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Blog 4: Media and Identity

For this assignment, a comparison of Tommy Cash’s “Winaloto” with Lil Dicky’s “Save dat money” will be made. Differences in identity of class and sexuality will be highlighted.  

Tommy Cash is a relatively unknown rapper from Estonia. His 2016 music video “Winaloto” is  a spoof of mainstream rap culture, where sex and money are often a prime focus. Cash’s portrayal of sexual identity shows absurdity and at times, vulgarity. The human body has been used to create artistic and controversially striking scenes and images. The intent of the video could be instead of claiming sexual identity, he purposefully understates it. The women featured share a conventional standard of beauty and appear in nude underwear, but the direction and presence that their bodies appear, remains unsexualised. Cash’s use of the male form is identical to the female form, creating an equal platform for the portrayal of gender.

Conversely, Dicky’s portrayal of gender and sexual identity in “Save dat money” is of consumerism and a patriarchal value system that Cash could be addressing. Dicky’s women feature as objects and accessories of background, while Dicky and his other men remain clothed and subjects of main attention. Here, the means of sexual identity presents two dynamics of gender. For males, sexual self lies in the claiming and receiving of the female form, and thus rigs the purpose of female sexuality into the fulfilment of male sexual gratification.

Dicky’s appearance in “Save dat Money” differs noticeably from Cash in “Winaloto.”Dicky’s appearance is of a standard expected of a conventional ‘gangster’ or ‘rap artist’. His background settings vary appropriately to the context of the lyrics, featuring scenes of wealth and opulence. Dickey’s video holds a spoof like agenda, where it follows a documentary story line of the videos economic production process. However, the video still reinforces the qualities of much of mainstream rap, by portraying materialistic wealth and sex in an opulent self gratifying class identity. Cash’s lyrics “Why have abs when you can have kababs” is an example of such mockery.

Cash’s appearance in “Winaloto” matches that of his other performers where he wears a variety of unflattering nude garments and lacks the physical attributes of a populous rap cultured appearance. Addressing the camera at his own height, Cash holds a different dynamic with the viewer, perhaps seeking to show us something, rather than to assert dominance and power. Cash lacks baggy clothes and the use of invasive hand gestures as well as having an apparent and perhaps purposeful fragility, which is comparison to Dicky’s clothing and portrayal.  

Cash’s background setting holds an ambiguity with nude colouring to match the bodies portrayed; perhaps representative of skin. Skin and sexuality could be the main focus of Cash’s video even though the lyrics are of winning money, in contrast to the absence of class identity. In comparison Dicky’s lyrics, focus on saving money rather than winning it, but his video shows demonstrable wealth and opulence.

In conclusion, while both music videos appear to be spoofs of the rap genre, Cash and Dicky use very different portrayals of class and sexual identity. One could interpret Cash’s intent to be  artistic, while Dicky appears to capitalise on humour with the intent to make commercial gain, as highlighted by the number of views he received.  

Links to music videos: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OGMrZKIjKU 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvHYWD29ZNY

By Lily Gladstone-Gallagher (1298416) Word count: 546 

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Blog 3: Disposal of E-waste (Environmental issues and health hazards)

The ever increasing consumerism and the disposal of Electronic waste has a significant impact on the global environment and human health, partially in developing countries with little or no legislation to protect its citizens. This blog entry will explore some of these issues.

Corporations in the design and production of technology, practice “planned obsolescence” and “perceived obsolescence”. In other words, technology is “designed for the dump”and the consumer uncritically accepts that (Leonard, Fox, Sachs 2007). Products are manufactured with a limited life expectancy for a consumer who is seduced into the romantic belief that this is where they, and the community will find value (Maxwell, Miller 2012. Leonard et.al. 2007). As a consequence, the disposal of the ever increasing supply of technology is detrimental to all who inhabit our planet. Corporations use developing countries as a dumping ground in order to exploit their lack of Health and Safety legislation. Workers and their families in such countries suffer deleterious health outcomes as a consequence. For example the open burning, mechanical shredding, acid leaching and component separation, as well as solder recovery of toxic waste in China and New Deli. This creates contamination of work and living environments of the inhabitants (Brigden, Labunska, Santillo, Allsopp 2005). Exploration of health outcomes reports that widespread “high informal recycling has been reported in China, Ghana, Nigeria, India, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam” (Grant, Goldizen, Sly, Brune, Neira, Van den Berg, Norman, p.350. 2013). The Lancet 2009 article describes health outcomes, such as adverse effects on lung function, thyroid function and neonatal health.

