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Conclusion

I’m used to having to communicate my thoughts using paper and ink or by typing up a bunch of long paragraphs. It was interesting and kind of fun to explore Tumblr, and it was convenient to embed all my sources in the assignments. However, in the beginning I found myself writing long paragraphs the way I would for any other school assignment, and then going back to add images or GIFs because I knew I was supposed to use them. 

Once I made more of an effort to include visuals to illustrate my points, it became more effective. I ended up using images to separate my different paragraphs and ideas, and it helped my assignments look more put together. The content of what I was saying was the same for how it would be for another assignment, but I liked the look of punctuating my paragraphs in this way, and it made me feel a little more organized.

I like that using Tumblr forced me to be more creative. A lot of assignments just want you to convey your information as efficiently as possible, so it was nice to have the encouragement to be creative. 

The more I worked on this project the more I got used to Tumblr and started wanting to make my language more casual. At first I used the same tone as I would for any other assignment and just added pictures or GIFs. However, around entry five I became more comfortable adding visuals to my entries without them feeling forced, and I started getting used to Tumblr. Without meaning to, I started wanting to make my entries more casual. Because it’s also a social media platform and I’m allowed to talk about memes, I don’t want to be as formal as I would usually feel the need to be. 

Overall, I liked using Tumblr. It took me a little while to get used to it, but I enjoyed using this platform.

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But It’s None of My Business

At first a gif of Kermit the Frog sipping tea doesn’t look very significant, however, “tea” is slang for gossip, or truth. This is the “But That’s None of My Business” meme, because here Kermit has some “tea”, but he isn’t spreading or “spilling” it.

This a type of meme used to emphasize someone’s point, and is only funny when someone makes it funny. It doesn’t mean anything if it’s shown without context. 

Really, it can say anything you want.

You’d find this meme posted on Tumblr or Instagram, or in a group chat to emphasize something someone said. It’s made for younger people on social media.

The “But It’s None of My Business” meme represents the face you make when you’re judging someone or something, but being passive aggressive about it. It’s used to illustrate a point you want to make, but don’t want to argue over. In other words, it says, “this is what I think, but I don’t want to defend it”. This is the truth, but I refuse to argue and prove that I am actually right. It functions like a “mike drop”: feels good to perform, but isn’t very persuasive and doesn’t really prove your point at all. The meme is funny, yes, but glorifies passive aggressiveness. 

My first entry for this project was examining McLuhan’s quote “Time has ceased and space has vanished because of new media”, but I don’t think that applies to this meme specifically. “But It’s None of My Business” can be pretty funny, but I’ve never seen it be funny or interesting enough to take me out of reality. 

And that’s the tea.

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The Horror Genre: Hereditary

The iconography and structure of this trailer make it obvious that it’s horror, but the themes it deals with are slightly different than what you would expect.

Most of this trailer is tale-tale horror. It’s full of creepy images that remind us of childhood like the dollhouse at the beginning and throughout the trailer, and the drawings done by the young daughter. At 0:56s a bird flies into a window, killing itself, and odd animal behaviour is textbook horror. At 1:38s we see the younger mother standing in the pouring rain, which is an example of bad or dramatic weather also often seen in horror. As with most horror trailers, the video starts out a little unsettling and then builds to a dramatic and suspenseful climax at the end. The trailer starts with a loud, dissonant note at the beginning, and then continues with quieter, creepier music that becomes louder and more violent as the trailer progresses. At first we see a dollhouse and the camera pans down under the earth leading to the grandmother’s grave, then we see some creepy drawings down by the young daughter and the music builds. We see the bird hurl itself at the window and the music gets more intense, and at 1:32s when one of the characters sees his reflection smiling when he is not, we finally hit the climax where everyone is screaming and someone’s on fire.

What is different about the Heredity is the themes it deals with. Yes, it deals with death which is common in horror, but it deals with how death affects a family. It talks about our relationships with our parents and the resentment and guilt that come with them. Most horror, including psychological horror, doesn’t examine family in this much depth. The majority of horror films have an issue or problem that the family must overcome together, and end with them being stronger than when they started. The horror in Hereditary is different, as it comes from within the family. It talks about how we inherit much from our parents, whether we want to or not, and that this isn’t always a good thing. It deals with the complex issues surrounding parent-child relationships, going further beneath the surface than most horror does. Hereditary deals with family and examines family relationships in a way that a drama film would, but with creepy dollhouses and violent headbanging. 

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Slow Fashion

Fast fashion is terrible for the environment, and mainly supports companies that take advantage of poor labour laws. Most of the colours in cheap clothing are produced using toxic chemicals, many of which are also bio-accumulative meaning these chemicals are ingested by and build up in organisms over time. Textile dyeing is now the second largest water pollutant, after agriculture. The majority of these textiles end up in the landfill after each season and produce methane gas when they decompose contributing to the greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. The workers required to make this clothing are often severely underpaid, and are forced to work in unsafe working conditions. An extreme case of this was the Rana Plaza building collapse in 2013, where 1,129 people died due to lack of concern for the workers.  (Some sources)

To help solve this issue, consider buying clothing second hand or buying materials made with recycled fabrics and ethical practices. Donate used clothing and don’t toss it into a landfill. By buying from these stores you’re helping the environment and supporting more ethical businesses.

