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sotorubio · 4 years ago

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hi if it’s not too much trouble do you mind elaborating on the post about the cinematography being better in s7? bc i 100% agree and have been thinking the same but also haven’t really been able to articulate why? like if someone asked me this anon i wouldn’t be able to give them specifics but i KNOW it’s different. sorry 😅

it's definitely not too much trouble i already know this is gonna be long as shit bc i have so many Thoughts on the matter

it is indeed p hard to articulate so i'll give some examples & comparisons n share my thoughts based on that!

first i think it's important to recognize the context of a show like skam. it is made to represent every-day teenagers who might enjoy but not ever relate to characters & stories on some fantasy/murder mystery shows abt teenagers. the very core of skams is realism n accuracy to real life. we as the audience are not only supposed to be onlookers of the events we're meant to feel connected to the stories n relate to the main characters.

skamfr has some VERY beautiful shots if u look at them independently. if someone just showed me a screenshot of one of them i'd be like wow! that's stunning! but that's not what i'm supposed to feel when it comes to skams. if i go watch an artistic full length movie at the theaters i Do want to see beautiful shots that look like art n have a lot of symbolism behind them but when i watch skam i'm supposed to think "that could be me. that looks like my life" i'm not a lowly spectator who could never have such a beautiful life but instead the audience should see their lives directly put on screen.

skam france has been rly consistent w it tho! it's been their brand since like season 3.. but it did get worse in s5 & 6 i think bc they started to try too hard for original storylines. i think it's very intentional n if they were making another show i wouldn't say it's bad rly (altho sometimes it is that too bc they try too hard fmgjkd). out of context a lot of their cinematography works bc they usually tie it into the plot to represent the events but they just picked the wrong style for a web series. like babes u are not submitting this to the academy pls chill.

now let me introduce u to the most despicable shot in skam history (in my humble opinion)

HELLO??

now before anyone says. yes i know this sequence of shots has a purpose. this is exactly what i mean that if it was some other show w different goals it wouldn't be such an issue bc yeah this looks great right? it's a "sensory clip" we r supposed to "hear" what it's like to be deaf n specifically what it's like for arthur. but.

let's put this into skam context. we as the audience should see ourselves in arthur, not necessarily entirely but we should feel he's just like us, a teenager w his own unique struggles & life experiences. now tell me, when u feel depressed or sad or have had the worst week of ur life n u must drag urself to the shower... is this what it feels like? first of all do u take the shower in the fucking dark???? just for the aesthetic?? do u stand DIRECTLY in the middle letting the water hit u exactly on the top of ur head forming a symmetrical shade on u while u just... stand there. do u feel like ur ascending in the shower as u dramatically raise ur chin literally what the actual fuck is this. don't get me wrong sometimes u just actually do stand there doing nothing bc u just feel so horrible but that's not rly the feeling this clip awakens?

this leans a bit into the romanticization of arthur's season which wouldn't be as bad (still cringy but not as bad) if arthur had already accepted himself at this point but no he's basically suffering in the shower n we are looking at him like wow that's so pretty. let's imagine how we could make this clip feel more real n how we could actually see ourselves in him here:

stop making ur main characters of the season the main characters of the world. just bc arthur is feeling terrible doesn't mean the whole world imitates his feelings. in a symbolic movies masterpiece it would but not in a concept like skam. one of the worst things abt feeling terrible is seeing how the world just goes on around u. imagine how real it would feel like if he was in the shower w the generic yellowish light on that a lot of bathrooms have. we could see his silhouette slouching in the shower through a shower screen. or maybe a shot similar to the example pics but the ugly lights are on n the water is annoyingly dripping in his eyes & he doesn't look like they're trying to give him a halo n make him into a jesus archetype. the bathroom would look the same it looks on a rly happy day or a boring day bc this day only sucks for arthur n the universe isn't gonna come to his house to give him a cool background bc of it

same w this comparison

two underwater shots, both rly pretty & heavy on symbolism but the other one is literally waiting for those "this looks like a renaissance painting" comments n the other is rly pretty but still looks like real life humans who r not doing a photo shoot for vogue. which do u find more relatable? which situation makes u think Yeah that's real life?

like look at this camera position of "barely above water" this is like.. almost "ugly" but it's so fucking real n probably closest to the feeling of a first person point of view shot that u can get to

now the s7 camera decisions seem sooooo much better compared to all this. they have a lot of time to still make super dramatic shots that distance the viewer from the story line but so far so good. maybe they'll pick this up again to make the world revolve around tiff as she faces hardships but let's hope not 🙃

i genuinely love this shot like it's super down to earth & feels real but they have still easily kept in the symbolism. like tiff is literally putting walls between others n herself. jo feels like she's literally talking to a wall. tiff feels alone & secluded even tho someone is in the same room as her. yet they didn't have to make it look like smth out of an obscure indie film whose purpose is to have the audience in awe instead of representing them.

yeah the first person point of view of jo going in and out of frame while doing sit ups mightve been weird or cringy but 1. that's skam for y'all & 2. i'll choose that any day over arthur ascending like jesus in the shower.

#inbox #anon #skam france #long post

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gra-sonas · 4 years ago

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This article was written by Alison D, Ellys Cartin, and Jamie Coudeville. The article was edited by Donna Cromeans (DJRiter). The open and close of the article were written by Ellys Cartin. Prepared for publishing by Aimee Hicks.

Roswell, New Mexico may fly just under the radar, but the show has quickly accumulated fans who are drawn to the courageous characters. The development of Tyler Blackburn’s Alex Manes has particularly gripped our readers, who have rooted for Alex to overcome his family’s traumatic legacy and navigate the risks of letting himself be vulnerable around the people he loves. Season 2 was a journey full of heartbreak and discoveries, especially for Alex. He reunited with one of his brothers, took a risk on a new romance, and discovered unexpected betrayals and love in his family tree. This journey led to a desperate last-minute attempt to protect the people he loves most from his father, a journey that concluded with a gunshot that punctuated the most painful storyline of Alex’s life. In the season finale, Blackburn delivered a quiet, eloquent performance, providing a fitting coda for his character’s search for resolution, a search that was a flight to freedom. For his performance, he was selected SpoilerTV’s Readers’ Choice Performer of the Month for June.

Season 2 of Roswell, New Mexico concludes with Tyler Blackburn performing in character as Alex Manes. How did Would You Come Home reflect Alex’s journey thus far and echo Can’t You Love Me, the Tyler Blackburn and Novi song that played in the penultimate episode of Season 1?

Alison: Would You Come Home really reflects the turning point in Alex’s journey. It’s him breaking free of his father’s “Manes Man” mantra, unmasking the trauma in his life, and publicly declaring that he’s in love with Michael (Micheal Vlamis). The performance in the Wild Pony is his loud and proud moment, a public coming out in a town that never felt like home. The exception being when he was 17 and he and Michael kissed. Not that coming out requires grand public gestures. It doesn’t. Alex and Michael are in a different place than they were at Caulfield. From the moment right before the prison exploded until Michael walked out during Alex’s song, I’m reminded that these two are idiots but look how they’ve grown. They’ve grown together, but more importantly, they’ve done so while apart. Would You Come Home and Can’t You Love Me are competing echoes, the former now drowning out the latter. The show, hopefully, is at a point where the pain of the past has been drowned out by hope for the future, at least, where Michael and Alex’s journey is concerned. Would You Come Home is their way forward, loving in the present tense. Can’t You Love Me was them mired in the past, the shed, familial legacy, walking away, and looking away. With Would You Come Home and Michael’s definitive “I think so,” it seems these two star-crossed lovers may finally be cosmically aligned.

