Media Messages: What Film, Television, and Popular Music Teach Us About Race, Class, Gender, and Sexual Orientation

"Media Messages" is one of the few books to confront issues of race, class, and gender in the media. Holtzman's work will be useful to media literacy educators seeking ideas for how to address issues of multiculturalism and the media in the classroom. Holtzman provides media activities that help readers and students reflect on their own racial, sexual, and class backgrounds and perceptions, and how the latter is informed by film, television, and popular music. Her analysis is not just theoretical, but is supported with numerious examples of television shows, movies, and songs to explore issues of racism, poverty, and sexism. I recommend this book along Carlos Cortes's The Children Are Watching, and Zook's Color by Fox.