Category: students

Chosen Topic: People of Color in American Television/Film

As a fan of Marvel films, I’m always excited to see my favorite superheroes save the day and memorize me with its special effects and world-building. Producer Kevin Feige has been building these films starting with Iron Man and most recently Avengers: End Game. As we enter phase 4 of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) we have yet to have many leading POC actors in these films. phases 1-2 have supporting characters who were people of color. Phase three however successfully had the Box-office boom with the 2018 film Black Panther. Film as often struggled with its depiction of people of color. While the MCU has made strides I hope for phase 4 in which actors like Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans pass the baton to Anthony Mackie and Chadwick Boseman so they too can pass it later to other actors of color approaching phase 4 and at some point phase 5.  In addition to more creatives behind the camera.  while Ryan (Black Panther) Coogler and Taika Waitit (Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers End Game) have been great additions to the creative process I hope these future films give more opportunity to more minority film creatives.

the MCU and to film in a larger scale has typically centered around white men written and produced by white men. Tim Mulkerin, of Mic, writes “those who write and direct these films wield a great deal of power in shaping the narratives”. I believe that people of color need agency to tell their own stories and narratives. Even in this fantasy world where there are web-slinging teenage boys and a man dressed in a catsuit from a hidden Afro-futuristic country.

Cited

Mulkerin, T.  Bustle Digital Group(2019, August 14). 10 years in, the Marvel Cinematic Universe still lacks diversity – and these 4 graphs prove it. Retrieved from https://www.mic.com/articles/188957/10-years-in-the-marvel-cinematic-universe-still-lacks-diversity-and-these-4-graphs-prove-it

Streaming services have been in the media constantly over the last few weeks. It seems that Netflix is losing fans and steam as many other companies introduce their new services for customers. Streaming is the new cable TV, so as companies lose viewers to streaming, they want to get them back by creating their own, going up against the big dog, Netflix. There are a lot of articles going around saying things like “Disney+ shades Neflix by offering x amount per month”. I see how the media can play a significant role in this new age of streaming by the way consumers are influenced. Depending on what news site covers it, or an article is shared on Facebook, it often portrays one sided material, instead of being informative versus critical. People who are uninformed could end their Netflix subscription without doing a little digging to see if the service will actually decline in terms of content. Because I am an active consumer with multiple streaming services, I was immediately interested in hearing what Disney+ has to offer. 

https://bgr.com/2019/08/07/disney-plus-vs-netflix-vs-hbo-vs-apple-why-12-99-plan-makes-sense/

This article I found on Facebook by Chris Smith does a good job of highlighting the pricing of different streaming services, and shares that Disney+ won’t necessarily kill Netflix due to the wider variety of content and reach that Netflix has. Unfortunately, I feel that not all coverage is this cut and dry. Disney owns a lot of networks, so if I am watching news on ABC I won’t ever see anything negative about the cost, but probably some negative things about Netflix. I am excited to see how the media continues to cover this as both companies unveil their ideas and plans for the future. 

Women’s hockey, like many other women’s sports, is wildly underrepresented compared to the men’s equivalent. While there is an argument to be made that there are simply more men’s players and leagues, the truth of the matter is that women’s sports, no matter how much more dominant they are compared to the men, has always been seen as a niche.

When it comes to reporting on women’s hockey, there isn’t much coverage until the Olympics or if they’re fighting for equal pay. Of course when it comes to the fight for equal pay, men’s hockey has to be part of the conversation for “mainstream” sports media.

There have been some “mainstream” media outlets that have reported on the women’s hockey stories outside of the Olympics, but also their ongoing struggles with those leagues. However, there are very few places available to watch games or get updates on the games themselves. While finding men’s hockey games to watch, view replays and highlights, see stats, and get box scores is exceedingly easy. There are even full websites dedicated to looking at the analytics of men’s hockey.

While there has been an increase in women’s hockey coverage, and there seems to be growing popularity for the sport, there is still a large gap to fill. It’s disappointing as a hockey fan to see the lack of coverage, but not at all surprising given that women’s sports has always seemed to take a lesser role to men’s sports in the United States. My hope is that as more and more women become not only athletes, but active sports fans, that women’s sports will continue to gain popularity. It seems like women’s sports are gaining more fans, and with that hopefully will gain more media coverage.

