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Challenge Post 18

Find an online dating site or download a mobile dating app that you have not used before. You do not need to generate a profile (unless you want to), but I do want you spend some time looking around. What kinds of profile questions are asked? How is the site/app advertised or marketed? What does its interface tell you about how the app functions? Who is the app/site designed for? Are there testimonials or reviews that discuss the site/apps’ “success stories”? Do the creators share anywhere on the site or app why they decided to create the app/site?

For this post I decided to look at the app “the league,” which introduces itself on the App Store by posing the question “so you want to date someone that shares your same education level AND ambition/drive?” And yes, it’s as classist as you would think. The first portion of the application asks for first name, last name, birthday, gender (male/female only), email, and password. You’re then able to maintain guest access or to purchase a plan for the app. The plan is either $29 a month for 12 months, $33 a month for 6 months, or $99 for one month. Even from the price range, this app is extremely classed.

The League is very much advertised as being picky, “self-aware,” and selective. Beyond that, the only user profile shown is of a white man who is a “Founder & CEO” and attended “Stanford.” The Preferences page shown depicts selection categories that include age, height, distance, ethnicity, education, and religion. The app fully embraces having a specific “type” that is informed by these categories. This enables both racism and classism to more directly effect the pool of users profiles that one has access to. What I find interesting is that the first thing in the “about” section of the app is that they are “Equalist. Not elitist.” This demonstrates that The League is fully aware of the ability for their app to be classed, raced, etc.

The interface’s design is black/white and extremely stark. The typefaces used in the logo are even somewhat reminiscent of the “New York Times,” and other official publications. This reinforces the overall boujee-ness of the app.

I think this app is a good example of how problematic Dating Apps can be. And while dating apps benefit certain subcultures (Queer, BDSM, etc.), they can also be used to further classist/racist dating conventions.

Per my last post

Challenge Post #16

Should cisgender actors be cast in trans* roles? Why or why not? What about straight actors in gay or lesbian roles? Are these even equivalent questions?

Even though I missed the discussion surrounding Transparent I have a lot of thoughts on this question. I really don’t think that cis actors should be cast in trans roles and I think that we should all be critical of cis actors that choose to take these roles. It’s much more difficult for a trans actor to be successful in Hollywood, due to the limited number of trans roles and the hesitation to cast trans actors in cis roles. Cis actors should respect that trans stories are not theirs to tell. Some huge examples of this include Transparent, Danish Girl, and Dallas Buyers Club.

I feel similarly about straight actors playing gay/lesbian roles. However, it is important to distinguish that questions about trans roles and gender identity cannot and should not be seen as equivalent to gay/lesbian roles and sexual orientation.

That being said, I don’t think that straight actors should accept gay roles. I don’t think those stories are theirs to tell. Straight actors are taking gay roles, often very historic roles, that Queer people should be playing. Some prime examples are The Imitation Game, Milk, Moonlight, etc. A super recent example is Call Me By Your Name and Love, Simon, which both feature straight men playing gay and being praised for doing so. It is also notable that gay/lesbian actors have an extremely difficult time not being typecast within Hollywood. The fact that an “OUT” actor has never been nominated for best actor while being openly gay, yet plenty of gay roles have been nominated is important.

Cis-het people shouldn’t be cast in Queer roles.

fuckyeahsecretary

Challenge Post #13

For this post I am going to focus on Happy Together. Happy Together goes against “American convention” of love/sex/romance in film by making the love interests in the movie never actually have any kind of physical/sexual interaction. By the end of the film, I (along with many others) was rooting for Fai and Chang to end up together. However, their romance is unlike others in films because they have never interacted physically/sexually or even admitted attraction. This is particularly interesting due to the intense sex scene at the opening of Happy Together. I have had an extremely hard time thinking of any American romance/drama where the couple the viewer is encouraged to “root for” never physically/sexually interact. This departure from American romance conventions complicates the reading of Fai and Chang’s relationship as platonic, romantic, or somewhere in between. I personally found this departure to be both frustrating and refreshing since it makes the ending of Happy Together more multi-dimensional than most typical romance films.

inactiveari-deactivated20170924

brittanater-blog

“Can you imagine a world in which we end up together?”

