I am currently undertaking politics. Now I from the start I have felt quite out of my depth, unable to comprehend majority of the concepts and topics being discussed, due to my unwillingness and lack of interest into politics. However, as the weeks go by my interest in the subject has intensified as I make further connections to Politics and Media.
In politics we unpack concepts that once had stagnate meanings such as the word politics. However, as we explore these words such as politics, rhetorics and power, the dominate meanings associated to these words diminishes and you can see that there is a much broader idea of what these words mean and the value they hold in todays society.
For instance, traditional words such as Politics are seen to be associated to the government the runs our country, the laws and regulations that take place in order to keep a country civilised. However, when you look at the word from a broader point of view, you see that politics is much more than debates held in parliament house. Instead, politics is seen to be all around us and refers to the arguments and disputes that we encounter everyday. When you look at politics from a broader point of view like this, you realise that there is much more complexity into words that once held dominant traditional meanings.
This exercise in politics has allowed me to adopt a similar mindset in media, where I look at things from a much broader perspective, challenging the traditional ideas that are associated to certain terms in media. For instance when we looked at the idea of silence, I was able to recognise and unpack non-traditional ways of thinking associated towards the term. The universal definition of silence refers to the complete absence of sound. However when you look at John Cages performance 4’33, the idea of silence begins to transform. You begin to comprehend the concept that there is no such thing as true silence. There is always sound or noise in our life, whether it’s the breathing around us or the feeling and sound of our heartbeat as blood rushes through us. It’s this new interpretation of the word that allows us to see things in a different way, allowing us to further develop our understanding, whilst challenging traditional meanings of words.
When you draw upon these different practises exhibited in each subject you can acknowledge how related each course really is. By recognising this connection it enables us to broaden our understanding of each individual subject and the concepts being discussed in each course, whilst enriching our own interpretation of the world around us.
