#celebrity culture is weird when you see it in real life and i perpetuate it here

[ecultured]

d.byrne, t.head.

[lisalowefanclub]

Multiplicity and what identification and representation means to Us

Madeline: I don’t remember there being many cool, attractive, and overall desirable but not fetishized (bye yellow fever) representations of Asian people in mainstream media while I was growing up in the early 2000s. The Asian media I did consume was introduced to me by my dad, so you can imagine the kind of outdated and endearingly weird characters I was exposed to as a kid. Think blind Japanese swordsman Zatoichi or humanoid child robot Astro Boy, both of which originated in Japan around the 60s. As for celebrities, I occasionally heard people talking about Lucy Liu or Jackie Chan, but only as defined by their stereotypical Asian-ness. My point is that this kind of cultural consumption fell into one of two categories: that of obscurity, which suggests that cultural objects are created by Asians for Asians (bringing to mind labels like “Weeb” for Western people who love anime), or that of hypervisibility grounded in stereotypical exoticism. You’d be hard pressed to find a film that passes the Asian Bechdel test.I didn’t discover K-pop until coming to college when I became curious about who my white friends were fawning over all the time. Since then, it’s been really neat to see how K-pop has become popularized as one of the many facets of America’s mainstream music and celebrity culture, especially when artists write and perform songs in Korean despite the majority of their audience lacking Korean language fluency. This suggests that something about the music is able to transcend language barriers and connect people despite their differences. Today it’s not uncommon to see Korean artists topping Billboard’s hot 100 hits, being interviewed on SNL, winning American music awards, gracing the cover of Teen Vogue, or being selected as the next brand ambassador for Western makeup brands like M.A.C. If you were to ask your average high school or college student if they know Blackpink, BTS, or EXO, they would probably be familiar with one of the groups whether or not they identify as Asian.What does this mean, then, for young Asian-Americans to grow up during a time when Asian celebrities are thought to be just as desirable as people like Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, or Michael B. Jordan? What does it mean to see an Asian person named “Sexiest International Man Alive”, beating out long-time favorite European celebs? What does it mean for popularity to exist outside of the realm of the racialized minority and for it to build connections across minority cultures? Of course, fame can be toxic and horrible-- it is, at times superficial, materialistic, gendered, fetishized, and absolutely hyper-sexualized-- but I for one think it’s pretty damn cool to see people who look like me featured in mainstream American culture.I’ve found that throughout the semester, my understanding of Asian presence in America (American citizen or otherwise) has been deeply shaped by our discussions of identity politics and marginalization, another class I’m taking on intergenerational trauma, and my own identity as a Laotian-American woman. Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about the similarities between American proxy wars in Korea (The Forgotten War) and Laos (The Secret War), both of which involved US bombing of citizens in the name of halting communism. Taking this class has challenged me to reconceptualize how we make sense of mass atrocity in relation to a pan-Asian identity, especially when contending with how trauma and violence can act as a mechanism for cultural production, and I look forward to exploring this more in my thesis. 

Cyndi:  K-pop is always just the beginning. Enough in and of itself, any interest in the genre at all reinvigorates the consumer to become more engaged with the world in which it exists. Two years ago, I got into a big, but in hindsight pretty silly, argument with my mom when I started going to a Korean hair salon (because of my K-pop delulus / Jennie prints) instead of seeing Maggie, our Vietnamese hairdresser who I can usually only see twice a year on our bi-annual visits to California to visit extended family. My mom told me the Koreans don’t need our money, they are already richer than we will ever be. Who are ‘the Koreans’? Who is ‘we’?? Is every person of Korean descent doing better than every person of Vietnamese descent in America? And #why is my mom being A Hater? Surely, sharing our identity as ‘perpetual guests’ in America should create some sort of solidarity, or at least, allow for transitory economic collaboration??? I give my money to white people all the time: to McDonald’s (Cookie Totes), to Target, to Swarthmore College. 

K-pop cannot be the end. As much as I enjoy the music, the show, and the celebrities, I also know in my heart that the current international interest in K-pop will not last. As an almost perfect and perplexing exemplification of modern global capitalism, the industry will over-expand and thus wear itself out. I always see the subtle disappointment on my language teachers’ faces when they ask me how I came to take interest in Korean, and I have to answer ‘K-pop’, because that is the truth; that is not where I am at now, but it will always be how I began. It has become clear to me that this disappointment is not just a generational difference. Maybe these old people are jealous of pop stars like how I also have to question whether I am secure in myself when I see a 14 year old accomplishing things I as a 21 year old could never accomplish in my long life. I am coming to understand that part of their reaction comes from the fact that there is a fine line between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation, that pop culture is ephemeral, but they have lived their lives as entirely theirs. Casual or even consuming interest for the parts of culture that are bright, and clean, and easy cannot ever stand in for true racial empathy, though it is where many of us start. Identity in K-pop is merely another marketing technique, but to the community of fans and lovers, it is something that is real, lived, and embodied. I find that looking at K-pop always brings forth my most salient identities in terms of gender, race, and sexuality. As much as female group members express affection and jokingly portray romantic interest toward one another, would it ever be accepted if these jokes were no longer jokes, but lived realities? Even if the K-pop industry itself did not seek to produce fan communities of this magnitude, these communities that have been founded in response to it are here to stay.�� Lowe argues that “to the extent that Asian American culture dynamically expands to include both internal critical dialogues about difference and the interrogation of dominant interpellations” it can “be a site in which horizontal affiliations with other groups can be imagined and realized” (71). A recent striking example is Thai fans’ demand to hear from Lisa on the protests -- a primarily youth-led movement against the government monarchy--going on in Thailand. Although she is, of course, censored and silenced on this topic, the expectation is still there; fans are holding their idols to a standard of political responsibility. 

Jimmy: I haven’t really paid much attention to K-pop until working on this project. Sure, my cousins would do anything to go see BTS perform in person, but I didn’t care so much. Or maybe, I was just not saturated with the cultural zeitgeist. Whereas they live in the center of a cosmopolitan city which imports and exports, my hometown hums white noise. Increasingly, though, K-pop has entered into my life and the wider American cultural space. Now, K-pop tops the charts and is featured on late-night talk shows. Whether or not you are a devout follower, you have probably encountered K-pop in some form. It was not until I went to Swarthmore that I have “become” Asian American. Back home, my friends are primarily either white or Vietnamese-American. And even though I did recognize that I had an “Asian” racial identity mapped onto me, I did not consider it to be based on any politics. After engaging with and working within  Organizing to Redefine “Asian” Activism (ORAA) on campus, as well as taking this course, I have a better grasp of what it means to rally around an Asian American identity. It is a way to organize and resist. Reflecting on my political evolution, I feel comforted and alienated by the cultural weight of K-pop in America. It is amazing to see the gravity of cultural production shift away from the West. And to have global celebrities from Asia is great. Yet, K-pop is limited as a platform for Asian Americans to create identity. What are the consequences when mainstream ideas about contemporary “Asian” culture are still perpetually foreign from America? Is Asian American community just built around transnational cultural objects like K-pop and bubble tea? Does the economic and cultural capital of K-pop held by its idols obscure or erase the heterogeneity and multiplicity of Asian Americans? 

Jason: The first time I heard K-Pop was when Gangnam Style came on during a middle school social event when everyone is standing in their social circles doing their best not to be awkward when teacher chaperones are constantly staring at the back of your head seeing if any wrongdoing would occur. At that time, I could never imagine the K-Pop revolution that would occur within the American music industry.  Anytime I turn on the radio it is only a matter of time until a BTS song will start being blasted from the speakers. It is crazy to think that K-Pop has become so widespread within American popular culture that mainstream radio stations in Massachusetts are so willing to play K-Pop, even the billboards of 104.1 “Boston’s Best Variety” are plastered with BTS, because they know that is what their audience wants. Eight years ago, during that middle school social Gangnam Style was more about being able to do the dance that accompanied the song rather than the song itself. This has completely changed as more and more people are finding themselves becoming devout supporters of K-Pop. This class and project have continuously been pushing me out of my comfort zone by engaging in literature that I would never have read and discussions that I would never have imagined participating in. I have even listened to more K-Pop over the past couple of weeks than I had ever before in my life. I was impressed by myself when a song by BLACKPINK came on and the radio host said here’s some new music that I knew that the song was from their first album that came out around a month ago. I am grateful that I have been pushed out of my comfort zone and “forced (by having to actually do the homework)” to engage in the material of the class. Who knows how long this K-Pop fascination will last in American popular culture, but I am glad that I could be a part of it rather than letting it pass me by and staying within my comfortable music sphere of country, pop, and British rap.  

[rwt-mystic-corner]

~*Pagan Meme*~

Tagged (via proximity and desire to do it) by @stormwaterwitch​! And I tag: Anyone who sees this (as long as they’re okay with tags)!

Do you have a magical/Pagan name?

I do, but I prefer not to publicize it. The “RWT” in my url is the abbreviation, though!

How did you find Paganism?

It was less of a defined epiphany, and more of a gradual realization that led to a transition. I’ve always thought trees and wind and thunderstorms had “power”, and I always delighted in FEELING it!  But I didn’t appreciate that power reverently, in a dedicated worship fashion, until I was about 14, and started reading about Wicca. 

From the first book I picked up (”Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner” by Scott Cunningham), everything just felt right, and the exercises came naturally to me. I never understood why “pagan” was an insult, and I always secretly believed there was more than one God or force of nonphysical power in the universe, despite being raised Christian. I met with them, communed with them, prayed to them, asked them for guidance... All that book really gave me was a name, and the gateway to an identity I now proudly embrace. (And, well, more structure and definition for what I was feeling, and ways to more directly consult and praise them.)

How long have you been practicing?

Witchcraft: I learned that little “wishes” sent out to the world had an impact at a very young age. It was an intrinsic part of my worldview, even at age 8! So without knowing I was working magic, I’d been practicing it my entire life. Pagan-dedicated worship, though? 12 years. Same time for dedicated, focused actual witchcraft.

Are you out of the broom closet?

To most people, yes. I came out as pagan to some of my co-workers within like two months of knowing them. 8F (Though I don’t openly chat about actually practicing witchcraft unless I’m prompted, because I’m not a fan of attempted evangelism.)

Solitary or group practitioner?

Solitary, though I occasionally join forces with friends and spirits.

What is your path?

