Analyzing the ‘Critical’ in Media Control Discourse

Abstract

Practitioners of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and media control discourse view their work as contributing to the social good.   In addition, both share the literacy practices of engaging in the text critically.   However, CDA practitioners would probably resist having their work compared with that of media control discourse.   They would prefer to see their goal as emancipatory, as opposed to defending perceived standards motivated by fear.  This article describes similarities and differences of the two approaches in terms of reading text.   Four general positions are presented to describe ways in which a text can be read.   The article then illustrates how one media control text, Frederic Wertham’s ‘Seduction of the Innocent’, was successful in bringing about social change in the United States as comics were censored and attitudes towards them were profoundly altered.   In contrast, manga in Japan were not suppressed and censored in the same way, providing an example of what developed in the absence of such social critique.  Wertham’s success provides a cautionary note for CDA practitioners as they attempt to effect social change.