Media Literacy and the Critical Process - Essay Example

Reality show is a show which portrays the shifting power balance between audiences and producers. In a reality show, there is usually a direct engagement of audiences and the form of interaction presented is often viewed as a form of empowerment. An example of a reality show is the simple life. This show portrays two young and wealthy socialites known as Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton. These two main characters struggle to do manual work which fetched little salaries. Some of the jobs they did were doing farm work, working and cleaning restaurants and serving meals in hotels.

In the first episode, Nicole and Paris decided to leave their lifestyles and adapted to humble beginnings. In the next episode, the two characters travelled across the states in a pickup truck which was pink in colour. They engaged themselves in several activities such as working as house helps and catching crayfish. In the next setting, Paris and Nicole participate in several internships with different companies all over the United States. In this particular season, various episodes were not paid at all.

Their internships were shortened because they could sometimes display unprofessionalism at the work places. In the fourth season, Nicole and Paris were leaving with different families. Their personal lives were the main focus since the setting of this season took place at their hometowns. The final straw ended when the two friends were not in good terms. Rescue me is a type of drama show which is very interesting to watch. The setting of this drama show is around Ladder 62 located in the New York City Fire subdivision.

Rescue me tells the stories of the courageous individuals and the effort of their day-to-day lives. Denis Leary is the main character. He plays Tommy Gavin, a newly divorced father of two. One of his sons dies in season two. Tommy moves across the street from his ex-wife with an intention of staying near his children. Tommy could not stand seeing his wife move on with her life. Tommy takes his dissatisfactions out his friends and his job. For comparisons at a general level, the drama show reveals that several conflicts exist between men and women.

These conflicts could lead to separations and divorces. Both the reality show and the drama show portray that relationship is a very important factor. Between the two programmes I would judge the drama show of rescue me as better. Rescue me is a drama that is worth taking a try. It has several life lessons attached to it. Furthermore, how the drama unfolds, makes it more interesting to watch and understand. It strength is that it is very easy to understand and get a clear picture of the story.

On the other hand, the reality show is very difficult to understand and many settings have been used. This makes it more confusing for the audiences.References Brian L, and Robert L. Mack. Critical Media Studies: An Introduction. Chichester, U.K: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. Print. Potter, W J. Theory of Media Literacy: A Cognitive Approach. Thousand Oaks, Calif. ; London: SAGE, 2004. Print.Share, Jeff. Media Literacy Is Elementary: Teaching Youth to Critically Read and Create Media. New York: Peter Lang, 2009. Print.Hammer, Rhonda, and Douglas Kellner.

Media/cultural Studies: Critical Approaches. New York: Peter Lang, 2009. Print.Macedo, Donaldo. Media Literacy: A Reader. New York: Lang, 2007. print Frechette, Julie D. Developing Media Literacy in Cyberspace: Pedagogy and Critical Learning for the Twenty-First Century Classroom. Westport, Conn: Praeger, 2002. Print. Silverblatt, Art, and Nikolai Zlobin. International Communications: A Media Literacy Approach. Armonk, N.Y: M.E. Sharpe, 2004. Print.