Media Framing: Frank Ocean Coming Out

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(Embedding the clip isn't working, so just click and fullscreen it!)

from the collaberative efforts of

Keagan Vaughn, Alex Kirchner, Maggie Carter,

Whitney Scott, Sarah Hudon, and Kirstin Gent

video produced by

Kirstin Gent

Faking it on Social Media

Faking it on Social Media

                When it came to our discussion on “faking it” on social media I slightly tuned out, I knew people faked it on social media. Hell, even I untag photos I don’t look awesome in, while I upload as many good photos of me as possible. In that way I am a faker, and I presumed that was the extent of “faking it” that people took it to. If that wasn't faking it enough I know people make parody accounts of celebrities, or funny twitters like “Bad Luck Brian”. But honestly, that was as far as I thought people took it.

                The night I learned that this wasn't true was October 15^th (I looked all the way back to when I initially tweeted about it just to be accurate). I decided to watch a film suggested to me by a friend, Catfish. It started off seemingly normal. Girl sends a guy a painting she did based off one of his photographs, they begin touching base online. Guy then falls in love with girl’s sister; there relationship is completely based on online conversations, and phone calls. (While this is all happening Nev’s, the guy, brother is filming) Thinks start to get rocky when Nev starts to figure out the girl isn't whom she seems. They eventually go to meet her, only to learn that she doesn't even exist. The person Nev has been talking to is actually a 40 year old woman, who has created this profile and about 15 other profiles attached to it.

                When this bombshell was first dropped in this movie I was initially kind of angry, wondering why this women was crazy enough to do this. Then I became sad, because this woman is so unhappy with her life that she has to create totally different ones to live through. I believe that social media has opened the window for these people to fake everything in their lives. They no longer have to be who they are, but someone else they instantly create. It is crazy.

                This movie has recently been turned into a show, its first episode airing last Sunday. Again, a girl goes to meet someone she thought she was in love with, only to meet a complete stranger. People aren't just tagging and untagging photos anymore, they are creating completely different lives. 

Food Inc- Pro Farmer

Food Inc- Pro Farmer

From my title I am sure there are people that are initially disgusted. Probably thinking, "How can this girl that just watched this movie about the poor treatment of animals be for the person who is treating these animals that way?!" Well, I can because I know that these people are doing what they have to do to survive.

I  will say that I am one of the worlds biggest animal lovers, but I am also pro human and pro surviving. This is why I am not going to stop buying meat or consuming it. I am aware that these farmers, who work for the large companies are doing what they can to survive. Long ago there was a time when farmers grew what they wanted and raised as many animals as they chose. That was a time when meat was not cheap, thus many families were not consuming the same amount of meet that we consume today. Well the government sought out to change that and put what is now known as the farm bill. Through the farm bill we have seen an increased number of farm subsidies, or farms that are paid through the government. These farmers then sell to these big name companies, for very little money. It has come to be a vicious cycle of these farmer; the get loans for the equipment they need to raise their crops and animals. then get less money back than the load they take out. It seems they are forever indebted to these big companies. Here's a little video to teach you more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez61RL44X5Q

You might want to argue that all the farmers can just be like that one wonderfully hillbilly farmer from the video, well they can't. Sorry, but they need to make money. If everyone became like this farmer you also wouldn't get to eat your 99 cent hamburger at 3am to sober yourself up after a night of drinking.

So even though Food Inc was disturbing to me in parts I will not stop supporting the farmer. They are doing what they can to survive.

Keep talking about parasocial relationships

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Yes, this topic was a while ago, but it is one of the things that has stuck with me throughout the entire semester. I see it in my everyday life, and I mean all day everyday. Last night the Notebook was on and I found myself saying (as well as my roommate pointing it out) that Ryan Gosling was my boyfriend about twelve times before the first commercial break. I know he is not my boyfriend in real life, but then again maybe I don’t. We have a very beautiful parasocial relationship, I love him-he doesn’t know I exist.

