Croteau and Hoynes define polysemy as “the notion that multiple meanings can coexist in media content”(270). Every person has a different identity and different experiences that make them them. This leaves them to interpret different media pieces in different ways. Therefore, polysemy is a desirable feature for producers to draw audiences form a variety of demographics. They go onto differentiate Stuart Hall’s decoding versus encoding. Decoding uses “implicit knowledge and knowledge to interpret a media piece whereas encoding is the process of media makers using constructs to embed their piece with meaning.
I normally just watch media (Youtube, Netflix, etc.) for the purpose of leisure. I’ve never really thought of the deeper meanings each producer tries to encode into each episode or asked myself, “what else there is.” But I believe subconsciously decode everything I watch. My emotional response to as movie is completely different than that of the person next to me due to the culture I grew up in and media I consume – everyone’s implicit knowledge is different.
This idea of individuals’ varying implicit knowledge is related to our own personal reflections in watching When They See Us. Knowing that the show could evoke a myriad of diverse emotions for each of us, we were urged to watch it in the comfort of our home place. I think this was the first step in allowing us to fully interpret the piece in our own ways. The director Ava DuVernay used the concept of polysemy to broaden her audience: it’s not aimed for the people like the exonerate five. Rather DuVernay encoded the piece with so many themes, from institutionalized racism to the corrupt justice system and the acceptance of trans individual to appeal to different audiences.
While I don’t know the lived experience of growing up in the inner-city amongst institutionalized racism, my experience working at the Boys & Girls Club made me emotional while watching this. The majority of my kids are African Americans, receive free and reduced lunch, an indication of living near or below or the poverty line, and live in what my town considered to be the “bad parts.” These kids are so happy and brought some sort of light to my life. Watching this piece made me think of the inherent racism they will face growing up. While When They See Us seems like an extreme of consequences of the power systems, it’s really not. It just took one person’s persistence to get the five behind bars.
This course allowed me to decode When They See Us with a critical lens. It led to my asking “What else is there?” and “so what?” The viewing of this piece is so much more than the surface level themes presented. It provoked me to investigate my role in U.S. society – from how I view media to how I can turn my interpretations into actions.