Ellys: The scene with Alex singing forms a beautiful duology with that earlier scene where Alex tries to save Michael by telling the latter that Alex sees him as his family. The moment he states that truth is as emotionally cataclysmic as anything can get, with Michael being forced to leave behind the family he has searched for his entire life. It seems their love story can’t survive under the weight of the reality that Alex’s father and earlier Manes generations brutally imprisoned and slowly killed Michael’s mother. Worse still, even knowing this, Alex can’t break free from his father’s abuse. In Season 2, Alex discovers the truth about his family’s legacy may be more complicated. Blackburn becomes the emotional core of the series as Alex painstakingly digs up the Manes family skeletons, finding horror and hope for his own future along the way. There is a wonderful symbolism in how the show goes from having Blackburn telling Alex’s story at a distance through Can’t You Love Me to Blackburn performing as Alex sharing his story and taking power over his wounds in Would You Come Home.

Jamie: In this finale, we finally got the result of what’s been building since the start of the show, Alex is finally breaking free from his family and all the prejudice and expectations they laid on him. Alex and his father had an extremely complicated and destructive relationship. No matter what he did, he was never good enough. Throughout this season we’ve seen Alex break free from his father, which is something he had previously been unable to do. While in Season 1, his father’s opinion still mattered to him, now he’s finally focusing on what he wants and needs.

Confronting familial legacy is a recurring theme on the show. What stands out to you from Blackburn’s performances that brings authenticity to Alex’s struggles in this area?

Alison: Going from an Alex Manes that incapacitates his violent, xenophobic father in Season 1 to an Alex Manes who believes his abuser can change in Season 2 was a heavy ask. Not because it was an unrealistic turn, but time wasn’t built into the story to make the transformation anything but jarring. To his credit, Blackburn made the viewer believe. Alex has a desperate desire to believe in the people he loves even when they constantly provide evidence to the contrary. It wasn’t until late in Season 2 that he articulated the thought, but his actions told the story. Consider episode 9, Alex tries to convince his father, Jesse Manes (Trevor St. John), that perhaps drinking isn’t the best idea for someone recovering from a recent hospitalization. There is warmth in the way he speaks and in the slight upturn of his mouth. He genuinely cares. In response to Alex’s overture’s, Jesse slams the whiskey bottle down on the table, Alex retreats, not in fear, but as a soldier reminded of the enemy before him. Softness is replaced by someone alert and prepared for what usually comes next. Blackburn’s quick turn from hopeful son to cautious soldier shows the struggle between a son clutching at acceptance from his father and a man remembering that he never was nor wanted to be a “Manes Man.” The audience also witnesses the pull away from legacy when in the same scene he gets a message from Michael. There is the fastest of smiles, and he quickly leaves his father behind. In the season finale, once again Blackburn moves between emotions as his father holds a gun on Michael, but in this instance, there is no question about the sacrifice he’s willing to make. Alex’s season ends with him finally dismantling his familial legacy, literally. As he destroys the shed, the place where his love story with Michael took a sharp turn, Blackburn lets out a yell that encapsulates the torment and the hurt and the fear that kept Alex running and hidden. He emerges a new man, on the other side of legacy, when he sings at the Wild Pony.

Ellys: Of all the Roswell, New Mexico characters, Alex is the most often shown to have a near bottomless capacity for love and forgiveness. Blackburn illustrates this repeatedly through the compassionate frankness that Alex brings into every interaction with his friends and family. He doesn’t merely wear his heart on his sleeve; he displays it constantly. Blackburn’s face establishes this reality for Alex. His character is always absorbing every emotion that others throw at him, yet he only tosses the good emotions back. Alex’s heart is his strength and weakness. He believes that there’s a way to be everything that everyone needs or wants him to be, often placing blame on himself when these relationships aren’t what they should be, which results in him offering people multiple second chances they don’t deserve. In this episode, we see Alex finally hit a brick wall with one of these relationships, and heartbreak gives way to relief in a moving journey to acceptance that Blackburn approaches with respect and sincerity.

Jamie: Blackburn really shows just how painful this all is for Alex. When it comes to toxic relationships we always say “Oh, just leave them.” or “Why do you care what he thinks?” but it’s not that simple and Blackburn shows that in pretty much every scene. Whenever Alex is in a scene with Michael or Forrest (Christian Antidormi), until recently you could see that there was always a little bit of himself that Alex held back. I hope that in future seasons we get to see Alex be able to fully give himself to someone.

Blackburn shares a key scene in the finale with Michael Vlamis. What character interactions involving Alex have stood out to you this season and which ones are on your wish list?

Alison: Without a doubt, Vlamis and Blackburn are extremely magical when they share scenes, so many of Alex’s best moments involve Michael, but not all. A few of Alex’s interactions with other characters stand out for terrible, horrible, no good, awfully bad reasons, but we’ll focus on two that brought joy. Alex’s relationship with Kyle (Michael Trevino) was a highlight in the first season, and while fans hoped for more of the same in Season 2, the friendship was unfortunately sidelined. Though they shared a few scenes, one of their best interactions came near the end of I’ll Stand By You (2x5). It’s a quiet moment easily overlooked in what was a packed episode, but it’s especially poignant considering earlier Alex commented to Maria (Heather Hemmens) that Kyle wasn’t his friend. Oh, the irony. Michael’s voiceover plays as Kyle sits above the surgery room. He’s risked everything for his friends, but as they scatter, he sits alone and forgotten, his purpose served. When Alex arrives, he quietly passes a flask, Kyle takes a drink and passes it back to Alex who takes a drink of his own. The smile on Blackburn’s face tells a simple story about Kyle Valenti—this is a good man and a good friend.

In American Woman (2x10), Blackburn and Tanner Novlan who plays Gregory Manes shared a heartfelt scene. For a long time, Alex has felt like this show’s favorite punching bag, like his feelings don’t matter, so it was beautiful to see a character acknowledge not just Alex’s trauma but how they failed him. Novlan’s speech was heart-wrenching, but Blackburn’s expressions and subtle movements convey how overwhelmed Alex is, as well as his relief. It’s in the way he looks away or down, clears his throat, and allows tears to slowly well in his eyes. He is overcome by this outpouring of love and doesn’t know how to react. Blackburn affects the innocent and bashful gesture of shoving his hands into his pockets when talking about his father. Alex wants to believe that an abusive, homophobic, monster of a man could be better, but there is also fear that he is being played the fool.

