Media Writing Lab

By: Duncan West 10/2/2018 Social media has given the audience ,us as user, to actually produce, rather than just take in the material. This in a way evens the Social Media hierarchy to a some what even playing field. Giving everyone a voice to be heard. Without Social Media the only way to really get your voice out would be to be interviewed, but the only people being interviewed were celebrities. Now that we do have social media everyones opinions are there to be read at the click of a button. This gives the average person a voice for getting their ideas out there. This power should not be looked upon lightly. Movements can be started in the matter of hours with social media. These movements can be very powerful and quick spreading especially with the help of a celebrity. Celebrities have huge impacts on the social media world these impacts can be both positive and negative. That is why Social Media is nothing to be taken lightly but rather a tool that can be used for good.  S

By Colleen Kelly Over the course of this week, a variety of both normative and non-normative sexual identities have been explored. While my focus on transgender identity in contemporary television is the last post in this series, this discussion is no way complete. It is vital that conversations about representation of gender and sexual identity continue beyond these five posts. Historically, transgender representation on television has been virtually non-existent. The few transgender characters we did see were typically episodic or peripheral characters (Capuzza & Spencer, 2017, p. 214). Having a transgender lead character was unthinkable until the premiere of All That Glitters in 1977 (Capuzza & Spencer, 2017, p. 215). I find it worth noting that All That Glitters only lasted a single season, likely because people were ambivalent about seeing a transgender person on television. Within the past decade, there has been a rather radical shift in the representation of transgend

10/1/2018 By: Duncan West In my brief essay I will be discussing the power of activism in media. Media activism can have world wide impact in ways that would be impossible without the media world we live in today. The area of media activism I will be discussing is through Brazils telenovia network, called Globo Network. This network in particular did many things to help initiate change in Brazil. The main groups that this network targeted were the critics of the telenovia and they also tried to reach the sympathy of the growing sectors of people that rejected the military regime. This military regime did not approve of the Globo network and their points they supported. Even when trying to find information from the telenovias you can not. They are still under censorship allowing you to only watch single episodes from the Telenovias of that time, not allowing us to receive the whole idea of any of the seasons. Making it so now we can not get the whole story these activists were tr

By Sydney Secuskie Popular culture plays a strong role in the way teens develop and respond to their sexuality. It helps young adults develop a way to interact with their counterparts and helps them get a sense of sexuality and sexual experiences that they may experience in their young lives. However, what happens to this development when the sexuality an individual identifies with is rarely portrayed in popular films and television series? Heterosexuality is normalized within numerous popular television series, making young teens of the LGBTQ+ community struggle to find a character to resonate with. Callie Torres, a bisexual character in the TV hit show Grey’s Anatomy , exemplifies the struggles that many individuals in the LGBTQ+ community face when trying to identify their sexuality. Callie begins the first season as a straight, married female; however, she eventually falls in love with a female doctor after her divorce with her husband. Callie constantly denied her bisexual

By: Emmanuel Koutsouras Music is a powerful thing, it brings people together, makes them feel  emotions, and in some cases has been used as a tool for activism.  The 1967 song by Aretha Franklin “Respect” was a massive hit. All aspects of the song combined to make a powerful, universal message. Recording engineer and producer Tom Dowd said that “It could be a racial situation, it could be a political [or gendered] situation, it could be a manwoman situation. Anybody could identify with it. It cut a lot of ground.” ( Muhanji , Straton, 2005) . Hip-hop has been used most commonly in recent history as the primary  genre for which you can find activism.  Hip -hop has transformed the popular landscape of modern youth identity and created a new form of self-expression. In three decades hip-hop has expanded from a Bronx youth subculture into a global commodity, driving a multibillion-dollar industry that reaches into music, fashion, movies, and much more. That's not all. Hip-hop ha

By: Sarah Selzer The straight population within American media is known for gaining and maintaining its power within television and film, and therefore have the dominance to change the cultural flow of society. Unfortunately, heteronormative plotlines are continually produced, neglecting the accurate representation of lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual, and queer individuals within the entertainment industry. Straight people have the privilege of never having to worry about how they’re represented, but negative stereotypes of other sexual identities are still working their way up to the point where their stereotype does not solely represent their entire essence as a character. This notion is supported by social theorist Gail Dines with quote from her book Gender, race, and class in media: A critical reader : “While the entertainment industry have on some level acknowledged that gender and sexual identities are more fluid than was once thought, film and TV representations of ch

By Nate Stapleton The incredibly popular and socially intriguing television show,  Glee,  includes multiple actors and actresses that identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender.  Ryan Murphy is the director of the television series and is openly gay.  It is evident in the show that Murphy is an advocate for queer teen representation on television.  We see this through Kurt (Chris Colfer), who eventually becomes open about being a gay teen to his friends and family.  We also see the character Santana (Naya Rivera), who originally has sex with men in the show but later comes out as lesbian.   Glee  does a tremendous job at illustrating the struggles queer teens go through on a daily basis.  Shows and movies on television like  Glee  make it easier for queer teens and even adults to see the struggle and beauty of being comfortable with their sexuality. In the past and to this day men and women that don’t identify as straight live a life unlike those who identify as str