I believe that this question is asking about the five step media critical process rather than asking about the step processes of critical thinking. There is some overlap between the two; however, this Enotes post specifically asks for the critical process to be applied to a media example. As the...
Unlock
This Answer NowStart your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
prompt suggests, choose something that you are familiar with or passionate about.
For the purpose of this question, I will stick to advertising, as I make my media studies class apply this kind of critical analysis to television commercials. You are certainly welcome to pick any particular commercial, but I recommend picking an advertisement that debuted during any Super Bowl. These are routinely heralded as some of the best commercials of the year, and they are seen by more people than most commercials.
The steps of the media critical process are description, analysis, interpretation, evaluation, and engagement. Let's use the Chrysler commercial that featured rap star Eminem. The description step is a simple description of what was present in the commercial, but it also involves describing additional background information as well. For example, that particular commercial was a full 2 minute ad spot. At 4 to 5 million dollars per 30 second spot, Chrysler spent an incredible amount of money just to air the commercial. The cost to use a high profile celebrity also drove the cost of the production up.
Analysis and interpretation tend to come hand in hand. This is where you would spend time discussing fallacies and advertising techniques used. For example, the commercial heavily relied on celebrity endorsement, but your analysis should also look at themes present in the commercial. For example, it had an interesting combination of regionalism and patriotism. The commercial ended with the "imported from Detroit" phrase which conveys to audiences the importance of buying American cars; however, the commercial really drove home to audiences the rugged perseverance of Detroit and the people in it.
Your analysis then moves to your evaluation of the commercial. This part is quite subjective because you are called to use your previous discussion points to explain what the commercial's strengths and weaknesses were. Explain what was good and what was bad. End with an engagement discussion that explains how the media was received by the viewing audiences. This step also could incorporate suggestions to your readers that push them to do something, believe something, support something, etc. based on your analysis.