I call it eclectic paganism, wherein I’m definitely pagan, but I’ve gleaned elements of truth from Buddhism and Daoism as well. As for my path in witchcraft, I call it more of a “mystical” practice, because I’m all about understanding divine mysteries, harnessing forces in the universe, and introspection as a study of microcosm. “Witchcraft” generally indicates a lot more use of physical tools, words, and rituals than I’ve ever used. (At least, not since I was about 16.) 

D E I T Y

What’s your brand of deism?

Oh boy, this one’s fun. Technically speaking, I’m an agnostic theist. I believe there is definitely something out there, but I also believe it’s impossible for humans to understand and truly comprehend exactly what that divine power is. Hence, “agnostic” (”not knowing”) “theist” (believes in godlike power). The pantheon I’ve connected most to is the old Finnish crew.

Who is your patron God/ess?

Matrons Mielikki and, well, the second is a bit of a close-kept secret. ;}P (While she’s not nearly well enough known to be considered “pop culture”, she’s been a very powerful force in my life since inducting me as a follower.)

What Gods do you worship?

Regularly? None of them, oops;; But mostly the two aforementioned. I’ve also felt a connection to Hestia, , and a weird connection to the Egyptian pantheon that definitely was Not worshippy, probably mostly from a past life? (But I was so irreverent in that life, it would probably be an insult to worship them now, ehheh;;)

Do you fear darkly aspected Gods/Goddesses, or rather respect them?

They’re practically my guardian angels. (I’m a shadow witch; their domain is my source of power! My spirit guide is a creature of the darkness!) I deeply respect, and in moments revere them, though I don’t really worship any by name.

Do you worship the Christian God?

I didn’t even “get” him when I was taken to church every Sunday. Or when I spent a week at Missionettes camp. Or when I could feel every single other person in that big room being spiritually elevated, and it felt so positive, and yet, I couldn’t feel what they were connecting to. He has never made himself known to me, so I couldn’t if I tried.

Do you worship animals? Or plants?

I revere and respect their power, and I appreciate the messages they may carry from my matrons and local spirits. So in a sense, yes?

N A T U R E

Do you regularly commune with nature?

Not as often as I’d like to... but when I’m at work with the dogs outside, and the sky is clouded over with a strong, consistent breeze: I do reach out to the forest behind my workplace and gaze off into the sky.

Taken a camping trip just to talk to nature?

I wish! I’ve never really been alone on a camping trip. Someday I absolutely will, though~ (Even though the forest Mielikki connected to me is at a local metropark with no campgrounds, and no other forest has ever “opened its heart” to me that way... it’s still a powerful feeling.)

Describe the moment you felt closest to Mother Earth?

...It’s hard to pick just one, honestly. It must be moments in which I’ve talked to the trees, or sat in the river just to feel the ground beneath me, the water around me, to breathe and get lost in it until I became a part of it...

Do you have a familiar?

I might. I haven’t exactly been working with him lately, but my chinchilla Dusty came to me in a magical way. I dreamed about holding an off-white chinchilla with a singular spot. And then went into work the next day, and saw him there. A tiny white chinchilla, with one little gray spot, just like in my dream. I resisted, initially; I was still healing from the loss of my first chinchilla, and didn’t quite trust myself? But he stayed in that cage for awhile, maybe a month, and as I took care of them, he gradually started coming closer and closer, losing his nerves, growing braver, growing closer... and then grooming me! We bonded, but he would still avoid everyone else in the store. Then one day, as I was debating whether it would be the right time to take him home, I heard the lyrics played on the radio: “Dreams do come true, from out of the blue”. So I took it as a sign, and now? He’s so very highly attuned to my moods. He gets excited when I’m excited, even if I’m just sitting there smiling at my computer screen. He runs to hide when I’m feeling frightened. He sits at the cage door and watches me when I’m getting lost in contemplation, and he seems to “join me” in peaceful meditation, and will curl up and sleep. He followed me around my room when I was setting high-powered defensive wards around it in the apartment, and if I lowkey enchant his veggies, he’ll always go for the one I was holding first.

I haven’t figured out how to incorporate a chinchilla into meditations or spellwork yet... (buuut it’s hard to rework something you’re not really doing lately, yikes.)

Have you ever called upon the powers of an animal in ritual? Or a plant?

Plants, definitely-- just today, I stirred a little ginger into my soup (to help with my perpetual stomach trouble), and worked a little magic to pull out all its healing properties I could. During meditation, I often have animal guides coming to aid me, or direct me, or watch over me, or just stop by to see what I’m doing. And of course, there was my old familiar, a tangerine ring-neck dove named Fizzy, who used to sit with me in meditation, watch over me in rituals and lend his flight to my prayers and spells, and I used his feathers in travel and creativity spells. 

Do you hug trees?

Not traditionally. I do lean against them when communing, though.

Give them gifts?

Ooh, no, but that’s a good idea. (I have adopted other gifted plants that others didn’t want, though.)

What are your favorite plants to work with?

Ooh, that’s tricky! Peppermint, maybe? Meadowsweet and heal-all remind me of a very dear witchy friend. Sandalwood usually has great results for me, but incense tends to dilute them... Probably pine above all, actually! It’s special to Mielikki, it smells wonderful, the trees are resilient and never mind giving a few needles or boughs, and the softer, enduring energy blends really well with my gentle persevering nature.

What are your favorite trees to work with?

See above. c: Closely followed by willow and hawthorn.~

What is your favorite holiday?

Definitely Samhain/Halloween!

What is your least favorite holiday?

Beltane, Litha, and to a degree, Lammas. I can’t do the ~summer energy~ thing, it makes me feel like I’m burning up and overstimulated. Moonlight rituals aren’t as bad, but I still tend to pass out in the heat, so, you know... Very Hard to Get Witchy when you’re seeing spots and your head is swimming. (The energy overstimulation doesn’t hit me as hard as it used to, not on the front end, but I don’t have as much time to dedicate to meditation and cleansing anymore, so it builds up more quickly anyways.)

Have you ever held a ritual on a holiday?

Quite often! Well, assuming Esbats count. I used to do mini-rituals for every single Wiccan holiday that I wasn’t doing a full-blown prayer/meditation session for. But that only lasted a year or two, because the story behind them didn’t really connect with me anymore.

Ever taken a day off work to celebrate a Pagan holiday?

I did, one Samhain when I had requested off and my boss just forgot. I opened up about it, as long as he promised not to laugh, and told him it’s a spiritual day for me, and he gave me the day off. Nowadays I at least request Samhain off when I can afford to, but lately my finances don’t really allow me that luxury. lP

Do you celebrate Yule on the 21st rather than the 25th?

You know, sometimes it’s the 20th and sometimes it’s the 22nd, but yes~ Back when I was 16ish, I would wake up on the morning of the solstice and watch the sun rise, to feel out the new year and perform a ritual of “planting seeds” for the coming year... hmm. Considering all the big life goals I’ve been setting lately, maybe I should get back into that routine....

[sirro85-blog]

Humans are Weird: Addiction

T'Loss marvelled as the humans poured themselves small glasses of more concentrated poison and with a chant of "drink 'em high, drink 'em low: friends forever, here we go!" performed "shots".

Many of the more junior members of his unit were drinking with the humans keen to take part in this ritualistic celebration following their successful operation. T'Loss had insisted that those in his command stopped after they had imbibed 3 of the human "units" knowing how poorly his race tolerated the ethanol.

"It's good to see humans can even corrupt entirely different xenotypes to their ways of debauchery and excess"

T'Loss turned and saw Major Kovac standing a few strides away, he was clutching a mug of steaming brown liquid, T'Loss assumed it was filled with coffee seemingly ever present in the Major's life.

"Our juveniles can be foolish in the extreme, it is understandable to see humans with your fractional life spans behave so perilously and for the Rahtoul to be swept along by it when you proved so...adept in this last campaign."

Gesturing at the steaming mug of coffee T'Loss asked, "you do not partake?"

"No." The Major answered

"A command issue?" T'Loss half queried, the captain had already explained why she only stayed for a single drink.

"Not for me, I don't drink any alcohol"

"I believed it part of your culture?"

"Well part of some of our cultures certainly," the Major said, "I don't drink because I'm from a long line of alcoholics"

T'Loss didn't recognise the word: alcoholic.

"My parents and their parents were addicted to alcohol, they drank it to the point that it controlled their lives, it killed them in the end." The Major explained.

"I am sorry for your loss," stated T'Loss, recognising the human custom, "I don't understand, addiction?"

Major Kovac sighed and turned his head away from T'Loss slightly, "Well in my family it's alcohol or narcotics...Well that's true of so many families, especially Glasgow my home town"

T'Loss paused, he'd been through this before with humans, "I'm sorry I do not understand the word addiction"

Major Kovac grinned and shook his head, "of course you don't, well it's when humans develop a physical and psychological need for a substance or action" he paused and gave a little groan, "this might take a while...Humans release Serotonin and dopamine when they enjoy something, or rather the enjoyment is the serotonin...I don't fully understand it but essentially if you experience pleasure there's serotonin involved...dopamine is in there also, oh and endorphins there is a pleasure experience of some kind involved with endorphins, i don't know I'm a specialist in urban conflict not an endocrinologist"

T'Loss nodded, it was known how human brains responded to chemical release.

"Well if a human starts to use a specific substance or action to elicit this pleasure response that can become the only source of their pleasure...is a simplistic way of describing it. If the human becomes reliant on the substance then, at the very least, they experience severely low mood if they don't partake in the action or substance, we call it getting a fix."

"And this dependence on the addictive source of serotonin is viewed as a negative?" T'Loss did not see a danger with this.

"Well not always, in the case of my father he started drinking alcohol more than socially normal and it's inebriating effects led to his unemployment, eventually he lived his remaining life perpetually drunk and died from the poisoning effects." The Major appeared to lose his train of thought and stared into the distance, "not all addictions are necessarily bad but they become an issue when they become the focus of your life."

"So addiction is an issue when it has affected your life negatively?" T'Loss asked, feeling he was beginning to understand, "it has a neuro-chemical manifestation but is only viewed in the negative if it's impacting on social constructs?" T'Loss felt something akin to panic, it was known that human behaviour was literally alien, more so than any other race, they were quick to anger, pack-bond and to feel joy, it was an entire race of badly raised juveniles. "As a species you all accept the risk of alcohol!?" He choked out staring at his juniors now watching one soldier "Strapedo" a bottle of wine.

"Ahh most people enjoy a drink in the evening or at the weekend to limited ill effects, it's just people like my family that take it too far...and yes as a society in general we accept that."

"You have a genetic disposition to alcoholism?" Why hadn't this been bred out?

