Audience Reception: Different Ways of Consuming/Critiquing Media

In this day of age, how can one safely consume media? Your favorite show from middle school turns out to be transphobic and the soap operas you watched in elementary school are now colorist.

As a film major sophomore at Santa Monica College, one of the things I love most about being a student is the pre-text at home when my parents come home from work, and I can be browsing through streaming services and say I’m doing homework. Sometimes I re-watch my favorite films/shows with the knowledge I have from receiving higher education and feeling ashamed for not knowing that it mistreats a social group unfairly.

With no source of income, I cannot become the philanthropist I wish I were. But that can not stop you or me from educating one another and doing what is right at the moment and holding people accountable for how creators portray BIPOC, Black and Indigenous People of Color.

Due to our unlike experiences as normal human beings we consume media differently and see from the diverse perspective from others, due to being so different we are naturally opposed to one another.

Dominant/Preferred Reading: You accept the media as it was intended by the creator of the product. Without any questioning, any hesitation, or no concerns have risen.

Negotiated Reading: You, as the audience, can challenge what the creator has produced. You can argue that a certain social group is being unfairly represented. You have a choice the reading is as your own.

Oppositional Reading: You are completely rejecting the creator’s intentions. Tune out everything the creator has made because you oppose the media.

Aberrant Reading: You take the creator's intention, turn it upside down, and give it an entirely different meaning.

In order to contribute to the dire situations of Black folx and other “minorities,” you must know which “readings,” to do and the conversations you should be having with those around you.

Safely consuming media can break the stereotypes “minorities,” portray in film or shows. Breaking the silence and avoiding comfortable conversations is what allyship means to many. “A good Ally amplifies the voices of the marginalized,” Hailee Sebastian noted in an interview with Teen Vogue in August 2017. By having conversations after a film or after a Netflix marathon you are defending those who have been oppressed without any say in the means of production.

Diving into the film industry head-on can be difficult for people of color if you don’t have the resources or networking to have a steady career. Watching films written and produced by womxn and people of color ensures that the next generation will perceive minorities, not as a threat like the media stereotypes creator for them, but as capable of being a more than just a side character or the villain.

So, we don’t expect you to scream it into the sky’s after you’ve consumed media that you are using the dominant reading or the negotiated reading. Just know that media can be seen in many eye lenses and you have the right to challenge how the creators use race to their advantage. And to that extent, you will be holding the creators accountable for encouraging microaggressions on screens.