            In class whenever we talk about parasocial relationships we seem to only talk about those that involve love. We love some male or female celebrity, but there is another type of parasocial relationship that I have found myself in lately, and that is the best friend parasocial relationship. I have a best friend parasocial relationship with two celebrities, Tina Fey and Chelsea Handler. These women are my spirit animals. I so strongly believe that if they ever got the change to meet me they would fall instantly in love and would reciprocate my best friendship. Tina and I would tell witty, dry jokes to one another, while Chelsea and I would swap stories of vodka driven nights of chaos. What could be better? Nothing at all. Some days I do come into touch with reality and realize that these women are not my best friends, but that usually doesn’t last for long. I will leave you with the quote that sums up my life, and was the deciding factor into lettering Chelsea Handler into my best friendship parasocial relationship with Tina Fey:

“My tendency to make up stories and lie compulsively for the sake of my own amusement takes up a good portion of my day and provides me with a peace of mind not easily attainable in this economic climate.” – Chelsea Handler

Female Masculinity- What about their feelings?

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Female Masculinity- What about their feelings?

            After reading and discussing in class about female masculinity, and then going in depth and looking at the story of Caster Semenya I couldn’t help feel disgust and sadness toward our society. Through the entire lecture all I could think about was how this poor woman felt. The entire world was discussing how she resembled a man, and how they needed to perform tests on her. It was as if we (society) were the “plastics” and this new girl (Semenya) refused to wear pink on a Wednesday so she couldn’t sit with us. (There will probably be more mean girls references through out this blog post) Because she had manly features we could not go on her word that she was a female, no we needed to see for ourselves. How disturbing is that? I just can’t help but think about the depressing role this could have played on her life.

            Actually maybe I can, but obviously my side story is not as dramatic as what this woman went through. When I was a child I had a horrible, horrible bowl cut. My mom traveled a lot and my father was incapable of doing hair, so this was an easy solution. Also because my mom traveled my father, the bricklayer, was the one who picked out my clothes each day. Needless to say I wasn’t wearing dresses, overalls seemed to play a big part in my youth wardrobe. One day at the supermarket I went to pick up a discarded toy and place it back on the shelf, as I did so a employee said “Thank you little boy,” I lost my shit and to this day it is one of my most vivid memories. It only took one comment; from one person for me to change how I felt about my appearance, and myself I grew my hair out and ditched the overalls. But Caster Semenya had the whole nation talking about what she looked like. (Here is me in my not so feminine days, also I was obviously not the happiest graduate of preschool class of 1995)

            We were the mean girls. And it seemed that we never once stopped to think about how this emotionally affected Caster. We just gave her makeovers, and put her on the covers of magazines with the sub headlines of “I love my new makeover!”. But who really loves being told they need to completely change? I’m going to assume no one. We couldn’t celebrate the fact that she was a world record-breaking runner; only that she isn’t as feminine as other around her. It’s sad to think that we can’t celebrate someone for being who they are, or even just accept them.

90's princess v. Today

            I am an only child, and many would say that makes me spoiled, and with todays article it might make others say that I am a princess. Looking back on my childhood I am able to see that I might have been a “princess”, but a very different one than the kids we see today.

            One thing that really struck truth for me in the reading was when the mother was talking about how her child loves the Disney Princesses, but doesn’t know their stories. I can say this is very true, and I saw it all the time in the children that I babysat while in high school. These girls are in head to toe Disney Princess attire. If they aren’t wearing the dress-up ball gowns, they are dressed in t-shirts with Ariel’s face on it, or crocs with Princess charms. Everything in their life revolves around The Princesses. But, this was not around when I was a child, not until 2000- when I was already in the 3^rd grade. When I was at my “princess” age,  3-7, the only thing that identified me with the Disney Princesses were their movies, that at the time came in large puffy cases (ah nostalgia).  The princess I wanted to model myself after, the only princess I thought to be “true” was Princess Diana. I think this was because she was actually there, in real life. Because the Disney Princess brand had not been formed yet they were still just cartoon characters for me, nothing that I thought I could ever be.

            It could just be because I was a realistic child, that I realized would never fall under a curse, sleep for 10 years, and be awoken by a prince, or it could be that I escaped the era of childhood branding. Today kids are walking around, some almost trying to embody the Disney Princess brand. It’s a little sad, and a lot scary, to me that girls are trying to become something they never can.