"I suppose I do, but perhaps it's behavioural, at times it seems worth it, some of our greatest minds have had addictions."

"So only certain members of your race can become addicts, I used that correctly?" Perhaps the Rahtoul could screen fore this trait before hiring any humans in the future.

"Yes, you did," the major paused, "well, I suppose we all have some form of addiction, I 'need' my coffee, but without it all I suffer is headaches, irritation and increased fatigue, also 'needing' caffeine is so socially acceptable, we print it on t-shirts, that being said we do the same with alcohol..." Major Kovac grinned, "amongst my group of Godless lunatics I have 31 smokers, I'm not supposed to know that 12 of them take pain relief medications they aren't prescribed, about eight have real adrenaline addictions, a solid core of them probably 40-50 would easily be described as addicted to the gym-they get super cranky and stressed if they don't work out," he paused looking fondly at his "godless lunatics" and gave a small smile, "I probably fit that description too, and the Captain, Becca probably easily fits the description of a sex addict."

"Addiction is intrinsic to your nature?" T'Loss said struggling to keep his voice calm, inside he felt both awe and dread sweeping through him.

"We like pleasure releases and will seek them out, repeatedly."

T'Loss stared at the band of humans on his vessel, quite how these bizarre chemically dependant, impulse driven juveniles with apparently no impulse control or common sense had ever managed to get out of their caves let alone manage interstellar travel while chasing every second of pleasure they could find baffled him. Humans it seemed were entirely driven by their emotions and desires.

So I am aware that I haven't really done justice to the intricacies of addiction, feel free to add to the recovery and treatment aspects. Feedback is always appreciated =).

[i-am-very-very-tired]

Somewhere between Britney and Billie Eilish, liberated by social media and their direct relationship with fans, millennial and Gen Z women claimed the right to be complicated pop auteursRead all of the essays in the decade retrospective

📷 Laura Snapes Mon 25 Nov 2019 13.12 GMT 174

While Billie Eilish has reinvented pop with her hushed SoundCloud rap menace, creepy ASMR intimacy and chipper show tune melodies, there’s also something reassuringly comforting about her: as a teenage pop star, she has fulfilled her proper duty by confusing the hell out of adults. It’s largely down to her aesthetic: a funhouse Fred Durst; a one-woman model for the combined wares of Camden Market. Critics have tried to make sense of it, but when editorials praised Eilish’s “total lack of sexualisation”, she denounced them for “slut-shaming” her peers. “I don’t like that there’s this weird new world of supporting me by shaming people that may not want to dress like me.”To Gen Z’s Eilish, not yet 18, it is a weird new world. She and her millennial peers have grown up in a decade in which pop’s good girl/bad girl binary has collapsed into the moral void that once upheld it, resulting in a generation of young female stars savvy to how the expectation to be “respectable” and conform to adult ideas of how a role model for young fans should act – by an industry not known for its moral backbone – is a con. “It’s a lot harder to treat women the way they were treated in the 90s now, because you can get called out so easily on social media,” Fiona Apple – who knows about the simultaneous sexualisation and dismissal of young female musicians – said recently. “If somebody does something shitty nowadays, a 17-year-old singer can get on their social media and say, ‘Look what this fucker did! It’s fucked up.’”📷 Lunatics conquering the asylum ... the Spice Girls. Photograph: Tim Roney/Getty ImagesFemale musicians have been subject to conflicting moral standards for longer than Eilish has been alive. Madonna, Janet Jackson and TLC knew them well – but the concept of the pop “role model”, expected to set an example to kids, solidified when the Spice Girls became the first female act to be marketed at children. In the 70s and 80s, idols such as David Cassidy primed girls for a monogamous future. By comparison, the Spice Girls were lunatics conquering the asylum. But, given their fans’ youth – and the sponsors that used the band to reach them – they also had a duty of responsibility. Their real lives – the all-nighters and eating disorders – were hidden so effectively that Eilish, born in 2001, thought the band was made up, actors playing the roles of the group in Spiceworld: The Movie.In the late 90s, kid-pop became an industry unto itself: Smash Hits and Top of the Pops magazine pitched younger; CD:UK and America’s TRL aimed at Saturday-morning and after-school audiences; Simons Fuller and Cowell built empires. The scrappy Spice Girls preceded the cyborgian Britney, who was a far sleeker enterprise – until she wasn’t. She was pitched as a virgin: cruel branding that invited media prurience and set a time bomb counting down towards her inevitable downfall. Britney’s 2007 breakdown revealed the cost of living as a virtuous cypher and being expected to repress her womanhood to sell to American prudes. Her shaved head and aborted stints in rehab prompted industry handwringing, and so an illusion of the music business offering greater freedom and care for pop’s girls emerged in her wake. Advertisement Major labels abandoned the traditional two-albums-in bad-girl turn (a la Christina Aguilera’s Stripped). Social media-born artists such as Lily Allen and Kate Nash were swept into the system and framed as the gobby antithesis to their manicured pop peers – until their resistance to exactly the same kind of manipulation saw them cast aside. And if Kesha, Lady Gaga or Amy Winehouse burned out, their visible excesses would distract from any behind-the-scenes exploitation, inviting spectators to imagine that they brought it on themselves.📷 Reclaiming the hard-partying values of rock’s men ... Kesha. Photograph: PictureGroup / Rex FeaturesAt the dawn of the 2010s, social media surpassed its teen origins to become an adult concern, and an earnest fourth wave of activists brought feminism back to the mainstream. Like a rescued hatchling, it was in a

pathetic state to begin with – dominated by white voices that tediously wondered whether anything a woman did was automatically feminist. Is brushing your teeth with Jack Daniel’s feminist? Are meat dresses feminist? Is drunkenly stumbling through Camden feminist? Are butt implants feminist?Pop culture became the natural test site for these ideas – especially music, where a new wave of artists challenged this nascent, often misguided idealism. Kesha reclaimed the hard-partying values of rock’s men to embody a generation’s despair at seeing their futures obliterated by the recession. Lady Gaga questioned gender itself, as one writer in this paper put it, “re-queering a mainstream that had fallen back into heteronormative mundanity”. In a career-making verse on Kanye West’s Monster, Nicki Minaj annihilated her male peers and gloried in her sexualisation. MIA, infuriated by America’s hypocritical propriety, flipped off the Super Bowl and proved her point by incurring a $16.5m fine.📷 Infuriated by hypocritical propriety ... MIA gives America the middle finger during her Super Bowl performance in 2012. Photograph: Christopher Polk/Getty Images Advertisement As a former Disney star, Miley Cyrus stepped the furthest out of bounds. In 2008, aged 15, she had posed in a sheet for Vanity Fair. “MILEY’S SHAME,” screamed the New York Post. She apologised to her fans, “who I care so deeply about”. But in 2013, she torched her child-star image by writhing in her knickers on a wrecking ball, twerking against Robin Thicke, being flagrant about her drug use, appropriating African American culture while perpetuating racist stereotypes.Cyrus’s 2013 transformation bore the hallmarks of a breakdown – especially witnessed two years after the death of Amy Winehouse, who was then perceived as a victim of her own self-destruction. But Cyrus was largely intentional about her work (if, then, ignorant of her racism). She had waited until she was no longer employed by Disney to express herself. Earlier in her career, she said, she struggled to watch her peers. “I was so jealous of what everyone else got to do, because I didn’t get to truly be myself yet.” Despite apparently smoking massive amounts of weed herself, she didn’t want to tell kids to copy her. But she knew the power she offered her peers such as Ariana Grande, who that year left Nickelodeon to release her debut album. “I’m like, ‘Walk out with me right now and get this picture, and this will be the best thing that happens to you, because just you associating with me makes you a little less sweet.’”Pop did get a little less sweet. Sia and Tove Lo sang brazenly about using drugs to mask pain. Icona Pop’s I Love It reigned (“I crashed my car into a bridge / I watched and let it burn”) thanks to its inclusion on the soundtrack of Lena Dunham’s Girls. With its aimless characters and their ugly behaviour, the show mirrored pop’s retreat from aspirational sheen, and the culture’s growing obsession with “messy” women and “strong female characters”: flawed attempts to create new archetypes that rejected the expectation of girls behaving nicely.📷 An explicit rejection of role-model status ... Beyoncé performs at the Super Bowl in 2013. Photograph: Ezra Shaw/Getty ImagesA new cohort of young female and non-binary critics shifted the discussion around music: in 2015, when the documentary Amy was released, they questioned how Winehouse was perceived in death compared to Kurt Cobain. They also pushed aside the virgin/whore rivalries of old. In an earlier era, Beyoncé and Lana Del Rey might have been fashioned into nemeses, one sexualised and powerful, the other gothic and demure. Instead, their respective mid-decade self-mythologising showed that female musicians could be pop’s auteurs, not just the men in the wings. Advertisement Beyoncé’s self-titled 2013 album was an explicit rejection of her role-model status. She was 15 when Destiny’s Child released their debut album. “But now I’m in my 30s and those children that grew up listening to me have grown up,” she said in a behind-the-scenes video.