During the past 24 hour period, I consumed media through many different sources including, television, music, reading, and social media. I began to consume media through television, viewing a comical television series, but as the morning progressed, I viewed some snippets of the daily morning news of NBC’s Channel 4 News Los Angeles that covered the new event of fire hydrants being broken by nearby homeless people, as well as a continuation on an exposé of a drug dealer being sentenced to seventeen years in prison. Throughout the afternoon, I was listening to a variety of music through the Spotify app as I drove around town for work, and then when I returned home, I spent time on social media, specifically, Instagram and Twitter, using the services to supply me with trending topics of today’s news such as Women Equality, VMAs, and Dave Chapelle concerning his new stand-up special’s content. Later that evening, I decided to consume reading material associated with my photographic interest that connects the perspective of Taoism with the craft of photography. The selection includes methods in which the two relate through the use of pre-visualization and mindfulness to achieve a calm alertness that would allow photographers to be the most prepared for spontaneous moments. Lastly, I was viewing music videos from artists, focusing on their lyrics to gain a better sense of the narrative.

I think media has left a dissatisfying impression given its current state of mistrust, and the surplus of misguided information that leads many false claims and suggestions. My use of media is geared towards the stereotype of how my generation receives their news information, mainly through use social media, and although it serves more of a mass communication to allow the possibility of false information, many people debunk the fake news in a timely manner. My use of social media as a tool to gain informative information, I find not completely credible, is usually sustained through quick corrections over the period of a few minutes. The use of television news seems to be more relevant news in the local area, but given the visual media’s lack of credibility in certain areas, it is hard to assume it is trustworthy in some situations where skepticism should be obviously used. The use of music videos can infatuate the scenario represented when correlated with lyrical description, but it is unaware to the listener as to whether the story told is more for entertainment purposes, or if it meant to be taken as factual evidence given personal experiences.

The ranking of the following news outlets:

NBC Channel 4 News Los Angeles- 7

Although, a “reliable” news outlet to the status quo of society, there is a stigma associated with the news feeding us government based information for favor of a personal agenda, whether that be for money, ratings, or entertainment. With that said, it still has much trust given its long time existence in the television medium. There are some stories that will seem more skeptical than others, and I believe that has to do with more dire situations that concerns a national phenomenon versus a local event.

Twitter- 8

I gave Twitter a much higher ranking on the scale of news outlets, because it is commonly used to talk about trending topics, most of them including, news related sources. Although, Twitter does have its discrepancies concerning its factual information on each topic, it is usually corrected by other informed citizens that did more follow-up research to check the claim.

Instagram- 3

Instagram had the lowest ranking given that it is probably the most used social media platform of the current day, and that advertisements and false promises are made daily on the site to encourage others to pay money for a fictitious following to gain a sense of entitlement.

Tao of Photography Book- 9

This served as a higher ranking given the execution between relating the two subjects based upon its fundamentals. The information is reflected through the use of professionals of the craft, while also relying on a two-thousand year old text that provides insightfulness to its readers.

Music Videos- 5

I chose the lower rank of five, because I believe that although much of what is said can be from personal experience, there is usually an exaggeration given to the context to make it more enjoyable to the audience.

Hey everyone, welcome to my new blog!

Throughout this weekend I really paid close attention to the news I was intrigued by while using social media. My main outlet for social media and any news I would have to say is on Instagram and Facebook. Sometimes it is hard to determine whether or not the news is fake news or real. The main news that  I had a lot of questions and concerns was when I was scrolling through the feed on Instagram in regards to the fire in Brazil, the rain forest that is referred to as the lungs of the earth. Where 20% of our oxygen comes from. I was concerned because it was barely being reported as important news after it had been going on for over 19 days. How could the local news not find this to be more important than all the negativity that they always report? The concerns of global warming and climate change, how this is going to have a huge impact on the earth, what now? After scrolling and being lost in my thought process I then came across a post about a police officer urinating on a little girl and filmed it. I was really disturbed by this. I always take interest in seeing others opinions and point of view on these stories. In the comment section I found it to be even more disturbing. People were blaming this on race and the actions of others, some were blaming the parents for this happening to their child even though she was at school. Made me question who are these people that are not looking at the bigger picture to question what is wrong with this man and his thought process? How did he think this is okay?

