The Braindead Megaphone

Introduction

In this lesson, we will read George Saunder’s essay “The Braindead Megaphone,” and look at a variety of artists who attempt to bring subjects historically ignored by news media to the forefront.

90 minute Block Specialty class (no defined SOL’s)

Cognitive Objectives

Students will read and discuss George Saunder’s essay on the current state and role of news media in the United States.

Students will analyze a variety of works by political artists on the subjects of the AIDS epidemic, women’s rights, consumerism, and gender stereotypes.

Materials and Advanced Preparation

Copies of Saunders’ essay, “The Braindead Megaphone,” for each student. Powerpoint on political artists.

Teaching and Learning Sequence

Introduction/ Anticipatory Set (10 minutes)

I will review the concept of culture jamming with students: What is it? What is its purpose? What kinds of things to culture jammers target?

I will show students a five minute video. It is from a local news program, reporting on a guerrilla art ‘attack’ by the Barbie Liberation Organization, or BLO. The group ‘surgically’ exchanged the voice recordings inside speaking GI Joes and Barbies, and placed them back on store shelves.

The video features “toy experts” who call the ploy an act of “terrorism” on unsuspecting children.

o Is this terrorism? Is the ploy truly an aim at disturbing children?o Is it a successful project? (Consider the fact that their act was reported on)o Why choose Barbies and GI Joes?o Is the BLO’s basic premise true? Does the media (on its own) challenge gender

stereotypes, or does it merely enforce them? I will explain to students what we will study today: we will read an essay by George

Saunders that is critical of contemporary news media, and look at artists and art groups such as the BLO that challenge ideas promoted by the media, and bring issues to the forefront that are ignored in the news.

Lesson Development (75 minutes)

Before commencing, I will get a rough idea of the class’ media consumption: I will ask how many students regularly watch or read the news.

We will read “The Braindead Megaphone” as a class, stopping at the end of each section. I will ask students to paraphrase each section once we have completed it, to identify his

overarching metaphors (for example, a man with a megaphone at a party as the mass media’s role in suffocating intelligent discourse).

I will stop whenever it seems that a word or phrase is unfamiliar to students (it is fairly complex in diction and tone).

Throughout the essay, I will pause to see if students remember events that the article discusses, such as the O.J. Simpson trial, the discussion leading up to the Iraq War, etc.

At the close of the essay, I will have students to recall any news stories they have seen recently that illustrate what Saunders describes as the dumbing down of media.

I will ask students if they can identify any types of stories that the media might omit and why. Students may state things like…

o Stories that may be damaging to the news company or its corporate affiliates (primarily advertisers)

o Stories that are potentially very touchy for the American public (i.e. things people don’t want to think about)

o Things that are too complex or don’t have any definite answers. I will explain to students that we will look at a few artists who attempt to bring these sorts

of stories to the forefront. I will pull up the slideshow on political artists.

o Krzysztof Wodiczko Polish émigré to the United States. Creates public art displays through projection. Most often involves images of hands and faces. Brings typically private conversation into the public sphere. Often has victims and families of victims speaking candidly about their

lost loved ones, their communities... QUOTE: "What are our cities? Are they environments that are trying to

say something to us? Are they environments in which we communicate with each other? Or are they perhaps the environments of things that we don’t see, of silences, of the voices which we don’t, or would rather not, hear. The places of all of those back alleys where perhaps the real public space is, where the experiences of which we should be speaking, where voices that we should be listening to, are hidden in the shadows of monuments and memorials."

o Jenny Holzer American artist known for her use of advertising and news media

technology in the creation of political art.

Primary mode of expression is text, using technologies most often used for advertising and news media

Projected works, billboards, LED Screens Truisms series: http://mfx.dasburo.com/art/truisms.html

o Barbara Kruger Began in magazine publishing. Created visually graphic posters and billboards that addressed issues of

power and feminism. o Gran Fury

A “band of individuals united in anger and dedicated to exploiting the power of art to end the AIDS crisis”

Formed in 1988 On Gran Fury’s method:“We are trying to fight for attention as hard as

Coca-Cola fights for attention.” GF puts “political information into environments where people are

unaccustomed to finding it.” o AfriCOBRA

African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists Formed in 1968 Gerald Williams: "We came to the realization that there was not the

existence of a consistent, unequivocal, uniquely Black aesthetic in visual arts as there was in other disciplines, notably music and dance“

The “Wall of Respect”

Closure (5 minutes)

I will ask students to recall what kinds of political art we have looked at (what methods, what topics)

I will ask how these artists relate to the issues discussed by George Saunders. I will remind students to study for the test, and point them to Schoolspace where two

review slideshows have been posted.

Homework Study for the test.

Formative Assessment

I will check students understanding through questions during the reading and lecture.

Summative Assessment

The students will be tested on the material next week

References

Simon Wilson and Jessica Lack, The Tate Guide to Modern Art Terms “The Braindead Megaphone,” an essay from George Saunders’ book, The Braindead

Megaphone Nina Felshin, But is it Art? The Spirit of Art as Activism Google image search.

Appended Materials

Slideshow Copies of the essay