COM 224: Media & Society

Broadly, this course explores the ways media and culture intersect and align with each other to inform American audiences about who and what they are in relation to an increasingly globalized and mediated world. Since their onset U.S. mass media industries have been powerful conveyors of meaning, both internationally and nationally. Our course will focus on “visibility,” how media renders some identities more visible than others for strategic purposes under the pretense that we live in an “economy of visibility” (Banet-Weiser, 2018); constructed by mass media. Beginning with laying a foundation for understanding media’s function in society we will then analyze representations of both hegemonic identities, as well as marginalized and alternative representations of specific populations in film and television. The second half of the course is devoted to the new media environment and media industries with special emphasis on digital media activism, corporate social responsibility, and woke capitalism. At the end of the course, you should understand how media philosophies, pedagogies, and ideologies impact how we communicate in the new media environment.

Course Assignments

The course assignments include: Weekly Writing Assignments, 4 Mini-Projects, Module Assessments, and a Final Project. Weekly Writing Assignments require you to synthesize course readings to demonstrate you have read and digested course material prior to coming to class so you can be an active participant. Mini-Projects are either individual or small-group (3-4 people) and assess your ability to apply course concepts through creative and professional applications. Module Assessments are short in-class essays that assess your competency of module concepts. These require you to define terms, apply them to examples, and demonstrate beyond surface-level engagement with course material. The Final Project asks you to work in groups of 4-5 people to develop a media campaign based around a social justice issue informed by the UN Sustainability Goals, You will apply concepts from throughout the course to develop a well-crafter persuasive media campaign and presentation.

Course Content

This course is four modules: (1) Foundations, (2) Film & TV, (3) Advertising & Social Media, (4) Media Industries. For specific course schedule and week-by-week organization please email, I am happy to share upon request.

Module 1: Foundations (Weeks 1 - 3)

Carter, C. (2012). Sex/Gender and the Media: From Sex Roles to Social Construction and Beyond. In K. Ross (Ed.) The Handbook of Gender, Sex, and Media (1st ed., pp. 365-382). Wiley-Blackwell.

Dunn, T. R. (2018). Talking White Trash: Mediated Representations and Lived Experiences of White Working-Class People. Routledge. (Introduction)

Lind, R. A. (2023). Laying a Foundation for Studying Race, Gender, Class, and the Media. In R. A. Lind (Ed.) Race/Gender/Class/Media: Considering Diversity Across Audiences, Content, and Producers (5th ed., pp. 1-9). Routledge.

Mejia, R. (2023). Race and Media Studies. In B. M. Calafell & S. Eguchi (Eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Ethnicity and Race in Communication (pp. 453-464). Routledge.

Ott, B. L. & Mack, R. L. (2020) Critical Media Studies: An Introduction. Wiley-Blackwell. (Chapter 1)

Sellnow, D. D. (2017). The Rhetorical Power of Popular Culture. Sage Publications. (Chapter 1)

Module 2: Film & Representation (Weeks 4 - 6)

Beltran, M. (2018). Representation. In M. Kackman & M. C. Kearney (Eds.) The Craft of Criticism: Critical Media Studies in Practice (pp. 97-108). Routledge.

Bucciferro, C. (2021). Representations of Gender and Race in Ryan Coogler’s film Black Panther: Disrupting Hollywood Tropes. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 38(2), 169-182. https://doi.org/10.1080/15295036.2021.1889012.

Cramer, L. M. (2020). Whiteness and the Postracial Imaginary in Disney’s Zootopia. Howard Journal of Communications, 31(3), 264-281. https://doi.org/10.1080/10646175.2019.1666070.

Spencer, L. G. (2016). Performing Transgender Identity in The Little Mermaid: From Andersen to Disney. Communication Studies, 65(1), 112-127. https://doi.org/10.1080/10510974.2013.832691

Module 3: Social Media (Weeks 7 - 9)

Barker, C. (2012). Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice. Sage. (Chapter 12: Digital Media Cultures).

Campbell, R., Martin, C., Fabos, B., & Becker, R. (2021). Media & Culture: An Introduction to Mass Communication (13th ed.). MacMillan. (Chapter 1)

Feldkamp, J. (2021). The Rise of TikTok: The Evolution of a Social Media Platform During COVID-19. In C. Hovestadt et al. (Eds.) Digital Responses to COVID-19 (pp. 73-85). Springer.

Maddox, J. (2023). The Internet is for Cats: How Animal Images Shape Our Digital Lives. Rutgers University Press. (Chapter 3).

Rauchberg, J. S. (2020). TikTok’s Digital Eugenics: Challenging Ableism and Algorithmic Erasure through Disability Activism. Flow: A Critical Forum on Media and Culture. https://www.flowjournal.org/2020/09/tiktok-digital-eugenics/.

Module 4: Advertising (Weeks 10 - 12)

Banet-Weiser, S. (2018). Empowered: Popular Feminism and Popular Misogyny. Duke University Press. (Introduction)

Banet-Weiser, S. & Mukherjee, R. (2012). Introduction: Commodity Activism in Neoliberal Times. In R. Mukherjee & S. Banet-Weiser (Eds.) Commodity Activism: Cultural Resistance in Neoliberal Times (pp. 1-16). New York University Press. (Introduction)

Orgad, S. & Gill, R. (2022). Confidence Culture. Duke University Press. (Chapter 1)

Dubrofsky, R. E. (2022). Authenticating Whiteness: Karens, Selfies, and Pop Stars. University Press of Mississippi. (Chapter 6).

Willard, Z. A. & Menzies, A. L. (2024). Fashioning Zaya in the Press: Transnormativity, Authenticity, and Black Celebrity. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1177/01968599241233735.

Module 4: Media Industries (Weeks 13 - 15)

Leon-Boys, D. (2023). Elena, Princesa of the Periphery: Disney’s Flexible Latina Girl. Rutgers University Press. (Introduction & Chapter 2).

McDonald, P. (2021). Media, Industries, Research: Problematizing the filed. In P. McDonald (Ed.) The Routledge Companion to Media Industries (pp. 1-19). Routledge.

Regutti, K., Willard, Z. A., & Pal, M. (2024). Regimes of Visibility in Disney’s CSR: Corporate Wokeness, Neoliberalism, and Promotional Industries. In L. Edwards, J. V. Cabanes, and C. Bourne (Eds.) Handbook of Promotional Culture and Society. Sage.

Wasko, J. (2021). Origins of research into media industries conducted in the United States. In P. McDonald (Ed.) The Routledge Companion to Media Industries (pp. 44-54). Routledge