I have just a few wishes for Alex Manes. I’m ready for Isobel (Lily Cowles) and Alex to take Roswell by storm, for Alex and Kyle to grow their repaired friendship, and I’m more than ready for Malex to rise. For its part, the show has rooted their queerness and their love in violence and trauma. Enough. Time to tell another story. It’s time to stop treating Alex Manes like a “Very Special Episode”. Michael and Alex together and happy is real rebellion, so let them kiss, get a dog, make waffles on Sunday morning, stay in bed all day, do crimes to ensure the good aliens survive, fight about the superiority of Star Trek over Star Wars, be emotionally articulate, and love one another in the present tense. Blackburn and Vlamis’ preternatural chemistry is the absolute highlight of this reboot, but it was mostly squandered in a messy and disjointed Season 2, so let’s make sure that never happens again. And on a final superficial note, Blackburn is very pretty, so let Alex Manes be pretty.

Ellys: One of my favorite characteristics that Blackburn gives Alex is his ability to snap out a quick retort. The use of humor to deflect and defuse is a subtle form of self-protection that gently reminds us that Alex is a survivor. How often Alex uses it when he’s around someone else helps us gauge the importance of that person to him. He also uses it less successfully in situations where there are high emotional stakes. Blackburn turns in some of his best work in the tense scenes Alex shares with his father Jesse, although nothing can hold a candle to how Vlamis and Blackburn carry years and years of conflicted longing into every look and word their characters share. My wish list would include more scenes between Alex and Kyle Valenti, as they are uniquely situated to understand each other’s family legacies and present-day responsibilities.

Jamie: Any scene with Michael has always been emotionally charged. The same goes for the scenes with his father but in an entirely different way. Since we won’t be getting those anymore, I’m hoping for more interactions with his brothers. And not just Flint (Kiowa Gordon) but also Gregory, who has accomplished what Alex is trying to do now, break free of his family. Overall, Alex has been mostly separated from the other characters. Only recently have we seen him interact more with others like Isobel, but I’d like to see him interact more with Liz (Jeanine Mason), and maybe even Rosa (Amber Midthunder). Including this episode, what are some of your favorite Alex scenes from this season?

Alison: Stay (I Missed You) (2x1) – Alex and Kyle being partners in crime when trying to retrieve Noah (Karan Oberoi)’s body from the morgue. Bonus points for Kyle’s face when Alex gets rough with the lab tech. I think we both enjoyed the moment. What If God Was One of Us (2x4) – Alex and Michael in the barn on the Long farm. Alex’s sass when commenting on Michael smelling like rain beneath the grease and bourbon to then comforting him about his mom not releasing him from the pod. Alex and Michael sitting on the fallen tree talking about how he knows Forrest. Alex realizes there are layers to Michael Guerin. Sex and Candy (2x6) – Michael cleaning Alex’s wound. It was a great way to end the episode. That’s where the episode ended, right? Say it Ain’t So (2x8) – Alex and Forrest on their paintball date. I’m not a fan of keeping two people apart by needlessly pairing them with other people; there is something to be said for working on yourself by yourself, but it was wonderful to see Alex so happy, smiling, and free. The Diner (2x9) – it’s a short exchange between Alex and Michael, but it encapsulates their journey. Michael is surprised—but not really—that Alex came when asked. Alex, who has always wanted to be asked to stay, says it’s because Michael asked. Bonus points for Michael’s cowboy lean during that scene.

Ellys: The introduction of Alex’s brother Gregory Manes added another dimension to Blackburn’s performance. Meeting a sibling who had successfully made it out from under Jesse’s control clarified how severe Alex’s predicament was concerning his father. Blackburn’s scenes with Novlan underscored how forgiving Alex is and how he would never be able to give up hope that Jesse would finally accept him. The scenes between Alex and Gregory were brief, but they had to set up the season finale, not only to sell the turn of events but to make Alex’s final scene this season carry that cathartic gut punch.

Jamie: I really enjoyed the paintball scene with Forrest. It was nice to see Alex have some fun for a change. And the scene in the finale where he and Michael take a hammer to that cabin, I think that might’ve helped Alex release some tension. The song he sang in the finale was probably my favorite. The amount of tension conveyed by Michael and Alex without them interacting was insane.

Give us a one paragraph pitch for Roswell, New Mexico to explain the show to TV fans who haven’t discovered it yet.

Alison: Ten years ago, Liz Ortecho left Roswell, New Mexico in the wake of a tragedy, leaving behind her family and friends. When she returns to her small town, she uncovers hidden truths, but those answers come with unexpected dangers. She returns to a town divided between those sympathetic to immigrants and violent xenophobes. The unwelcoming nature of the town takes on a new meaning when she discovers that the 1947 UFO crash wasn’t a hoax. Lines are crossed, secrets are revealed, friendships are tested, and love is messy. What happens when aliens walk among us?

Ellys: Years after surviving the crash of their spaceship, three adult siblings may not be able to conceal their alien origins much longer when their past and present collide. A serial killer, a brilliant scientist, and a forbidden love complicate their lives; the darkest secrets about Roswell’s oldest tragedies are beyond the reach of mind-reading, telekinesis, and supernatural healing. Foes become friends. The hunted become the hunters. Humans and aliens, alike, confront their inner demons and reckon with the threat of extinction. Jamie: Even if you don’t know the show, you’ve undoubtedly heard the term “Roswell”. Basically, aliens live amongst us and none of them are straight Max (Nathan Parsons) did not seem that opposed to riding a cowboy). We have a badass Latina main character who is almost too good at science, a psychic bartender, a doctor who does way too much for his ex, and an ex-military gay man who’s performance was so good he won Performer of the Month. And if that does not do it for you, there are weekly reviews by me where I call everyone idiots.

Alison: This reboot has flaws, but some of the best choices it has made center around Blackburn as Alex Manes. He simply feels like Alex Manes, disappearing into the role and becoming an abused boy turned Air Force Captain and a gay man who finally realizes that what he wants does matter. Blackburn always strikes the right note as Alex. Whether he is clasping his hands and trembling as his father wields a hammer, crackling with confidence as he apologizes by sliding into the bed of a pickup truck, commanding the room as a no-nonsense military man whose men don’t ask questions, breaking into the softest of smiles when Michael charms him with the sweetest kiss, being wide-eyed and eager when a cute blue-haired boy pays attention to him or lighting up when his song is heard by the person he loves most. It all works so well. Kudos to you, Tyler Blackburn.

Ellys: It’s still rare on TV shows, particularly dramas, to have a male character who is gay and not there to solely exist as the quirky dramatic one or the placid, supportive best friend to one of the leading ladies. Alex Manes has backstories, traumas, hopes, and victories that are just as complex as the other main characters on the show. I appreciate how much Blackburn has championed all sides of his character, including who Alex loves, and I look forward to the show breaking more ground in the third season now that Alex and the Manes skeletons are out of the closet.

Jamie: This honor is totally deserved. Blackburn has been a standout performer since the very first episode and I’m glad to see it rewarded. Let’s face it, he was one half of the reason for this show’s initial popularity. And let’s not forget that it’s no easy feat stepping into an already beloved character and making it your own. I fully expect that it will not be the last time he wins POTM.