— The Big Sick (2017), Zoe Kazan (via ayannakbernard)

Shameless self-promotion. Come see my creative project/thesis in the upcoming weeks! Here is the link to the first show, as well as to the second show. Hope to see some of you there.

Indie Media Response

I’m going to write about “The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo,” one of my favorite YouTube indie web series. The web series was written by Brian Jordan Alvarez, and is literally just about the gay & wondrous life of Caleb Gallo. The show is centered on a few characters: Caleb, Karen, Freckle, Billy, Benicio, and Lenjamin. Each character is a wonderfully specific individual, and they all span both the gender spectrum as well as the sexuality spectrum. In other words, the show is SO wonderfully Queer.

The web series does a great job at having Queer characters, without making their Queer-ness a primary plot point. Further, the range of sexuality and gender expression present is a non-issue, and isn’t posed as something that needs to be accepted. Within the web series there really aren’t any common Queer plot tropes found in the storyline. Queerness is seen as a given and a lived reality, as opposed to something to be tokenized. It’s also important to note that Queer actors play all the Queer individuals in the web series. It was also written and directed by Queer people. This makes it super rare, and super needed. Beyond having great representation, the show is actually GOOD. I would highly recommend it to everyone.

hirxeth

Tangerine (2015) dir. Sean Baker

Challenge Post #8

Grease

I saw the movie Grease at a super young age. I was really into musicals. I was definitely less than 10 years old. Although there are many sexual themes in this movie, I can distinctly remember being confused by the “pre-sex scene” in the car between Rizzo and Kenickie. I’d seen people kiss and be intimate, but obviously not like what’s shown in that scene. My Mom said that I even picked up the word condom and asked about what it was and why it broke. Grease is obviously incredibly easy to problematize but I do think that this specific scene made me start to realize that parts of relationships were considered “private.”

I also always remembered that everyone wants “a hickey from Kenickie”

A book that explores love and sexuality in Shakespeare. It also doubles as a type of sexual memoir with BDSM as a central topic. I would highly recommend it to all

A Carol SNL Skit that I meant to post last week. Enjoy!

One of my favorite love songs. Happy Friday!

Challenge Post #4

For Challenge Post 4 I want to discuss the “opposites attract” cliché. I think this cliché primarily exists to support heterosexuality as a norm and expectation. The cliché of “opposites attract” further supports essentialist gender stereotypes within heterosexual relationships. This even bleeds into queer relationships where there’s an expectation of the “man” and the “woman” of the given relationship. This framework definitely furthers difference in power dynamics within relationships as well. This cliché also allows people to write off differences that should end relationships. A few examples of this are opinions of children, financial habits, sexuality, etc. Overall, I consider this cliché to be pretty harmful in the way it exaggerates power dynamics and furthers heteronormativity. However, I think that there is a partial truth to this cliché. I don’t think one should date another person who is exactly like themself in every aspect. But, I do think that you should regard one another as equals in every aspect, and this cliché definitely complicates that.

“Bone of my bone. Flesh of my flesh. To remember you it’s my own body I touch. Thus she was, here and here. The physical memory blunders through the doors the mind has tried to steal. A skeleton key to Bluebeard’s chamber. The bloody key that unlocks pain. Wisdom says forget, the body howls. The bolts of your collar bone undo me. Thus she was, here and here.”

-Jeanette Winterson, Written on the Body

Challenge Post 3

View Prompt

First of all, yes it was me who said that sex/sexuality is both “everywhere and nowhere” in popular media.

Beyond that, I had a weirdly difficult time trying to find a concrete example of a form of media that congratulates itself for discussing sexuality. I think this is usually done rather subtly, making it had to find a concrete example. I think a good example is the movie Easy A.

First of all, I do actually really enjoy this movie (no shame). But I think that both Olive, and the movie as a whole, congratulate themselves for discussing sexuality. I think this is done in a way that reinforces that in order to be “acceptable,” sexuality should be repressed. This is further enforced through the movie’s ending where Olive redeems herself by rejecting the letter and returning to acceptable teenage virginity.

There are of course portions of the movie that don’t buy into this (such as her parents discussion of their sexuality). But overall, this movie both congratulates itself of openly discussing sexuality and teaches that sexuality should be hidden or repressed in order to be acceptable.

Thoughts?

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