Blanchard Community Library held a small class on media literacy last recently. The class was led by Sister Jennifer Tecla who works at the Pauline Center for Media Studies.

Media Literacy at Blanchard Community Library

June 17, 2015
Santa Paula News

Blanchard Community Library held a small class on media literacy recently. The class was led by Sister Jennifer Tecla who works at the Pauline Center for Media Studies.

Sister Tecla’s presentation was titled Navigating Today’s Media World and focused on beauty standards, every day’s “reality”, and brand values.

“My motivation is to empower others so that they are more literate because media has become a culture,” Sister Tecla said. “If we choose not to be active in it, then we’re not being an active participant using the media, but we’re being a passive consumer.”

Sister Tecla challenged people in the room to think about the different brands they buy and why it’s so important to know the values behind the brand. She also wanted people to ask questions about the brands such as, “What value are they saying and do I agree with that?” But at the end of the day, a company’s sole purpose is to make a profit, said Sister Tecla.

Throughout her presentation, Sister Tecla showed movie clips and advertisements illustrating how a consumer is drawn in to buy their product through humor, music and creativity. One example was a Dove commercial showing a woman being “transformed” into a model with the help of makeup and Photoshop. The “reality” media portrays creates unattainable standards which can lead to negative consequences when one is a passive consumer.

“We couldn’t make choices for ourselves because then we’re just going by what is being told to us,” Sister Tecla said. “In the sense of looking at how they portray beauty, it’s to sell a product. At the same time, how many young kids say that’s what I have to try to achieve.”

Sister Tecla has been giving these presentations regularly for the last three years, but has been interested in media literacy since she entered the convent 17 years ago. Recently, she’s also been giving these presentations to children between fourth and eighth grade to try and help make them aware that what they see on television isn’t always true.

June is a busy month for the library with classes taking field trips, Father’s Day, the summer reading program, and Ronald McDonald showing up to read to the kids. Times and dates for these events and more can be found at Blanchard Community Library’s website.





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