Let Them Eat Cake?
“Digital media” and “Critical Literacy” are two terms that are widely discussed and debated. When these two terms are typed into google the images below are the definitions given:
If we were basing our understanding of how to critically use digital media on Google, then we would “actively analyze texts and offer strategies for what proponents describe as uncovering underlying messages” of “digitized content that can be transmitted over the internet or computer networks”. This seems to be the streamlined method of teaching students how to be critically literate in the digital age. However, as Buckingham addresses, this method removes the emotional, persuasive or symbolic aspects of media or parts of media that serve a different purpose than to simply convey information (Buckingham). Also, this is typically taught with and air of distrust for a text. A more well rounded perspective of critical literacy is explained by Allen Luke in the video shown below:
As he explains in the video, being critically literate is having a skepticism, as opposed to a distrust, for texts because they are “re-presentations” of reality. Skepticism is key because it allows for questioning and analysis as opposed to believing that nothing is true. Another aspect related to critical literacy is presented by David Foster Wallace in his “This is Water” speech. This aspect involves minimizing the idea of “blind faith”, or the idea of believing in something for the sake of believing without any evaluation (Wallace, 2003). Wallace states “It is not the capacity to think, but what to think about” (Wallace). These ideas presented are similar to the methods in which historians view history.
Adolescents should critically use digital media by evaluating the information that is presented to them. This means that students need to be able to look at a digital text and evaluate the text as any good historian would do. In history, we pick apart texts because we understand that everything published has a motive or message to relay. Short of diaries, there are very few texts that do not portray a certain message to a specific audience. Social and digital media should be evaluated the same way. What someone tweets or retweets needs to be analyzed with the same magnifying glass as a historical document.
A history example of this is the infamous “Let them eat cake” legacy left by Marie Antoinette. Historians now know that she did not say this, nor was she oblivious or indifferent to the needs of the French people. The video below gives further detail into this myth:
This myth has serious implications because this myth was widely believed and even discussed in national newspapers. For Marie Antoinette to say “let them eat cake” has an impactful emotional response for the people of 18th century France. This confirms Buckinghams idea about the emotional impact of media being just as essential as the “facts” behind it. The french public blindly believed this myth because it confirmed their bias towards Austrians. Although this is an 18th century example where there was no internet, the same principle can be applied in the digital age. In the digital age, these types of rumors go beyond oral communication or newspapers. Instead, ideas get proliferated on the internet. The same reasoning that this video use to debunk this myth is the same reasoning students should use with digital texts.
The image to the left is a political cartoon showing the dangers of the idea of “blind faith” that Wallace mentions. This shows not only the necessity for critical literacy but also a visual representation of the consequences of not evaluating texts that are presented on social media.
Critical literacy is multi-dimensional because texts are inherently socially constructed. Because of this, students should not just look at the “facts” of a text but “how political, economic, and social context shapes all texts…no text is neutral or necessarily of ‘higher quality’” (Buckingham, p.47). The “let them eat cake” myth was shaped by the political, economic, and social conditions of the time. This example provides students with a historical model which can be applicable to digital media.
Required Sources
Buckingham, D. (2007). Digital Media Literacies: Rethinking Media Education in the Age of the Internet. Research in Comparative and International Education,2(1), 43–55. doi:10.2304/rcie.2007.2.1.43
J. (2013, May 19). This Is Water — Full version-David Foster Wallace Commencement Speech. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CrOL-ydFMI
Additional Sources
M. (2015, March 31). Allen Luke — Critical Literacy. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnWdARykdcw
T. (2015, August 06). The Truth About Marie Antoinette and “Let Them Eat Cake”. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4Z8yWVFZZE
