The entertainment discourse project begins as a cultural studies investigation into the way in which a popular film participates in the formation of identity by passing along subjective traits to young viewers. However, the widesite project invites students to rip apart such media compositions and infuse them with other affects. The image of Luke Skywalker staring across the desert might still evoke the excitement of an impending journey but it is no longer one toward a ready-made identity. Instead there is an opportunity for experimentation and risk. Compositions such as the one I describe above do not necessarily come quickly or by chance: the composition of a rhizome requires experimentation to discover what will cause the proliferation of information. Nor is the wide image an answer. It does not reveal the “truth” about me. It is not a confession: I have nothing to admit. Instead it is a tool, a compass-like device, which orients my responses to media in relation to the unfolding of my thoughts and the articulation of my subjectivity. As such, it is a tool that provides further critical insight into my affective responses to future media; it produces a critical electracy analogous to my critical print literacy.
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