The target audience for this campaign would mainly be young people. Younger people are already the target audience for most fast fashion campaigns, so they likely contribute to fast fashion the most.

Although this is a bit of a generalization, younger people are often more open to change. This generation also seems more environmentally and ethically conscience, making them easier to persuade to change their clothing habits. 

 I would use the platform Instagram to start a trend where people post photos of their thrifted outfits and tag my campaign. In the bio of the instagram account for my campaign would be a link to my website. This would hopefully make my campaign more known and spread awareness easily, and I’m hoping seeing other people’s thrifted outfits would inspire their followers to shop second hand as well. On my website will be a shop, information for my campaign to come pick up your used clothing, and information on the issues of fast fashion. All profit made from the donated clothes resold on the shop would go into supporting the communities that are taken advantage of by poor labour laws. I would also use YouTube ads to educate people on fast fashion and to advertise the shop from my campaign. 

Some advantages would be that it’s easy to post a photo, and lots of people already post pictures of their outfits all the time. Also, I’m making the process of donating clothing easier by offering to pick up used clothes from your door, so it’s easier for my audience to participate. Another advantage is that, unlike many other campaigns, I’m not asking people to give me money. If people think something is for a good cause and don’t need to put in much effort, almost all of the time they support it. A little while ago I remember a post on Instagram from a campaign aimed at replanting trees, saying that every X number of likes this picture got Y number of trees would be planted. Everyone I knew had this posted on their Instagram story. The campaign I’m proposing is a little different, since you need to post a picture and specifically tag my campaign. Nothing is immediately happening by tagging my campaign in your photos and donating your clothes, so I’m not 100 percent sure if people would do it. Also, lots of people do resell their clothing and make some money off of it, but with my campaign you’re losing the money you could have made by reselling the clothing yourself. Some people might not think it’s worth it, but I think some people would. Maybe not immediately, but you are helping the issue by posting as it spreads awareness and advertises my donating services and shop. It’s not terribly hard, and you’re supporting a good cause. Usually, this is enough to motivate people.

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Internet Regulation

We need some sort of action, because right now I could go sign up for the KKK and then look up how to make a bomb, all on the internet without breaking a sweat. Yes, we need some sort of action. In my opinion, the government is supposed to protect its people, and right now that isn’t happening. Obviously, people will find ways around a ban on the internet. However, making harmful information harder to access than how it is now is better than nothing. If it were harder for me to sign up for the KKK, then maybe I would take some time and reevaluate why I wanted to sign up for the KKK in the first place. If it took a little longer to figure out how to make a bomb, then maybe someone would notice and alert the authorities.

Making this material harder to access is definitely better than nothing.

We need a ban, but how the government is planning on carrying out this ban is important. Britain is calling for an internet regulator, but how will this internet regulator screen for inappropriate material? The internet is almost infinite, so I think some sort of algorithm will be used. I’m hoping what happens is that this program will screen for obviously inappropriate material and then direct grey-area type material to human moderators. Also, if a creator disagrees with their material being banned because they don’t think it’s inappropriate, they should have the opportunity to make a complaint and have the removal of their content reevaluated.

How the category “inappropriate material accessible to children” is interpreted worries me. Obviously, kids shouldn’t be able to stumble onto pornography and graphic violence, but there is more controversial material that can be seen as inappropriate depending on individual opinion.To many people a picture of a woman breastfeeding might be seen as inappropriate because it shows a woman’s breasts, but I don’t think it is. Some people think representation of the LGBTQ community is inappropriate, and again I disagree. If the internet regulator found a way to keep inappropriate from children, then I hope they would only screen for blatantly inappropriate content and leave those grey areas alone. The other thing that worries me is how the internet regulator would actually make material inaccessible for children, but accessible for adults. Many sites already ask for your age before you can sign up, and that isn’t working. I don’t how they would go about doing this, but if we figure it out without infringing on people’s privacy, then I think it would be a good idea.

If the material being banned was only that which supports terrorism, incites violence, encourages suicide, spreads disinformation, cyberbullies, and material that would be inappropriate to children was accessible to adults, then I don’t see how it would infringe on freedom of speech. The only speech it’s taking away is harmful hate speech that is aimed less at self expression, and more at hurting other people. However, if our government became corrupted than that would be a different story. These categories might be interpreted as any material criticizing the  government. To safeguard against future corruption, the internet regulator should be kept separate from the government, so when the political party in power changes, it has little to no effect on the internet regulator. As long as this internet regulator is kept separate from the government, I don’t see it infringing on the right to freedom of speech.

Obviously this ban won’t be perfect, but I think if the screening process is thorough and open to criticism, if the category of inappropriate material for children leaves grey-area content alone, and if the internet regulator is kept separate from the government we should do it.

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Media Representations

The elderly are not usually represented in media, and when they are represented it is usually as irrelevant, or as a joke.

