The reading and blog post for this class was definitely a throwback to high school English (my most recent formal English class). For as long as I can remember teachers have been telling me to do close-reading. To be honest, I never really knew what they meant. Reading for the deeper meaning and looking for connections and themes just seemed natural. Turns out it happened to be close-reading. There is no one right answer when something is closely read. Our experiences and innate knowledge shape what we see when reading something. I as a white, Jewish, male will likely see things differently than an Asian, Christian, female would see it. There are so many variables, race, gender, sexual orientation, class, educational attainment, etc. that the number of different interpretations of a close-read are near limitless. Because of all these variables, I think that close-reading is most useful when done in a group setting. Different viewpoints and ideas will be out in the open potentially enlightening the group to new thought processes and ideologies. Close-reading allows us to delve deeper into what an author has created to search for meaning, whether intentional or not.
Close-reading in my mind is a little bit misleading as a term. It can apply to films, tv shows, music, art, and other non-literature works of art. All of those genres benefit from close-reading. In the modern screen centric world visual centric story telling and information conveyance is the norm. Understanding the deeper meaning behind a news story or a popular movie (Dr. Bezio’s Black Panther example fitting perfectly) enables a deeper understanding of the world around. Most importantly it allows for better learning by creating a more vivid shared experience. Close-reading allows us to parse through false-information and form our own opinions. Close-reading is any form is doing a deeper analysis to find new and different meanings in any work of art. That is why is can be and is applied to such a wide variety of works of art despite its implied usage in literature. I guess doing a close-reading of “close-reading” is necessary to really understand what it is all about.
I think you make a good point that close reading would be most effective if done with a wide range of individuals. Everybody has different life experiences which will shape the messages we take away from certain narratives. So to be understanding of all perspectives we need to do close reading in that group setting.
I think it is interesting how you pointed out that our demographics and personal backgrounds effect how we interpret literature or anything that we see or read, and that makes sense since our individual backgrounds definitely effect our viewpoints in life. I also like how you said that the term “close-reading” can really be applied to more than literature. We closely analyze everything in life, hidden meanings in movies, song lyrics, works of art etc. I agree that this close examination of ideas is most effective when done in groups, so people can hear and learn from multiple perspectives. However, that is only effective if people are open minded to hearing viewpoints that are different from their own.
I find it interesting that you connected close reading to middle or high school. I agree with you. We always had to read passages and find the deeper meaning and it isn’t until I got to college when I realized how vital this is for life. I also find it interesting that you talked about the different points of views that come with close reading.