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Critical Lenses: An Overview Critical lenses are derived from literary theory. They help us “read” (interpret) a “text” (including songs, artwork, films, etc.) and even life experiences from a variety of different perspectives or points of view. Using your critical lens can help you analyze a text or experience more deeply, and give you a broader understanding.Reader-Response Lens: This is where the reader relates his or her own experience to the plot and characters. It is essentially making a connection to a text, and when you write a Reaction, you are looking at a text through a Reader-Response lens.Questions the reader-response lens asks:When I have I experienced something similar to the characters in the text?Can I relate to the characters? Or not at all? Why?How does the “lesson” of the text relate to my life?Feminist/Gender/Sexuality Lens: A feminist lens sees society as patriarchal, which means that the odds are stacked against women and that men have the majority of power, while women lack power. Women are often not represented in media, government, or other powerful groups, or if they are, are represented in minor or negative ways. A feminist lens sees gender as a social construct—one which has been created by society, not nature. A feminist lens may also explore expectations upon men to be dominant, aggressive, unemotional, etc. When we analyze an event in our own life with a feminist/gender lens, we consider how our gender affects our daily lives, including what opportunities are or are not available to us based upon our gender.Questions the feminist/gender/sexuality lens asks:What possibilities/opportunities are available for women in the story?What possibilities/opportunities are available for LGBTQQI people in the story?What possibilities/opportunities are available for men in the story?How are women portrayed? How are they expected to act?How are LGBTQQI people portrayed? How are they expected to act?How are men portrayed? How are they expected to act?How do (cis)men maintain their power?Are women able to gain power? How? Are LGBTQQI able to gain power? How?Marxist/Social Class Lens: This lens believes that the history of humanity is tied to capitalism, and that capitalism sets up social warfare by creating fundamental inequalities between the ruling class (1%) and the lower classes, particularly the working class (99%). A Marxist lens analyzes who has economic power in a given structure or system, who does not, and why this is. When we analyze an event in our own life with a Marxist/social class lens, we consider how our social class plays a role in our experiences, including what opportunities are or are not available to us based upon our social class.Questions the Marxist/social class lens asks:Who has economic power? Why?Who does not have economic power? Why?How does the upper class maintain its power? What do the upper classes have access to that lower classes do not?Are working class people able to gain power, and if so, how? What options do they have to gain more resources or control in their lives?Psychological Lens: This lens deals with texts as expressions of the personality, state of mind, feelings, and desires of the author or of a character within the work. As readers, we investigate the psychology of a character or an author to figure out the meaning of a text. When we analyze an event in our own life with a psychological lens, we consider how the event shaped our psyche—our inner thoughts, feelings, dreams, desires, etc.—or how our psychological state affected our experience.Questions the psychological lens asks:What is the author/character thinking or feeling?How are the author’s/character’s inner thoughts, feelings, desires, etc. affected by events in the text, and vice versa?What can we tell about the author’s/character’s personality or mental/emotional state?Critical Race Lens: A critical race lens sees race as a social construct which is used to divide people. This lens notices how race often intersects with social class, and how lighter-skinned people (both white and non-white) have more power and privilege. Whiteness is normalized, invisible, and valued by society—people of color often internalize these same racist messages and believe them about themselves/each other (internalized racism). The critical race lens disagrees with or problematizes (sees problems with) how race privileges some kinds of people over others, so it is an anti-racist lens. In reading a text, this lens analyzes the lessons learned or “truths” conveyed about different “races” (positive or negative) and also looks at/breaks down power structures and how they are determined by race. When we analyze an event in our own life with a critical race lens, we consider how our race plays a role in our experiences, including what opportunities are or are not available to us based upon our race.Questions the critical race lens asks:What possibilities/opportunities are available for people of color in the text? What possibilities are available for white people in the story? How are people of color denied opportunities based upon their race, and/or what privileges are given to white or lighter-skinned people?How are people of color portrayed? How are they expected to act?How are white people portrayed? How are they expected to act?How do white people maintain their power?Are people of color able to gain power or more control of resources, and if so, how? What ethnic groups are depicted? What traits are they assigned?Historical Lens: When applying this lens, you view a text or life event within its historical context. Specific historical information will be of key interest: information about the time during which an author wrote or which an event occurred, about the time in which the text is set, about the ways in which people of the period saw and thought about the world in which they lived. History, in this case, refers to the social, political, economic, cultural, and intellectual climate of the time. For example, James Welch’s Fools Crow reflects the history of colonization of Native Americans (particularly the Blackfeet), and describes the world and these events from a Blackfoot perspective.Questions the historical lens asks:What was the time period like, and how did it affect the actions and experiences of characters and/or the author?What was it like to live in this time period? What other events at the time might play a role in one’s experience?What does this text teach us about history?Postcolonial Lens: This lens sees colonialism as a powerful, usually destructive historical force that shapes not only the political futures of the countries involved but also the identities of colonized and colonizing people. According to this lens, successful colonialism depends on a process of “Othering” the people colonized. That is, the colonized people are seen as dramatically different from and lesser than the colonizers, the “subjects” who take action and create realities out of the beliefs they hold to be important. Because of this, literature written in colonizing cultures often distorts the experiences and realities of colonized people, making them “objects” of observation and denying them the power to define themselves. Literature written by colonized people often includes attempts to articulate more empowered identities and reclaim cultures in the face of colonization, along with exploring the disconnection they feel from their own cultures, histories, and/or identities.Questions the postcolonial lens asks:How are colonized people portrayed, particularly, how are they shown as “Other”? How is the process of colonization portrayed?How does the text deal with cultural conflicts between the colonizing culture and the colonized or traditional culture?Formalist Lens: The word formal has two related meanings, both of which apply within this lens. The first relates to its root word, form, a structure’s shape that we can recognize and use to make associations. The second relates to a set of conventions or accepted practices. Formal poetry, for example, has meter, rhyme, stanzas, and other predictable features that it shares with poems of the same type. The formalist perspective, then, pays particular attention to these issues of form and convention. Instead of looking at the world in which a poem exists, for example, the formalist perspective says that a poem should be treated as an independent and self-sufficient object. The methods used in this lens are those pertaining to close reading, that is, detailed and subtle analysis of the formal components that make up the literary work, such as the meanings and interactions of words, figures of speech, and symbols, along with the author’s choices in structure and style. A formalist lens can also be applied to music, works or art, or film, where you analyze the artistic choices made by the musician, producer, artist, director, etc. using terminology specific to each genre. See Ms. Molly/ Ms. Kristia for a reference.Questions the formalist lens asks:For a book/poem/short story/etc., what are some of the images that are conjured up as you read? How would you describe the tone or mood of the piece?For writing, how does the structure add meaning—sentence length, sequence of events, text length, etc.?For film, how do the director’s choices add meaning, from the length and kinds of shots, timing, colors, lighting, to the costuming, mise-en-scene, dialogue, casting, etc.?For artwork, how do the artist’s choices play a role, from the colors, tones, values, and shapes, to the composition, content, and genre (sculpture, painting, photography, installation, drawing, etc.)?For music, how do the lyrics, along with the music itself, create meaning? Consider instruments used, length and style of music, vocals vs. instrumental,How do the author’s/artist’s choices, in structure, style, etc. play a role in making meaning for the viewer/reader? ................
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