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UDC 372Th e An a lys is o f Ste re o typ e s o f P o litic ally En ga ge d Me d ia Te xts in Me d ia S tu d ie s in S tu d e n t Au d ie n c e ( by th e Exa m p le o f Re n n y H a rlin ’s film s “B o rn Am e ric a n ” ( 19 8 6 )
a n d “Five D a ys o f W ar” ( 2 0 11)
Alexander V. Fedorov
Anton Chekhov Taganrog State Pedagogical Institute, Russia Iniciativnaya street 48 , Taganrog city, Rostovskaya oblast, 347936 Dr. (Education), Professor
E-m ail: 1954alex@m ail.ru
Abs tra c t. The developm ent of skills for the analysis of m edia texts is an im portant task of m edia education. However, m edia literacy practice shows that students have problem s with the discussion / analysis of som e genres in the early stages of m edia studies, for exam ple, the difficulties in the process of understanding and interpreting the author's conception, plot and genre features. This article substantiates the m ethodological approaches to the analysis of politically engaged m edia texts in m edia studies in the student audience.
Ke yw o rd s : Media education; m edia literacy; m edia competence; m edia text; analysis; universities; students; media studies; film ; cold war; policy; ideologies.
In tro d u ctio n . The fam ous British theorist of m edia education Len Masterm an has repeatedly em phasized that it is necessary to teach the audience to understand the following: 1) who is responsible for the creation of m edia texts? who owns the m edia and controls them? 2) how is the effect achieved? 3) what value orientations are created? 4) how does the audience perceive it? [Masterm an, 198 5]. Of course, this kind of approach is m ostly related to the texts which are outside the artistic sphere, and is not suitable for the outstanding works of m edia culture. However I think it is quite suitable for the opuses designed for m ass audience, especially for the clearly politicized ones. Especially if you see that it evidently has m uch in com mon with the theoretical concepts of U. Eco [Eco, 20 0 5] and A. Silverblatt [Silverblatt, 20 0 1, p.8 0 -8 1].
Indeed, the idea of U. Eco that the three im portant system s should be singled out in the analysis of m edia texts: the author’s ideology; market conditions which determ ined the concept, the process of creation and success; the narrative techniques [Eco, 20 0 5, p.20 9], is very sim ilar to Len Masterm an’s concept of m edia education.
There’s no need to explain how im portant it is for the students, the future specialists in political and culture studies, historians, art historians, pedagogues, to develop their abilities to analyze m edia texts of different kinds and genres.
However, m edia literacy practice shows that students have problem s with the discussion / analysis of som e genres in the early stages of m edia studies, for exam ple, the difficulties in the process of understanding and interpreting the author's conception, plot and genre features. Let’s try to substantiate the m ethodological approaches to the analysis of politically engaged m edia texts in m edia studies in the student audience.
It would seem that the tim es of the Cold War are gone, and the im age of the evil “Russian bear” is no longer relevant for the Western screens. However our analysis [Fedorov, 20 10 ] showed that m edia stereotypes of the Cold War are still alive nowadays. Let’s prove it by the exam ple of two politically engaged film s of Renny Harlin “Born Am erican” (USA-Finland, 198 6) and “Five Days of War” (USA-Georgia, 20 11).
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Th e s tru ctu re o f w e s te rn “c o n fro n tatio n al” a c tio n film s
B o rn Am e rica n . U SA, 19 8 6 . D ire cto r R. H arlin .
Ma rke t c o n d itio n s w h ic h d e te rm in e d th e c o n c e p t a n d th e p ro ce s s o f c re atio n o f th e m e d ia te xt. The Cold War of the 198 0 -es between the West and the Soviet Union, which aggravated during the Afghan war unleashed by the Krem lin and when president Ronald Reagan cam e to power in the USA, spawned a series of anti-Soviet m edia products including R. Harlin’s film which stood out for its clearly defined ideological position that fully met the political situation.
Au th o r’s id e o lo gy, valu e o rie n ta tio n s o f th e m e d ia te xt. The ideological m essage of the film is simple and clear: the superiority of Am erican values of dem ocracy over totalitarian and com munist ones; anti-Sovietism.
H is to rica l p e rio d , s ce n e o f a c tio n . Finland and the USSR of the mid 198 0 -es, border areas.
Th e s e ttin g, h o u s e h o ld go o d s . Streets and houses in Finland and the USSR, the KGB torture chambers. Wretched Soviet life.
Me th o d s o f re p re s e n tatio n o f re a lity. The Soviet interiors, costumes, etc. are clearly depicted in a gloom y and grotesque m anner, while the Finnish ones – in advertisingly positive.