Environmental reports from Green peace 2005 also show damage to the body tissue and brain development of wildlife through the contamination of bioaccumulative chemicals. Toxicity and contamination to plants is also an issue. For example, toxic substances distributed into the environment through unsustainable disposal practices would include Cadmium  (Cd), Lead (Pb), Mercury (Hg) and other classes of flame retardants (Brigden et.al. 2005).

In order for the environmental health hazards to stop, corporations need to increase their responsibility for the manufacture, lifespan and disposal of their products. This would mean using non toxic chemicals, creating the means of easy and efficient repair to decrease the amount of E-waste disposal, and establishing sustainable recycling schemes (Brigden et.al. 2005). The awareness and protesting of these issues are apparent, but it could be argued that change will only occur when corporations benefit from consumers who are willing to pay more for sustainable and fair trade products (Maxwell, Miller. 2012. p.27). The power of consumers is yet unrealised.

Reference:

Brigden, I. Labunska, D. Santillo, & M. Allsopp. (2005, August). Recycling of    electronic wastes in China and India: Workplace & environmental contamination (report). Retrieved from Greenpeace International: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/PageFiles/25134/recycling-of-electronic-waste.pdf  

Grant, K. Goldizen, F.C. Sly, P.D. Brune, M.N. Neira, M. Van den Berg, M. Norman, R.E. (2013, October 30). Health consequences of exposure to e-waste: a systematic. Lancet Glob Health, Volume 1, pp.350-60. Retrieved from http://ac.els-cdn.com/S2214109X13701013/1-s2.0-S2214109X13701013-main.pdf?_tid=294a9328-8df5-11e7-8a2a-00000aacb35f&acdnat=1504147155_fa25faec013f0e5536238cdb2c6393a7

Leonard, A. Fox, L & Sachs, J (writers). Free Ranged Studios (producers). (2007 December). The Story of Stuff project: Story of stuff [Video file]. Retrieved from http://storyofstuff.org/movies/story-of-stuff/  


Maxwell, R. & Miller, T. (2012, April 3). Greening the Media. Oxford University Press, USA. By Lily Gladstone-Gallagher (1298416)  Word count: 427  (Note: Apologies for format of APA referencing. It does not paste correctly into Tumblr from my word document) 

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Blog 2: Audience Research

The purpose of this assignment is to research audience participation. Two case studies exploring media use, were conducted over a four day period (10th - 13th August 2017). The research found differences and similarities in media use and will be explored.  

The two consenting participants, were A, (myself) an 18 year old female caucasian studying part time, and B, a 61 year old female caucasian employed part time in nursing education. Both participants share the same household, as well as a similar value system.

Three days out of four, participants A and B watched one to four hours of streamed television. While similar total hours, A watched in a cumulative multitasking pattern, whereas B, watched in a responsive pattern of one session (Lealand, 2017). This was due to personal preference and long term habits. Neither participant engaged in linear television due to a lack of paid subscription in the shared household. This was an informed choice to remove sensationalist populist media from their daily living, preferring to have their media consumption filtered through the resource of online streaming. Consequently, neither participant watched the news or listened to broadcast radio.

Of one day, B watched a DVD of two hours, while A did not watch any DVDs. This could be that B has lived experience through the evolution of technology, where as A’s exposure has been more recent, omitting DVD use from recent technology.

Both participants spent a cumulative two hours each day using the computer for leisure purposes, but in differing ways. A spent two hours on social media and google searches, B used trademe property and yahoo email. This is due to the different individual needs of the participants.  
Participant A used the computer for work/study purposes for one to two hours each day for three days, while B used her computer for work purposes two hours, on one day. A’s work computer usage exceeded B’s due to occupational differences and individual need. Neither participant spent time reading printed books, all reading was done online in correlation with work.

