Textual analysis has always intimidated me somewhat. I’m never certain that I’m focusing on the right elements, or drawing the right conclusions. However, I found Alan McKee’s “A Beginner’s Guide to Textual Analysis” in my ability to analysis texts, as McKee emphasises that there is no single correct interpretation of a text.

One of the main reasons McKee gives for why audiences will draw different meanings from the same text is context. He states there are three levels of context we ought to consider when analysing elements of a text.

• Rest of the text – what does the element mean in the context of this particular text?
• Genre of text – what does the element usually mean in this genre? How will this influence the audiences understanding of the element and the text as a whole?
• Wider public context in which the text is circulated – what public debates were occurring in the media at the time when the text was published that may have influenced the audience’s reading of the text?

Along with these three levels of context, the audience themselves need to be considered, as this too can influence how the text is read. McKee gives the example how Indigenous audiences may be more likely to focuses on elements in a text such as landscape or family than a Western audience due to their cultural background. I think this is a really interesting area of study that I would be like to investigate further.