As Tyler Blackburn sings in Would You Come Home, throughout Season 2 we see him break down Alex Manes’ walls stone by stone. Alex measures himself against his father, grandfather, uncle, and brothers, but he isn’t trying to measure up. He is looking for where he came from, why his values and heart aren’t what he’s told they are supposed to be. When Alex first hears about Tripp Manes (Jason Behr) and Nora Truman (Kayla Ewell), he immediately rejects his father’s interpretation of that relationship, choosing to hope that they had a love story. Blackburn paints Alex as hopeful and romantic, fiercely loyal, and sacrificially brave; most importantly, as a survivor, Alex finds and receives the strength to stand alone and choose his own family. Blackburn plays this role with compassionate dignity, giving us a hero whose emotional battles grip us as strongly as his physical ones. For all the reasons discussed in this article and the many more they have shared, our readers voted Tyler Blackburn as SpoilerTV’s Performer of the Month for June.

#tyler blackburn #alex manes #spoiler tv's performer of the month #malex #rnm press #tjb press #i love this so much #he deserves all the praise #rnm 2x13 #♥#long post is long

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silverfacedherald · 7 years ago

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Yeah, not a romantic gesture. Deans not known for listening to romantic songs, so odds are theyre not the romantic ones. Also? Didnt make it for cas. It was one of his personal own mixtapes. People made mixtapes for a ton of reasons, theyre not excessively romantic

Hey Nonny! Thanks for sharing your opinion! Here’s my thoughts on all the interesting points you brought up.

To be completely honest with you, that’s not what I got from this text conversation. I’m saying that because: “I’m leaning towards romantic gesture”, “ahhhhh both like each other but don’t want to admit it to each other so it’s an awkward dance around”, with the conversation ending with “they gotta play it out somehow man idk how but it’ll hopefully work out“ “I feel like the mixtape helped [with them both not being straightforward]”, and ending with a very pro-romantic comment that “that must just be frustrating to watch both people just playing footsie around each other basically”. Which to me is a perfect way to sum up Dean and Cas’ relationship: a Will They or Won’t They and a Just Kiss Already

As far as I know, Dean is very well-known for listening to (and loving) romantic songs. His two favourite songs (both by Led Zeppelin) are Ramble On and Travelling Riverside Blues. Let’s look at some lyrics here to see whether there are any romantic themes within his two favourite songs, with Ramble On first.

(chorus)

Ramble onAnd now’s the time, the time is nowTo sing my songI’m goin’ ‘round the world, I got to find my girlOn my wayI’ve been this way ten years to the dayRamble onGotta find the queen of all my dreams

(verse)

I ain’t tellin’ no lieMine’s a tale that can’t be toldMy freedom I hold dearHow years ago in days of oldWhen magic filled the air’T was in the darkest depths of MordorI met a girl so fairBut Gollum, and the evil one crept up and slipped away with herHer, her, yeahAin’t nothing I can do, no

(ending that keeps repeating with different variations of sentence structure until the song fades out)

I gotta keep searching for my baby (baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby)

While this song is very much about living free and traveling the world - not to mention the references to The Lord of The Rings - it’s also very much about finding a lost romantic love.

Now let’s look at Travelling Riverside Blues, though my face is turning slightly red just thinking about it. I am going to use the BBC Session version of the lyrics, if only because that’s what first comes up on iTunes.

Well I know my baby, If I see her in the dark I said I know my rider, If I see her in the dark

See my baby, tell her, Tell her hurry home Had no lovin’, since my baby been gone See my baby, Tell hurry on home I ain’t had, Lord, my right mind, Since my rider’s been gone

Squeeze my lemon ‘til the juice runs down my leg Squeeze it so hard, I’ll fall right out of bed Squeeze my lemon, ‘til the juice runs down my leg

Spoken: I wonder if you know what I’m talkin’ about Oh, but the way that you squeeze it girl I swear I’m gonna fall right out of bed

Nothing can be said about this song except that it is laden with sexual innuendo (or just plain sex). It’s definitely not a “you’re my everything” romantic song *cough erotic cough*, but if you want to say that Dean isn’t known for listening to songs that have romantic/non-platonic relationships, then this is an example of that not being the case.

(and here I get to finally use my knowledge of the songs Dean has listened to/been in the show; courtesy of my love of music and making playlists) Now overall, the songs Dean has played throughout the years can go into three categories: traveling/living free, fighting the good fight, and romance. Some examples of songs (definitely not all) with romantic themes that Dean has listened to include: Burnin’ for You, Can’t Fight This Feeling, Time After Time, Round and Round, Who Do You Love, No One Like You, You Shook Me All Night Long, Back In the Saddle, Heartbreaker, Imaginary Lover, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, Heat of the Moment, Heartbreak, Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel, Cherry Pie, It’s Never Too Late, Shake It Off, and Good Love Gone Bad. (I won’t go over these lyrics, as this answer post is already way longer than I first intended). Some of these songs were first played even in season 1, showing that Dean has always had a big taste of romantic music, or at least songs that include romantic themes within them. A direct example of Dean enjoying a romantic song early on is a scene in season 2 (I believe it was 2x05 Simon Said) where after hearing a romantic/love song (Can’t Fight This Feeling by REO Speedwagon) on a jukebox at the Roadhouse, he later sang the song while in the Impala acapella-style because “I can’t get it out of my head”.

And now back to the mixtape. There’s 13 Zepp songs on it; Dean’s top favourites. So obviously Ramble On and Travelling Riverside Blues are on it. That leaves 11 songs unknown to us viewers. There’s a post out there somewhere that listed all of the Led Zeppelin songs there are and counted how many are in each type of themes (I’ll have to dig for it, but once I find it I will definitely link it here). In the end, the majority of songs are about romance or just plain erotic. With Led Zeppelin being known as very romantic and erotic, Dean’s favourite songs both having romantic themes in them, and the fact that Dean likes romantic songs overall, it’s smart to assume that at least two or three more songs on the mixtape are about romance in one form or another. Also, as @cornerbackcastiel points out (x), there has been exactly 13 Led Zeppelin songs referenced in the show, with 5 of them having romantic/erotic themes (2 of them refer to romantic relationships, but the songs aren’t mainly about that). This possibly means that these are Dean’s top 13 favourite songs (though I don’t think so), and even if they aren’t, it shows that there are romantic themes within the songs that Dean at least listens to and enjoy.

Moving on.

True, it isn’t explicitly said whether Dean “just” gave Cas one of his favourite mixtapes, or if he actually took the time to make a mixtape to specifically give to Cas. So it’s really up to us to figure out which of those is true, unless they mention it again in the show and clarify it for us (which I highly doubt). So say Dean gave Cas one of his mixtapes. My lovely friend @paisleyfifteen pointed out to me that this is Dean we are talking about here. “Dean, who is very possessive of what little personal objects he has (especially his tapes), gave that to Cas AS A GIFT. LIKE GAVE IT AWAY. IT’S NO LONGER HIS. That in and of itself is romantic. Especially because Dean made it for himself so it must be personal.” Music is also very important to Dean, it has been a constant in his very hectic life. Music isn’t only sound to Dean, it’s something that helps him get through life. To both weep and celebrate with. So to show Cas his favourite music, it was not only a show of his tastes and to introduce Cas to “good” music, it was also to show Cas his inner self. So while Dean might not have made the mixtape for Cas (though I learn towards that he did), it still has profound importance/meaning.

