CONTRIBUTORS

Fall 2018

COMM 233A

Sungyeon Ahn

William Andries

Kamal Apatira

Georges Azouri

Faith Blakey

Colleen Kelly

Benjamin May

Pia Ocvirk

Natalie E. Raskas

Helina Samson

Ryan Scott

Sydney Secuskie

Sarah Selzer

Abigail Smith

Griffin Spurgin

Jarrod Stiver

Aleysha Ward

Theresa R. Weigel

Jackson Williams

Joseph S. Zanca

COMM 233C

Caleb Baue

Jonathan Bonilla

Frederick Coudret

Destiney Davis

DaBreonna Doss

Christopher Douglas

Cailey Griffin

Gunter Jaeger

Emmanuel Koutsouras

Yongjie Li

Katharine McLean

Brogan Miller

Joshua Mundell

Richard Pasch

Daniel Scotto

Ryan Smith

Nathan Stapleton

Leda Turpen

Margaret Wagenbrenner

Kenneth West

POLITICAL COMEDY: A DETERRENT IN THE ELECTION

By Griffin Spurgin Late night talk shows play a big role in today’s society. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and The Daily Show hosted by Jon Stewart are two reasons why the outcome of the 2016 election came out with the results landing in favor of Republican Donald Trump. Both these shows are a great watch for those that love comedy, but they also provide as good news sources for politics and elections. However, they can pose a negative satirical threat to their viewers. The past election was a heated and important one to say the least. The two candidates, to most, were unqualified for the job. Dean Flannery writes in his research article, “How Satire Failed,” that, “Just 24 hours before Donald Trump was elected the next president of the United States, Americans were still in the mood to laugh about their volatile political climate—or rather, late-night hosts were still trying to make them laugh about it”(Flannery, 2016). Elections should not be laughing mat...

ARTISTRY WITHIN ACTIVISM

By: Sarah Selzer When armchair theorizing political activism, pop-culture has been noted as the driving force of political change. However, this notion truly comes to life when we look at the history of how hip-hop could be considered the voice of our generation, specifically containing the critical area for the emergence of hip-hop feminism. Concerning political movements that stemming from the base of hip-hop music influence, female artists not only used their platform as a form of sexual and artistic expression but to highlight problems within Grassroots- Black Community politics (Collins, 2014). Primarily Black and Latino youth were denied access to basic education, decent housing, recreational activities, and music lessons stemming from the early to mid-1900’s (Collins, 2014). Instead of feeling defeated, young-female black youths took the time to create new art forms of music that challenged the stereotypes of being born into poverty which ultimately gave them opportunit...

NO MORE DAISY DUKES

By Colleen Kelly This thematic series has begun to establish that female sexuality is an aspect of the music industry capable of crossing genre barriers. Country music has traditionally been labeled the genre with the least emphasis on female sexuality because of its socially conservative themes (Aubrey & Frisby, 2011, p. 477). I challenge this notion with my assertion that sexuality has always been present in country music but has undergone a change from a form of feminist liberation to a tool to objectify women. In the history of country music, particularly visible in the 1990s, there is a long-standing tradition of female artists using their music to advance feminist ideals and reclaim their sexuality (Berlatsky, 2014). Let me be clear that I am not asserting that these musicians are the long-awaited saviors of women. Rather, these female artists utilized the media to challenge societal norms surrounding gender and sexuality. Shania Twain was not only one of the biggest ...

Media Writing Lab

Search