What role does the consumption of media play in creating identity? We often figure out who we are and where we fit into society through our consumption of media. Consumers are doing five things:...

What role does the consumption of media play in creating identity? We often figure out who we are and where we fit into society through our consumption of media. Consumers are doing five things: surveillance to find out what the world is like, decision making through information gathering, appreciating aesthetics, being diverted for fun, and creating and maintaining a group identity. You can interpret media in different ways. In the dominant/hegemonic reading, the reader agrees with the preferred reading. In the ironic reading, the reader sees the ideology but distances him- or herself. In the oppositional or resistant reading, the reader sees the text as disputing its own ideology.