Living in today’s world we are surrounded by a constant stream of media that influences us both consciously and unconsciously. While I consider myself a cultural critic I would definitely not say I am an expert. The more I learn about cultural criticism the more my perception of how much I know and understand shrinks. This realization does not come as a surprise to me as I have consistently found myself faced with the Dunning-Kruger effect, which is the idea that the more you know, the more you realize how much you don’t know. 

When asked to examine my own cultural influences – the songs, books, TV shows, movies, etc. that have developed me into who I am – I often recall books from my childhood that, having since grown up, I no longer resonate as deeply with. A big example of this is Harry Potter, books that while I loved growing up have since paled in appeal due to the sexist, racist, homophobic tones that have since become associated with the series. That being said, those books did develop me into who I am today, mainly due to the analysis and unpackaging I did, and still do, to those books and others. Ultimately, I am grateful for how much I loved those books because they gave me my first cultural criticism training in a very personally reflective way. 

With so many “schools of criticism” to explore there is an overwhelming desire to be competent in all of them. I do find myself drawn the most to cultural studies and post-colonial theory. A cultural studies perspective of the media has roots in Stuart Hall’s theory of encoding and decoding (Kuhn & Westwell), in which emphasis is placed on examining what messages we are consuming, who is sending these messages, and how are the senders’ biases reflected in them. Post-colonial theory seems to incorporate an emphasis on deconstructing western ideologies within media (MasterClass). The two theories together collaborate in such a way that it promotes an inclusive look at media and becomes an intersectional cultural critique. 

Going back to cultural influences, Minecraft, a game I spent my fair share of time on growing up, is definitely not something I have culturally critiqued. In preparation for this post I watched a Marxist analysis of Minecraft by Viki1999, which altered my perception of Minecraft’s gameplay. In the video they dissect the embedded colonial nature and racist ideologies present in the game. In Minecraft an intrinsic part of winning is the idea of expansion and dominance, the core tenets of colonialism. Along with this is the idea that players begin with nothing and have to log, mine, and craft. By starting with nothing the game almost encourages the players to destroy ecosystems, strip resources and terrorize the local inhabitants in order to progress.

I do think another applicable “school of criticism” to employ to Minecraft is reader-response criticism, which posits the idea that the consumers interpretation to the media is just as important as the media itself (MasterClass). When I think back to my experience with the game I will admit, embarrassingly, that my creative mode was my favorite way to play. In creative mode you have unlimited resources at your disposal with none of the dangers you face in survival mode. The two modes of play create extremely contrasting experiences. 

Minecraft is an interesting game for me to employ cultural criticism to, for even though I did spend time playing this game I would not call myself a “gamer”. Since I was never consistently drawn to these games, I think that I was less influenced by them. I do not however, take this to mean I was influenced by media any more or less than those who were drawn to gaming, just that my own personal media influences mainly stem from other sources.

Works Cited

Kuhn, A., & Westwell, G. (2020). cultural studies and film. In A Dictionary of Film Studies. : Oxford University Press. Retrieved 11 Jul. 2026, fromhttps://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198832096.001.0001/acref-9780198832096-e-0173. Accessed 10 July 2026

Viki1999. “Marxist Analysis of Minecraft.” YouTube, 29 July 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3muby4v0m0k&t=390s. Accessed 9 July 2026.

“Literary Theory: Understanding 15 Types of Literary Criticism.” MasterClass, 2020, https://www.masterclass.com/articles/literary-theory-explained#3z9SuIfcqk53zaasljFc6g. Accessed 9 July 2026.