Polytechnic University of the Philippines

Senior High School S.Y. 2022-2023

SHS 2107 Media and Information Literacy

Krishia B. Bajana I STEM 12-06

CASE STUDY

Select a media and information text of your choice (commercial, tv show, music, film,
picture, etc.) and apply the key questions listed below. What can you learn about media
production and industries, the messages conveyed, and the intended audience?
 a. How do producers of a media text use different techniques or ways of
presenting different kinds of information to communicate?

First and foremost, one of the main techniques used to convey information
and communicate in the movie is modern technology. Warrior Nun is a TV series that
has a genre of supernatural fiction and occult detective fiction. Throughout the
episodes, the massive utilization of technology was shown. In order for the characters—
the psychic nuns—to perform their responsibilities well-hidden in between their
organization, they compromise with advanced digitalization. Including hi-tech gadgets
such as earpieces, trackers, computers, high-end cellphones, and even a necklace that
has coordinates only the OCS (Order of the Cruciform Sword) members know. They
send encrypted messages with it discreetly.

There were a lot of scenes where the media was involved. For instance, in
Season 2 Episode 2, social media was mentioned to employ fraudulence. Adriel was
said to be an angel miraculously healing people contracting a virus—a plague making
your face rot. There was also this scene where he walked on the water, convincing
more to praise him which was reported on national news. They also used television as
an instrument for broadcasting worldwide, letting more people know their intentions. As
a result, his followers grew day by day, influencing darkness across thousands of
Europeans. The hoax was all over the internet, and even in printed media. There were
zealots handing out leaflets on the streets and such. Certainly, this fake news has a
great impact on the citizens. There were arguments and contradicting opinions
regarding the information. Groups of people were inspired with different purposes, like
Samaritans and devotees taking sides with the charlatan.

We can apply it to the reality we’re currently facing. Due to the addictions and
exposure of people to the internet, they can access different kinds of information. It
depends on the user how they would react or respond according to their understanding
and perspective. May it be an opposition that has a bad outcome, on the other hand can
be a gain for one’s critical thinking development.

b. Examine media languages used (give at least 4)

Narrative

In the beginning of the series, I noticed that the protagonist was narrating. Ava
Silva was executing a narrative story, telling what happened to her. This is an example
of a trick in film, presenting the actor’s POV. It is called an omniscient point of view that
reveals what the characters are thinking. This requires some narration, voice-over, or
graphics. An omniscient narrator will tell the story without attaching it to a single
character or group of characters. It is a voiceover where you can see that the actor is
not opening his/her mouth, but you can hear them saying what is on their mind.

In the first episode, Ava was narrating how she was supposed to be dead, but
everything changed that night. She had flashbacks, which tell us what her life was like
before. She lived again because something magical called “Halo” was attached to her.
While she was wandering, all new to the environment outside, she would constantly
vocalize her thoughts; confusion, incredulity, and even attraction. Internal monologue
can be observed in almost every episode.

Representation

Another media language presented is representation. The diversity Warrior Nun

possesses is what makes it a masterpiece. The representation of the series is what
highlights it all. The best supporting role is a female black badass, a brilliant strategist, a
smart tracker, a brilliant investigator, and the one who gets most of the standout lines.
Mary is a fierce warrior, a protector of the Sisters. She represents those who have
strong personalities. Mary was an expert in combat and handling shotguns. She has
rational thinking that leads to positive outcomes. It justifies that others' impressions do
not matter. Whoever you are, you can be a hero and the one who has a stand to fight.

Codes

The OCS is the top-secret Catholic military organization built to support The Warrior
Nun’s demon-fighting tasks. It is made up of Warrior Sisters who fight, despite their lack
of supernatural powers. They are undercover tactical nuns. To fulfill their missions well,
the Mother Superion, which is their head, made them study a call code to accommodate
the confidentiality of their plans.
In Season 2 Episode 4, there was a global attack all over the OCS branch worldwide.
Mother Superion decided to activate the emergency code summoning the remaining
members that are still alive. The means for them to transmit messages is by their cross
pendant. They just must press it with a pattern that seems like Morse code because of
the series of pulses.

Symbolism
The title of every episode is a bible verse. Each symbolizes the content of it, what
lies beneath those challenges they need to surpass. Another important one to take note
of is the Halo. Ava, the protagonist, is a Halo Bearer. The Halo was the one who
brought her back to life, it is an ancient artifact that grants supernatural powers to the
person bearing it. I think it symbolizes the art of giving second chances. It conveys that
some people still deserve to have it because of how cruel the world was to them. That
will give them the power of another chance to move on, change, and explore something
new.

One of the main dilemmas they’re being faced with are the locusts. Adriel, the
antagonist, creates plagues disseminating fear which affects the faith of the people and
their state of mind. It frails the judgment of the citizens, disturbing their beliefs. We can
apply it as Adriel being a fake news peddler, using those plagues to spread
misinformation. Anyone who sees it will be confused and impact their choices. This
illustrates the circumstances happening every day in social media.

