performancestudiesalia

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Blog 6

The project that I was most impressed with was the one about east asian beauty standards. I knew quite a bit about the topic, since I enjoy some East Asian media, but I think that the project showed a new extent of the issue that I was not aware of. I knew that beauty standards affect young girls around the world, but the youtube clips of that young girl and her mom were extremely striking to me. To see that young of a child that invested in plastic surgery was extremely heartbreaking. It makes me sad that doing plastic surgery at such a young age is legal, even with parental consent. 

The project that I learned the most from was the one about black wall street and the massacre that was in Tulsa. I had vaguely heard about what happened in a class a while ago, but I never knew many details. I feel that the video did an excellent job explaining what happened. The thing that was the most upsetting to me was that the families who were affected by this received no insurance money. I also felt like the video was extremely well researched, as finding older videos and photos can be extremely challenging. 

I am overall really proud of my own presentation. I aimed to tell a clear narrative that tells the history of fatphobia in the fashion industry, while primarily relying on sources that are not my own work. One of my favorite choices I made was using the two news segments on Abercrombie and Fitch that took place many years apart. The first clip showed the backlash that the company was facing from their exclusivity of racism and fatphobia. The second clip showed the brand’s newfound success once doing a total rebrand, embracing inclusivity, and extending their size range. I find that these clips show the real success a brand can have when they are more size inclusive. 

I started my video with some extremely problematic comments from some designers, brands, and people in the fashion industry. Many people know some elements of fatphobia in the fashion industry, but I picked such harsh clips to show the true extent of the issue. I remember in class that day, another student mentioned how the clip I included that talked about models eating tissues to stay thin was extremely surprising to them. I am glad these clips had the effect that I wanted them to. 

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Blog 5

The first topic I am interested in is size inclusivity in the fashion industry. Even though this is an issue that affects both men and women, I’ll be primarily focusing on how it affects women’s clothing more. This is an issue that’s important to me because I’ve been directly affected by it my whole life. I often fall in between the straight sizes and plus sizes at a lot of stores. I can shop at most clothing stores, but it is still very difficult for me to find clothes that fit me well. I want to explore how they’re excluded from more expensive/high fashion specifically. The argument that I will be making is that all bodies should have access to the fashion industry. Fashion is a big interest/hobby for many people, but often people are scared from pursuing it because of the industry’s exclusivity. 

The second topic I am interested in is the importance of having female writers and directors in film and tv. The media we consume often does a lot in shaping our personal identities and beliefs. Often when people are left out of the writers room, they get misrepresented on screen. I want to focus on the positive outcomes of having women tell the stories of women. Ever since I was a little kid, I have been obsessed with pop culture, but I often found trouble finding characters I could identify with. I was inspired by the success of Greta Gerwig and Barbie. So many young girls and women were inspired by that movie, and it was undoubtedly a massive commercial success. I will be arguing in support of female writers and directors. This will be great because there will definitely be a lot of video footage to use for my remix.

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Blog 4: Street Art

The film Exit Through The Gift Shop is a documentary that focuses on the culture of street art, as well as tells the story of a man named Thierry Guetta. It is directed by the famous street artist  Banksy. The first half of it shows how Thierry got immersed in the world of street art, and how he documented footage of some of the most influential street artists of the time. Some of the street artists that Thierry worked with were Space Invader, Shepard Fairey, and Banksy. Thierry had an obsession with filming everything, so he had convinced artists to let him film them by saying he was making a documentary, but that was not the case. Thierry let everyone believe he was making a documentary, but he never actually planned to show the footage to anyone.

The second half of the film focused on Thierry’s own foray into street art. He went by the artist name of Mr.Brainwash. It showed how he planned a massive debut show, in a very small amount of time. He spent all of his savings on becoming a superstar overnight. In the end, his show opening was a massive success, but they were still putting art pieces up to the very last second. He also had a very large team working for him, and making his art for him. 

I found the documentary to be very entertaining. I never really knew much about street art before this film. I had heard about Banksy, and had seen the Obey branding, but that was about it. I loved seeing how street artists operated through Thierry’s footage during the start of the documentary. It was really cool to see something captured that often does not get filmed. 

