COMM 3500 Lecture Notes PDF

Here's the conversion of the document into a structured markdown format: # COMM 3500 January 9, 2025 10:10 AM ## Jenkins (Participatory Culture) 2014 Jenkins explores the evolution of participatory culture and its impact on both marketing and societal change. He defines participatory culture as...

Here's the conversion of the document into a structured markdown format: # COMM 3500 January 9, 2025 10:10 AM ## Jenkins (Participatory Culture) 2014 Jenkins explores the evolution of participatory culture and its impact on both marketing and societal change. He defines participatory culture as one where individuals actively engage in the creation and sharing of content, leading to a collaborative environment with low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement. Jenkins discusses how this culture enables consumers to co-create brand meanings, transforming traditional marketing dynamics. He also highlights the broader implications of participatory culture, emphasizing its potential to drive social movements and empower communities to enact change. The article underscores the shift from passive consumption to active participation, illustrating how individuals leverage media platforms to influence both commerce and society. ## Williams (The meaning of culture) 1961 Williams explores how culture can be studied and understood. He argues that culture is not just about art and literature but includes everyday meanings, values, and social practices. Williams breaks cultural analysis into 3 broad categories: 1. **Ideal Culture:** This perspective sees culture as a state of human perfection, emphasizing the best artistic and intellectual works. 2. **Documentary Culture:** This view treats culture as the recorded achievements of human thought and creativity, including literature, art, and history. 3. **Social Culture:** This approach understands culture as a way of life, including traditions, social norms & lived experiences. William critiques purely literary or elite-focused views of culture, advocating for a more comprehensive and democratic approach that includes both high & popular culture. He also introduces the idea of emergent, dominant, and residual cultures, highlighting how cultural forms evolve over time, some fading, some persisting, and others newly developing. His analysis emphasizes that culture is dynamic and deeply connected to historical and social contexts rather than being a static collection of great works. ## Regan (Unsettling the Settler within) 2010 Dialogue circle → Camaderie Sharing circle This chapter introduces the book's central argument: that meaningful reconciliation in Canada requires settlers to confront their own complicity in colonial violence. Regan critiques mainstream Canadian approaches to reconciliation, which often focuses on Indigenous trauma rather than settler responsibility. She argues that true reconciliation demands a fundamental shift in how settlers understand history and their role in ongoing colonial structures. Regan explores the legacy of Residential Schools, framing them not as an isolated historical injustice but as a part of a broader system of settler colonialism. She calls for "unsettling" settlers—pushing them beyond passive guilt or sympathy toward active engagement with decolonization. Drawing on Indigenous perspectives, she challenges settlers to participate in truth-telling processes that go beyond the surface level and lead to transformative change. This chapter sets the stage for the rest of the book, emphasizing that reconciliation is not just about Indigenous healing but also about settler responsibility and the need for systemic change in Canada. ## Barthes (The death of the author) 1967 The interpretation of a text should not be limited to the author's intentions / biography. Meaning is created from the reader's interpretation. Through the act of reading → making the reader the central figure. Barthes suggests that language itself shapes meaning, independent from the author. Writing becomes a "performative act", rather than a medium for the author's voice. "The birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the author." This emphasizes that meaning is not fixed but produced through reader's engagement. Influential in post-structuralist & deconstructive literary theory, challenging notions of authorship & authority in interpretation. ## Adorno & Horkheimer (The Culture Industry) 1944 Critiques the ways in which mass media and popular culture serve as instruments of control in capitalist societies. They argue that the "culture industry" standardizes cultural products ex. films, radio, music, & entertainment reducing art to mere commodities designed to maintain the status quo. Instead of promoting critical thought or genuine artistic expression, mass-produced culture pacifies audiences, reinforcing ideological conformity and discouraging resistance. The authors suggest that modern entertainment is not about genuine creativity but about repetition and predictability, fostering passivity rather than intellectual engagement. The illusion of choice in consumer culture masks the reality that all options are variations of the same formula, designed to sustain capitalist interest. They also criticize how mass media manipulates emotions, creating an artificial sense of satisfaction that keeps people from questioning social structures. Ultimately, Adorno & Horkheimer argue that rather than enlightening individuals, the culture industry serves as a tool of domination, shaping consumer desires and reinforcing systemic inequalities under the guise of leisure and entertainment. ## Lecture 1/31 * "common sense" * dominant ideology * The death of the author * Post-structuralism * *Simpsons* * *God author* * reinforces status quo * during the 1960s example. * Reception Theory, relating back to Williams' "decoding" * *Back to the Future.* *Bueller's Day Off* Writing without intention can be compared when in therapy and you can say whatever: e.g., writing whatever during writer's block.