Remember, remember the fifth of November.......

Do you know exactly what the television, film, music, and internet material tell about yourself or about those around you? Is the media we partake in something that is just swallowed like the food we eat or is it more like a "vaccine" injected into our system? How can we dissect what we our putting into our systems, or, at the very least, understand that which we intake?
Douglas Kellner has produced a formula to filter the meanings behind the "madness" in his article entitled "Culture Studies, Multiculturalism, and Media Culture". The three steps that which Kellner uses to break down media are through analyzing their production and political economy, text, and audience reception. The production and political economy of a media source simply entails the marketing of and the political background and/or views of said media. The text analysis includes the meanings behind the media itself. This can be a multitude of meanings that can use the production and political economy mentioned above. As Kellner finishes his section on the textual anaylisis he writes, "Of course, each reading of a text is only one possible reading from one critic's subject position, no matter how multiperspectival, and may or may not be the reading preffered by the audience." Finally, audience reception is needed because then the media can be viewed through the eyes of not only the critics but the average viewers themselves. Plus, the audience allows for a mass study of the staying effect of the media (most noted by the dreaded "Trekkies).

While reading this article one movie stood out above any other in my mind. What this one particular scene displays all of these three steps.


If the above clip does not work it can be seen here-> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TLD3Z6sJWA

This is a clip from the 2005 movie V for Vendetta. This scene speaks many different languages to the audience but politics is it's main lingo. While watching this, it is hard to not think about what this really is signifying. As I said, this movie was first released in 2005 during a time of questioning of the validity and planning of the government. The story of V for Vendetta takes place in a "prosperous" England under the rule of the facist Norsefire party's leader Adam Sutler. The party uses words like religion, faith, and security as a tool to help control the people. This can easily be seen as a political satire for the Bush administration at the time. The clip can be seen many different ways. It could be seen as a warning for us as viewers. We must be sure to question the motives of the people who lead us, and make sure that they are doing it for our benefit. It could also be implying that anarchy is needed to purge a corrupt government. The viewer finds the protaganist V as a crusader in this society. However, he is also considered a terrorist. Also, the emphasis on Guy Fawkes, of whom Guy Fawkes day (November 5th) is named after, can be mislead considering that he planned on blowing up Parliament which makes himself a terrorist.

The formost point in this speech is that the people have the power to make or break their leaders (which could have been a direct attack towards President Bush who recently won the 2004 election four months earlier). The point of the speech is directed to the people of England, however, it also can be point out towards you th audience. Could V be saying that as England made it's mistake in choosing Sutler, we have made a mistake in choosing Bush?

clips courtesy of youtube