Learning about power and success: Young urban adolescents interpret TV culture

Using media education and cultural studies perspectives, I analyze ethnographic data gathered among diverse twelve and thirteen‐year‐olds who live in New York City. Three case studies show that individual interpretations of favorite TV figures, understood in relation to lived experiences, indicate tacit learning about dialectical issues of identity and social power relations. The dynamics of this learning challenges media educators to account for and address students' actual cultural experiences of identity and social power in association with their media experiences. In addition, these young people's TV interpretations point to their learning about participation in corporate media culture via the system of image and message construction—a powerful means of success in the United States. Thus media educators must confront their students' dreams and expectations about succeeding in capitalist terms, while encouraging their criticisms in a democratic spirit.