#that's our main form of communication these days. perfectly normal and human mode of interaction I see no problem'

[vaguely-concerned]

the sheer number of funerals, memorials and general scenes to do with mourning rook comes along to does start to take on a faintly darkly comedic edge the second time around. the universe is trying to tell them something and oh my maker they've got air pods in they can't hear us

[mediaareplural]

The Commodity Self

Howdy hey and welcome back! Let’s take a moment to discuss what it means to have a commodity self.  A person’s identity is constructed partially through social interactions and how others view them in social situations.  Children learn their social standing in the world through social interactions with their family members and their peers.  One main way an individual defines themselves is through the media they consume.  In Practices of Looking: An Introductioin to Visual Culture, the authors mention theorist Louis Althusser and how he describes this phenomenon as interpellation, which is “the way that images and media texts seem to call out to us, catching our attention.”  For example, some people are compelled to sit down and watch a reality tv show, while others may be more interested in watching the local news or reading an autobiography.  People begin to define themselves by the media they are drawn to, and start to seek out social groups based on the media they are interested in.  Since one of the natural human needs is for belonging, it only makes sense that people would search for others who are drawn to the same media that they are.  As I am at the ripe age of nineteen, I have been exposed to a massive amount of media commodities in my lifetime, which have shaped my identity.  Growing up during the major technological changes of the 2000’s made it easy for me to adapt to learning how to use new technologies that baffled older generations. I learned how to use cassette tapes and VHS tapes at the age of two, and expanded that knowledge to DVDs and Blu-rays as the years went on.  Now, I have many technological commodities of my own such as a cell phone, laptop, Nintendo 3DS, and a Kindle, along with an extensive DVD collection.  In Practices of Looking: An Introductioin to Visual Culture, the authors explain that “we construct our identities, at least in part, through the consumer products that inhabit our lives,” which explains why I partially define myself by the technologies that I have access to. Throughout high school, I felt as though I was an outcast because I did not have a smartphone.  During my freshman year, smartphones were only owned by people whose families were wealthy enough to afford them, but that quickly changed.  By my senior year of high school, I was one of the few people in my class who did not have a smartphone.  Because of this, I stood out like a sore thumb and no longer fit into the social groups I used to be in.  This proves that owning certain commodities define our identities, whether or not we are in control of what commodities we have access to.  The websites and apps I use also determine my commodity self. Being on the younger end of the millennial spectrum, I easily fit into multiple demographics.  On one hand, I am an adult who uses e-mail for professional communication and watches Netflix practically every day.  But on the other hand, I am still a teenager who uses apps like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter on a daily basis.  The use of these various sites puts me in different demographics, thereby splitting my commodity self and uniting it simultaneously. Media theorist Stuart Ewen describes the commodity self as “the idea that our selves, indeed our subjectivities, are mediated and constructed in part through our consumption and use of commodities.”  People my age, myself included, mediate ourselves based on what app we are using. For example, who I am on Instagram is a different persona than the one I portray on Twitter.  Not only do I use the apps for different purposes and to reach different audiences, but the layout of each app is unique, so it is nearly impossible to use them in exactly the same way.  I use Instagram as a photo sharing social media platform, allowing my friends a tiny window into my life.  Twitter is what I use when I want to comment on social injustice, relatable situations, or simply to share a quick anecdote.  People can easily change who they want to be with the different commodities they wish to use.  Another form of commodities that I use to define my commodity self is the various content that I consume.  For example, I am interpellated by YouTube videos, movies, and television shows. The types of movies I am drawn to are Marvel movies, Disney movies, action, thrillers, and dramas.  Some television shows that I watch that define myself by are Criminal Minds, Parks and Recreation, Doctor Who, and Stranger Things, among others.  Part of the reason I define myself by these commodities is because there are either characters that I relate to personally or there are characters that I empathize with. Movies and television shows are important to me because I find the reality within them, and connect that to my life.  I even quote various television shows and movies on a daily basis, which has become a personality trait of mine.  With every television program or movie I watch, I go in as one person and come out a different one; I become someone with a better perspective on life and have a new understanding of the world around me.  One of the main ways people learn about new commodities is through the advertisement of them to the public.  As the authors of Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture point out, people are often drawn to advertisements because they “present an abstract world, often a fantastic one, that is situated not in the present but in an imagined future.”  This can be clearly seen in the way Marvel movies are advertised.  