Overview
For this final post, you will analyze a personal viewing experience using bell hooks' oppositional gaze theory. Examining media with an opposition gaze means critically assessing constructions of gender, sexuality, race, nation, class, and ability, and refusing to identify with dominant readings of the text. You will choose a single work (film, TV episode, song, video game, etc.) and address how you applied the oppositional gaze to something you've seen/read/listened to/played. Your post should:
- Identify the dominant reading of the media text. What primary interpretation does the film or show intend? How do you know?
- Identify why this dominant interpretation is flawed. What ideas or realities does the dominant reading perpetuate? Why is this a problem?
- Describe how you employed an oppositional gaze to challenge the media text. How did you view it with a critical eye? How did you shift your focus in viewing the work to find pleasure in it? Or, how did you focus on different aspects of the texts in order to find something positive in it? In other words, explain how you read it "against the grain" and what new meaning you were able to take from it as a result.
- This post should be at least 300 words and should include a word count