Fashion, specifically, does not often include older people. You can see Macy’s is trying to showcase a diverse group of women in their campaign, and have a total of about 32 women in this ad. One of these women is an older looking woman, and we see her at 0. 28 to 0.29, so about a second.

The same goes for this ad from H&M. We see another company trying to showcase another diverse group of women. They have 21 women in total, and, again, only one one of them is older looking who we see for about two seconds at 0.44 to 0.46.

Macy’s and H&M are doing that thing that ad campaigns do where they try to be diverse, but only so the public doesn't get mad at them. These companies both feature an older person, but never for longer than two seconds, and, especially with the first ad, as easy to miss. 32 women and 21 women, and in both cases only one is older looking, and neither get enough screen time.

The elderly are not actively represented in new media.They’re not entirely gone, just never in the spotlight. This encourages us to see the elderly as irrelevant and unimportant, creating a feedback loop. People see the elderly as unimportant, so content creators are less likely to represent what they think is unimportant.

When the elderly are represented in new media, it’s usually as a joke. In Roseanne, when Bev, the mother of the two main characters, comes from her retirement home to her two daughters, she is just a joke. She is more of a caricature than a character, and all of her jokes centre around her age. She is not supposed to be taken seriously or considered a three-dimensional person, like the other characters. 

This SNL skit painfully highlights how the elderly are usually portrayed as silly and unreasonable. They are unaware of what is around them, and end up being blundering and unintelligent.

Very rarely are the elderly represented in a respectful way.

They’re not portrayed as people with depth or valuable opinions, so we don’t treat them as people with depth or valuable opinions.

A show that finally challenges this is Grace and Frankie on Netflix. The show stars two older woman having to restart their lives and deal with the struggles of aging.

Grace and Frankie shows the elderly as people, and challenges the assumptions that older people are somehow less important or can’t have valuable opinions.

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I’d say I use new media less than the average student, because I don’t think I use social media as much as other people. I don’t have Snapchat, and I rarely post anything on Instagram or Tumblr. However, I think the majority of students say they use new media less than the average student, which mathematically can’t be true. I’d like to think I use new media less than most, but I don’t really know. In ten years I think my new media usage will increase. Now, I use new media to procrastinate my schoolwork and to entertain myself when I’m tired. Ten years from now I hope to have a job, meaning I’ll have more work to do, and I’ll be more tired. Therefore, more work to procrastinate, and I’ll want easy entertainment. Also, in ten years the variety of new media will increase, and so will its culture influence. The use of new media has increased significantly over the last ten years, and I don’t see any signs of it slowing down.

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Assessing McLuhan

“Time has ceased and space has vanished because of new media”

The first part of this quote is incredibly true. In my opinion, any good form of media can transport you into the framework of the work and make you unaware of your surroundings. When I’m reading a book that I’m invested in or looking at a painting I want to understand, I feel as if I’m traveling inside the work. I’m not Leah standing in an art gallery, I feel as if I am the lines of the painting or the colours that I’m looking at, and time and space no longer apply to me. The same can be said for newer media. When I’m playing a game on my phone, the same thing happens to me. I feel like as if I am the catapult launching little birds at pigs or as I am the grid that I need to fill with oddly shaped blocks.

What I’m not sure I agree with is the end of this quote. Time and space have always ceased to exist because of media. When I’m reading a good book, I have no idea what else is happening around me. If I’m listening to a fantastic song, time and space vanish. The only thing that exists is what I’m listening to, and I don’t think that is a new concept.

What I think newer media can do is erase time and space more easily. When I’m reading a book, it has to be fantastic for me to feel like I’m inside the work and that time and space have vanished. When I’m watching a YouTube video, it only has to be mediocre. I also find that older forms of media such as reading or even listening to music, allow me to forget space more easily than time. When I’m reading a novel, I find it easy to forget my surroundings, but I’m vaguely aware of time passing. I’m not as aware as I would be in other situations, but I have a vague sense of the sun going down and of becoming tired. With newer media, for example a YouTube video, I can’t sense time passing as well. I’ve spent many hours watching cat videos on YouTube, and It’s felt like five or ten minutes. What I’m watching usually isn’t that interesting, but somehow it can make me forget time so much more easily.  

I find this a little unfair, because I could be reading a good book, not fantastic but definitely good, and it won’t have as much of an impact on me as a mediocre YouTube video. I’m not exactly sure why this is, but I think it’s because when I’m reading a novel my eyes are engaged, but then I have to use my brain to imagine the rest. With newer media like YouTube videos, my eyes and ears are stimulated and I don’t have to work as hard to fall into the work. Compared to a play, newer media like Netflix usually has more detailed costumes and sets. When I see a play, it’s stimulating my eyes and my ears, but I still need to use my imagination to fill out the setting and the looks of the characters. If two characters are related in a movie they look alike, but in a play that isn’t always the case. When I see a show on Netflix, I don’t have to work as hard.

Media can definitely make time cease and space vanish, however, newer media specifically can do this more easily.