Skip to main content

ABOUT


Welcome to the Media Writing Lab at DePauw University. This site features commentary and criticism written by students enrolled in Professor Kevin Howley's Media, Culture & Society course.

Throughout the semester, students organize and publish a weeklong series of thematic essays (500-600 words each) that address some aspect of media and popular culture. Modeled after the Media Commons project, In Media Res, this site promotes collaborative research, interactive learning, multi-modal writing.

The views and opinions expressed in the Media Writing Lab are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the instructor, the Department of Communication & Theater, or DePauw University.

 Instructor: Kevin Howley
Teaching Assistant: David Petrushka
Technical Assistance: Jin Kim

For more information regarding the Media Writing Lab write to us at: khowley@depauw.edu.

Popular posts from this blog

ARE WE THE WEIRD ONES?

 By: Destiney Davis Eighteen-year-old Sam Gardner is your typical high school boy who loves his family, sports etc. except there’s one thing that makes him slightly different. Sam is on the autism spectrum (ASD). Atypical , it is a coming of age Netflix series that takes its viewers on a wild ride with Sam Gardner and his daily struggles with being a high school student with autism. The first season begins with what any teenage boy enjoys, girls. Sam Gardner begins asking advice from father about girls and dating and is welcomed with loads of advice from his father, Doug. But from his mother, Sam receives almost complete resentment and negativity when bringing upon the idea of dating. But why? Why is such a normal teenage action being turned down simply because of a mental disability? According to the National Institute of Health, about 1 in 68 children are diagnosed with ASD. Disabilities are quite difficult to discuss whether it be in our own communities or the media its
5 comments
Read more

ARTISTS OR SEX OBJECTS?

By Pia Ocvirk When Rita Ora announced her new single “Girls” earlier this year, the song was initially intended as an anthem celebrating both bisexuality and female empowerment. However, when the song was released in May, it proved to be the complete opposite (Kheraj, 2018). Both the lyrics and the music video were yet another example of pop culture misrepresenting women, queer women in this case, while fueling the male gaze. While both the song and Rita Ora quickly received backlash, Ora is not the person to blame. The entire music industry has been fostering hypersexualization and objectification of female artists for decades. At midnight on August 1, 1981, MTV was born and music suddenly became a visual medium. Aware of the degree to which their sexuality was being evaluated in music videos, female artists started to create powerful hypersexualized personas in response to male domination (Donze, 2011). The 1980s saw the rise of multiple pop divas, many of whom owed part o
3 comments
Read more

ATHLETE STEREOTYPE AND GENDER, SEXUALITY

By Stella Ahn Athlete represents masculinity. When you think about the popular sport games in America such as football, baseball and basketball, the male athletes will directly come to your mind. As a matter of fact, athlete characters in the films and TV shows are often depicted as jocks; male, strong, aggressive. For example, Noah Puckerman, one of the main characters in Glee, is a football player. He takes a role of typical jock in the show, being aggressive and bullying other students. By constantly showing this kind of athlete characters, media reinforce the stereotype of athletes. If these stereotypes are wrong as previous posts mentioned, are jocks the only victim of it?  Considering athlete as masculine excludes people who have different genders and sexualities. This essay will talk about athlete’s gender and sexuality that excluded from media, specifically women and homosexual. Daniels posed a question (2008) , “If athlete means masculine, where do femininity a
3 comments
Read more