Maybe he needs special therapy that no one has given him since he was a child. As I continued to scroll with disbelief of all the negative remarks made in the last post I decided to leave Instagram and go on to Facebook to see what’s going on there. I notice a post one of my friends had posted about a study that was done stating that the more time children spend with their grandparents the happier they will be when they are older. I began to read more about this study to see how this was something that could actually be studied but after reading through their findings and how they conducted it I was amazed. After reading this I scrolled some more to just see more pictures and others message for the day or moment so I decided it was time to end my day of social media and focus on what is going on around me. I am trying to spend less time on social media and focus on the things in front of me.

It is truly incredible to see how much media influences the structure of our daily lives. I monitored my media usage on Friday, and I was completely blown away by the sheer amount of media that I relied on for information, communication and entertainment, in just a short span of 24 hours.

8:00am: I wake up and immediately check my personal email, my ASU email, Facebook, Instagram and Reddit. I also check Ebay, where I’m watching listings of vintage magazines (which I collect), and also selling some of my old textbooks (which sadly have not been bought yet). I already use a large amount of media before getting ready for the day.

9:30pm: I briskly walk to the bus stop and ride the bus to the area where I work. During my commute, I answer a text from my friend and get lost in listening to music on my phone.

10:30am: I often go to the gym before work, but I had a blood test the previous day, so I was still feeling a little lethargic. I decided to stop by the nearby Barnes and Noble instead. Being a lover of fun facts, entertainment, and all things retro, I excitedly make my way to the magazine section, where I sit and skim through Mental Floss, Entertainment Weekly, Retro Fan, Remind and Reminisce. I buy the latest issue of Remind and walk over to work.

12:00pm: My workday at Starbucks begins. No time for outside media while serving coffee to the masses!

2:00pm – My 10 minute break: I grab some coffee and sit down to check Facebook again, where I come across a hilarious video of people dressed as Star Trek characters dancing while singing a parody of The Monkees theme song. I can’t stop laughing, because not only are the Monkees my favorite band, but my (identical) twin sister’s boyfriend (who is also my good friend) Dan, loves Star Trek! I immediately share it to our group chat before heading back to work.

4:00pm – My “lunch” break: An odd time for a lunch break, to be sure. Luckily, I had packed something, so I could sit down the entire half hour. While I was on the floor, my sister had texted me and told me that the high-end shopping mall in town where she works is getting an outdoor expansion. I immediately Google this to find any news, and sure enough, The Cleveland Jewish News had a remarkably detailed story on the subject. I can’t wait to see this come into fruition!  At Starbucks, this will unfortunately be our last week selling newspapers. I seize the opportunity by thumbing through the “Arts and Life” section of The Plain Dealer that was sitting on the back desk. I read a nice tribute to former decorative arts curator of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Henry Hawley, who passed away on Aug. 8, before heading back out for the last half of my shift.

8:30pm: I arrive home from work, where my Mom has dinner leftovers waiting for me. After dinner, I turn on my computer and log on to ASU to do some first-week classwork. Afterwards, I join my Mom, my twin sister and my little sister in watching Miraculous: The Adventures of Ladybug and Cat Noir on Netflix in the living room. Once my little sister is in bed, we log onto Hulu and watch an episode of my favorite sitcom, Perfect Strangers. I check my email, Facebook, and ASU again before my bedtime routine.

11:00pm: After getting ready for bed, I log onto YouTube to wind down. Call me an oddball, but I love old TV commercials, and I could watch them for hours on end. “Pannoni9” is one of my favorite YouTubers, as he always posts some great content! I happily find some “new” commercials to watch. I also watched a few interesting segments from old episodes of What’s My Line? from the 1950s and 60s. I think about how much I would have loved to have met journalist Dorothy Kilgallan, who was a regular panelist on the show. I do a Google search on her, where I read an archived article written on Dorothy from The Washington Post called “What Did Dorothy Know?” The last thing I do before falling asleep is play “WordBlitz” on Facebook with my buddy Dave.

I consumed media from a variety of sources this day. My estimations on the credibility of these sources I have ranked below (1 to 10):

Retro Fan: 6 – This is a newer magazine that is independently published, and many pieces seem to be based on publisher biases and limited interests.

Entertainment Weekly: 7 – Though widely known, it exists more for entertainment purposes than for informational purposes.

Remind: 8 – This fun magazine is professionally laid out and the content is well written and researched. However, it sometimes comes across as more of a thin “high school newspaper” type publication.

Reminisce: 8 – Thoughtful and professional, though much of the content is based on personal accounts.

Mental Floss: 9 – Facts are well researched, and are professionally displayed. The magazine has grown into a popular multimedia brand that has even teamed up with National Geographic.

