Blog Entry #1: Media Critique

As educators, we must always be aware of the messages that we are intending to convey and how our students may view and interpret both the intended and unintentional messages that we send and thereby internalize both.  Through the lens of viewing media as a source of both the creation and consumption of messages we can learn more about how to thoughtfully craft our messages by examining the output of a media message.  Through the process of considering the original intention behind the message that has been conveyed, we can consider the intention of those who created the artifact and the message they were attempting to convey.  

By critically examining how the message was designed as a combination of text and visual imagery we can learn how to use the principles of background design to create an intentional process of conveying a message.  I will examine the following commercial “The Force,” created by Volkswagen, to explore this idea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R55e-uHQna0.

Commercials are designed for the purpose of selling a product to a consumer, in this case the product is a Volkswagen 2012 Passat.  However, we do not see a vehicle until 0:29 so the first almost thirty seconds of the 1 minute video are not directly related to the product being sold.  The only way the beginning of the video can be identified as a Volkswagen commercial is by the logo in the lower right hand corner.  Additionally, we do not see the name of the vehicle until 0:55, the very end of the commercial.  

Therefore, this commercial leads me to believe that Volkswagen as a company is intending to be selling the idea of being a brand that families with young children can rely on and trust.  It is selling the image of a stereotypical nuclear family which evokes a feeling of cohesion, reliability and dependability.  There is an added element of pleasure as the father playfully uses the “remote start” feature of the car which makes his son/daughter believe he/she has mastered the force, which simultaneously highlights a unique technological feature while also engaging with the idea that the car could add an element of fun.

Given that this video is representing a middle to upper-middle class family with a young child, living in suburbia I believe that this is also the target audience of this commercial.  The visuals that lead me to come to this conclusion include the thoughtfully furnished furnished rooms of the house which are in a neutral color scheme and appear to be extremely well-kept with relatively new furnishings and with a well-manicured front lawn.  

The inclusion of a stationary bicycle appeals to a broad audience adults who are health-conscious and interested in maintaining a healthy lifestyle.  This family also has a yellow lab who appears to young, well-mannered and active as well which relates to an audience of pet owners and animal lovers.  When the child’s mother prepares him/her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, which is a popular staple for many households, the creators of this commercial appear to be trying to connect with a broad audience of PB&J lovers.

However there are audiences that are not represented in this advertisement.  This includes anyone who is not in a middle to upper-middle class household.  Stereotypical gender roles are also portrayed as the mother appears to be a stay-at-home mother and the father appears to work in business as he is wearing a nice suit when he returns home in the evening.  This family is also portrayed as a caucasian nuclear family consisting of a father, mother, and child.  Any individual or family who does not conform to these representations in terms of race, social class, family unit, or employment status has thereby been excluded from the intended audience.  I believe that the reason for the exclusion of these individuals is that Volkswagen is catering to a specific subset of the population of people who they believe can afford their vehicles and would promote the image they desire to create.  

If I were to consider the perspective of a video producer when creating an advertisement for the Volkswagen Passat, one of the most important decisions I would have to make were to decide first what message I wanted to convey and how I could tell a story that would convey that message in the shortest amount of time possible.  I believe the music was selected in order to evoke a powerful emotional response as well as to connect with fans of Star Wars.  Nonverbal communication was evident throughout the commercial and forced the consumer to focus on creating an emotional connection with the child who was dressed up as Darth Vader and to relate to him more quickly than that could have been accomplished using words.  The heavy reliance on strong, intentional visuals accompanied by a resonating musical score from a popular movie series assisted the video producer in conveying a particular message in a very intentional way in a finite amount of time.  The medium of video was a stronger method of delivery as it has the potential to connect with consumers through multiple modalities.  

As educators, I believe that we can learn from examining media messages as communicating effectively is at the core of the media industry.  Just as video producers must form a connection with their audience to sell a product, we must connect with our students to learn how they are internalizing the messages we send and how we can communicate effectively to engage them in their own learning.