because the secondary school where I’m currently working gave me the green light to trial a full-year-long programme with the current Transition Year group, teaching Media as a subject. Here’s what it involves and why it's useful.

First up, I want to dispel the old myth of ‘isn’t Media Studies just about watching films and that?’ And yes, while there might be a slight touch of that, it goes a lot deeper, and as a subject, it holds a huge connection with the real world, especially nowadays.

READ NEXT: Errigal College to represent Ireland at prestigious STEM event in Brussels

The students who joined my class will be guided through two modules: 15 lessons of Analysing Media Content (AMC) and 9 student-centred lessons on Creating Media Content (CMC). While we might critiqé a short three-minute film now and again, it doesn’t mean we sit there bingeing on Netflix box-sets.

Analysing Media Content
Just like a student might study music theory when learning an instrument, or art history when looking up some great paintings throughout history, the AMC module does something similar with the world of media. Who creates it, who owns it, and why we see and hear what they want us to see and hear.

We look at how a TV show or film is targeted at an audience, how it is marketed and branded, and how it can sometimes have an influential effect on its viewers. This is nothing new, of course. Sure, didn’t many young women in the 1990s all rush out to get the ‘Rachel Haircut’ after watching a few episodes of Friends?

There’s also scope to look into the aspect of media ownership. We might ask ourselves why certain movies might never be shown on national broadcaster channels like the BBC or RTÉ. Mainly because of the country’s cultural values and virtues. Hence why the likes of Trainspotting or The Exorcist were never shown.

We also delve into the representation of gender in our media. It’s no secret that many of Hollywood’s female characters were tagged as those who were ‘to be seen and not heard’. Maybe this is why the biggest female stars of that era (Marilyn Monroe, Raquel Welch) were known more so because of the ‘Male Gaze’ theory.

Times have changed, however, with female leads - particularly in the superhero franchise films - who are depicted as stronger, intelligent, and more leader-like figures as opposed to the old days of being the damsel in distress. A great way of studying this is through the different King Kong movies over the years.

Thanks to the great research put forward by many media scholars over the years, we can see that a large number of TV shows, films, and even computer games adapt the ‘Propp’s Fairytale’ formula. In a nutshell, this involves the characterisation of a story’s hero, villain, dispatcher, helper, and princess, etc.

Kids are aware of how Shrek was dispatched by Lord Farquad to go on a quest to save Princess Fiona and that Donkey, the noble sidekick, would act as the lovable ogre’s helper on the journey. Similar plot lines exist in the old games of Super Mario, although Princess Peach is now portrayed as much tougher than before.

These are just some parts of the Analysing Media Course that help students shape an understanding of how the media operates and, in turn, how it can also guide them into becoming more creative in their own right. The beauty of creating their own media is that there’s something for everyone.

Creating Media Content
Being creative is an integral part of life. When we were children, we were all great at it. We would jump from a living room chair to the sofa because the floor was lava. Many of us could create gripping love stories and action-packed adventures with Barbie dolls or Teenage Mutant Hero Turtle action figures just like that.

And yet somewhere along the way, we stopped being kids and stopped having such vivid imaginations. The stereotype now is that teenagers have become mindless sponges to the phones they scroll through, but with my course, the aim is to show them how to use their devices and gadgets to be creators instead.
There are wonderful free apps out there that allow them to develop their talents in photography and videography. Editing software that gets them adding in terrific soundtrack music to create a feel or mood for the viewers. Aren’t these skills that any future employer would want from their staff?

Of course, there are other aspects to being creative. In a written sense, there are opportunities to write their own ‘Hollywood Standard’ screenplay for a short story they want to create, or by creating short animations and eye-catching posters to generate interest for an event. The list is endless.

No More Stigma
To put it bluntly, if it’s socially acceptable to read a Shakespearean play to understand complex characters, themes, and theatre stage-craft, then surely it’s more than okay to analyse a TV show’s storyline to do the same. It’s just a more modern and contemporary way of doing things that most kids can relate to.

In a similar vein, an art student might look closely at a painting to study the techniques and brush strokes used by the artist. Is that all that different from a media student scrutinising an advertisement poster or banner? I certainly don’t think so.

In conclusion, and yes, I am aware that I’m answering a question that maybe nobody asked, but if the issue of whether or not Media Studies should be a school subject, or not, I guess you can assume that I’m on the yes side for this one. It may take a while to change society’s perception, but hey, I’m only saying.