That Girl!

Rutgers University | scientific artistic guided by the moon

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Lemonade

Beyonce’s new visual album “Lemonade” has raised suspicions about her marriage. Many claim the album is a direct declaration of Jay-Z, her husband, cheating on her. There are many themes in this work that point to destruction and chaos that black women face. There is an excerpt from a speech by Malcolm X that states: “The most disrespected person in America is the black woman”. Black women’s power are taken from them by society, which means the public sphere and even at home in the private sphere. This album is Beyonce opening up about the pain women suffer in silence. There are many reoccurring themes in this work, like fire or willow trees. They represent a state of sadness, death, or destruction. There is also symbolism in older plantation looking costumes, African face painting, and her past which create a sense that this heartbreak is generational. It is being passed down from woman to woman, mother to daughter. 

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The “New” Norm

Models are supposed to be “skinny”. The issue with most models in the industry being tall, lean, fit, or thin is that MOST women do not actually look this way. The popular thing to do is to try to break down the norm, which would be skinny.

People fail to realize that if you break down the norm you are creating a new one. Skinny women are beautiful too. In recent popular culture, curvy women have become glorified. Someone with a body like Beyonce or Kim Kardashian or Nicki Minaj, with curves and huge butts, are what most girls wish they looked like. This is what is attractive or desired by most men, especially those of color. We cannot break one group down in order to glorify another. Everyone should start embracing ALL body types to be fair. 

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How to Sell Yourself

A lot of people use social networking sites to brand themselves. Some are smart enough to start getting paid for their content. This is mostly something that happens to women (because of their appearance). More women get famous and gain money for their pictures, as female bodies are always objectified in the popular media. While men do it too, they are rarely getting the same level heightening exposure. 

This means you can pretty much ‘sell’ yourself online. How you market yourself is very important to how you are perceived. Employers have even started checking people’s social media before hiring them. Are people utilizing the internet to their advantage or creating negative publicity for themselves.

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Gender

Pronouns are important to gender. You never know if someone prefers to be called “he” “she” “they” “ze” etc. It’s very considerate to ask before assuming based off their appearance what they like to be called. There is so much more to gender than male or female. Someone’s expression of their own gender is crucial to their identity.

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Sexuality

People pretend as if the purpose of sexting is to completely expose and embarrass the other person. Just because there are those few irresponsible people who leak others’ nudes, does not mean that sexting doesn’t serve an actual purpose. It’s dangerous in the younger generations, because they are just coming to sexual maturity and everything is exciting news to share. However sexting does have it benefits, you just have to be responsible enough to receive and distribute it. Online, people are more comfortable showing their bodies with an entire timeline, so this idea of human bodies being exposed is less of a problem. Does this have to do with acceptance of nudity or just the new hyper-sexualized culture the youth presents? 

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Race and Digital Media

This image just represents the killing of Trayvon Martin, who was killed by George Zimmerman. This kid was “armed” with Skittles and an Arizona drink, but killed for looking suspicious with his hood up. His image was one of the few that started a huge group of protests behind law enforcement overstepping their boundaries and taking the lives of peaceful black males and females, while getting off easy for their crimes. Does this mean that there is only protection for the privileged, or has white supremacy been instilled in our police. Does profiling exist to the extreme that a life can be taken simply because it is colored? There are a lot of events like this one, Ferguson, Eric Gardner, Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, etc. that went viral and created mass protests. Social media has influenced a lot of protest and activism behind these issues, but is it helping? People are more aware of injustices, but what can the people do to keep things like this from happening?

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Race Online

We talked about race relations online. Nowadays, there are avatars that you can create to represent you. These things usually let you select skin color, eye color, eye shape, hair, and such characteristics that you can attribute to race. If you see someone with a darker skin toned avatar, you will assume that person is black or that the person just isn’t white. Race is becoming more visible with personalized internet profiles. 

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It is presumed that women have no significance in digital/visual art. Its stereotyped that women are simply consumers of technology, not producers. I like this picture because it shows a woman BEHIND a camera and not in front of it. Women are innovative and creative just as much as men are. There should be more notable women artists.