The second half of the film was very entertaining as well, but Thierry’s methods for his art were very disheartening to me. It was clear that his approach to art was very different from how those who pursue street art start out. He was focused on hype and money, and did not seem to care too much about the actual art he was making. After watching the film, I did some of my own research. I found that Thierry/Mr.Brainwash made his own version of Banksy’s famous Balloon Girl image. 

I found this recreation of Banksy’s work to be very unnerving. Looking at this remix of Banksy’s work felt like a ploy for money, rather than a piece of art, especially after looking at Thierry’s creative process in the film. Street art relies heavily on remixing, but there is something about Theirry’s creative process that makes this artwork feel more like stealing than remixing to me. 

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Blog 3: Project 1

15 Lines

Scene 2

Is connected some kind of way.

Once you put it all together, it's just obvious.

I mean, tie a string to something, and

see where it takes you

Scene 3

It's Johnnie East, Bob and Tommy Hoffman.

The Port Arthur Independent ran this picture

on the front page of their second section for the 4th of July.

Tommy Hoffman got meningitis and died.

That was a real sad day for all of us.

Scene 17 

Suddenly: a line dance.

At the end, it stops as suddenly as it began,

Scene 19

but then it turns out

it was like a summer storm

it passed as quickly as it came

and then it was over

Cut Up Machine

where string Independent began you and East ran of something

 of I end died Tommy and tie Bob for us

 storm some Johnnie this then summer a That their came

 see the a meningitis dance and the as At Arthur

 of together all suddenly Tommy as stops picture to Once

 kind but on front second mean you and it's Port

 a over way it it put Hoffman got passed obvious

 Hoffman real of it just for takes it it 4th

 section Is July was as it was sad it page

 the was like It's out a all turns it line

 it The connected quickly as day then Suddenly

One meaningful phrase to me is “quickly as day”. To me, it connects to the passage of time. How a day can feel so long, but also goes by so fast. The portion of lines that I had selected from scene three will be my main inspiration for my project. That portion of the play really struck me. I felt that those lines dealt with both an idea of nostalgia and loss. I think a lot of my project will revolve around the idea of nostalgia. The phrase “quickly as day” fits perfectly into that because nostalgia and time fit hand in hand. 

In terms of additional texts, I think I will use a lot of songs as my inspiration, since I am a big music fan. One of the first ones that I can think of is “Long Live” by Taylor Swift. The lyrics of that song centers around nostalgia, and looking about how much you have grown as a person. Other than songs, I am not sure which class reading I will be using yet. The class reading I am currently considering is “From Allegory to Anthology: Stranger Things and Nostalgia”, but I am not 100% sold on using it just yet. 

I am thinking of using this piece that we viewed on our class trip to the museum. I think the idea of old newspapers and historic headlines connects to the theme of nostalgia. In addition to this, The pieces of newspaper almost look like they are from a scrapbook. I find this a good way to represent looking back at the past. Aside from pictures, newspapers always tend to be black and white, but the shading of how dark this piece is almost makes it look like a vintage photograph. 

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Blog 2: Alia and I

The other one, the one called Alia, is the one things happen to. I walk through the streets of Syracuse, New York, and stop for a moment, to look at a white house with a worn screen porch, and the cars of five girls outside it. I know of Alia from her social media and a picture of her in a sorority composite. I like going to concerts, the color pink, sappy romance novels, and sugary sodas; she shares these preferences, but in an obsessive way that turns them into the attributes of an actor. Senior. Soror. Figure Skater. Woman. These are all ways Alia chooses to identify herself. She does this to find a sense of belonging. I feel that I need to find belonging as well. 

 Mine and Alia’s relationship is a rocky one. I let her be herself, and enjoy the things she likes, but I don’t think she is always proud and happy of the person she is. Rather, she is more focused on daydreaming about the person she could be. I believe that she is very ambitious, but she believes that she may not have been ambitious enough. I live my life letting Alia make her silly purchases, and think that justifies my own ego. 

After all of this though, I would be nothing without Alia, and she would be nothing without me. I love being there for my friends, I love working hard for what I believe in, I love my family, and I love my cats; she shares these preferences, and it’s what makes me love her so much. Years ago I tried to find someone other than Alia. Someone else that things could happen to. That has changed though. I love being with Alia. Sometimes I feel that Alia is stronger than me. That the world thinks that she is better than I am, but at the end of the day, I am just as strong as her. If I ever lost Alia, I feel that I would lose myself. She is someone who I cannot live without.