The last point you mention is that mixtapes are not “excessively romantic”. Searching on any search engine, you can see what a mixtape means, and further, the meaning they hold when a gift. For example, searching “why do people make mixtapes” gives me “Before CDs, there were cassette tapes. As a form of courtship, a person would record songs on a tape that they thought articulated their love for another person. Then, they would give the tape to them. This was called a mixtape.“ The first thing that shows up when searching “what does the gift of a mixtape mean” is “A Mix Is Still The Most Romantic Gift”. Then, since Dean not only gave Cas a mixtape, but a mixtape of his favourite songs by his favourite artist: “when a guy shows you his favourite songs” the first thing to come up is “16 subtle ways your man shows he loves you (when he’s too scared to tell you)”. Let’s try gender neutral: “what does it mean when someone shows you their favourite songs“ and the first article it gives me is “What the Music You Love Says About You and How It Can Improve Your Life”. That last search gave me a non-romantic meaning, but it’s about how your favourite music reflects on yourself; a baring of your soul in a medium that is better than words. I don’t know about you, but giving a mixtape of my favourite songs by my favouite artist where at least one song is highly erotic, is not something I would give to a platonic friend.

Thank you for the ask and hopefully I helped to make some sense of the mixtape!

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postmodernmulticoloredcloak · 8 years ago

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andimeantittosting reblogged your post and added:

Regarding Sam’s past as an “enlightened California college student”, as you say, there’s also the fact that that was over a decade ago. Even if he had been the sort of straight ally to join a GSA and put some work in (as opposed to just not being homophobic) - and I don’t think that that would have been a top priority for him in his college years - the landscape around sexuality has shifted, and I doubt Sam has found time to keep up while hunting. No matter how “enlightened” he once was, it’s likely that 12 years later, his understanding is a little outdated. Also? It makes me, as a queer person, uncomfortable, when in fic, good-straight-ally!Sam has to explain permutations of sexuality beyond just gay and straight to closeted-having-gay-panic!Dean, often having to go so far as to explain that Dean might be bi. It’s something about the idea that a queer person would need a straight person to interpret or bestow their identity upon them. This is not an articulate explanation, but hopefully someone understands what I’m getting at.

If you don’t mind I’m starting a new post (the original one here) because the original one was getting long and we’re slightly digressing from the original topic :)

About the first part of your addition: I think that when Sam ran to California (it was two years before the pilot so around 2003, right?) he was rejecting an identity and embracing another. Sam has always seen things in a very all-or-nothing way until quite recently. Either in or out. His “have you considered something with someone who understands the life, like a hunter” is very telling - Sam himself hasn’t considered something like that for a long time. When he basically asked Dean to have a life with Lisa, he was projecting his own desires into Dean - getting out of the hunting life, have a relationship with a civilian in the whole white-fence, apple-pie kind of life.

Anyway - when Sam chose Stanford over John and Dean, he wasn’t just choosing not to be a hunter anymore and to pursue a “civilian” career. He was choosing to belong to a different culture altogether - basically rejecting the culture of a semi-rural America, with a huge emphasis on a “us/them” mindframe, heavy Christian tones, etc, for the culture you’ll find in a place like a California college.

Have you seen American Sniper? If you haven’t, good for you. Anyway, at the very beginning of the movie you see the protagonist as a kid, living with his parents and his younger brother someplace in rural Texas. There’s a scene where the protagonist's father makes a speech to his sons that was exactly John Winchester’s worldview expect with muslims instead of monsters. There are the civilians, the monsters and the protectors. In the movie, the father uses the metaphor of sheep, wolves and shepherd dogs: common people are sheep, who are weak and in danger of being harmed by the wolves (terrorists and whatever). “Real men” are the shepherd dogs, who defend the weak from the wolves. I immediately compared that to John Winchester’s view of the world as divided in civilians, monsters and hunters. Of course there was also a huge layer of toxic masculinity - if you’re weak you are not a real man and you are a disgrace.

Now, in the Winchester family the focus was on monsters and not on muslims, but their lives were mostly spent around a rural or semi-rural America. It’s clear that urban and suburban lives were alien to the Winchesters as they grew up.

Season 1 shows us how Sam and Dean deal with the universe they’ve grown up into: Sam has rejected it outright, even physically removing himself from the rest of his family and enrolling in Stanford. Dean, on the other hand, has a very different approach and it’s probably harder to read for a viewer that is more like Sam than Dean.

I think it’s not a coincidence that many fans, in my opinion, have a fairly mistaken view of Dean in the earlier seasons. In the earlier seasons we see a lot of things from Sam’s point of view, and Sam misunderstands Dean a lot, and a viewer that shares Sam’s mindframes would easily make the same mistakes as Sam.

Basically Sam, the straight “enlightened college boy”, does a lot of judging of Dean - Dean who, in Sam’s eyes, embraces that very culture that Sam rejects. I think that a viewer who is, like Sam is, straight, middle-class (Sam’s permanence in the middle class was very short-lived but he embraced that kind of identity strongly), liberal, would make the same assumptions as Sam regarding Dean - i.e. that is shares that rural-American, close-minded, American Sniper-y mindset. But the way I see it, Dean in 2005 identifies with a culture of its own. Sam rejects a dominant culture for a different dominant culture, while Dean rebels to a dominant culture by embracing a subculture, if it makes sense? Dean can’t just drop everything and leave, we know how the whole abuse thing has worked on him. But he develops his own way of dealing with the culture he’s grown up in, and a lot of that way is centered about the fact that he is not straight. Straight doesn’t just mean ‘that experiences attraction to individuals of a gender different than one’s own’. It’s a concept that reels in ideals of normativity, “normality”, socially accepted, socially sanctioned.

This brings us to the second part of your comment - in my opinion, Dean has always known he’s not straight. @f-ckyeahfutbol has been talking about it better than I can, but I believe that a huge part of Dean’s personality the way we seen it formed at the beginning of the show is based on the fact that he has his own ways of rebelling to social normativity. He identifies as a freak, with the whole baggage that brings along. He suffers from the loneliness that that entails but also takes pride in his being different. He takes pride in his belonging to a subculture of sorts.

You make an excellent point in pointing out that queer discourse in the early 00s was very different that the current one. If season 1 took place now, I’d say, there is a chance that this boy doesn’t know about queer theory and the labels and identities that exist in the current queer discourse. So I’d say that there is a chance that Dean might not embrace the label bisexual because he is not up-to-date with queer theory and the words that are used now.

But Dean has been in his early twenties in the early 00s. The early twenties are to queer people what teenage years are for straight people, in a sense - straight people are exposed to societal and mediatic messages that help them shape their identity in relation to themselves and others during their teen years, but queer people lack that kind of messages in their teen years - like, there are seventy-five billion movies and shows about straight kids falling in love, but none about queer kids (at least not in the 00s).

So a Dean in his early twenties would have built his identity in relation to sexuality. And he would have found less labels to pick from than one has today, so to speak. Not too many years ago the “bisexual” label was an umbrella identity for many different experiences, that could be summed up as “not straight nor gay”. Asexuality was included in that, too.

I think that Dean always knew he wasn’t either straight or gay. We don’t know if he would have used the word bisexual to describe himself in 2005, but I think that he would have identified with the definition of the word.