Th e ch ara cte rs , th e ir va lu e s , id e a s , c lo th in g, c o n s titu tio n , vo c a bu la ry, m im ic s , ge s tu re s . Positive characters are sim ple and sym pathetic Am erican guys, their m ain aim in life is entertainm ent; negative characters are evil personnel of the prison and KGB, the adherents of com munist ideas. The latter look openly grotesque with hysterical m im ics and gestures, prim itive vocabulary. Soviet characters are dressed in plain and unattractive clothes. Am erican characters are dressed in com fortable and high-quality clothes for teenagers.
S ign ifica n t ch a n ge s in th e live s o f th e c h ara cte rs : tricking the vigilance of the Soviet border guards, the Am erican guys illegally cross the Finnish-Soviet border “just for fun”.
Origin a te d p ro ble m : the locals suspect that the Am ericans killed a Russian girl and em phasize their hostile disposition in every way; the Am erican guys offered their arm ed resistance, killing them with admirable ease and skill, but as a result they fall into the clutches of the cruel KGB officers.
S e arch e s fo r th e s o lu tio n o f th e p ro ble m : the Am erican guys are trying to break free from Soviet prison.
Th e s o lu tio n o f th e p ro ble m : the luckiest of them m anages to escape and return to the West.
Th e e ffe c t o n th e a u d ie n ce : the film ’s box office was not very impressive - 3,4 m illion dollars [Born Am erican: Box Office, 198 6], but paid back its budget (significant for Finland) was rather m odest by Hollywood standards. Consequently its uncomplicated plot was able to attract the attention of the younger audience in the U.S. which was prepared for this kind of spectacle by a long-term anti-Soviet ideological propaganda.
5 D a ys o f Au gu s t / 5 D a ys o f W a r. U SA-Ge o rgia , 2 0 11. D ire c to r Re n n y H a rlin . Ma rke t c o n d itio n s w h ic h d e te rm in e d th e c o n c e p t a n d th e p ro ce s s o f c re atio n o f th e m e d ia te xt. A short war in August 20 0 8 between Russia and Georgia caused by the arm ed conflict in the region of South Ossetia which separated from Greorgia. R. Harlin’s film is m arked by the clearly expressed pro-Georgian and pro-Am erican ideological position, fully m eeting the political conditions prevailing in the Western political study and m edia approaches.
Au th o r’s id e o lo gy, valu e o rie n ta tio n s o f th e m e d ia te xt. The ideological m essage of the film is still simple and clear: the superiority of pro-Western values of the independent Georgia over great-power policy of Russia.
H is to rica l p e rio d , s ce n e o f a c tio n . South Ossetia and Georgia, August 20 0 8 .
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Me th o d s o f re p re s e n tatio n o f re a lity. Georgian and Ossetian interiors, costum es, etc. are represented in a n eutral key, without any grotesque, the national character is seen in the interior and people’s clothing in the scene of the Georgian wedding.
Th e ch ara cte rs , th e ir va lu e s , id e a s , c lo th in g, c o n s titu tio n , vo c a bu la ry, m im ic s , ge s tu re s . Positive characters – sym pathetic Am erica journalists, their m ain aim is to deliver the reliable audio-visual inform ation about the ongoing events to the USA; peaceful Georgian people, noble Georgian soldiers. The vocabulary of the positive characters can be im pudent at tim es, however at crucial moments they stand up for dem ocratic values. Negative characters – spiteful and brutal Russian m ilitary m en destroying civilians without regret. Russian “com m andos” in “Five Days of August” look less grotesque than in “Born Am erican”, although the most ruthless of them are rem arkable for their threatening facial expressions and gestures, prim itive vocabulary. The characters wear festive (the wedding scene), plain clothes (the journalists), standard m ilitary uniform . Physical developm ent of the m ilitary characters is clearly above average.
S ign ifica n t ch a n ge s in th e live s o f th e ch ara cte rs : the Am erican journalists com e to the Georgian wedding, when a surprise attack of Russian forces begins.
Origin a te d p ro ble m : the lives of the Am ericans as well as the lives of the ordinary locals are threatened because of m ilitary actions.
S e arch e s fo r th e s o lu tio n o f th e p ro ble m : the Am erican journalists are trying to survive in war conditions, sim ultaneously shooting revelatory m aterial about the atrocities of the Russian soldiers which they are trying to deliver to the United States.
Th e s o lu tio n o f th e p ro ble m : the Am erican journalists m anage to survive and deliver their revelatory report to the U.S. (by the way, they don’t m anage to do that at once, because according to the authors of the film the Western m edia broadcast only the Russian version of the events at first).