I think both of us wrote this page together.

Work Cited:

"Borges and I"

[performancestudiesalia]

Blog 1: Everything is a Remix

I found the video Everything is a Remix to be very interesting. I feel like the format of the video made the material very easy to understand. One of the major arguments that I had interpreted was that human work is collaborative and derivative. Modern pieces of media put out today draw inspiration from their predecessors, or follow the scripts/norms of their genre. I had already learned about a lot of what was said in the music section of the video, since I am a big music fan and I have taken a few music history classes, but I still found it very engaging. Even though I already knew a lot of the info, the term ‘remix’ in music has been commonly used very differently, so it was interesting to frame the subject of music from the idea of a remix that we have established in class. The only thing I disagreed with in the video was how the topic of artificial intelligence was discussed. While I think it approached the topic in an interesting way, I felt that it dismissed/brushed off a lot of serious concerns regarding AI. 

Overall, I agree with the main points of this video. I think the video shifted my idea of a remix a bit. I think it made me realize how large of a scope of things are considered a remix. For example, I learned about the idea of ‘the hero's journey’ in high school, but I did not really process how prevalent it is in movies. Another form of remixes talked about in the video were memes. I think memes are a form of remix that connects well to the average person. Memes are extremely accessible, and I feel that most people my age have made a meme at least once. For example, I saw this meme on my TikTok which I felt highly connected to the class. 

The meme has pictures from two different movies, A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and Saltburn, but it says on both “befriend the richest boy at school, meet his family, kill him, support his parents through his death, and inherit his fortune.” I definitely do not think one movie took inspiration from the other, since they were made around the same time, but the meme itself is a commentary on similar tropes used in two entirely different movies. The TikTok is essentially a remix of a remix. 

Citation: Ferguson, Kirby. “Everything is a Remix” YouTube. Uploaded by Kirby Ferguson, 21 March 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9RYuvPCQUA 

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Blog 7

The thing that shocked me the most about my paper and presentation was how much my topic narrowed down with research. I knew that sororities and greek life as a whole was too large of a topic to cover in the research, so I figured I would narrow it down to just performance in sorority recruitment. That even proved to be too large of a topic, so I narrowed it down to digital performances in sorority recruitment, and then digital performance and the #BamaRush trend. I never realized till this project of how much that can be learned/assumed about a person in a short TikTok. I think the most engaging part of my performance was the topic itself. Since Alabama sorority recruitment went extremely viral on social media, I felt that it was cool to analyze it from a performance studies perspective. I think the delivery in my presentation was very good. I feel like I did a good job of summarizing all of my main findings in the paper. I wish I was able to include examples of the TikToks posted by the sororities themselves/girls already in a sorority. For example, this New York Times article explains the negative histories of Alabama greek life/greek life as a whole.  The trends from the sororities on TikTok paint the houses as this perfect fun utopia, but many of the realities of greek life are hidden in the TikToks.  A big part of Alabama Rush TikTok are the work week TikToks put out by the sororities. Work week happens the week before sorority recruitment. The sororities come back a week early to spend hours practicing for recruitment, and work on things like decorations. These weeks tend to be exhausting on the sorority’s part, but that is not shown on TikTok. This TikTok put out by the Alabama chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha is a good example of this. At many schools, including Syracuse, the days of work week have themes to dress up as. Sororities are then able to make TikToks like this when they are dressed up in these fun themes. This TikTok makes work week just look like a party, when in reality they had a designated time to make TikToks and PR content. The majority of their day probably looked nothing like that. TikToks like this cover up the large time commitment of being in a sorority, as well as the exclusivity in being in one. 

The presentation I really liked in class was Hannah’s on influences and performances. I think the idea of the audience being a part of the performance as well was really interesting. In this class we have discussed how audiences are necessary to perform. It is interesting how that idea works with influencers. For example, things like comment sections become a part of the performance. It is not just about the content put out by an influencer, but how it's received is almost just as important when it comes to analyzing the performance.