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This week we talked a lot about computer geeks, hackers, and anonymity. The image above depicts a “thief” trying to break into a computer like a safe. This represents the way most people see those who have the skills to possess digital information. These types of people have the liberal belief that the information they obtain should be available to the public. It might be against the law, but is it always such a bad thing?

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Nike ID is a website in which they give you a blank or standard shoe, which you can customize. It’s actually a bit more pricey than buying the regular nike shoe in store. It allows you to change the color of the shoe pretty much down to the laces. One of the features people really seem to like, is the ability to write on the back of the shoe. People tend to write their names, or cool phrases like “Do Better” for inspiration while playing a sport, or just for fashion purposes. In the readings, it is shown that user content sometimes gets repurposed as a marketing strategy. Companies exploit the fact that people want customized and personal gear, websites, and such that they can make money off. They market it as our OWN product, but we are still buying what they are selling.

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health app

The Health 2.0 article reminded me of how there are so many applications that allow people to actively participate in their health results. It is actually more popular to track your health using some type of application which allows you more access to info previously could only be told from a doctor. The fitness culture is promoting better eating and exercise habits as well.

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Beyonce’s Superbowl 2016 outfit was a tribute to Michael Jackson’s 1993 performance. However, the media related her dancers’ costumes to the Black Panther Party. The former mayor of NY stated his disappointment that her performance promoted violence against police. Her new song and video “Formation” is causing a lot of controversy. She always identified with Feminism in her music, but this is the first time she’s speaking out as a WOC and adding her race and those specific issues into the music. It’s ironic that she’s so violent now, because race is finally a topic of discussion.

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The vast openness that is cyberspace has enough room for all content. With positive, comes a lot of negatives as well. Feminists experience a lot of verbal abuse online and especially harassment. People try to hush them into silence (on their opinions and especially from taking action) by threatening them.

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week 13

In “The WikiLeaks Phenomenon and New Media Power” Power concludes by discussing the importance Wikileaks plays in our current society, “Similarly, it is not demonstrating that the Internet is a brave new world with a new logic unlike that of conventional hierarchy: instead it is demonstrating that corporate, activist, and governmental interests all use overlapping strategies to exploit the organizational and power structures provided by the internet”. The internet is creating a place for the anonymous to have a voice, and for people to unite. Most issues in the world make its way to social media. People from social media thus critcize the wrongdoings, injustices, inhumane, the down right immoral and crazy things that they see happening around the globe. Wikileaks is one of the few places where the truth is not barred and censored like other forms of media (like television). The Internet is kind of used as a safe place to discuss the real issues. 

There is also this cool new innovative idea of anonymity and transparency that the Internet provides. Sometimes it is good to keep people from knowing your identity in order for them to not be able to retaliate or do harm if you disagree. There are groups of people out there that like to put out messages or even do surprising things, but remain anonymous for this reason. Masking ones identity does not per say mask the overall message that needs to get out.

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week 12: From Media to Movement

Internet movements are gaining popularity. These days people are using social media to get the word out to the younger (college and high school) crowds. Sights such as twitter, facebook, and whatever else they are on have turned into extreme mass media outlets. It is a good way to share information with your friends/family. These days you are checking everybody’s posts and what they deem important. If one of your followers is posting about a tragic event, you will most likely look it up or try to find out more information about that. 

Ironically, it is where I got my first look into the #BlackLivesMatter movement and more. Basically all the hoopla over Ferguson, and cases such as Mike Brown and Eric Gardner were constantly being reposted onto all of my timelines. I took my time to read some articles over, watch the videos that were being posted and everything. Soon, I found myself at two protests happening on campus. Of course, the black community at my university, and others, were outraged by the injustices happening all over. These cases started the trends #HandsUpDontShoot and #ICantBreathe.

So I personally know what it is like for a movement to move from the media to real life activism. It is the fastest, easiest way to spread information and get people involved. If more people want their voices to be heard and injustices to be stopped, they should run to the internet. It is kind of a safe place to vent and to get people to sympathize and agree with you. I believe great movements can transform from media outlets.