There are many factors that go into the advertising of something as broad as a franchise of movies, one of which is the ideology of gender norms. Sturken and Cartwright mention that “societies function by naturalizing ideologies, making the complex production of meaning take place so smoothly that it is experienced as a ‘natural’ system of value or belief. For example, it is widely accepted, yet rapidly changing, that boys like superheroes and girls like princesses. Therefore, the advertising pushes the ideas of violence and action to try to attract a male audience. Even in the composition of shots in particular movies, it can be clearly seen that certain angles are used to portray women in a specific light during the course of the film.  One example of this can be found in the film Captain America: The Winter Soldier.  In the scene linked above, Black Widow is fighting her way onto a cargo ship where she and Captain America must save some hostages.  As an audience, we get to watch as she fights all the bad guys on the ship, empowering women in the process.  But then, all that female empowerment is shattered when Black Widow knocks a guy out with a pole, and we are given a clear view of her behind, perfectly centered in the frame, for an uncomfortable amount of time.  As previously discussed, these movies are advertised with men in mind, and scenes like this should not come as a surprise. However, the use of gender norms to advertise superhero movies is rapidly changing, so it is disappointing to see that degrading images such as this one can still be found in films that should be intended for everyone.  Another ideological framing that has rapidly changed in the advertising of Marvel movies is the representation of diverse races and cultures.  In the 2012 film The Avengers, the audience can easily recognize that all members of the main cast, aside from S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury, are white.  All other cultures were vastly underrepresented in this film, which was unfortunate to see.  However, in Marvel’s newer films, such as Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War, move diverse characters are being introduced into the film franchise.  In fact, in February of next year, Marvel is releasing Black Panther, which has an almost entirely black cast.  Not only does this ideological shift in advertising tell people that Marvel is accepting of all cultures and ethnicities, but they are also widening their consumer net by including characters in the universe that more demographics can relate to.  Sometimes fans need to negotiate the meanings of commodities they associate themselves with, so as to enjoy the product that is being presented to them without having their mind clouded with other aspects of that commodity.  I am a fan of Disney’s animated movies, and have been since I was a child.  Both the old and new movies mean a lot to me because they remind me of my childhood and take me away from the realities of life for a period of time.  Over time, I have adapted my understanding of the movies and the significance they hold in real-world situations.  Anthropologist Claude Lèvi-Strauss describes this phenomenon with the French term bricolage, which is “a mode of adaptation in which things (mostly commodities) are put to uses for which they were not intended and in ways that dislocate them from their normal or expected context.”  For example, the film Atlantis: The Lost Empire had a very different meaning to me as a child than it does to me now.  As a kid, I always thought the movie was about going on an adventure and Milo and Kida meeting and falling in love.  Now that I am an adult, though, I recognize the film’s themes that question capitalism and the ethics of archaeology. This film calls its audience’s attention to the reality of what the characters are doing and how some people have hidden agendas in situations that can occur in the real world.  Bricolage plays an important part in negotiating the meanings of commodities.  Another way I have had to negotiate the content of animated Disney movies is by looking past all of the work that goes into making an animated film.  While sitting on my couch, curled up in a blanket enjoying The Little Mermaid or Zootopia, I never take a step back to consider the long, painstaking work that has gone towards the end result of the film I am watching.  Animators spend countless hours drawing each frame of a scene or digitally adjusting each movement, depending on if the film is hand-drawn or computer-generated, and most likely spend days working on a five second span of one scene.  The amount of energy and time that Disney employees put into a movie surmounts the run time of the final version of the film. But, to me and many other general audience members, these films are just a great way to relax.  I negotiate the meaning of Disney films because I want them to have the same meaning they had when I was a naïve child, and thus I have to ignore and repress the idea that people most likely cried over the difficulty of making the animation flow smoothly.  It is much easier for me, as a member of the audience, to remove myself from the harsh realities of life and the truth about the difficulties people face.  Also, while appreciating the animated content in front of me, I never stop to think about the horrific original fairy tale the film is based on.  Most of the stories Disney produces are based on old fairy tales from a variety of countries, but they have to be modified in order to make the films safe for children to watch.  For example, in the original Cinderella fairy tale, Cinderella’s step-sisters attempt to try on the glass slipper but their feet are too big, so they saw off their toes in an attempt to force their feet into the slipper and marry the prince. Later in the story, during Cinderella’s wedding, the step-sisters get their eyes pecked out by ravens.  Disney clearly needed to skirt around these images in order to keep their G-rating. Even though I have this knowledge as an adult, I generally do not think about how the story is meant to go, according to the Grimm Brothers or Hans Christian Andersen, while watching the Disney version of the story.  I negotiate the meaning of these films because it is easier to enjoy the safe version of a beloved story I know well than it is to realize the harsh and violent realities of the source material.