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Blog 6

All of the generated ideas are actually very helpful in starting this research paper. The specific topics that I think will be more helpful are The Theatrics of Sorority Recruitment: A Performance Analysis, Intersectionality in Sorority Recruitment Performances, and Digital Performances: Social Media and Sorority Recruitment. For the first topic, it would be very interesting to look at the rituals and scripts of sorority recruitment. Each sorority has their own way of showing their values through recruitment, and conveying that to potential new members, while still following the formula and narratives of general sorority recruitment. While a lot of aspects of sorority life and culture have changed over the years, the process of recruitment has stayed nearly the same for a very long time. Each choice made by a chapter decides how they would want to be viewed by the student body. The second topic on intersectionality is very important for my paper. Talking about intersectionality is nearly unavoidable when it comes to performance and sorority recruitment. Stereotypical ideas of the traditional social sorority say that it is only a space for rich white women. While sororities are historically exclusionary, a lot has changed today where more people from marginalized communities are going through recruitment, so intersectionality becomes more and more prevalent. Being someone who is not a rich white woman can lead to a very different experience in sorority recruitment than someone who is. The next topic on digital performances is very helpful for me, and will probably be a large part of my essay. While the process of actual sorority recruitment has not changed for awhile, social media has entirely changed the landscape surrounding recruitment. Both sororities and potential new members play a big part in social media and recruitment. Social media has become an extra tool for potential new members to show off their personalities in hopes a house would notice them.

In terms of the ethics of ChatGPT and other forms of artificial intelligence, I would say that using it as a jumping off point for ideas and research is okay. I personally do not believe it’s that different from google searching a topic, or other forms of research, it just streamlines answers much quicker. I think unethical use would be entirely copying a paper from AI and saying it is your own. To me it is not much different than stealing work from another human being. 

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Blog 5

Research Paper Ideas

Performance in Sorority Recruitment

I have been in a sorority since my freshman year of college. Even though I love being in my sorority, the process to get in one can be very emotionally draining. I am also aware of Greek life’s long exclusionary history, and how there are still remnants of that in the most inclusive organizations. There is a lot of emotional weight behind each person participating in recruitment. The process of formal sorority recruitment is a performance of femininity and social class. I want to write about the performance of femininity and social class, and dive deep into my research paper. The girls already in sororities recruiting, and the girls going through recruitment are engaged in an ongoing performance to get the acceptance and approval of the other group. I will also be talking a lot about the social media aspect of recruitment. TikTok has started to play a big role in recruitment. One of the main course readings I will be looking at is the Digital Performances in Everyday Life textbook, especially chapter two on “Digital Performances of Self Identity”. This will of course not be the only source, but will help guide a lot of my research. 

Figure Skating and Performance

I started figure skating when I was in the 3rd grade, and stopped competitively skating my junior year of college. Figure skating is a high intensity sport, but is extremely different from most popular sports. In figure skating, you are not only an athlete, but an entertainer. Similar to dance, the sport is not just about physical prowess or technique, but you also have to put a lot of thought behind your acting, emotions, and appearance. Despite the sport being incredibly female dominated, there are a lot of instances where gender roles play a big part in how you are viewed as a skater. Women have to fit the mold of the “Ice Princess” whereas men get a bit more flexibility in how they can skate. I wanna look into the performance of gender in figure skating a bit more. The main course reading I will be looking into is the Performance textbook, especially the chapter “The New Uses of Performance”

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Blog 4

I personally love sharing memes. I think they are a fun way to share my sense of humor. I like sharing memes with my friends to find ways to relate to them. Currently there is a popular meme going around both Twitter and TikTok of a photo of actor Kevin James. He is seen shrugging with his hands in his pockets, and smirking at the camera. The picture is often paired with people expressing how they may be mischievous/up to no good. I feel that the different posts are used for people to post inside jokes or bits of their personality. The first example I have includes an inside joke in the Taylor Swift fandom. The second and third examples show things the poster likes. The meme has gotten so big that even Time magazine wrote an article about it, “There’s no rhyme or reason as to why so much of what we consume on the internet becomes popular. The internet takes hold of something—thanks to a shared whim or collective need for something meaningless over which to seek connection—and a viral meme is born. In today’s edition: photos of Kevin James.” I think the simplicity of the meme makes it so fun for people to reproduce and make it their own. The example that I included of the Twilight Tweet has a Twilight shirt put on him, as well as a baseball hat in reference to the baseball scene from the first movie. It’s also not hard to understand, because there is not much there to understand. Someone of any age, with any interest, can find some version of this meme that applies to them. Versions of this meme can be a very simple joke, or something that a whole community can relate to.  I have found this meme to be very fun, and even though it is very popular, it still has not gotten old for me. 