I think Dean has always known he was bisexual, so yeah, I agree with you about the trope in fics and headcanons where Sam teaches Dean about queer things. I think it’s a result of fandom being made mostly by straight women - they project their allyship and knowledge of queer theory over the straight character, Sam. In general there are multiple issues in fandom(s) due to a majority of shippers being straight women and the trope of “clueless Dean, wise Sam” is one of them (not the most problematic). I tend to see Dean as a lot more aware and self-aware than most fans seem to believe (not just in regards to his sexuality), and I tend to see Sam as less skilled in reading Dean than a lot of fans seems to believe, too. I mean, I believe there are multiple elements in the show that support my interpretation, but I am too exhausted and slow at the moment to make a list.

In conclusion, I have no idea how knowledgeable of queer theory Sam is, but I’m sure Dean knows more than him.

#andimeantittosting #my spn thoughts #spn meta #dean is bi #dean and sam #dean and sexuality #sam and class #dean and class #season 1 #spn

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centuriesofexistence · 8 years ago

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On the state of bi rep in The100

I’m sure more meta about The 100 is the last thing everyone wants to read, especially from me when I’m behind on promised chapters, but I read this article from @yanagrebenyuk , (which itself is a response to this article from Kelsey Juntwait at Culturess @hotcoffeecoldmornings).

Obviously, I couldn’t help but reply because there are some elements I agree with and some I think should be discussed. And I really, really do hope that this is read all the way through and discussed, because it warrants discussion. My ask is open.

The article discusses Clarke as positive bisexual representation regardless of her relationship because she is a strong, well-written character whether she is with a woman, with a man, or alone; it rejects the notion that Clarke’s worth as a bisexual lead is tied to her relationship [with Lexa].

I agree with this. Clarke is a well-written, complex, flawed, strong developed bisexual character, independent of her relationships. She’s a fantastic bi character and that means a lot to a lot of people, including me.

But the discussion about bisexual representation cannot end at “She’s good bi rep because she’s a good bi character.”

Being a great character who is bi does not automatically equal great bisexual representation. I think Clarke is almost there, don’t get me wrong! But there are elements of the narrative that surrounds her as a bisexual character and elements of her character herself that are bad for bisexual representation, and those are often glossed over when we focus the argument on simply the quality of Clarke’s character.

I refuse to give writers a pass simply because they make a character bi and then think that they have made a great contribution to the state of bisexual representation in the media. In a perfect world, making her bi is enough to be great bisexual representation. But with the state of bisexual rep and queer rep in general in the media today, writers have more of a responsibility than just announcing a character is bi and then sitting back because “that’s great bi rep because she’s bi.”

Imagine a viewer who has had no exposure to bisexuality before Clarke. The viewer sees a well-written bisexual character. That’s great! Now that viewer sees that bisexual women can be strong, developed, flawed, etc.

But Clarke is THE bisexual representation on the show. We can’t ONLY look at her character when we’re discussing bisexual representation, because that’s not all that bisexual representation is comprised of. She’s not only her relationships, but she’s also not only her character, because she is a character in a story designed to convey messages to us. We have to look at everything.

We have to dig into the questions surrounding bisexual representation to discuss and deconstruct it, instead of simply declaring it’s great because it exists on screen, especially when it’s given to us by straight white men. So let’s get into it.

In terms of the current conversations people have about Clarke’s bisexuality, I think the core issue in a lot of the debates about bisexual rep is people taking poorly articulated statements at face value and arguing against them because they’re easy to defend against, as opposed to employing critical thinking to understand the source and sentiment of these statements. So with that in mind, I want to address the major position rejected within the article:

“So why is her worth in the next season being questioned? Why does her sexuality matter less now that she’s alone? Does her importance really rely on one relationship?”

These questions and the gist of the piece are in response to the often repeated cry of bisexual, lesbian, and other queer fans that Lexa’s death has negatively affected the quality of bisexual representation on the show. Essentially, many people including the author view these complaints Clarke as being reduced to a relationship and understand them to mean that Clarke is “less bisexual” unless she’s in a relationship with a woman.

They don’t. It’s ridiculous for anyone to say that Clarke is more or less bisexual based on who she’s with.

She is absolutely bisexual no matter what; she is a great bisexual character no matter what.

However, when people talk about Clexa in reference to the quality of Clarke’s bisexual rep, they usually do not mean that Clarke is a more bisexual when she’s with a woman. What they’re saying is that it is incredibly uncommon to have a developed relationship between two important female characters.

In media, relationships between bisexual women and other women are rarely treated with the same narrative gravitas as Clexa was. They are often shorter-lived, less developed, played for laughs, hypersexualized, unhealthy, or used to demonstrate a bisexual character’s “wild streak.” Statistically, female love interests for bisexual women are more commonly guest stars, while male love interests are more commonly regular characters–that gives you a sense of the quality of f/f relationships for bisexual women vs the quality of m/f bisexual women. For this, it’s incredibly important that bisexual women see themselves represented in developed, serious romantic relationships with women on screen. They are not more or less bisexual based on who they’re with. But it’s important to treat same gender relationships for bisexual women with the same care are opposite gender relationships for bisexual women. That’s why people commonly highlight Clexa as important for Clarke’s rep–it is uncommon to see a bisexual woman in a well-written romantic arc with another woman, and therefore, it’s important to bisexual representation because of its rarity. All bisexual women are important to bi rep regardless of their relationship status–but when facets of bisexuality are underrepresented or poorly represented, it’s important to highlight good examples when those facets are well-represented. That’s why clexa gets brought up.

Of course, you may not agree with this point because you believe that Clexa was a toxic relationship. However, a vast, vast number of queer individuals directly represented by either Clarke or Lexa believe the relationship to be healthy and important and it’s important not to discount their opinions–it’s their rep just as much as it is yours. However, the question of toxicity brings me to my next point: if Clexa was a toxic relationship, as you believe, that makes it bad bisexual rep.

This, I imagine, is a point where you want to stop reading and write off my entire reply, but I ask you to continue because what I believe is often ignored in this conversation is the context in which Clarke is written. She is a bisexual young woman written by a straight, middle aged man; most female bisexual characters–most characters period–are written by straight, white, middle aged men. While it’s entirely possible for members of a group to successfully write about topics which they have not experienced firsthand, it’s important we maintain an extra critical eye on these situations to ensure that they are not perpetuating harmful tropes and stereotypes.

In this example, let’s look at Clexa,perceived by some as an unhealthy relationship. If Clexa is toxic, Clarke, a bisexual woman written by a white, straight man, would have therefore had only toxic or sexual romantic relations with women; a toxic relationship with Lexa and a sexual encounter with Niylah, designed to show that Clarke was distant from herself, numbing her inner pain with sex, and devoid of her humanity. Even the symbolic red hair was meant to show how different she was. On the other hand, she is shown in more loving and more complex relationships with men (Finn and potentially Bellamy in the future, if people who argue Clexa is toxic are to be believed).

Is this not a negative thing for bisexual representation? For a straight man to write a young bisexual woman’s only relationships with women as toxic and sexual but her relationships with men as loving, healthy, and complex? Let’s go back to our viewer from earlier: so far they have seen a well-written woman have horrible relationships with women and positive relationships with men. So they start to form an idea: for bisexual women, same-gender relationships are bad, but opposite gender ones are good!

If a bisexual woman is only ever portrayed as having negative relationships with women and positive relationships with men, that is not good bisexual representation period, and should be criticized.

