Pedagogy of the Dispossessed: Race, Gender and Critical Media Literacy in the "Malltiplex"

By 1980, to most Americans going to the movies meant going to the mall.

—Gomery (1992, 93)

As I entered the parking lot of the mall, the site appeared as one might expect to find at a suburban shopping mall. My view inside the mall was also typical—bright lights, retail shops, food courts, and groups of young people conversing. My entry inside the movie theater’s auditorium also appeared quite “normal;” audience members sat in a dimly-lit, yet plush auditorium, engaged in conversation and awaiting the start of the show. However, even as patrons entered and re-entered the auditorium with popcorn and other refreshments, I sensed a difference in this movie-going experience. I attributed this difference to the unique combination of purpose, character, and place of the event.

On this particular Friday afternoon in October, an audience of mostly college students was participating in a distinctive pedagogical encounter. For most in attendance, a learning experience that began in the classroom had transferred to a shopping mall movie theater. After waiting in a long line outside the theater, we entered only to find a blank screen, no advertisements, no film trivia, and no reminders of the goodies available at the concession stand. The announced time for the start of the show had passed without the expected darkening of the auditorium and the customary film previews. Yet few people in the audience seemed overly concerned about the delay. Although they were awaiting the start of a “controversial” film, they also were anticipating the arrival of the film’s director. For this audience of nearly 200 people, the event constituted pedagogy—a blend of their everyday life (living) with the work they do in the class (learning)—at a site that was both familiar and strange.

In the scenario described above, “I” was the teacher, and the audience was comprised of primarily of African American media students, nearly half from my university. In this sense, the theater became an extension of the college classroom as the students were joined by a handful of university professors. However, instead of waiting for class to begin, they awaited the appearance of Spike Lee and what they thought would be his introduction to his satire on media culture—Bamboozled.

In this paper I discuss how courses I teach in race, gender, and media offer a critical pedagogy of media culture. I begin by locating my work in media education in the context of university journalism and mass communication education. Then, I will give an example of how these courses allow students to explore the links between formal education and contemporary media culture in ways that tap their lived experiences. My discussion of this example focuses on a particular site—a movie theater in a large upscale shopping mall—that was prominent in a set of pedagogical experiences from which to examine race, gender, and the media. Ultimately, I hope to demonstrate that critical pedagogy encourages alternative texts and sites for pedagogical praxis.

Praxis Makes Perfect: Towards a Critical Media Pedagogy

I am a faculty member at a large Southeastern research institution that contains several colleges and professional schools, one of which is my college of journalism and mass communication. This nationally renowned college houses three departments, my host department of telecommunications, journalism, and advertising and public relations. The college offers various majors in such areas as broadcast news, telecommunication arts, magazines, and public relations. Although the college’s graduate program offers doctorate and masters degrees, a majority of graduate students are enrolled in various “professional” masters degree programs. Large media companies such as Cox and individual donors underwrite the college’s teaching and research laboratories.

Like most collegiate media education programs, the college of journalism and mass communication employs a “professionalism” model of pedagogy. This model stresses the training and preparation of students for careers in the media. The primary goal is to “reproduce the dominant modes of representation of the media industry” (Sholle 9). This goal is maintained through alliances with professional media organizations and augmented by trade associations, university administrators, alumni...