Th e e ffe ct o n th e a u d ie n ce : at the cost of $ 20 m illion the film grossed a tiny sum of $ 17,50 0 in the U.S. box office [5 Days of War: Box Office, 20 11]. In other Western countries the film was shown only in a few movie theatres and sold on DVD. Thus, despite the anti-Russian cam paign of the Western press, connected with the conflict in August 20 0 8 , the film s’ effect on the “target audience” was minim al.
During the discussion of so obviously engaged media texts we draw attention of the student audience to the use of the basic techniques of m anipulative influence in these film s. For this purpose we use:
• “sifting” inform ation (reasoned selection of true and false in m edia m aterials, purification of inform ation from the “rouge” and “labels” by com paring with the actual facts, etc.);
• rem oving “typical”, “simple folk”, “authority” aureole from inform ation;
• critical analysis of aim s and interests of “the agencies”, i.e. the source of inform ation. Thus the following m ethods of m anipulative influence are analyzed in the classroom :
• “o r ch e s t r a t i o n ” – p s y ch o lo g i ca l p r e s s u r e o n t h e a u d i e n ce i n t h e fo r m o f co n s t a n t r e p e t i t i o n o f ce r t a i n fa ct s r e g a r d le s s o f t h e t r u t h . In the case of “Born Am erican” and “Five Days of August” it is a total em phasis on the positive qualities of the Am erican characters and the negative qualities of the Russian ones;
•“s e le ct i o n ” ( “j u g g i n g ”) – t h e s e le ct i o n o f c e r t a i n t e n d e n ci e s , fo r e xa m p le , o n ly t h e p o s i t i v e o r n e g a t i v e , d i s t o r t i o n , e xa g g e r a t i o n / u n d e r s t a t e m e n t o f t h e s e t e n d e n ci e s . In R. Harlin’s film s there is only “black” and “white”, all the positive events are connected with the actions of the Am erican characters, and all the negative events – with the Russian ones;
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• “s t i ck i n g la b e ls ”( e .g . a ccu s a t o r y , i n s u lt in g , e t c.) . In “Five Days of August” all the m ost negative labels are stuck to the “Russian aggressors”. “The sun is shining, the grass is green, silence, the journalist is standing in a garden. He plucks an unbearably ripe apple from a tree and bites it with a crunch. Cows are passing by. A little spider is stirring he web. A froggie is sitting in the pool. Then alarm ing m usic begins to sound, louder and louder. Countless soldiers em erge from the horizon. Infantry, arm ored vehicles. helicopters. Having killed some civilians, the Russians drive the rest of them together. The Am ericans m anage to shoot a war crim e from behind a fence. The leader of the Russians, a giant tattooed blonde with bright Finnish eyes and beautiful Finnish accent (a bit later he will report that the is a Cossack; the actor’s nam e is Mikko Nousiaynen), dem ands to give out the m ayor and shoots a Georgian old wom an dead. Then the others, m ore or less” [Zelvensky, 20 11]. In “Born Am erican” sim ilar labels are awarded to almost all Russian characters (not only the border guards and KGB agents turn out to be negative characters, but also the whole population of the Russian village, even the Orthodox priest is a rapist and a m urderer);
• “p la y i n g s i m p le fo lk ”, i n clu d i n g fo r e xa m p le a m o s t s i m p li fi e d fo r m o f i n fo r m a t i o n p r e s e n t a t i o n . This technique is used in both film s by R. Harlin: the plot is served in a very sim plified form, without sem itones, without any deepening into the characters’ psychology and their motives.
The discussion ends with a problem and test question which determ ines the audience’s skills of m edia text analysis: “With what m edia texts can you compare the given work? Why? What do they have in com mon?”.
And I m ust say that the students who watched Igor Voloshin’s film “Olym pus Inferno” (20 0 9) rightly pointed out its obvious resemblance to the “Five Days of August”. To support his position during the discussion one of the students referred to the opinion of som e Alexandra posted at the website kino-teatr.ru. Here are som e fragm ents from this text: “As expected, a purely gov ernm ent w ork. Just im agine, the ev ents took place in August, and a full-length feature film com es out in M arch! … Ev ery body know s that art often serv es the purposes of state ideology . … And don’t tell m e that Am ericans shoot this kind of film s, w hy can’t w e shoot them too? Yes, w e can, nobody prohibits doing so. But w hy m ust w e follow the Am ericans? … If their m ov ies lie, w hy do y ou think ours are truthful? Politics is politics. N obody w ill tell y ou the truth. … Ev ery thing looks pretty stupid. The R ussians are good and noble, and the Am ericans are dum b. … Ev ery thing except skirm ish bears ideology ! Just listen to their dialogues! In short, it’s not a film , it’s agitation” (http:/ / www.kino-teatr.ru/ kino/ m ovie/ ros/ 798 21/ forum / f2/ 4.0 4.20 0 9 22:52).