The responsibility she felt to them “stifled” her. “I felt like ... I could not express everything … I feel like I’ve earned the right to be me and express any and every side of myself.”It was the first of her albums to reveal the breadth of her inner life – the coexisting kinks, triumphs and insecurities, showing the complexity of black womanhood. The critic Soraya Nadia McDonald wrote: “Mixed in with songs about insecurity, grief, protest and the love she has for her child, Beyoncé manages to present her sexuality as a normal part of her life that deserves celebration.” “It doesn’t make you a bad mother. It doesn’t make black people look bad, and it doesn’t make you a bad feminist, either.” When Beyoncé emblazoned “FEMINIST” on stage at the 2014 MTV VMAs, she helped reclaim the word from middle-class white discourse.Like Beyoncé, Del Rey countered the idea that female pop stars were major-label puppets. She had struggled to make it as an indie artist but found a home at Polydor – a detail that caused detractors to question her authenticity. Her shaky debut SNL performance revealed the flaw in their thinking: if she was manufactured, wouldn’t she have been better drilled? Her project was potent, but startlingly unrefined. More intriguingly, she opposed fast-calcifying ideas about how feminist art should look: Del Rey’s lyrics revelled in submission and violence, in thrall to bad guys and glamour. It wasn’t feminist to want these things; but nor was it feminist to insist on the suppression of desire in the name of shiny empowerment.📷 Exposing industry machinations ... Azealia Banks at the Reading festival in 2013. Photograph: Simone Joyner/Getty Images Advertisement Del Rey’s lusts and designs were her own – pure female gaze – a hallmark of the defiant female pop stars to come. Rihanna said she was “completely not” a role model, a point driven home by the viscerally violent video for Bitch Better Have My Money. Lauren Mayberry of Scottish trio Chvrches refused to be singled out from her male bandmates and wrote searingly about the misogyny she faced online. Janelle Monáe and Solange rubbished the idea that R&B was the only lane open to young black women.They started revealing their business conflicts. In 2013, 21-year-old Sky Ferreira finally released her debut, six years after signing a $1m record deal. She was transparent about her paradoxical treatment: “They worked me to death, but when I wanted to input anything, it was like, ‘You’re a child, you don’t know what you’re talking about.’” When Capitol pulled funding for the album, she financed its completion: it was widely named an album of the year. Facing similar frustrations, rapper Angel Haze leaked her 2013 album, Dirty Gold, and Azealia Banks wasted no opportunity to expose industry machinations.The rise of Tumblr and SoundCloud put young artists in control of their own artistic identities, forging authentic fan relationships that labels couldn’t afford to mess with. Lorde was signed age 12, but her manager knew he had to follow her lead because she knew her audience better than he did. Halsey was already Tumblr-famous for her covers, hair colours and candour about her bisexuality and bipolar diagnosis when she posted her first original song in 2014. It received so much attention that the 19-year-old – who described herself as an “inconvenient woman” for everything she represented – signed to major label Astralwerks the following evening.A new type of fan arrived with them. The illusion of intimacy led to greater emotional investment – and with it, an expectation of accountability. Social media was being used to arbitrate social justice issues, giving long overdue platforms to marginalised voices, and establishing far more complex moral standards for pop stars than the executives who shilled Britney’s virginity could ever have imagined. In 2013, Your Fav Is Problematic began to highlight stars’ missteps: among Halsey’s 11 infractions were “sexualising Japanese culture” and allegedly falsifying her story about being “homeless”.Musicians, particularly of an

older guard, were unprepared. Lily Allen’s comeback single Hard Out Here, released in late 2013, satirised the impossible aesthetic standards expected of female musicians – a bold message undermined by the racist stereotypes she invoked to make her point: “Don’t need to shake my arse for you ’cause I’ve got a brain,” she sang, while black and Asian leotard-clad dancers twerked around her in the video. The backlash was swift. There was the sense of a balance tipping.📷 Refused to let terrorists suppress girls’ joy ... Ariana Grande at One Love Manchester, 4 June 2017. Photograph: Kevin Mazur/One Love Manchester/Getty Images Advertisement Over the decade, female pop stars steadily self-determined beyond the old limited archetypes. But the most dramatic identity shifts were still a product of adversity, women battling for control.In 2015, Ariana Grande provoked mild outcry when she got caught licking a doughnut she hadn’t paid for and declaring: “I hate America.” Two years later, a suicide bomber attacked her concert at Manchester Arena, leaving 22 dead. She went home to Florida in the aftermath, then returned to stage benefit concert One Love Manchester. A victim’s mother asked Grande to perform her raunchiest hits after the Daily Mail implied that the bomber had targeted the concert because of her sexualised aesthetic. So she did. By prioritising her mental health and refusing to let terrorists suppress girls’ joy and sexuality, she set a powerful example for fans that ran counter to the moralising of commentators such as Piers Morgan.Grande appeared to emerge from this tragedy – and the death of ex-boyfriend Mac Miller – with a renewed sense of what was important, and what really was not. Her next album, Sweetener, defiantly reclaimed happiness from trauma; she swiftly released another, Thank U, Next, abandoning traditional pop release patterns to work with a rapper’s spontaneity. “I just want to fucking talk to my fans and sing and write music and drop it the way these boys do,” she said.Kesha had helped instigate this decade of greater freedom for female musicians – or so it seemed until October 2014, when she sued producer Dr Luke, making allegations including sexual assault. (In spring 2016, a judge dismissed the case; Luke denies all allegations and is suing Kesha for defamation.) She claimed she was told she had to be “fun”, an image that Luke’s label intended to capitalise on, revealing how revelry could be just as confining as its prim counterpart. In 2017, she released Rainbow, her first album in five years. Addressing her trauma, it got the best reviews of her career – a response that also seemed to reveal something about the most digestible way for a female artist to exist. But her forthcoming album, High Road, pointedly returns to the recklessness of her first two records. “I don’t feel as if I’m beholden to be a tragedy just because I’ve gone through something that was tragic,” she said.Taylor Swift’s refusal to endorse a candidate in the 2016 election, and the fallout from a spat with Kanye West, saw her shred her image of nice-girl relatability with her 2017 heel-turn, Reputation. But she rebelled more meaningfully when she leveraged her profile to expose the music industry, alerting the public to otherwise opaque matters of ownership and compensation. She joined independent labels in the fight to make Apple Music pay artists for the free trial period it offered consumers. Earlier this year, she despaired at her former label, Big Machine, being bought – and the master recordings to her first six albums with it – by nemesis Scooter Braun, an option she claimed she was denied. Now signed to Universal, and the owner of her masters going forward, she hoped young musicians might learn from her “about how to better protect themselves in a negotiation”, she wrote. “You deserve to own the art you make.” Advertisement Swift’s formative politesse came from country music, an industry that emphasises deference to power and traditional gender roles. In 2015, consultant Keith Hill – using a bizarre metaphor about

salad – admitted that radio sidelined female musicians: they were then subject to endless questions about tomatogate, as if they had the power to fix it. But that blatant industry disregard freed female country artists to shuck off obligation and make whatever music they wanted. In recent years, Miranda Lambert, Ashley McBryde, Brandy Clark, Kacey Musgraves, Ashley Monroe, Maren Morris, Brandi Carlile and Margo Price have all creatively outstripped their male peers.📷 ‘Just me existing is revolutionary’ ... Lizzo. Photograph: Owen Sweeney/Invision/APTheir situation resonates beyond country: greater personal freedoms for female musicians haven’t equated to greater commercial success. Just because a wave of female pop acts have refused old industry ideals, that doesn’t mean control is consigned to the past. There will be young women enduring coercive music industry situations right now – whether manipulation or more serious abuse. Some may never meet those impossible standards, and fail to launch. Others may quietly endure years of repression before potentially finding their voice. There are high-profile female pop acts working today who control their work yet are still subject to grinding suggestions that they change to meet market demands, and noisy women from this decade who have been sidelined. The tropes of the self-actualised female pop star are so established that labels know how to reverse engineer “real” pop girls beholden to a script.But the emergence of a more holistic female star will make it harder for labels to shill substitutes. Their emotional openness has destroyed the stigma around mental health that was used to diminish female musicians as “mad” divas. Charli XCX said she would never have betrayed her vulnerabilities when she was starting out in her teens. “If I’m emotionally vulnerable,” she thought, “people won’t take me seriously … Now I just don’t care.” Robyn spent eight years following up her most successful record because she needed time to grieve and unpick the impact of her own teen stardom. Britney – who in 1999 told Rolling Stone, “I have no feelings at all” – this year cancelled her Las Vegas residency to prioritise her mental health. 📷 More to the floor: the decade the dancefloor was decolonised Read more Advertisement They’ve relentlessly countered the male gaze. Chris refused to simplify queerness for the mainstream; Kim Petras stood for “trans joy”; Rihanna challenged the idea of skinny as aspirational by creating inclusive fashion lines and candidly discussing her own shape. “Just me existing is revolutionary”, Lizzo has said, while Cardi B refused to let anyone use her past as a stripper undermine her legitimacy as a powerful political voice.Where unthinking messiness was valorised at the start of the decade, now imperfection only gets a pass as long as nobody else is getting hurt. This summer, Miley, now 26, apologised for the racial insensitivity of her Wrecking Ball era. Soon after, she posted striking tweets in response to rumours of her cheating on her husband. She admitted to having been hedonistic and unprofessional in her youth. But she swore she hadn’t cheated in her marriage. “I’ve grown up in front of you, but the bottom line is, I HAVE GROWN UP,” she wrote. (To a degree – not long after, she found herself called out again when she implied that queerness is a choice.)In their fallibility and resistance to commodification, the women who have defined this decade in pop look a lot more like role models than the corporate innocents sold to girls in the early millennium. They’re still learning, working with what they’ve got rather than submitting to what they’re told. “I don’t know what it feels like not to be a teenager,” Billie Eilish said recently. “But kids know more than adults.” … as you’re joining us today from South Africa, we have a small favour to ask. Tens of millions have placed their trust in the Guardian’s high-impact journalism since we started publishing 200 years ago, turning to us in moments of crisis, uncertainty, solidarity and hope. More than 1.5

million readers, from 180 countries, have recently taken the step to support us financially – keeping us open to all, and fiercely independent.With no shareholders or billionaire owner, we can set our own agenda and provide trustworthy journalism that’s free from commercial and political influence, offering a counterweight to the spread of misinformation. When it’s never mattered more, we can investigate and challenge without fear or favour.Unlike many others, Guardian journalism is available for everyone to read, regardless of what they can afford to pay. We do this because we believe in information equality. Greater numbers of people can keep track of global events, understand their impact on people and communities, and become inspired to take meaningful action.We aim to offer readers a comprehensive, international perspective on critical events shaping our world – from the Black Lives Matter movement, to the new American administration, Brexit, and the world's slow emergence from a global pandemic. We are committed to upholding our reputation for urgent, powerful reporting on the climate emergency, and made the decision to reject advertising from fossil fuel companies, divest from the oil and gas industries, and set a course to achieve net zero emissions by 2030.

