Post 2

 The male gaze is the idea that most depictions of women in media are structured to serve a (heterosexual) male viewer. It is so common in popular culture because of the patriarchal society we live in. Mulvey's piece on "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" expands on Berger's "Ways of Seeing" in that both stress the idea that "Men act and women appear. Men look at women." Women become "an object of vision: a sight" (Berger 47).  When it comes to advertising, this idea translates quite literally (see below). In film, TV, or music this means the women that appear are often one-note or exist solely as a sex object or to further the male protagonist's storyline (pretty much any female character in an action blockbuster).

Examples of the male gaze in action:

Advertising

Film

Music

In terms of the male gaze, growing up this idea clouded my vision greatly. I lived for many years not being able to put my finger on it, but feeling out of place when it came to looking for people like me (introverted, a little weird looking/acting) in the media I consumed. In most of the TV and movies that I watched, girls always looked like something I could never be. I remember after watching certain scenes in movies I would hope that maybe in some small way I could be like the characters I saw and being disheartened when it didn't work out. But reflecting on it now, I realize it is because no one can be that. No one wakes up looking like they've just stepped out of a magazine cover photoshoot while delivering the coolest lines. I stopped looking to the "ideal" and instead focused on reality.

It's a shame that so many movies focus on catering to the male gaze. Instead of women with depth and realistic hair days, we are shown the woman who never sweats while exercising, just needed a mini-makeover, or is only trying to find romance. Only until somewhat recently has there been a change in the tide. There is more room for women characters to carry their own stories, with less dependence on the male gaze.

As one can see, majority of the links/images I've provided show white women. As bell hooks writes, "to stare at the television, or mainstream movies, to engage in its images was to engage in its negation of black representation" (hooks 117). Unfortunately, mainstream mass media continues to under-represent people of color, which leads to the emergence of the oppositional gaze. The oppositional gaze is the concept that since people of color remain outsiders in most mainstream mass media, they remain critical to both sides. They see the male gaze at work (that Mulvey writes about), but at the same time are unable to connect with the female character(s) depicted. As a result they view most media with a "deconstructed" lense (hooks 123).

Since I am white, in my initial stages of learning about feminism I didn't take the time to consider my experiences don't necessarily resonate with everyone. As Michael Kimmel said in his video, "privilege is invisible to those who have it." As I continue to learn, it remains crucial for me to keep this in mind and learn from my mistakes. I needed to take note of the presence of an oppositional gaze and see how detrimental it is for society to continue to limit people of color's voices.

Works Cited: Berger "Ways of Seeing"; hooks "The Oppositional Gaze"; Mulvey "Visual Pleasure"; Kimmel video "On Gender"

Who I Think I Am

Marina being her satirical self

One of my all time favorite artist Marina and The Diamonds said in her hit song Oh! No! "TV taught me how to feel, now real life has no appeal." When I first heard this song I was immediately hooked. Other quotes include "I feel like I'm the worst so I always act like I'm the best" and "don't do love, don't do friends, I'm only after success." These words at the time fit into who I was, and I loved that I was able to find something which represented my thoughts and interest. Due to this I kept buying her music and I have gone to see her a grand total of 4 times and will continue to until the end of her career. This is the media's influence, there is a consumer, a product and then a method to make the two meet. Being born in a post pop world means that the media rules everything around me, and that everything around me shapes the media we consume. By doing so the media feeds into the culture it is in. The media shapes our views, roles and societal behavior. We are all media consumers and we are all media creators.

The Queen and her husband consuming media (they are subject to it too!)

The media is white washed. As a an gender non-conforming queer afro-latino (a mouth full which just keeps getting longer) it's hard to find images and people in the media who fully or even partially represents me. Sure I can find myself in a gay character, or a black or latino character, but the merging of all these cultures would be considered too complex for white media. White media has condemned me too complex or too confusing for "normal viewers" therefore I am excluded from popular media. This makes it so that TV is directed towards the very white and very straight and very skinny. Growing up this affected me the most. I kept seeing people who weren't like me and instead of looking past popular media, I seeked to imitate it. I wanted to straighten and whiten my hair because that's all I saw in the shows I was watching. People like me make up such a small percentage of the population that we are not considered a priority. Representation is important because it allows people to feel like they are part of society and don't feel the need to hide the things that make us different.

Problematic Queen Lana Del Rey

Media can also be hindering because it can perpetuate what's wrong in a society. Today when I watch things like Anaconda by Nicki Minaj and listen to music like Lana Del Rey and The Weeknd, I am in a constant battle with myself. Now that I have embraced both my cultural background as well as my sexuality and gender identity, and have read up on my bell hooks, I feel bad listening to music and watching videos which still have the same imagery as the videos I’ve watched before. This imagery not only reinforces misogyny but it also makes a lot of young girls body conscious and warps the view young boys have on the female body. Still I like to think of myself as a novice feminist, because even though I enjoy singing along to Ultraviolence, and I find beauty in the drop dead gorgeous trope in fashion and there are times when I think Rihanna can do no wrong, I am still critical and aware of their harm. I am aware of how the media can shape the way you think and as soon as the song ends I am cramming my unsuspecting peers about the harm it just did to all of us.