Of course the budget of “Olym pus Inferno” was very m odest com pared to the Am erican counterpart, but thanks to the prem iere on Channel One (20 0 9) its audience was incom parably greater. As for the structure of stereotypes of “confrontational” action film s, it is very sim ilar to “Five Days of August”. According to the plot a young Am erican Michael goes to South Ossetia on the eve of the war and witnesses the attack of the Georgian troops and shoots a video. Contrary to the claim s of the Western m edia that the big and aggressive Russia attacked the sm all and independent Georgia, Michael decides to send the video to the United States. Of course violent Georgian m ilitary m en are trying to stop him… Thus in Igor Voloshin’s film (though not so straightforward and rough as in “Five Days of August”) the sim ilar stereotypes are used, including “orchestration”, “selection”, “putting on rouge”, “sticking labels” and “playing simple folk”. The laws of politically engaged m edia texts are unfortunately the sam e…
Re fe re n ce s :
1. 5 Day s of W ar: Box Office. 20 11. http:/ / www.imdb.com / title/ tt148 6193/ business
2. Born Am erican: Box Office. 198 6. http:/ / www.the-num bers.com / m ovies/ 198 6/ 0 BOAM. php
3. Ec o U . R eader’s role. Studies of the text sem iotics. St. Petersburg: Sym posium , 20 0 5. 50 2 pp.
4. Fe d o ro v A.V. Transform ation of R ussia’s im age on the W estern screen: from the era of ideological confrontation (1946-1991) to the m odern stage (1992-20 10 ). Moscow: Inform ation for All, 20 10 . 20 2 pp.
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6. Ma s te rm a n , L. (1997). A Rational for Media Education. In: Kubey, R. (Ed.) M edia Literacy in the Inform ation Age. New Brunswick (U.S.A.) and London (UK): Transaction Publishers, pp.15-68 .
7. S ilve rblatt, A. (20 0 1). M edia Literacy . Westport, Connecticut – London: Praeger, 449 p. 8 . Ze lve n s ky S . War of the Roses / / Afisha.ru. 20 11. J une, 15. http:/ / www. afisha. ru/ article/ 9563/
Film o grap h y
B o rn Am e ric a n . U SA-Fin la n d , 19 8 6 . Director: R. Harlin. Script-writers: R. Harlin, M. Selin. Cast: M. Norris, S. Durham , D. Coburn, Tm Rasulala and others.
5 D ays o f Au gu s t / 5 D a ys o f W a r. U SA-Ge o rgia , 2 0 11. Director: R. Harlin. Script-writer: Mikko Alann. Cast: R. Friend, E. Chrigui, R. Coyle, H. Graham and others.
Olym p u s In fe rn o . Ru s s ia , 2 0 0 9 . Director: I. Voloshin. Script-writers: D. Rodim in, N. Popov, A. Kublitsky, S. Dovzhik. Cast: G. Devid, P. Filonenko, V. Tsalatti, A. Maliya and others.
Akn o w le d gm e n t
This article was written with the support of the special Federal program “Scientific and pedagogical m anpower of innovation Russia” (20 0 9-20 13) within the bounds of activity “The conduction of scientific research by the team s of Scientific-Education Centers in the fields of psychology and education”, project “The analysis of the effectiveness of the Russian Media Education Centers in comparison with the leading foreign centers”. Head of the project is Prof. Dr. Alexander Fedorov.
УДК 372
Анализ стереотипов политических медиатекстов в исследовании медиасредств
студенческой аудиторией (на примере фильма РенниХарлина
«Рожденныйамериканцем» (1986) и “5 дней в августе” (2011)
Александр Викторович Федоров
Таганрогский государственный педагогический институт им. А. Чехова, Россия 347936, Таганрог, ул. Институтская, 48
Доктор педагогических наук, профессор E-m ail: 1954alex@m ail.ru
Аннотация. Развитие умений анализировать медиатексты является важной целью
медаобразования. Однако практика по медиграмотности показывает, что у студентов возникают проблемы с обсуждением / анализом некоторых жанров на ранней стадии медиаобучения, например, трудности с процессом понимания и интерпретации авторской концепции, сюжетных и жанровых особенностей. В статье обосновываются методические подходы к анализу политического медиатекста в медиаобучении студенческой аудитории.
Ключевые слова: медиаобразование; медиаграмотность; медиакомпетентность;
медиатекст; анализ; университеты; студенты; медиаобучение; фильм; холодная война;