[thefemaleexperience]

answering one of those lists of questions we use to do back in 2010

if you could pierce somewhere other than your ears, where would it be? - I would like to have my nose pierced again

what are your feelings on bangs? - i love bangs and thye really suit me, though they do make me look about 8 years younger and i hate growing them out

what is your favorite blanket material? - cashmere

if you had to be sent up into space or into the depths of the ocean, where would you choose? - hm deep ocean because it really terrifies me are you afraid of death? why or why not? - no. I’m afraid of pain and terrible accidents, but the idea of actually being dead doesnt bother me what astrological sign do you think you should be? - taurus or gemini who is the worst person you have ever dated? - every one is a complex set of flaws and traits and their personality is built upon their experiences and everything that has ever happened to them, and remembering that reminds you that the way people act isnt about you personally and no-one is “bad” if you could remake one movie the way you think it should’ve been made, which movie would you choose? - The Hobbit what is a custom/activity/experience/etc from another culture that you wish would be in your culture? - last year I attended the final 2 weeks of a Yolngu (Aboriginal group from far north Australia) funeral, and the openness of grieving was really full on. it has really changed my relationship with grieving if you could choose where you were born, where would you want it to be? hm it wouldnt matter to me *where* i was born, but i wish i’d grown up somewhere where being bi.multi-lingual is the norm if someone told you they could tell you the truth about god/religion/higher powers/the universe/the meaning of life/what happens after death, would you want to know? I dont think there is a meaning to life, i dont think anything happens after death, I dont know if these are questions I have? but i guess yeah im too nosy to ever turn down the hot goss what is your favorite part of your nighttime routine? sleep doesn’t count. I use to drink this lovely lavender herbal tea every night and im just starting to drink it again what is your favorite form of exercise? I use to love running. i would run 10+ Kms on the treadmill every evening, but both my knees are fucked and i can barely jog anymore. so i guess just hiking / walking in nature

what is one current trend that you hate? cancel culture? idk. so many things annoy me...so i just dont surround myself with them. if theyre bringing other people joy who cares.  what is a trend that died that you would bring back? perms what era of fashion do you wish to bring back? 90s “tomboy” style for young girls! i love flares and 70s flowy fashion too im big on period-drama costumes  what is one movie or tv show that everyone loves that you hate? i dont like “gross” animation did you have a teacher growing up that helped you through a difficult time? who were they? A handful. My literature teacher Mrs. Campbell stand out think of a paper you have written sometime in your education. what was the topic? It’s all i do haha mostly about rethinking Aboriginal Studies and approaches to Indigenous education do you believe in universal healthcare? discuss. is that liek australia’s health care? like yes? when americans talk about how much a trip to the drs or a medical procedure cost that you would just die without????? what is one song that makes you feel like love is real? landslide - fleetwood mac what is one song that makes you feel like you’re dancing in a meadow with the sun shining on your skin? california - joni mitchell what is one song that makes you believe that things will get better? california - joni mitchell haha have you met any celebrities? if so, who? lots but whatever you’re being forced to move out of your country. you must choose another one to move to, and you may never leave it, even for vacation. what country do you choose? bonus points if you answer the city. most of my overseas trips have been fairly short holidays so i have no idea about the practicalities of lving in them / cost of living / laws etc. so this is hard but probably America, in either oregon or montana do you believe in the death penalty? discuss. no. what do you think happens after you die? your body returns to the worms. name someone you love. Geordie. name someone you like, but don’t necessarily love. Oliver. how many soulmates do you think a person has? more than 1 is love always worth it? discuss. love is good but we dont need romantic relationships to be fullfilled. love is everywhere pick up your phone. look at the text you sent closest to an hour ago. what was it? ”seems like a scam” do you believe in magical beings? discuss. no what time of the day do you feel most at peace with yourself? outdoors at 2pm what is an impulsive decision you have made that you don’t regret? to drive to Alice Springs when i was inbetween houses in 2018 if you were given the opportunity to completely start your life over from the beginning with everything prior and up until your birth remaining the same, would you? yeah. not because i regret things, it would jsut be fascinating to see the tiny miniscule things that would change things. i think about the tiny spur of the moment thigns i did when i was 12 that impacted friendships i would make and schools i would go to and how my life is still interconnected with people i met one time 15 years ago how do you feel about greek life in colleges? seems weird, culty and toxic. people say there are positives, but they dont seem to outweigh the bad in my eyes. but i dont think we really have that her in australia what is an aspect or event in history that you were obsessed with as a child? ancient egypt lol describe your ideal town to live in. I would love to move to Alice Springs. A commune is the dream what age are you scared to be? alternatively, what age were you most scared to be in the past? im truely so psyched to turn 30. do you have a secret you want to share? be as vague or specific as you want. get it out. if you want. I only have one big secret that no-body knows. do billionaires work harder than other people? discuss. fetch the guillitine  what is your favorite hairstyle for yourself? i think my mid length hairstyle of 2017 was v nice. thats when my hair naturally curls the most what is your favorite memory from being 13 years old? dear god what is a movie that shaped who you were as a person at a young age? Into the wild lol which us state would you erase if you could? not from the US so this doesnt mean anthing to me lol what is a skill you theoretically want to learn but probably never will? to be a mechanic what is an obscure language you want to speak? it’s not “obscure” but i guess only a relative small number of people speak Yolngu Matha and i would like to be fluent what is a place you choose not to go to anymore? why? lmao i avoid the northland coles (supermarket) because a dude i dated shops there and i ran into him once after id decided i didnt want to see him anymore and it was cooked do you think you’re living a fake life/putting on a facade/lying to people about who you really are? why or why not? i perpetually feel like im waiting to live the lfie i want to what is the color that defines your life?  burnt orange you have the opportunity to go to an exclusive celebrity event. which one is it? (award shows, premieres, parties, etc) i cant think of one? you can bring back one person from the dead, but you must choose someone to die in their place. who are the two people you are choosing? I would bring back Andrea Dworkin i dont know who i would kill off instead. what is your favorite fun fact that people don’t really know? idk if people dont know this but i guess it might be australia specifc But dingoes have special jointed wrists that are way different to dogs, and they can hold things, climb and open doors. pick up the nearest reading material to you (book/magazine/paper/etc). what is the first line of that reading material? lmao HOMER / The Odyssey is on my bedside table but im nto moving   if you had to choose a sport to play professionally, which one would you choose? soccer? what do you do to unwind/cool down when you’re upset? a hot hot hot bath by candle light listening to neil young what is the color scheme of your favorite sunrise or sunset? pink purple what is a beauty product you swear by? i dont wear make up but i guess eyebrow gel is cool how do you feel about plastic surgery? discuss. i hate our culture of uncritical support for it. i think the prominence of it is relly cooked. i hate that people treat it like minor / low risk when its very serious.  if you could get plastic surgery, would you? what would you change? a breast reduction cotton balls or cotton rounds? ??? what is your favorite animal product? i dont know what this means lol if you had to attend school in another country, which country would you choose? France? what will be/was the color scheme of your wedding? marriage is bad but i guess native australian flora is there something you have a really strong opinion about for basically no reason? what is it? i have basically no opinion on everything who is a person you would fight to the death for under any circumstances? no-one what would you do if you were in the hunger games? be honest. terrible? what time do you think everyone should wake up? getting into your circadian rhythm is so goooooood what is your favorite type of nut? if you’re allergic to nuts, sorry. hmm im obsessed with peanut butter but i dont really care for peanuts. i love brazel nuts what is your favorite part of your hometown? . . . uh the meth or the class gap or the conservative rural values / politics or ??? you must get rid of one of your electronic items. you have no choice. which one do you sacrifice? phone what is the first memory you have of oppression/discrimination? it doesn’t have to be about yourself. being like pre-school aged and being aware of my black cousins being spereated from their parents name 3 books you were forced to read in school. DH Lawrence novellas, which i loved No Sugar, everyone should read this The crucible, urhg so good how do you keep track of events/deadlines? calendar? agenda? your brain? having like 20 planners what is the first book that made you cry that comes to mind? i dont remember crying in a book if you had to give a seminar about something, what would it be about? abortion laws and access in rural australia how do you feel about your mother? she is good and complicated and intelligent and funny is makeup an art form? discuss. no what kind of videos do you primarily watch on youtube? ill just list my most viewed channels Daisy Lola Sarah Therese Unnatural Vegan what is the scent of your deodorant? i dont wear deoderant at what age do you hope you die? whenever

[mcdoodlehopper-blog1]

“All media exist to invent our lives with artificial perceptions and arbitrary value.”

In many ways, the virtual world is very much seperate from the real world. Our appearances are different and less refined, our speech is closer to proper grammar and somewhat more understandable, and our personalities are less polished and less frank. People act differently online, whether that’s because people can’t judge you online, or because everybody can. In many ways, because of the editability of our online personas. We can photoshop our looks, write and then rewrite our text and personalities, join communities without anybody knowing, and send anything anonymously. The fact that “we can be anyone online” is well known, creating not only these artificial perceptions, but also the knowledge that they are indeed artificial.

It feels strange that lies are part of the online community. If you see an image of a person on Instagram looking drop-dead gorgeous, there’s this understanding that some part of that image is fake. And yet we’re okay with this. This is just an accepted part of life, and although there’s some uproar when celebrities pretend to be flawless and end up perpetuating unfair beauty standards, on the personal level, when looking at images of friends or minor celebrities, we’re a lot more okay with it. Images of beautiful photoshopped people can get thousands of views, likes, and shares, despite the knowledge that there’s some level of it that’s inaccurate. It’s actually a really weird thing, that this unkept secret is okay to so many people. I actually don’t care too much about photoshopping yourself to look good, although I realize it usually does perpetuate an ideal of skinny, white, perfect people. I just do find it strange that there’s this overwhelming acceptance of it, including from me.

These artificial perceptions also change the way we view the world, not just individual people. This can unfortunately be very detrimental. For example, seeing Instagram or Facebook ads with only beautiful, skinny, white people can create a sense of inferiority in a person who doesn’t feel they fit those descriptions. They can feel that they don’t belong. If all a person sees of a foreign country is vacation spots from Instagram they might not see the people who live there, the culture, or the hardships. On the other side of that, if a person only sees desolate images of a country, they might believe it inferior, in need of help, or that it lacks freethinkers or culture. An example of this might be all of the images of starving children in “Africa” (Where in Africa? They don’t always say) in ads or outreach trips, giving us this idea that it’s lesser. But really, both these vacation images and desolate ads create an artificial idea of the country, gaining either tourism or sympathy, and hiding real information. Both of those make a profit.

There’s also the arbitrary values we put on ourselves in new media. Not only the fake currency that is internet points, or network of Facebook friends, but also value of a certain look. The values we put on ourselves in new media can be very dangerous, because of the sense of pride or defeat we get from each post. We base our own worth off of our worth online, despite the fact that an upvote on Reddit or a like on Facebook doesn’t really mean anything. Many people like anything their friends put out, making them mean nothing, but at the same time are proud when their own post gets to a certain point. The agreement of people saying you’re beautiful means only as much as you want it to, since it’s just opinion, and the value is usually placed on one type of person. All of these values don’t amount to anything. Somebody saying online that you’re ugly means no more online than in real life, and a like can’t be exchanged for food. However, these things can make people happy, and that’s okay. It’s really just important to know that they physically intangible, and the only person who gets to add any real value is you.

[news-mashable-yahoopartner-blog]

Trolls thought I was a man. That saved me.

This post is part of Me, online, Mashable's ongoing series digging into online identities.