Example 3

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Blog Post 2

Before seeing the presentation I was a bit nervous to see how I would be represented to the class. I don’t have anything that shows myself in a negative light on the internet, but if it was a bit nerve wracking to wonder how I come off to strangers. With the presentation itself I feel that I got the short end of the stick. My partner said that it was hard to find things to say about me, but I honestly beg to differ, and it felt like they really did not try. The morning before the presentation my partner messaged me on Instagram saying that she had nothing to say about me other than my name and my year. I told her that she could talk about anything on any of my social media pages, and it did not have to be just basic facts, like traveling and such. I told her I was from Maryland to guide her in the right direction, but that was it, because I know we were not supposed to be working together on the assignment. I was hoping that she would think of things to talk about, but she just reiterated bits of information I told her. I also noticed that she viewed my TikTok page, and I was just shocked that she could not gather ANYTHING from that. When she presented she reiterated the few things I told her and the few things she already knew and that was it. The few things that she presented like my facts were true, but in her presentation she said that she felt that I was both introverted and extroverted from my posts. I was very surprised to hear that because I do not feel like I represent myself as introverted at all. From my Instagram bio you can see that I am a part of the sorority Delta Phi Epsilon. I would’ve probably included that because it is a major part of my life. Also at the front of my Instagram is a highlight story that has my posts from all the concerts I go to. I go to concerts very often, and a lot of my posts are me at a concert, I probably would have mentioned that as well. Overall, I don’t think I would change anything about my online persona. I am very comfortable with the content I put out online. I think this activity has to do with the idea of performance because it is about how what we put out into the world is perceived by total strangers. Chapter 2 of Digital Performance in Everyday Life says, “This activity is designed to make visible the ways our performances of self and identity online, and the ways others represent us, can be complex yet revealing webs of socially constructed and interpretable personal data. “ I vividly saw this happen in class when hearing about other classmates. It was very interesting how people built an image of someone else based on their social media. It is very easy how social media can affect your perception of someone. For example, this TikTok shows how an influencer edits her photos. They are edited so subtly that it is almost believable. She is putting out into the world a version of herself that is not necessarily authentic.

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Blog Post 1

Performance to me, is the parts of myself I allow other people to perceive. Whether it’s what I say, do, wear, or post, there is some layer of performance, even if this performance happens subconsciously. In regards to what I say and do, I never feel that I am inauthentic, but there are cultural/societal norms that people must follow. For example, If I were in a job interview I would not start swearing and speaking informally, because societal norms say that would be inappropriate. In situations like those, I feel that I am trying to be the most professional version of myself. 

One way that I feel like I make a conscious choice to perform is in regards to what I wear. Even the most casual outfits have a level of performance. If I were to wear leggings and a tank top, there are still things about that outfit that I am trying to perform. My leggings would probably be from a nicer/more high end brand, so if someone sees that, it can tell a lot about me. It says that I could maybe afford something nicer, and that I care more about what I am wearing than I am giving off. 

Another way that I perform is my social media. I put a lot of effort into my Instagram account. I dress up and take tons of pictures. I carefully consider the lighting/quality of a photo, and how well it would look on my feed with all my other photos. Chapter One of Digital Performance in Everyday Life states, “Throughout this book we also contend that a person who engages with digital and online communication technologies can never truly be “offline,” and advances in digital technologies and the sociocultural shifts and trends that accompany these have altered the ways we perform as and for ourselves and others in myriad contexts.” I feel that this is extremely true for me. My Instagram and other social media sites have taken on their own life. They feature a carefully curated version of myself, and they are always existing for anyone to look at. Because of my social media, I am never not performing. I save tons of tiktoks like this one, that gives me tips on how to pose or perfect my social media accounts. This is a true and conscious act of performance for me. I care a lot about how I am perceived through social media.