In Media Limbo

"You know, everyone needs someone to look up to. Why shouldn't it be us?"- John Legend

Some of the work I've contributed to.

I think that most of the days of my week are spent dealing with the media. My job merely exists to shape how we should view women in the media. I am a production manager for Harper's Bazaar International, particularly Greece. I spend most of my day focusing on the trend for the month and trying to find the perfect outfits for the model to wear for the shoot. Afterwards, there are days spent critiquing the model's body and expression and assisting in retouching what "just won't work": her big calves, her dull eyes, etc. I feel like am in a constant limbo; I know that the way people view themselves are just a reflection of what they see in the media but, I aid to that every. single. DAY. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do but there's a little grain of hypocrisy in it, don't you think?

I think we live in a world of hypocrisy. In my opinion, it's hard to get out of it. One of the sites I visit regularly is Refinery29. I started reading it in middle school; it was a place to gain a little fashion inspiration and learn the best places and things to do in New York City (a place that I saw myself growing both intellectually and socially). It was a site that dared you to be different and to appreciate your flaws through clothing. Within the next five years it shifted from this alternative fashion/lifestyle website to this gossip-mongering source of crappy tabloid information. I remember there being an article talking about Kylie Jenner's lips: Are they real? Are they fake?!? . There was a lot of backlash in the comments about the increased Kardashian-based articles. The editorial contributor stated that the site only posts those kind of articles because it ends up being the most popular...whether it be totally superficial. I still read Refinery29 everyday though!; it does come with a little eye-roll here and there.

Ironically enough, my presence in social media has drastically decreased in the last five years.  I used to spend hours upon hours a day on Tumblr writing diary entries and reposting pictures and quotes. In addition, I would say 9,000 out of my 12.2k tweets were written between the years 2011-2013. Now, I barely post anything. I think this is due to the fact that I've not only matured but I've realized that I want my social media outlets to reflect who I am, who I've become and who I want to be. Since I don't know the answers to those three just yet, my social media is on hiatus...ish.

Who is Apneet?

In considering the question, "Who do you think you are?" I think it is evident that we are our best, "curated" self on the internet. The think pieces dedicated to why everyone is "brand" in the digital age and the need to edit and polish yourself on the internet are abundant. There is a duality here that may be problematic. The pursuit of showing only the best version of your life creates unrealistic expectations. Sometimes I feel anxious when I don't have anything worth sharing, but that experience is built in to my "job" as a blogger and digital influencer. Specific to this community, it's a constant competition between Instagram accounts and blog posts to always create and share the most likeable content - which leads to the question of authenticity. Maybe we are really just getting more and more further away from our true selves when we choose to share so much online.

Personally, I reject the idea that you can't be yourself on the internet, with good judgement. It's this idea that people are interested in other people. That is the foundation of why readers are interested in what I have to share in the first place. The experience, although digital, is still personal.

As a blogger I think I create more mini media-moments than the average social media user. Sometimes I work with brands who give me a deadline for content, and in between those campaigns I keep my readers afloat to what I'm doing by sharing my own updates. The biggest platform for discovery and growth is Instagram. It is also the most enjoyable. I personally love taking photographs, and it's an easy way to share a quick update when I'm on-the-go. I do love the relatively open channels of communication with my audience as well.

Since we are able to control our own image online, there is pressure to live, or at least act like you live, a fabulous, charmed life. It gets a little bit more complicated when your "image" is tied to your income. Sure, I chose to be a blogger and engage with the interwebs, and no one is forcing me to use social media. But I do genuinely enjoy creating content firstly that I believe in and am proud of and is something my readership can look at and get a kick out of too. 

In our class discussion Prof Caciolo stressed the importance of an online image as being essential in this digital age to your professional life. My blog has lead me to writing contracts, jobs, collaborations and numerous opportunities that simply would not have come way had I not had an online presence. Social media has allowed me to take my passions (fashion, writing, photography) and turn them into a profession. My writing can be seen at Racked, Refinery 29, and elsewhere, and I've worked with global brands like VANS, Clinique, and many others. All of this is a direct result of my blog. 

As a consumer of media, I am constantly on the lookout for the "new." Discovering new music and new blogs, Instagram accounts, and reading online content is how I consume media. I rarely watch TV because most of it is garbage, but I do "Netflix and Chill." Last year, I took about six months away from Facebook, and didn't miss it all. I realized, however, that I needed a Facebook account for work-related purposes, and thus I activated my account again.

As media, social media and the internet blend more and more into our lives, I thought about why I should need Facebook. The answer comes down to its enormous user base. People share articles, music and status updates, photos, and much more on the platform all day long. If you have something to say, you have to put your voice out there where it can be heard.

In closing, Clay Shirky has written an excellent book on the topic titled Here Comes Everybody, of which chapter three, "Everyone Is A Media Outlet," is available on PDF here. 