The Cleveland Jewish News: 9 – Weekly well-established and award-winning local newspaper.

The Plain Dealer: 10 – Cleveland, Ohio’s major newspaper.

The Washington Post: 10 – One of the most renowned newspapers in the country.

Hi, this is my first post here.

Wake up

 

When I wake up, usually the first thing I do is check notifications on my phone. I’ll set my morning alarms a bit earlier than I necessarily need to be out of bed for exactly this purpose; I like to have some time to wake up and “check in” with some of my more frequently used social media applications. If I have notifications from any of these I check those first, and then I’ll browse for maybe 15 minutes before I force myself out of bed. The three social media apps I use the most are Twitter, Instagram, and Slack. If I have a notification from Facebook or Tumblr or something else I’ll check it, but I use them much less frequently than the other three. I check out what is trending on Twitter, where I’ll usually get my news. I rarely will click on an actual article, and typically will just read the twitter highlights unless it’s something I’m particularly interested in. Then I’ll casually flip through some stories on instagram, and from there move on to Slack. I’m part of a private slack group dedicated to Patreon supporters of a pop culture podcast I’m subscribed to (previously called Storm of Spoilers, now just The Storm post Game of Thrones). I’ve met a lot of fellow pop culture nerds through the Slack, and we’ve all become friends over the last year or so. So I like to pop in there frequently throughout the day and catch up on what’s happening across the channels (we have channels in the Slack dedicated to current pop culture news, television shows we’re watching, movie trailers, music, etc. so it has become a source of news for me in a way). 

 

Commute

 

I have a pretty long commute, so it’s usually a time for plenty of media consumption for me. If I’m carpooling that day I will typically listen to music or a podcast, but if I’m by myself I like to put on whatever audiobook I’m currently listening (or relistening) to. 

 

Work day

 

I have a job that allows me to be on my headphones all day while I work, so my entire day is spent consuming media. Depending on my mood, I usually toggle between music (thank god for Apple music, honestly), podcasts, and audiobooks. More often than not it’s audiobooks, because I’ll get bored listening to the same music playlists over and over. When I’m on a break at work I’ll flip through social media again (Twitter, Instagram, Slack), check email, answer the occasional text. Again, the “news” I’m usually consuming is highlights of whatever is trending on twitter; I find that if I invest too much energy on (what is usually) political news I just end up angry and frustrated and sad, so I don’t make much of an effort to seek it out anymore. The world is a dumpster fire, same as ever. 

 

Evenings

 

If I don’t have homework or social engagements after work I have been finding myself more and more often just laying on the couch toggling between the same social media apps I check in on all day. But as I become more aware of this habit, and the fact that there are so many other things I can be doing with my time, I’ve been trying to step away from it. I’ve begun to read physical copies of books again, since I got so used to audiobooks at work that I forgot how nice it is to hold an actual book in your hands and read it in your own voice. Sometimes I’m reading several things at once, but right now I’m rereading Sense and Sensibility to keep up with a Jane Austen podcast some friends of mine started. I also have been playing a LOT of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on my Nintendo Switch. It’s alarmingly easy to get lost in that world for hours at a time. 

 

Creating

 

I don’t post a whole lot on social media (besides participating in conversations on the Slack), and what I do post is generally aimed at being dumb and funny rather than anything else. One thing I have recently done, though, is make a bookstagram. I read quite a lot, and I figured it would be a fun way to make it an artsy and aesthetic type of thing that could possibly allow me access to ARCs, and an easy way dip my toes in the pool of online media criticism. So far it has been pretty fun.

 

Credibility

As far as the credibility of my news sources go, it’s probably pretty apparent that I don’t put much thought into it, as I usually only barely skim the news as it is. I’m easily annoyed by click-baity titles, and naturally distrustful and suspicious of most things in general, so I don’t really put a lot of weight on what Twitter tells me is happening. If a news highlight or trend does grab my attention, however, I do try to note the source before looking into it further, and if it’s a generally credible and respected news source then I’m more likely to investigate. I also follow a lot of entertainment journalists on Twitter, and like to think I choose ones who are very transparent in their reporting or commenting on whatever stories are circulating. The Slack has also been a reliable source, or, more accurately, the people in the Slack. We all try to be smart consumers of media, and we all have a lot of in-depth discussions about news and pop culture stories and their credibility and implications.