jenan's blog

Recently, I noticed many things about the original Spy Kids movie, and the Spy Kids series in general. With MissRepresentation on my mind, I have been paying closer attention to the portrayal of women in the media. So, I began contemplating this while watching Spy Kids two days ago. This movie series was pretty prominent in my childhood, and I am sure it has influenced my perception of the world in one way or another.  The first thing I noticed was that the 2 main female characters are both dominant in their character relations, and take charge of situations. The mother is shown having a great amount of control over her husband, and she is able to convince him to make many decisions. She is also the one who figured out how to escape the first time, while her husband didn't know what to do. I feel their relationship is equal overall, which contrasts many other movies of this time. Carmen, the daughter of the family, is very intelligent and creative. She is pretty stubborn and r

The moments that stood out most to me during this documentary were the comments made by male newscasters. I was absolutely appalled by their fundamental perception of women. They truly believe women are nothing more than their faces, their bodies, their boobs. They take any little thing a woman does and completely belittles them, despite the fact that not even themselves are perfect. Women in media have to be literally perfect to escape the undeserved and unreasonable criticism from men in the news. There can't be too much leg, but she can't be wearing pants. There can't be too much cleavage, but if there isn't enough she is a prude. She can't be too dumb, but if she is too smart she will be seen as a threat. If she shows passion and emotion for an issue, she is delusional and unfit for a leadership role. But, if a man shows passion and emotion, he is driven and truly cares about his work. The amount of hypocrisy and sexism in this is infuriating. I cannot expres

In in the film Merchants of Cool, they touched on how the media can shape our lifestyles, with the example of the "mook" and "midriff" way of living. The "mook" appeals to teenage boys, and encourages inappropriate and honestly gross behavior. The "midriff" is aimed at teenage girls, and portrays women only as a sexual object, making girls feel they must act this way. Today, I can still find TV shows and media portraying similar norms to teenagers. Even though it has improved, women are still very sexualized, and our appearances are still vital when being judged on the media. I feel the "mook" way of life has died down a bit, but many forms of advertising and TV shows still show men and boys acting in generally inappropriate ways. I feel that a lot of awareness has spread as a result of media, which has led the over-sexualization of women to become less common. Many women have taken to social media to stand up against the stereotypes

The title is a bit dramatic, but recently the 19 year old beauty guru has been put under a lot of heat from Tati and some other Youtubers in the YouTube community. He has lost nearly 3 million subscribers in the past 3 days, and the numbers are dropping every second. This all started when Tati, a beauty guru, came out with a video stating he sponsored her rival despite them being good friends, and further went on to share his manipulative tendencies and immoral actions. He released an apology video saying he is always trying to learn and grow, and that he had made many mistakes in the past (for the record that video is obviously bad acting). It is crazy to me how this young celebrity who seemed to be constantly gaining more and more fame has lost so much so quickly.   I have found this phenomena especially present on YouTube. One day you are extremely popular and famous, and the next day you are either hated or no one remembers who you are. With YouTube, it has become progressiv

     Recently, I have started to contemplate how the use of comedy in news casting influences our interpretation of the news. Shows like Last Week Tonight and The Daily Show are perfect examples. They present the news to us through jokes and comedy tactics, which is far more entertaining than usual casting. These individuals are not inherently ignorant about the news, and are most likely well aware of the seriousness of situations. But, this entertainment aspect may effect our own emotions to these actual events happening in the world around us.      I have definitely found myself laughing at jokes about Trump's border wall or conflicts with other countries, which, now that I think about it, are matters that should be taken a bit more seriously. These are conflicts concerning racist ideologies and dangerous conflicts. I am not going to lie, I love these shows a lot. But, if these are your only constant source of news, it may make issues seem less pressing or serious than they a

           There has been a substantial shift from paper to electronics in media. Whether it is switching from newspapers to news websites, books to eBooks, magazines to online sites, and the list goes on. There tends to be a good amount of controversy surrounding this topic; it mainly being a generational issue. Older adults thinking back to the days they delivered papers themselves (cough cough my mom), and younger people either preferring the convenience or being environmentally aware.      I agree with the latter half of this argument. I am not going to lie, I prefer reading a paper book to accessing it electronically, but when I think about the environmental impact paper production has, I create a priority list. As I just told my dear mother, "We can't enjoy the little things if there aren't things to enjoy at all."       But, aside from these personal opinions, I wonder how this switch has impacted our interpretation of the media we come across, or if it

             (If you are interested in seeing this show, know there may be very minor spoilers here.)      On my recent trip to New York, I attended the Broadway musical The Prom. This show centered around a lesbian couple in Indiana who was banned by the PTA from attending their school's prom together. The plot consists of a couple of Broadway stars deciding to come to Indiana to change the ban. I really enjoyed this show because of the way it tackled homophobia, and made the homophobic characters see the faults in their reasoning.      There has been a rise in inclusion and diversity in the media recently, and this show is one of the many examples. Having this huge Broadway show focus on a lesbian couple normlaizes the existence and validity of the LGBTQ community, and greater integrates it into our society. I bet one person saw this show and reexamined their own ideas about LGBT people.      Broadways shows serve as a great platform to disperse ideas about current political

     The 1975 is an English pop-rock band from Manchester, England. I have been listening to their music for a very long time, and they have become one of my favourite bands. Recently, they won the British Group Award at the BRIT Awards, which they had also won two years before.      This year, Mattie, the lead singer, decided to quote his friend Laura Snapes in his acceptance speech. This quote involved ideas about misogyny in the music industry, and how it is excused as part of some artistic process. His speech consisted solely of this quote and some thanks to his fans.      I was very moved by his speech, and its stark simplicity. He used this award show as platform to speak out about an issue he cares about, which I deeply admire. It got me thinking about celebrities and how they influence the beliefs of their fans. Mattie has very present views on society and general conflicts, and I think media has allowed his beliefs to reach a greater audience, in turn impacting more people.