In week ten of our Real-World Media course, we built on our initial planning phase and moved towards the concrete development of our Assessment 4 project. Our project’s theme—an exploration into the lives of international students likened to aliens in a foreign land—allowed us to delve into various layers of cultural, social, and personal dynamics.

Establishing our project direction was a significant step, but it also unveiled the formidable task of studying the feasibility of our presentation method. Our narrative seeks to illuminate the struggles of international students and their attempts to integrate into new societies. At the same time, we are drawing a parallel with the concept of aliens – outsiders in strange lands, which presents certain logistical challenges.

One of the hurdles we faced was ensuring that our portrayal resonated with audiences on a personal level while remaining sensitive to the cultural intricacies involved. Further, representing international students as ‘aliens’ metaphorically is a delicate task, requiring us to be conscious not to marginalize or stereotype them.

In this context, Dervin’s research on cultural identity and otherness has been instrumental. Dervin’s work offers a nuanced understanding of the experiences of being an ‘Other’ in a foreign land, and provides us with a theoretical framework that aids in the effective portrayal of our subject matter. （Darvin, 2012）

Overall, week ten challenged us to align our project vision with practical execution, an integral aspect of media production. We anticipate further hurdles, but also further growth, as we refine our project’s direction.

Reference:

Dervin, F. (2012) Cultural identity, representation and othering: 22: The routledge ha, Taylor & Francis. Available at: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203805640-22/cultural-identity-representation-othering-fred-dervin (Accessed: 31 May 2023).