I was locked in my friends’ bathroom on the phone with my thesis adviser and staring at Reddit. It was snowing pretty hard and though there was a window with some theoretical light streaming in, I felt like I was under a blanket, the flashlight of my attention pointed at a screen that I refreshed and refreshed and refreshed. I was discussing the critical thesis component required for my graduate degree, an MFA in creative writing. It was titled Masculinity and the Making of the Modern Nerd. It was a mess.

“Does that make sense?” my adviser asked, or something like that. I don’t know, exactly, what she’d said, other than the paper didn’t work, because I was preoccupied. We need a Kotaku In Action Action, a user typed. And they were typing it about me. Refresh, refresh, refresh.

“Yes, I think. Sorry, something weird and bad is happening right now?”

She paused. “Are you okay?”

“I think so? I think I’m fine.”

SEE ALSO: The email problem no one is talking about: mistaken identity

I’d been the Geekery Editor at Autostraddle, a popular website primarily by and for queer women and non-binary folks, for some years. I’d both written about Gamergate and assigned others to write about it. My entire first novel? It was (and still is) about the phenomenon of weaponized nerds, radicalized young men (primarily white and western) terrorizing women over games. At Autostraddle, I’d written an essay in 2016 praising one of the central targets of Gamergate for doing as much good as can possibly be done in the wake of a harassment campaign against her, and then moving on with her gosh darn life like a woman on a mission. 

I’d thought my biggest crime with this piece was writing it just a bit too saccharine; I was lavish with my compliments. The gamers on Kotaku in Action apparently thought it was more egregious than that — perhaps the worst offense in the entire world: that I might not be a "real nerd" at all.

I struggle to explain Kotaku in Action every time I have to, because it truly defies explanation and has the many heads of a hydra collective. It’s the Reddit forum that perpetuated GamerGate, a place to coordinate targeted rape- and death-threats against women in the games industry — when a user says “Kotaku In Action Action,” it is likely to these types of activities they are referring. 

It is synonymous with the alt-right (and strategically so). It’s full of (mostly) dudes with no sense of culture or community outside their homogenous gaming forums; these rootless young men long to be a part of something bigger, something greater and so, Kotaku in Action it is. A place on the internet that’s part of the Manosphere and also includes Pick Up Artists, Incels, and Men’s Rights Activists. A place so toxic that its creator recently tried to shut it down, calling it a “viral cancer,” and Reddit, in its infinite wisdom, decided to save it. A place that I’ve spent years researching in service of my fiction; I often say it is the butthole of the internet, and I’ve spent the last four years giving the world wide web a proctology exam.

When I was first alerted to the thread, I was scared. I’m no stranger to a good hate pile-on—I do work on the internet, after all, and writing for the queer community often means antagonizing some harsh critics, both without and within. The GamerGaters, though? I’d spent two years flying under the radar of these fine, upstanding gentlemen internet terrorists. I wrote for queer women, for non-binary folks. I thought that must be the reason why: They were uninterested in what I had to say because I was never saying it to a mainstream audience, to the normal set of gamers, and so I never got hit. I thought I must not be a threat; that wasn't quite it. I was wearing armor. Armor I had no idea I'd ever put on.

I was filled with too much nervous energy after seeing the thread to stay in my apartment, so I went to the Strand and stress-bought a Virginia Woolf Saint Candle, a Moleskine notebook I didn’t need, and a book on drawing happy people. When it was time for me to get back to my own space, I found I didn’t want to. My head was filled with all the stories, the doxxing, the SWATting, the things that can happen if you walk through the digital world as boldly female. It’s dangerous to go alone; I didn’t want to be alone. I told my Dungeons and Dragons group what was going on — I figured they’d be the most likely to understand, being a group of gamers. And that’s how I wound up locked in my dungeon master’s bathroom, talking to my adviser as I watched the comments build up on Reddit.

The guy spends way too long jerking himself off in the first paragraph about how much of a nerd he is.

When I was growing up, in the 80s, geek and nerd was a derogatory slur. I don't get the desire to identify with labels the popular people tried to shame us with... Anyhow, the term "geekery" makes my skin crawl. I guarantee you this guy knows fuck all about the history and intricacies of the various so-called "geek" interests.

I'm guessing he was alone for Valentine's Day.

They were mean — but they weren't threatening. There was only the one. The rest — just grousing. I'd seen much worse happen to other folks. To more feminine folks. Refresh, refresh, refresh.

I came out as trans last fall, but I’ve looked like this for a long time: close-cropped hair, chest flattened by a binder, every stitch of clothing I own from the men’s department. My fellow queer writers had seen me coming for years. But at the time this was happening in 2016? I was still white-knuckled from clinging to the sisterhood. Even though I’d get “excuse me, sir?” while walking about in public, right up until the point I opened my mouth to speak. Even though, more than once, folks had been very concerned when they happened upon me in the women’s room. Even though literally all my (repressed) internal barometers pointed to “not a woman.” 

I love my family, my queers; we are a people used to existing in the strange gray area. We are a people used to taking slurs from the mouths of hate-filled adversaries and tattooing them on the soft muscles of our hearts, making celebration and community out of words meant to hurt us. I figured I was just a failure at femininity; that the definition of woman was broad and that my masculinity fit within it. Those are all true things, they’re just not true for me. Still, it was shocking to see, this assumption that I was a man — a popular man, at that! 

It's annoying to me when popular hacks call themselves nerds. Especially because having been a nerd back when the word meant social outcast. It was them who came in and caused all beatings and insults.

Back in my friend’s bathroom, my adviser asked, incredulously, “They think you’re a guy?” 

“I think so,” I replied and I read her some of the comments.

“How?”

I explained it to her; it had happened before, this confusion. When I identified as a woman, I published under the name “Ali,” which, for half of this world, isn’t a woman’s name at all. My photo was next to my byline and people didn’t really read what the website was about if they found it from an outside source. I wrote largely about technology; my longest-running column was titled Queer Your Tech. A lot of folks (wrongly) consider that some “boy-stuff.”

She didn’t believe me until months later, when I was taking over her website from her former designer (I maintain the websites of a few authors I know). As he was passing me all the information I needed, he conducted the entire transaction calling me “he” in all the emails. HE THINKS YOU’RE A DUDE my adviser texted me, privately. In digital space, where I never have to open my physical mouth, where I am simply a collection of characters on a screen, no one ever looks at me with their eyebrow raised; no one ever corrects themselves. I am whatever I am assumed first to be. And I’m doing and saying the “boy-stuff.”

“Yup,” I responded. “I told you.”

Eventually, I did come out of the bathroom. I waited. These were tamer than the reports of what happened to the women who crossed the GamerGaters. I was expecting the worst — surely, if it hadn't happened yet, the worst would be coming and it was only a matter of time. I waited through the night for something to happen. 

And nothing ever did.

“Do they even know you spent the entirety of seventh grade eating lunch in the guidance counselor’s office because you were too unpopular to eat in the cafeteria?” my friend Laura said from my couch the next day. “You — you’ve never been cool. Except to me, you were cool to me.” Laura and I have known each other since the fourth grade. She stuck with me through my obsession with the musical Cats and my childhood assertion that I was an alien from Saturn. And now, she was volunteering to be my questing buddy. To keep her eye on the thread, to make sure I was safe, so I wouldn’t have to keep refreshing it.

“It’s taking everything I’ve got not to jump on and say something to these people.”

“Don’t do that. That’ll make it worse.”

What I meant was: Don’t do that, they’ll figure out I’m one of the things they hate. Because I’d developed a hypothesis, one that keeps proving itself even now, years later. I said things they disliked, disagreed with. They called me an SJW (social justice warrior), but I looked masculine enough that the Kotaku in Action Action never materialized. 

Looking like a dude was armor; it played on the subconscious prioritization of all things manly. I’ve watched queer femme authors get harassed so intensely that they have to leave the internet, and many of them aren’t even trying to poke the GamerGaters. The cause isn’t in the content, or the severity of the imagined offense. It’s in the gender presentation of the author. Those that the heteronormative world deems masculine people can talk; those they deem feminine people better watch their backs.

And the things about the way I present online one might perceive as feminine (allying myself with women, the over-prooving of my right to speak on a subject) were but small scratches in an armor built of clipper cuts and and computer-speak. “Boy stuff.” The reason I was never considered a threat wasn’t because of who I was speaking to; it was because of who I was — ultimately, not like those “other girls.” Weaponized nerds use their masculinity as a sword; now I know I can wield masculinity as armor to go questing in the darkest caves, in the buttholes of the internet. My masculinity allowed their eyes to slide right over me. Allowed isn’t even the right word; encouraged, perhaps. 

Two years later and not much has changed. It’s still happening; I am one variant, one echo of it. It wasn’t the masculine half of #PlaneBae that got chased off the internet, for instance. This isn’t a phenomenon isolated to me, or to queers, or to 2016, or to GamerGate. This is just the way it is, out there, on the internet. I could’ve identified as trans at the time this happened, instead of as a woman, and it wouldn’t have mattered. It’s the nature of being squeezed into two dimensional space while being squashed by the patriarchy. I am whatever people assume me first to be. I am safer online because of it.

A.E. Osworth is the Managing Editor of Scholar and Feminist Online at Barnard College and Part-Time Faculty with The New School’s Creative Writing Department, where they teach digital storytelling. You can find their writing at Autostraddle, where they contribute regularly, and Argot Magazine, where they are a columnist. You can also catch up with them on Twitter or Instagram.

WATCH: Meet the 10-year-old drag kid shaping the future of drag youth

[brendagilliam2]

How to future-proof yourself as a designer

For over 50 years, D&AD has been dedicated to recognising and celebrating the very best of creative excellence from studios and agencies around the world with its Pencil awards.

Alongside that, the not-for-profit organisation works with students and young creatives to discover, nurture and elevate talent wherever it’s found, with its New Blood awards. And of course, this attracts energy and talent; persistence and curiosity – those forces that keep our industries in a perpetual state of change.

This perpetual state poses challenges. We spoke to D&AD’s CEO, Tim Lindsay, and Bethan Morris, manager of D&AD’s New Blood Programme to find out more about how young creatives can future-proof themselves.

01. Consider alternative routes

Despite media hand-wringing about algorithms, robots, and AI, you and I will still be part of the future, somewhere, somehow. And so too will a new batch of creative talent. But how will they be educated, and where will they come from? “Universities still offer excellent routes in,” says Morris, “but we need alternatives,” she insists.

