Introduction

 

This Senior Seminar is in development and will be designed as an undergraduate college-level class for high school students interested in media literacy, propaganda, and social engineering generally. The course will explore the historical impacts of the development and use of different forms of media through the lens of politics, economics, culture, and society.

 

In this course, students will learn to analyze various forms of media including social media, film, documentaries, advertising, and the news with the goal of understanding the purpose of the overt and covert messages being communicated.

 

 

Course Materials

 

Articles/White Papers/Worksheets

 

• Introduction to Media Literacy

• Media Literacy Through Critical Thinking Student Workbook

• Point of View (POV) Media Literacy Worksheet

• Breed, Warren. Social Control in the Newsroom: A Functional Analysis

 

Books

 

• 1984 by George Orwell

• Amusing Ourselves To Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Showbusiness by Neil Postman

• Between Two Ages: America's Role in the Technetronic Era by Zbigniew Brzezinski

• The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminished Expectations by Christopher Lasch

• Changing Images of Man by The Center for the Study of Social Policy

• Propaganda by Edward Bernays

• Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes by Jacques Ellul

 

Videos

 

• “Century of the Self” (documentary)

• “The Corporation” (documentary)

• “Dirty Wars” (documentary)

• “Four Horseman” (documentary)

• “The Illusionists” (documentary)

• “The Invisible War” (documentary)

• “Our Brand is Crisis” (documentary)

• "The Hidden Influence of Social Networks" (TED Talks)

 

 

See the videos below for an introduction to the course.