This flows into the next point: the question of bisexual women ending up with men. Again, as I stated before, this argument often hinges on poorly articulated statements rather than the sentiment and source behind the statements.

Bisexual women in relationships with men are still bisexual.

Bisexual women who have never had any sort of relationship or romantic interaction with women are still bisexual. The same goes for the reverse.

But there is a difference between real life bisexuality and bisexuality we see on screen, as created by white, straight men. When someone says, “It’s bad for representation for Clarke to end up with a man” they are not indicting all bisexual women who end up with men. They are not erasing a bisexual woman’s sexuality. They are making no sweeping statements about real life bisexuality.

What they are doing is lamenting the common occurrence within the media of bisexual women experiencing some form of heartbreak with a female romantic interest and ending the series with a male love interest. Again–this does not make these characters more or less bisexual. This is not a statement about bisexuality. This is a complaint leveled against the creatives who influence public perception of bisexual women via overuse of common tropes. Again, these creatives are overwhelmingly white, straight men. All writers create from their own experience and perspective, and they draw from stories and experiences they grew up with to create stories of their own. When bisexual tropes are repeated in this fashion, they contribute to a public perception of bisexuality which then influences future stories from those who will only ever be exposed to bisexuality and queerness in general from the media. The common stereotypes negatively affecting bisexual women? Promiscuity, an inability to make up their mind, interest in women as a phase that will end when they meet the right man–all negative perceptions, and all influenced by media.

Statistically, bisexual women characters end up with men more than women. That is literally indisputable. Water is wet and the sky is blue.

Bisexual women face so many issues and stereotypes and judgements in society today, from both the queer and nonqueer community. We feel like we don’t fully belong in either group, either we’re “not straight enough” or “not gay enough”. We’re hypersexualized. We can’t make up our minds. We’re experimenting. The mental illness and self-harm rates among bisexual women and bisexual individuals is higher than average

Why do you think this is?

That is an actual question I’m asking you, a question I want to hear your answer to, if you have no other response to this. Why do you think that both straight people and non-bisexual straight people have these negative perceptions of bisexual people?

It’s not that non-bisexual queer women think men are icky and don’t want to see a bi woman kissing a man. It’s not that shippers are angry that “the other side won.”

Seriously, think deeply about the state of media and the perception of bisexuality and why these negative perceptions exist.

I’ll give you my answer, and if yours is any different, tell me. These issues have a strong foundation in the way media–controlled by straight, white, middle-aged men–paints bisexuality. Non-bisexual queer women see f/f relationships poorly treated, often with their specific representation being killed or written off, while the bisexual character remains, ends up in a relationship with a man in a “relationship that was always meant to happen.” How do you think non-bisexual queer women feel in that situation when they see it happening again and again? Media, stories control our subconscious. Of course a resentment builds up. It’s not fair at all but it’s understandable–and the source of it is repetitive stories that show a queer woman being killed off or “put on a bus” to be written off, and replaced by a man for a much more developed and fulfilling relationship for the bisexual character. This creates a divide within the community if these are the majority of stories people see–and again, they’re created by straight white men who only understand these concepts through the stories they grew up with.

Likewise, straight people see hypersexualized depictions of bisexual women. They see Thirteen from House going on benders and fucking nameless women to dull her pain, but having relationships with men when she’s healthy. They see Riverdale using an f/f kiss as edgy titillation while the actresses scramble to assure fans that it will never happen romantically. Jason Rothenberg saying “It’s great, she’s bi so we can hook her up with anyone except maybe her mom, because that would be a little weird.” Again–straight male writers using f/f sexuality as edgy and dangerous and sexy, making bisexual women “interesting” without alienating the straight audience because she still has the potential to come back to the “good side” with a relationship with a man or when she’s single. Or they’re short lived relationships, or joking references to past experiences with women. Angela from Bones is a good example: it’s randomly revealed in the 4th season that she has an old ex-girlfriend. They share a kiss, but the girlfriend is too flighty and a more mature Angela says that she needs someone more stable and secure. The ex-girlfriend goes away, and Angela has been in a long term relationship with a man ever since–the more “stable” relationship she was looking for. What image does that present of bisexual women and same-gender relationships??

When f/f relationships are poorly written or underrepresented, it contributes to a negative societal perception of bisexual women. Equal representation, equal quality representation, of bisexual women in relationships with other women is fucking ESSENTIAL to improving the perception of bisexual woman in real life. If the representation were equal, there would be absolutely no issue with bisexual characters in relationships with men because people would understand both sides of it.

And this brings me to perhaps the most contentious part of this post, but one that I’ve clearly been laying out and building to since the beginning: why Clarke being with Bellamy is not the most beneficial step for bisexual representation. It doesn’t make Clarke “bad” bi rep. It just contributes to stats of bisexual women ending up with men after their female lover is killed or written off, which in turn contributes to the negative perception of bisexual women in real life–a perception that will persist until the numbers are equal. Not forever. But there is an inequality in representation, and Clarke would be better for bi representation if she did not contribute to this inequality.

Additionally, as stated, there is a perception that Clexa was toxic. To write a bisexual woman into sexual and toxic relationships with women and then have romantic, complex, healthy relationships with men is not good for representation. To comment on this is not reducing Clarke to a ship, but condemning this portrayal of bisexuality from a white, straight man.

Clarke by herself is still bi rep. No one is disputing that. No matter what, Clarke is a well-written bisexual character and that is good for bi rep. But there are so many things surrounding her character, that are bad or will potentially be bad for bisexual representation on a macro level, and the show deserves criticism for that.

They should not be swept under the rug simply because “Clarke is a good bisexual character.” And in fact, the original article by Kelsey Juntwait that @yanagrebenyuk‘s piece is in response to, states that: Clarke is a great bisexual character but the issues and tropes that she has been involved in because contribute to a larger issue of poor bisexual representation within the media.

What this article effectively did was dismiss the criticisms of the bisexual representation on The 100, valid criticism from bisexual women, with a defense focusing on only one aspect of the representation: the quality of the character. Whether the other criticisms were unintentionally misunderstood or deliberately twisted to be easily dismissed, does not matter: in addition to presenting an ineffectual argument, it does a disservice to bisexual women by silencing real criticism of a piece of media, criticism that could start a conversation that could contribute to better representation on screen and better perceptions of bisexual women in real life.

So we need to talk about it. I’d love replies to this post, from @yanagrebenyuk and from others; if you don’t want to reply directly, my ask box is open and anon is on. But we need to have this discussion.

#the 100 meta #Clarke Griffin #bi rep #bisexual representation in media #queer rep

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edtechlg · 4 years ago

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Folio Thinking & Eportfolios

“Folio Thinking” and ePortfolios

A portfolio is a collection of artifacts that assists a person in telling their story of learning, growth, and accomplishment. Originally used by artisans and designers to show potential patrons what they can do. Educators have morphed the portfolio creating exercise into a process that shows students what they can do. Education has historically used a flurry of instruments to assess student progress and achievement; each one attempting to enumerate a very precise aspect of learning.

Let’s compare traditional assessments to folios...