To end Adriel’s evilness, the Crown of Thorns must be put in his head. It is a device with
supernatural properties originally used as a weapon to put him in a prison. We can say
that the Crown embodies those boundaries we set. If we embed those help precautions
in our head that we constantly get from the media, it can serve as our savior from the
disaster of fake news infecting us.

c. Analyze the context

Warrior Nun is a TV series that builds an image of a mystical, religious, and surprisingly
fatal world. It revolves around a 19-year-old woman who wakes up in a morgue with a
new lease on life and a divine artifact embedded in her back. She discovers she is now
part of an ancient order named The Order of the Cruciform Sword that has been tasked
with fighting demons on Earth, and powerful forces representing both heaven and hell
want to find and control her.

The storyline revolves around conventional but twisted plots. The concept of religion
and science were blended together which are primarily dealing with questions of
Quantum field and theology. It’s more about fighting fate—sailing against its storm or
flowing along with it. Ava can’t accept that she’s a Warrior Nun with a heavy
responsibility, so she was trying to run away from it in the first episodes. A character
named Miguel was destined to die and be a “suicide bomb” to kill Adriel because he
was sent there to be a bait for that purpose.

Defiance and influence were also shown. It indicates that with fear and violence,
you can rattle faith and easily impose manipulation on the people. With flowery words,
added by the deep craving of wanting to have “change” and the urge for their prayers to
be answered. They thought Adriel was what they are seeking for, the hypocrite savior.
“You’ve all been fed with this twisted version of the truth that confuses
everything.”

d. Who benefits from the acceptance of media representations and who

loses?

The members of the OCS are devout women who have dedicated their lives to fighting
an ancient evil. The bizarre show screams women empowerment at all cause. All the
powerful characters are portrayed by women. The strength such as skills in martial arts,
a whole set of kickass fighting skills, aikido, multilingual, and many extreme talents
embodies women.

The majority of the audience are living proof that the show has an impact on their
lives. Those who are delighted with the idea of women being the superiors or having an
upper hand over a media channel are the ones who can be guaranteed as beneficiaries
of media representation acceptance. Those enlightened people who will feel impressed
by hearing that the tables have turned. Those feminists who continuously advocate and
fight for their raging purpose.

In contrast, misogynists or those who dislike the idea of women thriving in any form of
industry are the ones who will most probably lose. They will do anything within their
power to drag women down. As a matter of fact, Warrior Nun Season 3 has been
canceled by Netflix for unknown reasons despite its high rating. On the other hand,
since the main conflicts in the movie always lead to the Church, the image of Catholic
religion is also affected by the media representation depicted.

e. How do they influence our view of gender equality and women’s

empowerment,

Too often, such female characters are presented as silent observers of the male-
dominated institutions they serve, or as victims of those same structures, whose voices
are silenced by centuries of tradition and oppression. Much of the female spiritual
experience in popular culture is about being passive, where events are depicted as
happening to someone and there is little illusion of agency or choice involved. Women
are often present seemingly only to suffer, enduring the sorts of physical and mental
horrors that will be hailed as triumphs of strength and bravery — but only after they're
dead.

Warrior Nun not only gives its female characters the power to fight demons but to
make their own choices and reclaim their own faith stories. Given how often women
who seek power or knowledge in stories like this turn out to be cautionary tales –
tempters, harlots, or the reason mankind ends up fallen in the first place — this is
something of a radical shift.

According to legend, Areala of Cordoba created an Order to train other women to

fight against evil. No one would know these womens' faces or names, and so it
happened that the Order of the Cruciform Sword was born. The members of the OCS
are devout women who have dedicated their lives to fighting an ancient evil. These are
women who are not perfect. They are all misfits in some form or other, but that's part of
what makes their faith feel real — like something that could and does exist in the same
world we inhabit.

Rather than remain in the rigidly strict hierarchies that the patriarchal structures
of the Church itself tend to favor; the women of the Cruciform Sword ask questions.
They uplift and empathize with each other. They fight together. They even fight each
other over the course of the series, trying to find the best path forward for their order
and the mission they serve. Their faith is fluid and responsive — not in terms of what
they believe in or don't, but the way it's lived and reflected through their everyday lives.

f. How do they influence our view of people living with disability, indigenous
peoples and ethnic minority groups if any?
 When a young orphan named Ava dies, her corpse is forcibly revived by the
insertion of a divine object known as the Halo into her back. This artifact gives her
powerful new abilities and advanced healing, in addition to the ability to spot and slay
demons. It also allows Ava — a former quadriplegic — to walk again, compounding one
miracle on top of another. Part of the reason Warrior Nun is so compelling is that it
understands there's no one singular way for her to process what she's going through.
Her reckoning with a larger spiritual world happens alongside her embrace of simple
joys like running and fighting, and her first glimpses of the world.

