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

Disney Princesses: A system of commodities?

Disney Princesses: A System of Commodities? By Katharine McLean Growing up I loved all Disney Princesses, but Cinderella was my favorite by far. I envied her long blonde hair, admired her gorgeous gown, and wished for the day that my Prince Charming would show up on my doorstep with the glass slipper that would turn me into a princess. Now, at the age of nineteen, I cannot help but look back and wonder. . . have the Disney Princesses I’ve grown up with caused me harm? I argue that the stereotypical gender norms found in Disney Princess media and the capitalist nature of popular culture leads to a narrow-minded view of femininity. In Dustin Kidd’s book, Pop Culture Freaks: Identity, Mass Media and Society , he defines popular culture in a myriad of ways, but one that stuck out to me was the idea of popular culture as a system of commodities. Kidd (2014) states, “popular culture is art, transformed into commodity, working double time as advertisement” (p. 69). This d...

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 ...

NOBODY CAN HIDE FROM MENTAL HEALTH

By Graham Jaeger Mental Health has played a major role in schools across the country for over the past decade. Each and every year, students feel more and more pressure as they have to adapt from their summer into new school routines (Suldo, Shaunessy, Hardesty, 2008). Students suffer from mental health largely because of stress, but other factors such as addiction, rape, and even school violence are heavy contributors as well. A perfect example of mental health issues within high school students is displayed in the Netflix television series titled 13 Reasons Why . Throughout this show, you see depression take over kids lives which ultimately has a huge impact on the rest of the students in the show. 13 Reasons Why received a lot of criticism because suicide rates in teens rapidly increased after the show was released. Many say it was due to the connection they could feel with Hannah throughout the show, and others felt like they were in her position where they felt it was the only...

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