Tests and quizzes assess the accumulation of knowledge. In its most popular form, multiple choice, the test endevours to set up a situation and ask the student to make a decision. However, the situation isn’t always authentic and the decision isn’t always made using the skill the test desired. In contrast, a portfolio or eportfolio affords itself transparency. The viewer or evaluator knows the skill is achieved because of the evidence present, and the creator knows they have achieved mastery of the skill because they: 1. Know the standard expected of them to master the skill, 2. Evaluate their work against the expected standard, 3. Demonstrate their work meets the expected standard.

Worksheets and homework are intended as practice, and what it is they assess tends to vary from educator to educator. Are we assessing the ability to learn a skill immediately? Are we assessing effort? There are many areas where repetition and practice are needed to master a skill, but the point to the repetition is the end point, not the practice. I practice my scales so that I can play a song on the guitar, not so that I can keep playing scales. Sadly, we also see many of these assignments fit in what I like to call the search and record category of assignments. These assignments assess your ability to find information in one source and write that information in another spot so you can turn that into your instructor. Proving that you can find information and write it down. A portfolio/eportfolio takes each of these well-intentioned activities and redefines their meaning. Rather than just practice students can log, reflect, and analyze their progress involving practice activities. The living record of research and resources accompanied with student reflection also takes the simple recording of learned information to a place where knowledge is sustained and added to rather than crammed for an assessment and then forgotten afterward.

Essays, research papers, and student presentations come the closest to assessing verbs higher on the Bloom’s compendium. There is reflection through the revision process. Students are asked to wrestle with an idea or topic, evaluate opinions and sources, and justify assertions. That’s some high-level thinking, but still this assessment is limited by time. The paper or presentation is submitted and the learning stops. The course continues. The student continues, but that piece goes on a thumb drive somewhere to die. When you live that folio life, your work gets resurrected. You grow and learn, and that can be reflected in your work. The academic rigor of a long form assessment like the ones mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph are intensified 10 fold by the meta analysis one does with portfolio reflection. Determining the achievement of learning standards offers a new level of understanding that isn’t afforded by the modern essay writing process.

If I had my way...

As a student pursuing a graduate degree in Educational Technology Leadership, I do not find it very relevant or meaningful to answer comprehension questions about educational technology that professors have identified as important, so they can evaluate how well I memorized information. What is important to me are the skills, research, and resources I aquire over the duration of my degree program. It is much more helpful for me to have a useful product that I created, and to be able to leverage that product to improve my professional outcomes whether that is within an institution or during a job search.

I would much prefer to be assessed by articulating what I know through a collection of artifacts that shows evidence of learning. As an Instructional Technology Specialist, most of my time is spent trying to educate teachers about the research behind instructional practices. Keeping record of my learning in an easily accessible, digital format allows me to share the work that I do at the graduate level with the teachers I work with at the secondary level.

Portfolio vs. Eportfolio

Physical portfolios hold a nostalgic property that connects the creator to the artifacts inside. The image of preparation, organization, and presentation coalesce into magic when a crisp portfolio accompanies a potential hire into the interview room. While a digital copy is easy to update and oftentimes much easier to access, the medium can still tend to look less polished if not done right. Through reflection an eportfolio can still give its creator a feeling of whimsy when browsing through old word documents, but where the eportfolio distinguishes itself is through the ability to easily add never-ending amounts of research and resources that would turn a physical portfolio into a file cabinet. Repurposing the eportfolio enhances the likelihood that the creator will continue to use it. Used as a resume, once you get the job, the eportfolio becomes a resource, and then maybe even an instructional tool.

Eportfolio Test Drives

In my quest to find the right tool to create my eportfolio, I experimented with three different eportfolio options. The following is my reflection and evaluation of these three tools.

Foliospaces is an eportfolio hosting site that takes a social media approach to the collecting of learning artifacts. It has a very Facebook/Linkedin feel to it. It is set up to make sure that you create a profile with complete contact and biographic information, and then easily facilitates social-media-like sharing and networking. There are some design options available, but this was definitely the most rigid of all of the formats. I would love this for a job search, because it would ensure that I have complete and polished information. The uniform nature of the profile also takes the aesthetic critique away. There are a lot of very portfolio-specific features such as being able to create multiple portfolios and customize access to the different portfolios. This site is free and acts as a warehouse for storing all of your professional artifacts, but it does lean heavily on the career development side of eportfolios which suggests that it doesn’t afford itself to the classroom or personal study.

Format is a premium site that hosts eportfolios. The creator can easily add content using templates or custom designs. The page builder feature allows users to decide what information is included in the portfolio and lends itself to be used with multiple audiences. Blogs and social media integrate easily which allow for a “lifewide” reach and application. The program itself guides and gives examples, but doesn’t have required information, so in this sense it is much more like a traditional website builder but with added scaffolding to help the user create a complete eportfolio.

Google Sites can be used to create an eportfolio in a very broad sense. Sites has many applications which allow for products to morph and change the audience and purpose. Google sites affords itself to the connection of artifacts. The click-n-drag interface mixed with the storage capacity of the Drive helps the user collect and edit in a way that feels creative and open, but in reality is constrained to the essential of page building.

For my personal use Google Sites makes the most sense. I already use G-Suite extensively. I want some element of design freedom. Also, I want to be able to use this portfolio as a resource for my current job, a resume for potential employment, and to track projects and research. The fluidity of Google Sites allows me to construct something that is useful in more than one context

Now, if I were using eportfolios with my students (who are professional teachers at a high school in Texas) I might be more inclined to use Foliospaces rather than Google Sites, because it would prompt my students to include certain information which would be helpful to inexperienced folio thinkers. There is also a built in community on the site and by adding friends users could initiate conversation and reflection about instructional practices and other relevant topics.

Examples of Eportfolios

PD Day Portfolio: As an Instructional Technology Specialist at a high school, I am in charge of organizing and planning professional development sessions. The content standard I would look to achieve for these sessions is that teachers evaluate, plan, and improve instructional activities that maximize student performance. At the beginning of the day, I would have all of my teachers create a goal for their own learning. Teachers would create a Google Site with evidence of their learning and takeaways or analysis for improvement to pre-existing lessons. As the constructivist theory suggests, I would want teachers to connect what they are already doing in class or what they would like to do with the learning going on during professional development. The simple nature of design lends itself to this sort of quick portfolio building, and the fact that it’s a published web page makes the product more likely to be revisited by the creator. This is what you want with teachers. You want them to refer back to artifacts from a professional development, not throwing them in a file cabinet. This type of technology integration redefines the task assigned and takes it from simply taking in new information and resources to creating authentic learning tools and creating actionable steps for implementing these tools.

Video Lesson Eportfolio: Like most educators in 2020, I create tons of video content. This content goes into a folder and gets emailed out when teachers or students are in need of the information, but this content deserves to be published and available. A learning objective I am targeting with my faculty is to incorporate media rich resources into their lessons. Creating my own eportfolio of video lessons would allow for easy access and organization of my content. Having teachers build their own eportfolio of video content using Google Sites would also promote sharing and collaboration. This type of technology integration would be a substitution for the use of storage like Google Drive. Ease of use and organization would enhance how much these resources are used. The effectiveness of sharing of ideas and content through peer discussion and brainstorming on student growth is supported by research done by John Hattie. The gathering of these resources and presenting of them in an accessible manner supports refinement in teaching practice rather than reinvention every year or recycling of old content.

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