It implies that people living with disability can still have hope that there will be a complex
“plot twist” coming in their life. Just like Ava, who spent her past life living in a convent
— all day lying in a bed and the cycle goes on over her childhood. What’s worse is that
her mother died in the car accident, and the nun who took care of her gaslights her
every time.

g. How is this produced and

On September 28, 2018, it was announced that Netflix had given the production a
series order for a first season consisting of ten episodes. Simon Barry was set to serve
as showrunner for the series. Barry is also credited as an executive producer alongside
Stephen Hegyes with Terri Hughes Burton serving as an co-executive producer for the
series. Production companies involved with the series were slated to be Fresco Film
Services and Reality Distortion Field.

Although the original comic on which the series is based was set in New York,
the Warrior Nun television series is set in Spain. This decision was made by
showrunner Simon Barry, who desired to feature the European setting because of its
rich religious architecture and history. It was felt that the series needed a "sense of
Christian history because we were tying in the origins of the halo to the Crusades."
Prior to the release of the Warrior Nun television series, an opening was created
by Ben Dunn for an animated pilot of a series based on Warrior Nun Areala. Although
interest was shown, the animation was never picked up. Additionally, a feature film was
considered, but placed on hold following the commission of the Netflix series.

The series is narrated and led by Portuguese actress Alba Baptista in the role of
Ava Silva,The cast also features Toya Turner, Thekla Reuten, Lorena Andrea, Kristina
Tonteri-Young, Sylvia De Fanti and Tristán Ulloa. Filming takes place in multiple
locations in Andalusia, Spain, such as Antequera, where the headquarters of the
fictional Order of the Cruciform Sword was filmed.

h. Who created it?

Warrior Nun is an American fantasy drama television series, based on the

eponymous comic series named Warrior Nun Areala. It is a manga-style American
comic book character created by Ben Dunn and published by Antarctic Press, first
appearing in Ninja High School #37 in March 1993 as Shanna Masters.

Warrior Nun Areala was being adapted into a feature film to be directed by A. J.
Annila. The film was to take all the main characters and mythology that author Ben
Dunn provided and re-imagine it in a modern setting.

Ben Dunn, who attended Catholic schools, was inspired by The New York Times
article. In an interview, he said: "Other superheroes, you never know what their faith is.
Batman or Spider-Man or Superman, they do all these great things, but what do they
believe in?" His interest in understanding the impacts of religious affiliations on fictional
superhero characters led him to write Warrior Nun Areala from this unique perspective.
However, Ben Dunn does not consider the story a Christian comic book, as it avoids
directly calling readers to repentance or propagating the faith. Rather, the series makes
use of Christian imagery and Christian-based speculative fiction.

Netflix approved a television adaptation of the comic book series, with a series
order for the first season. The series was created by Simon Barry, who is credited as an
executive producer alongside Stephen Hegyes and Dean English. The first season was
released on July 2, 2020. The second season was released on November 10, 2022.

i. Who is the intended audience?

Warrior Nun has scored the highest audience ratings for a Netflix show ever,
according to reports. The second season has a perfect 100% score from a handful of
critics, but more impressive is the 99% Audience Score it has from over 8,000 viewers,
easily the highest overall total from any season of a Netflix original. It’s pretty obvious
that the show intends to reach out to people in general. It is diverse and the intended
audience can be a variety of several types of people. The show tackles life decision
making, and it is very suitable for teenagers since they can relate to Ava exploring
adolescence. Parental guidance is also needed for some explicit language. However, I
think that adults have much more say on this series because they are the ones who
mostly participate and are active in arguments regarding science and religion.

Above all, I think that everyone can be a victim of manipulation, deception, and fake
news circling over the internet. So, with that, we can all be considered as the intended
audience of Warrior Nun.

j. What is the main message?

As a show, Warrior Nun never treats the idea of a squadron of fighting nuns with
superpowers as a joke, instead, it takes the idea that women are active participants in
their own faith — and lives — seriously and lets them make their own choices. About
what to believe in, and what to fight for. I am deeply interested in issues of faith, but it's
also not here to tell anyone what to believe. Like Ava and the other women in the OCS,
viewers are encouraged to make their own choices.

We are the seafarer — the captain of our own boat. It depends on us if we continue to
sail despite the consequences, whatever it may cost. Just like Ava, even though she
knows that being a Warrior Nun is a burden, that all the former Halo Bearers’ faith turns
out bad, she was determined to end it all. It’s on us whether to seek a purpose to keep
having faith in what we believe. “In this life or the next'' is the OCS motto, it emphasizes
how dedicated they are to the decisions they make. The phrase “in this life” means
leaving anything behind and choosing to fight and give your all. While “in the next,” your
decision is to let things be in this life and just continue something you have left in the
next. There is no invalidation. If you can’t take it anymore at this moment, you can have
a break but will never give up.

“Because things change when you realize everything’s not about you.”