Media Studies and Critical Theory Comm 403

What in the world is media studies? And is it even important? Is it relevant to the rest of the wold? What point is there in studying it anyways?

Maybe I went a little overboard on the questions, but really, some of them are pretty good questions. Not a lot of people know or understand what media studies is and what it's even here for. So, hopefully I'll be able to explain what Media Studies is and how it is relevant to the media production and consumption marketplace. I will be looking at the relevance from a critical theory perspective.

So the main question to begin with is: What exactly is media studies? Are we talking something like surfing Facebook or checking Twitter every 10 seconds? 'Cause most people have that down already. Well, yes and no to that. The definition of media studies that I find easiest to understand is this:

Media Studies

- the study of the mass media, esp. as an academic subject.

That definition doesn't cover everything, but it does get the basics. So, about the yes and no of the Twitter and Facebook statements above- I say yes because social media is becoming more and more of a part of mass media in a way; but I say no because media studies deals more on an academic level. Media studies also looks at the history of media and what effects it has had.

So, what is this critical theory stuff that I mentioned then? Critical theory "provides a better understanding [of] present social conditions." (Application of Critical Theory) Critical theory looks at society from all sorts of fields- psychology, history, economy, and sociology just to name a few. The main goal is to look at society and see how it can improve- and try to help it improve.

OK, so now that I've explained media studies and critical theory to the best of my ability, it's time to move on to the main point: How is this relevant to the media production and consumption marketplace? Well, media studies looks at the impact of mass media, and critical theory looks at how the society can improve, so the point of relevance is looking at mass media and seeing how using it can help society improve somehow. Looking at mass media can help to shape the media and change it.

So, to answer the questions at the beginning, or at least a few of them, media studies looks at the impact on the society  from mass media and it is important for shaping the media. Without taking the time to look at what works, media would be ineffective.