Why is it that whenever someone talks about media literacy they only talk about things like rape, incest, pedophilia, and murder but never misogyny, racism, fatphobia, or ableism
Like itโs always about โproblematic shipsโ and โevil charactersโ but never about how the treatment of woc in media influences how woc are treated in society and vice versa. How female characters are almost always the ones being singled out as โannoyingโ compared to male characters. Or how, yeah, there might be an in-story reason to why this lazy, depressed character is fat but societal views on fat people being lazy, depressed, unhygienic, etc., most definitely influenced the writerโs choice to make that lazy character fat.
I find that a lot of the โmedia literacyโ arguments that pertain to subjects of sexual abuse and violence donโt really apply to other subjects in a way that isnโt wildly or even somewhat bigoted. Ofc thereโs not gonna be a catch-all argument for how every theme should be treated in media but the arguments should at least be somewhat consistent.
I rarely ever see anyone talk about media literacy in a way that doesnโt boil down to โok but liking evil/bad/taboo characters/themes/stories donโt make you a bad person and authors can write things they donโt agree about.โ This statement isnโt wrong and i agree with it but it shouldnโt be your only knowledge on what media literacy is.
Sometimes, a story that has a rape scene in it depicts rape poorly. Whether its because rape was written in a fetishistic light or because the victims werenโt treated with the respect that they deserve, you need to be able to know how and why that scene is (cant think of a better word rn but Iโll probably change it later cause i donโt really like using this word) problematic. The fact that the story depicts rape isnโt the problem, itโs how they chose to depict it. And yes, how this story depicts rape can absolutely affect how a person views rape victims irl.
Sometimes, an author includes racist views into their work. Sure, depiction isnโt endorsement but when an author writes primarily about white characters, and has the first character of color in their book be executed as that characterโs introduction, donโt be surprised when that author turns out to be a racist.
Yes, fiction isnโt one-to-one with reality but they both influence each other in a way that cannot be escaped. You will never find a piece of media that isnโt influenced by reality and you will never find a person whose views havent been influenced by a piece of media.
(Also, there is a tendency that i see in a lot of fandom โmedia literacyโ people. And that is the tendency to use leftist, anti-racist phrases and terminology to refer to fandom discourse. โKill the cop inside your headโ refers to killing that part of your brain that has been drilled by society to view black, brown, and poor people as threats. It does not refer to people who donโt like your 20k incest fanfiction and are kinda mean about it. Stop fucking fandomizing anti-racist rhetoric. You just look fucking racist)
Sorry if this is kinda incoherent, Iโm mostly just rambling.