“Creativity struggles to be valued and is frequently overlooked by education systems and governments alike,” explains Morris. “In the UK alone, we’ve seen teacher shortages, a drastic reduction in the numbers studying design and technology, and a big mismatch between what’s being taught and the skills needed.”

Where does D&AD come in? “We want to help creative people realise as early as possible that there are career paths open to them where they can get paid for doing what they love,” says Morris.

Lindsay adds that creative roles need to be open to all. “The idea that creative excellence is available only to those who already have the ‘right networks’ has limited us for too long,” he says.

“We want to work with businesses to attract a far greater diversity of talent into the industry. People who can challenge what has gone before can provide different perspectives and solutions.”

02. Be adaptable

‘What should I be learning now?’ seems to be a question we ask ourselves with increasing frequency. Which piece of software, which programming language, which APIs?

While we can’t know now what we’ll need to know in 20, or even 10, years’ time, Morris recommends staying informed, and dabbling in new platforms, trends and technologies (Udemy offers great free courses on all sorts of topics and tech to get you started).

But ultimately, what’s more important is cultivating a progressive outlook on the world. “What you need is the urge to learn on the go, and to be prepared to adapt to whatever the situation calls for,” says Morris.

Even for those in their dream job, not every project that lands in your lap is going to give you goosebumps, which is why Morris stresses the importance of side hustles and passion projects. “There’s a real need for mavericks and ‘entrepreneurs’ within agencies,” she says.

Morris gives Ross Norman – New Blood Academy class of 2016 attendee, Pencil winner, and Kingston student – as an example of someone who has such adaptability and passion. 

He recently launched Peep, a publication about celebrating side projects and creative play. “Every project in Peep has play, freedom and experimentation at its core,” she says.

03. Question your motive

Make choices for the right reasons

As well as questioning what you’re doing to prepare yourself for the future, Lindsay also thinks you should be asking why you’re doing it. “The future of the planet is still largely dependent on business seeking to grow in a sustainable way – if indeed growth is the answer.”

Doing good will increasingly become good business, he adds, but it’s important to do this authentically and honestly.

“This movement is not about hijacking issues for dubious ends or playing with people’s hopes and fears,” warns Lindsay. “If you’re going to change how business is done, you’ll need creative courage, and be willing to take risks.”

Lindsay admits that taking such risks is not easy. “We’re not going rose-tinted specs here,” he says. “There are real challenges on the way to making it. There’s the risk of anonymity and the challenge of cutting through the competition for your talent to shine.

“There’s trying to move from serial placements to a permanent role, or even landing that placement in the first place. And then there’s balancing the need to gain experience and make connections with the need to pay your bills.”

04. Put yourself out there

Tom Watkins’ When I’m a Dad book features 10 imaginings of life as a parent and won a Black Pencil in 2015

But D&AD New Blood can help. It has free events, tools and resources to give everyone industry-standard insight, and offers a platform to identify and spotlight creative talent, help people rise to the top, open doors, and start conversations.

You can’t just rely on D&AD, though. Morris emphasises the importance of learning from your own mistakes. “It’s up to you to continue that conversation, put yourself out there, meet people, make connections, take advice to avoid some pitfalls, and learn the hard way on others.”

It’s up to you to put yourself out there, meet people, make connections, take advice to avoid some pitfalls, and learn the hard way on others

Getting out there and making stuff for real will always get you noticed over pictures on a page. And you’ll learn more, too. “It’s one thing to conjure up a beautiful concept under lab conditions,” says Morris, “but taking it out into the messy real world and solving problems and patching things up until it works will teach you a load of skills you’d never get in the classroom.”

We see this in the work that wins, too. Take Tom Watkins’ 2015 New Blood Black Pencil winner, When I’m a Dad. The touching and original approach to the subject matter took it a long way, but the fact that Watkins put the project out there by starting a conversation online was perfect proof of concept, and showed that his piece had the power to engage outside the jury room.

The world of commercial creativity is already a rapidly changing beast, and will undergo seismic shifts in the years to come as new technologies become commonplace and consumer expectations and behaviours adjust – and D&AD will continue to celebrate, stimulate and evolve with the best of this new world.

“It will always be key to celebrate and reflect the best of the industry as it is,” says Morris, “but with programmes like New Blood and Impact, D&AD will continue to set out a vision for and champion the best of the industry as it should be, rather than limiting ambition and representation to the industry as it is.”

05. Adjust your priorities

D&AD’s headquarters in London are full of lovely people

Finally, you can shape your future with your priorities: by putting humans before companies; choosing fun over money; being approachable rather than formal; and innovating rather than always sticking to the norm.

The company you work for is just a building full of people. So think hard about your interactions. Are you nice to people because you worry about upsetting them? Do you know them so well that your honesty can mutate into rudeness? Do you trust each other enough to be unselfconscious and have genuinely novel ideas?

Treat fun as a valid source of measurement, alongside all the other metrics you use to judge the success of your company’s culture. Make sure you give yourself the time and space to be playful.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a junior designer or an ECD – you should treat everyone the same. Marketing jargon needs to go. Layers of sign-off on every piece of work need to go. Trust needs to be handed out and fuck ups need to be expected. This is better than the alternative where everyone is afraid and just looks after themselves.

Seek out the weird, and the cutting-edge. Not all of it will find its way into a project, but resist the urge to self-censor or give people what you think they want. Question everything. If people tell you: ‘This is the way to do it because that’s how it has always been done,’ question it. Sometimes a small tweak or even a complete deviation will result in something better.

This article was originally published in Computer Arts issue 269. Buy it here and  subscribe here.

Related articles:

How to get into design without a degree

Back to school: essential design kit for the new term

The designer’s guide to Brexit

This post comes from the RSS feed of CreativeBlog, you can find more here!

The post How to future-proof yourself as a designer appeared first on Brenda Gilliam.

from Brenda Gilliam https://brendagilliam.com/how-to-future-proof-yourself-as-a-designer/

[amazingviralinfo]

Disability is not a fashion statement, and don't letKylie Jennerconvince you otherwise.

The young socialite and reality TV star posed recently forInterviewmagazine in highly sexualized positions in a wheelchair painted gold for extra glam. Given the extreme rarity of fashion editorials featuring actual disabled people, theres something particularly galling about seeing a nondisabled person play disability dressup for sheer novelty, with the mobility device appearing as a prop and little more. Disabled people argue that this kind of imagery is incredibly damagingand theyre not wrong.

The entire shoot positions Jenner much like a plastic mannequin, aging her up from her 18 years, slapping fetish clothing on her and draping her like a doll across sets and scenery.

Like other editorials in Interview, its designed to be striking and provocative. Ascommentators at Nylon point out, the decision to use a wheelchair as a prop isnt new, and it was undoubtedly deliberately calculated to spark controversy on an Internet attuned to problematic pop culture.

Wheelchair users in the real world typically live invisibly, ignored by the people around them and regarded as objects of fear; children stare at them while adults go to great lengths to pretend they dont exist. The wheelchair becomes an instrument of infantalization, lying between the user and full engagement with public life, and inaccessibility exacerbates the problem by keeping many wheelchair users out of view. Between endless stairs, tiny bathroom stalls, narrow doorways and other careless obstacles, navigating the world in a wheelchair is extremely challenging.

This right here is why I don't rate Kylie Jenner. A gold wheelchair? Disability isn't a glamorous fad. pic.twitter.com/5kpKgxdtPq

zara (@zaraisfierce) December 1, 2015

NEWSFLASH for @KylieJenner & @InterviewMag: A wheelchair is not an accessory. pic.twitter.com/hFBaq2N1yb

Choupette Lagerfeld (@ChoupettesDiary) December 1, 2015

For Jenner, however, the wheelchair was just a prop used for a few hours in a provocative photoshoot. The images create a strange sexualized tensionpeople are uncomfortable with viewing people who use wheelchairs for mobility as people who have sexualitiesand they also reduce Jenner to a doll lying uselessly in the chair, the stereotype of the invalid waiting to be rescued by a nondisabled person. With an actual disabled model, an editorial of this nature could make a powerful statement, but with a nondisabled woman, it leaves a very sour taste.

The disabled community aren't fighting social stigmas just so kylie jenner can use a wheelchair to look more edgy https://t.co/qQN1FJK5gt

basic brownie (@polypolarbear) December 1, 2015

The idea that Kylie Jenner in a wheelchair is seen as glamorous yet disabled people that use wheelchairs struggle to find modelling work...

Steph Bauble (@stephhboal) December 1, 2015

For Jenner, however, the wheelchair was just a prop used for a few hours in a provocative photoshoot.

Jenners appropriation of the disabled experience was particularly striking in light of her #IAmMoreThan anti-bullying campaign and her recent post on Instagram of a disabled participant who wrote about being more than her wheelchair. Her recognition of the stigma faced by wheelchair users stands in stark contrast to the photo shoot, suggesting that the young celebrity hasnt learned much from her own hashtag.

Thank you for your words @audreytheartist #repost "#iammorethan my wheelchair I have been doing really great lately and I thought it was time to share my piece of mind with you guys. 2015 has been one hell of a ride, and I am proud of me ; worked so far with amazing people, kept drawing when I couldn't for months because of the car accident I had last year, and also graduated. I left my comfort zone many, many times this year and I kept going, my faith in brighter days never faltering. Being different physically is complicated, you have to deal with loads of shits, and still keep smiling. I want to say to anyone who feels different, lonely or just down, #keepgoing. You never know what tomorrow is made of, in good or bad, so please, keep going and #nevergiveup. Life is weird, so are we, and that's what is #magical. I decided to embrace my flaws a long time ago, and I never regretted once that decision. I'm a young artist, and once again here, it's hard being different because, judgments ("you can draw with your hands?") but it's worth it. I believe one day, I will work for #Sia, making her cds covers, and even make exhibitions in San Fran, Amsterdam and Tokyo. In meantime I'm gonna build my empire, one drawing per day. And #keepsmiling because life is worth living no matter what. I love life. Do you?#audreytheartist @kyliejenner"

A photo posted by King Kylie (@kyliejenner) on Nov 25, 2015 at 9:54am PST

Critics like filmmaker Dominick Evans pointed out that while the wheelchair is used in the shoot as a heavy-handed metaphor for constraint, limitations and feeling trapped in the fishbowl of public life, many wheelchair users have a very different relationship with their mobility aids. Instead of being a symbol of inability, the wheelchair becomes a force for liberationsomething that frees, rather than hinders, the user.