Both participants spent ten minutes daily using their cellphones for spoken discourse. The purpose was noted to be practical/organisational, as opposed to social. While A and B hold similarity for spoken mobile phone function, there is a signifiant difference in mobile phone use for written discourse and leisure activity. A was recorded to have used her phone continuously on four days for leisure activity, such as social media, music and internet searching. B did not engage in mobile phone activity at all. A continuously used her mobile phone for written discourse for two days, reducing on the other two days. Her usage was mainly social. B recorded using her phone only briefly for written discourse in a practical manner only. The significant difference in social media could be linked to the issue of new technology being designed for, and marketed to, younger people (Harley, Kurniawan, Fitzpatrick & Vetere, 2009 p2).



In conclusion, there are similarities and differences in media usage of the two participants of different ages. Much of the difference can be explained by different habits, preferences and needs of the individuals researched. However, the design and marketing of new technology leans towards the younger generation and could act as a barrier to older cohorts from participating in social media (Harley et al. 2009 p2).

Reference:

D. Harley, S.H Kurniawan, G. Fitzpatrick, F. Vetere (April, 2009). Age Matters:    Bridging the Generation Gap Geraldine Fitzpatrick through Technology-Mediated Interaction Retrieved from http://eprints.brighton.ac.uk/8729/1/ExtendedAbstracts-5.pdf

Lealand, G (August 8, 2017).You, me and everyone else: perspectives on media audiences [Lecture slides]

By Lily Gladstone-Gallagher (ID:1298416)  Word count: 550 

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Blog 1: Fake News “Michelle Obama is a man”

http://empirenews.net/michelle-obama-reveals-shocking-secret-i-was-born-a-man/

On the 27th of July 2017, empirenews.net published an article titled: “Michelle Obama reveals shocking secret: ‘I was born a man’ ”. The article featured an unrelated photograph of the former first lady and a story that gives a brief exploration of Michelle Obama’s transgenderism. The article gives clues of its implausibility.

The site that the article appears does not fit the criteria of a safe and credible news source. Featuring a selection of other farfetched headlines, Empire News displays a large amount of stories in relation to celebrity culture, sex and topics that generally lack depth (for example: “Celebs who don't wear a bra”). Authentic news sources such as CNN or BBC, tend not to feature such content, as it would discredit stories with significance and relevance; such as news items on serious political issues, refugee exodus and catastrophe. The author credited to the Michelle Obama article “Bob the empire news potato,” is also is a name of mockery, ambiguity and a non traceable identity. The detail of the commentary written, raises doubt and appears questionable, stating that Michelle’s given name at birth was “Michael”, and that with the support of her parents, she changed it at age 12. With no presented evidence, it is also states that Michelle’s children were conceived via a surrogate and the usage of Obama’s sperm.

In the construction of fake news, stories are carried on the basis of shocking consumers. Shock culture adheres to the purpose of creating attention and popularity to the narrative. The more ‘eye brow raising’ and outrageous, the more chance of it being shared, which can result in benefit to its creators/distributors, through advertising revenue.

In October of last year, The Guardian published an article on the topic of fake news (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/30/facebook-fake-news-fact-check), whereby the origins of the Obama transgender hoax are mentioned as an example. The story traces back to a 2014 youtube video, which bases its evidence in a short clip of Barack Obama referring to Michelle as Michael in a speech. The video also displays several degrading explorations into Michelle’s shape and body in support of the claims made towards her masculinity. Seen in a CNN report (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaIoJuHibr8), Joan Rivers publicly made reference to the homosexuality of Obama and his marriage to Michelle, who she believes is male. The authenticity of all evidence mentioned is poor. Given the commonality of speech errors, the diversity of human physique and the media attention granted to celebrity bigotry, it is highly unlikely Michelle Obama is that of a transgender identity.  

In conclusion, this story is not published on any credible news source, but rather on a website that displays a disclaimer to the lampoonery of its contents. This is a valuable example of fake news in distribution for all reasons other than the spread of truth and authenticity to the media.

By Lily Gladstone-Gallagher (ID:1298416)  Word count: 487