Claiming Media Space

         Not to long ago, I admitted to myself that I’m addicted to the social media site, Tumblr. I found it strange how this website had slowly creped into my life and found so much meaning. It had allowed me to share music, images, and ideas. I had created an online environment where I could talk about social justice, my favorite bands, artist, designers, pop culture with other creative people of color (and anyone else who indefinites as ‘other’). It gave us a place to voice our opinions and frustrations with the world.  

    It was refreshing. Tumblr allowed us to claim media space for ourselves and say what we pleased. It helped me, as a black female, to find my identity, and critique everything. Helping me to be aware of how I had been wrongly portrayed in the media, and caused me to develop a fierce appetite for better representation for people like me. I will admit it’s a bit embarrassing claiming a website as was one of the things that “woke” me, but it really did open my eyes. I deleted my Tumblr a couple weeks back, since my time spent on the website was becoming unhealthy. However I recognize all the good I was able to take away from it.

   I needed a break from it, but my relationship with media is still tricky. Even though my time isn’t consumed with Tumblr anymore, I’m still constantly on social media and always consuming media. Whether its Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, or Vine, I’m always online. However recently, I have decided to use my knowledge of media, and to create my own media platform, an online magazine called Nonsense. I believe this is a perfect way to combat media, by taking it and creating our own outlets where we can properly portray ourselves and put out the type of content we want to consume.

Living in Sqaures

Step, step, check text, text, text, check instagram, scroll, scroll, an email, delete, delete. News Alert.

The AP. No article yet. Google search...

Ah - there we go.

Notification - 'Anna just ran 6 miles in 50 minutes' - I should - 

A text. 

Train. I hear the train, stop. 

Tune out. Take out a book. Read - go. 

I do not have a television. I do not have Netflix or Hulu account. I don't bing watch shows and don't spend a lot of time at the movies. Thus, my iPhone is a media blackhole - and comes fully loaded with Instagram, Facebook, Tinder, Bumble, BCC, The AP, Map My Run, Spotify, Period Tracker and many more, all of which I used to assemble my world. These apps provide me with - not so much knowledge - but access to limitless information to just about everything: politics, friends, family, people I don't know, men I might date, when I'm supposed to get my period, if venus is in retrograde, and what my 4th grade teacher ate for breakfast. And in response to all of this information? I create my own weird cyber identity for others to consume.

Create and Consume - that is what we do with this unbound information. We take it in, and we make more of it. I believe media, and lets limit this discussion to solely social media, is a form of creative expression. As an artist paints with a brush, or a writer uses words and letters to craft sentences, many of us use social media as a means to express, develop, and creative a narrative. Issues arise when others take this information as a complete representation of the person who created it. I'm a writer - I like writing plays and creating characters - and as this type of writer I learned quickly that I will never, no matter how talented I become, be able to write my "real" self, because that self is ever malleable. There is a lot of ME that makes up ME. Yes, I can take aspects of myself to create this complex completely real human, but it will never actually be me. Social media works similarly - we create these piece of us because it feels good to share parts of ourselves.

Now delving into the world of Instagram - Recently I went home to visit some family and I was speaking with my younger cousin and her friend. They were asking me how I liked living in the city and I was telling them about some of the projects I was working. As soon as I finished on of them blurted out - "I know. I follow your Instagram. Its so cool. I wanna go college in there. You have such a cool life." Straight up - I love Instagram as a media tool and did I take some flattery in that? Hell yeah. Instagram allows me to curate photos - articulating my interests, location, and events that I find relevant to me, all with a brief caption which reflects a mood or thought. No - I’m not posting about political issues or in justice or advocacy, nor am I posting about mundane everyday things like homework, or tests, or brushing my teeth, or work or anxiety, all of which are also what makes up me. I am posting images about the parts of my weeks I enjoy and appreciate most - like seeing friends, or sitting and having coffee, or seeing a show.  Yes, the medium is egocentric, however, its undoubtably in some form a new artistic medium allowing me to craft some of me - a form of expression.

Post1. My relationship to media consumption.

I believe that the world we live in not black-and-white but, rather, it has many different colors in it. Therefore, there isn't one right opinion on a particular topic, but several, expert and non-expert opinions and all of them, at minimum, deserve to be heard.

This approach to things in life can describe my relationship with media as that of a selective media consumer. All information that comes my way from Internet, radio, newspapers or TV, regardless whether I agree with it or not, first undergoes a careful triage and critical perception. If I watch some news program on CNN, for example, I am very interested to know how the topic is covered by Fox or BBC. I would eventually read on the topic at on-line newspapers in Russian (my mother tongue) just to compare the oppositional views. The one such on-line Russian newspaper I go to for an alternative opinion is called Gazeta.ru. http://www.gazeta.ru/  I call it “newspaper always bad news” because almost everything in it is presented in a somewhat negative way, but the abundance and diversity of content cannot be matched.

Although I love entertainment media in almost all of the formats – music, Facebook, TV, movies, sport events – I prefer to spend my time with my family and friends that involves very little media interaction: camping, hiking, beach, playing sports, playing with my son.