The ridiculous @KylieJenner tries to profit off the misconception "wheelchair bound" means we're helpless...my wheelchair is my FREEDOM

Dominick Evans (@dominickevans) December 1, 2015

Jenners shoot, turning disability into a fashion accessory instead of a lived experience, spoke to the lowest common denominator in both fashion and social attitudes about disability. (Lest one think that this is a slipup for Jenner, look to her decisions to pose in blackface and with dreadlocks for other fashion editorials; Jenner, like many others, thinks little of the lives she appropriates to look fashionable.)

Wheelchair users in the real world typically live invisibly, ignored by the people around them and regarded as objects of fear.

In a non-apology apology, Interview tells critics that its intention was certainly not to offend anyone. But this isnt just about perceived personal offense. Its also about the perpetuation of social attitudes that harm an entire community, and this is why activists are speaking out against it.

Fashion editorials are often about dressing up, entering a fantasy world and creating something larger than the subject. In this case, however, Jenner tapped into cultural anxieties and attitudes about disability for the provocation value, and in so doing, directly harmed actual disabled people who deal with those attitudes long after she swings her feet off the footrests and leaves the set.

Disability advocates are right to be angry. Now well see if their concerns are taken seriously, or if theyre just dismissed as part of the Internet outrage machine.

S.E. Smith is a writer, editor, and agitator who serves as the social justice editor for xoJane and has been published in theGuardianand Salon, along with several anthologies.

Image via Quickie/CareMedicalResource | Remix by Jason Reed

[theantisocialcritic]

This AntiSocial Life: The Interview, North Korea and Media Culpability

Turning back the clock slightly to a few weeks back, there was a solid week long period where it seemed surprisingly possible that a nuclear conflict between the United States and the communist state of North Korea could possibly occur. Tensions rid high as the white house, North Korea, China and South Korea anxiously waited for someone to stupidly make the first move. The potential threat of newly developed long range ICBMs hitting the west coast of the United States never felt so close to coming to fruition. As suddenly as the tensions arose they faded back into the woodwork as Kim Jong Un made the smart choice not to instigate the end of the world. 

I rid out the crisis the way I do any other major international crisis. I sat in my room and watched movies. Naturally though the tangibility of the threat spilled over into social media and I found myself enjoying some joking at the expense of moment. A friend of mine made the offhand remake that he wanted to watch Dr Strangelove on account of the timeliness of the threat of nuclear war. My response was something to the effect of “an egoistical wannabe talk show host accidentally almost starts a nuclear conflict with North Korea? I think Seth Rogen’s The Interview is a more accurate summation.” He was speechless. I won the argument. 

Snide comment aside I did end up thinking about the movie a lot after revisiting it. It had been a long time since the film’s December 2014 release which unintentionally/supposedly almost caused a nuclear war (although more likely it was just an internal hack at Sony Picture). I remember taking a proud stance towards artistic freedom that lovely christmas season by unironcially seeing a Seth Rogen at my local dinner theater (weird what things get politicized aint it?). At the time it was a funnier than average action comedy with a smarmy political jab baked into it. Two and a half years later after the rise of fake news, i’ve found it to be one of the more surprisingly relevant films about media culpability i’ve ever seen. 

That’s likely a grandiose title to be giving to a Seth Rogen film. While his graduation under the Jude Appetow school of comedy has helped develop his skills as a storyteller/comedian alongside director Evan Goldberg his films largely haven’t dug terribly deep. His characters and films usually vacillate as megaphones for the joys of Gen-X rebellion, celebrity, pot smoking and atheism depending on the time of day. These are all perfectly fine things to explore with in a film however I have gone on record saying that I do believe several of his films have gone under the radar a bit. As far as film critics go films like his tend to be divisive. While audiences eat up his sort of comedy it tends to go one of two ways with professional critics. Film critics either disregard the scatological nature of his films as fundamentally immature or pop-critics reflexively come to their defense. The truth obviously lies somewhere between these two sentiments. There is room in serious criticism for consideration for the crude. 

The Interview probably wasn’t intended to be a deeply contemplative film about the nature of media corruption. Few things so frivolously conceived ever have such lofty plans. This was years before the absolute partisan cultural breakdown of the 2016 election and the gradual exposure of malfeasance amongst the mainstream (legacy) media. Even located out of the context of it’s time the dichotomy the film establishes works fascinatingly well. The Interview is the story of the seperation of the body and the soul of media and the true cost of it’s death. 

The central story of the film follows the relationship of Dave Skylark (James Franco) and Aaron Rapaport (Seth Rogen) as the star and host of a risqué late night talk show that is dedicated to perpetuating celebrity drama and tabloid news. As Aaron begins to discover that his show is disregarded by the rest of the media as a joke he and Skylark come up with a plan to interview the communist dictator of North Korea for a massive stunt interview and find themselves caught in a government plan to kill the dictator. Upon arriving they discover that Kim Jong Un is an awesome party loving guy who sways over Dave Skylark into thinking he isn’t a violent dictator. With a mounting tension between the need to assassinate Kim Jong Un and the once and a life time opportunity to interview the dictator on international TV Aaron is caught up trying to convince Skylark that what he sees around him is a lie. 

One of the film’s clever nods to it’s ultimate purpose is the parody of the in-media res introduction. Over the title of the film the audience is shown a montage of well known media personalities like Bryan Williams and Bill Maher reporting on the recent launch of an ICBM from North Korea that is causing international tensions. Abruptly without a clear transition the montage shifts into an episode of Skylark tonight where Dave interviews Eninem and starts spreading tabloid news when he accidentally comes out of the closet on air. Though one can imagine the intended point of the scene as being the shift in contrast from “serious” media to Skylark Tonight the transitions suggests otherwise. There isn’t a fine point of separation between these Skylark Tonight, Real Time with Bill Maher or NBC News. Regardless of the front they put up they all suffer from the same flaw.

With our two leads Skylark and Aaron we see the embodiments of the body and soul of media. Skylark is an impulsive, relentless tabloid drama-mongerer obsessed with drugs, sex, fashion and gossip. He is the embodiment of the nationalist hubris of Fox News, the partisan chicanery of MSNBC and the attention nabbing lies of tabloid media. Aaron on the otherhand is a conscientious and bright producer who wants to shift his resources towards doing the right thing. He’s the embodiment of media’s ultimate goal of standing for the truth against the powers that be. These two men are the ID and superego of modern media.

The actual story of their trip to North Korea and their exposure of the truth is the ultimate trial by fire for their respective ideals. As we come to see Kim Jong Un provides the ultimate source of corruption for Skylark. Their mission was to interview and assassinate the dictator and Kim’s wealth and now Skylark is so swayed over by his temptations that he can’t help but be brainwashed. Aaron in the meantime tries to finish the mission but can’t unimpeded by Skylark’s unwillingness to comply. The film’s emotional climax comes down to whether Skylark can overcome his clouded emotions enough to confront Kim on live television and destroy his reputation on the world stage. Because Skylark is able to succeed he leaves North Korea a better place. The millions of people suffering under the regime are shown their “god” dictator is a false god. With that knowledge they are able to create a new democratic country. 

This movie cuts to the ultimate truth of media, if media doesn’t tell the truth people suffer. 

What makes the film unique amongst other movies on the media i’ve seen is it’s surprising introspection. There is a tendency in Hollywood to romanticize the image of the news media as a kind of sacrosanct institution of noble do-gooders. Movies like Good Night and Good Luck and Truth dig into the idea of the necessity of the media standing up against the powerful by telling the truth. They portray the personal risk and cost of what it takes to be in the news media. What so many Hollywood films fail to do however is to judge the full cost of what happens when news media fails in it’s task to tell the truth. There is such a strong deference to the power of journalism and media that they rarely get the spotlight put on them to answer for their failures. 

I think the best contrast I can make would appropriately be with the film Spotlight. The 2015 Best Picture Winning Docu-Drama is one of the best films about journalism in recent years. If you haven’t seen it the film is an exploration of the Boston Globe investigation team that dug up and exposed the Catholic priest sexual abuse scandal of the early 2000s. It’s a shocking dramatic procedural that puts the horrors of the situation on full display and puts forth the importance of truth against anything else. Since seeing the film two years ago i’ve put a lot of thought into it. My initial review in January 2016 of the film mulled over what I perceived as a minor bit of confusion in the film’s tone and whether it should be more perceived as a pro-media movie or an anti-faith film. My initial judging of the film in hindsight though is one I no longer agree with. The film answers to my concerns in the scene where Mark Ruffalo demands that the article run before they have fully finished the investigation to keep the incomplete story from leaking to other papers. Spotlight is a film about the importance of truth no matter how hard it is to stare in the face. In spite of all it’s critical acclaim and insight the film has nagged at me since I saw it and I think my thoughts on The Interview finally put into perspective what bothered me about it. Spotlight is a film about journalism advocacy that doesn’t actually address the failings and status of what modern media has become. 

One doesn’t even need to look back that far in time to see just how severely corrupted news media can be. Early American news was a school of mudslingers and ideological propagandists. In the 20th century alone inordinately huge pieces of corruption were accomplished by vital members of the news media. During the Russian Revolution, New York Times reporter Walter Duranty fraudlantly gave positive coverage the rising Soviet Union, ignored the widespread forced famines against minority populations and then called opposing journalists who reported them liars. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1932 for his achievement. The former most trusted man in America Walter Kronkite’s coverage of the Tet offensive in the latter end of the Vietnam over emphasized America and Vietnam’s status following the attack, spinning what was a catastrophic loss for the Viet Cong into a negative report that dramatically reduced American support for the war overnight. Then of course there is the classic story of William Randolph Hearst who used his tabloid media to slander Orson Welles and his masterpiece Citizen Kane for indirectly criticizing him and his news organization to the point where the movie almost wasn’t released and wasn’t seen publicly for decades after. Just in the past few years we’ve had controversies from the CNN live-feed cutting of controversial speakers to the Bryan Williams debacle. Major networks on both sides of the isle openly push partisan hacks the propagate the news and tell you they’re objective to your face. Heck you may very well be someone who leans more progressive but shouldn’t it be unnerving that the most trusted journalists in America today are parody journalists like Jon Stewart, Steven Colbert and John Oliver? There is a reason why people don’t trust media anymore. It’s sad that it took this long for people to see it. 

What makes something as silly and scatological as The Interview stand out is that it does something nobody else is willing to do. It looks directly at the media and tells them that they aren’t doing their job. What does it say about an entire media when it takes something as crude as a Seth Rogen movie to call you out? In a time when media trust is at an all time low thats a damning truth indeed. 

Thank you all for reading!

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Live long and prosper!