becksleeepy

[becksleeepy]

Relationship to a Device

Instagram.

We’ve been together for almost 7 years, but it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows.

And I don’t see our relationship ending anytime soon.

It’s hard to say whether Instagram has a positive or negative impact on my life. On one part, I do get to see updates on what my friends and family I don’t see often are doing with their lives. But I get so caught up in catching up with their lives, that I realize I’m not doing anything much with mine. Then I go down this black hole of me comparing how horrible my life is compared to these people when really, people in other parts of would do anything to be in my shoes.

I also catch myself a lot of the times wasting, literally, hours and hours scrolling down pictures for what was supposed to be a “20-minute break.” It’s addicting! The action of scrolling and getting so much information out of it within that small amount of time is satisfying and rewarding. The addiction was so real I made someone take away my phone, but my sneaky self just went on the Instagram website to do my regular scrolling.

There were many failed attempts to delete the app, but I always found a reason to download it again. Something reasonable like, “Someone DM’ed me so I have to open their message,” or something dumb like, “My phone looks empty without Instagram, I need the app to fill up space.” The most days I”ve gone without Instagram was three days, and that’s because I was up in the mountains and service was terrible.

[becksleeepy]

Simulacrum & Simulation

Argument:

The writer wants to further dive into the relationships among reality, symbols, and society; and how these symbols of culture and media are important to understanding the construction of the world.

Notes:

-Simulacrum itself doesn’t hide the truth. It’s the truth that hides nothing.

-Simulation is no longer that of a territory a referential being or a substance. It is the generation by models of a real without origin or reality: a hyperreal.

- In fact, since it is no longer enveloped by an imaginary it is no longer real at all. It is a hyperreal: the product of an irradiating synthesis of combinatory models in a hyperspace without atmosphere.

-It is no longer a question of imitation, nor of reduplication, nor even of parody. It is rather a question of substituting signs of the real for the real itself; that is, an operation to deter every real process by its operational double, a metastable, programmatic, perfectly descriptive machine which provides all the signs of the real and short-circuits all its vicissitudes.

-Never again will the real have to be produced: this is the vital function of the model in a system of death,, or rather of anticipated resurrection which no longer leaves any chance even in the event of death. A hyperreal henceforth sheltered from the imaginary, and from any distinction between the real and the imaginary, leaving room only for the orbital recurrence of models and the simulated generation of difference.

-To simulate is to feign to have what one hasn't. One implies a presence, the other an absence. But the matter is more complicated since to simulate is not simply to feign.

-So it is with simulation, in so far as it is opposed to representation. Representation starts from the principle that the sign and the real are equivalent (even if this equivalence is Utopian! it is a fundamental ax~om). Conversely, the simulation starts from the Utopia of this principle of equivalence, from the radical negation of the sign as value, from the sign as reversion and death sentence of every reference. Whereas representation tries to absorb simulation by interpreting it as false representation, simulation envelops the whole edifice of representation as itself a simulacrum.

-These would be the successive phases of the image:

1 It is the reflection of a basic reality.

2 It masks and perverts a basic reality.

3 It masks the absence of a basic reality.

4 It bears no relation to any reality whatever: it is its own pure simulacrum.

-In the first case, the image is a good appearance: the representation is of the order of sacrament. In the second, it is an evil appearance: of the order of malice. In the third, it plays at being an appearance: it is of the order of sorcery. In the fourth, it is no longer in the order of appearance at all! but of simulation.

-The transition from signs which dissimulate something to signs which dissimulate that there is nothing marks the decisive turning point.

-The first implies a theology of truth and secrecy (to which the notion of ideology still belongs).

-The second inaugurates an age of simulacra and simulation, in which there is no longer any God to recognize his own, nor any last judgment to separate truth from false, the real from its artificial resurrection since everything is already dead and risen in advance.

-When the real is no longer what it used to be, nostalgia assumes its full meaning.

-There is a proliferation of myths of origin and signs of reality; of second-hand truth, objectivity and authenticity.

-There is an escalation of the true, of the lived experience; a resurrection of the figurative where the object and substance have disappeared. And there is a panic-stricken production of the real and the referential, above and parallel to the panic of material production.

-This is how simulation appears in the phase that concerns us: a strategy of the real, neo-real and hyperreal, whose universal double is a strategy of deterrence.

[becksleeepy]

Final Assignment

Black Panther (2018) is about a man named T’Challa who goes back to his motherland, Wakanda, after his father’s death to rightfully take over the throne to become king and Black Panther. Wakanda appears to be a third-world country on the outside, but under its desert plains the country is home to a very powerful metal called Vibranium that makes Wakanda one of the most technologically advanced and thriving countries in the world; and the metal it harbors is the most sought out after by the little community that knows about it. T’Challa’s long-lost cousin, Erik Killmonger, is one of those people who wants to exploit the metal to the rest of the world to arm black people against their oppressors and bring Wakanda out of the dust to becoming the dominating nation. But only the king holds that kind of power, so Killmonger challenges T’Challa to a fight for the throne, to which T’Challa loses and Killmonger is crowned king and Black Panther. While Killmonger is preparing to send out mass quantities of Vibranium out to the world, T’Challa and his allies team together to fight the new king and his supporters to reclaim his place on the throne and keep the people of Wakanda safe.

The film is very much relevant to present day culture because it touches upon the oppression of colored people— specifically black— that is, unfortunately, still going on to this day. One of the reasons why Killmonger wants to release Vibranium to the world is to arm black people against the people who oppress them and be able to defend themselves. He says to T’Challa and the Wakanda court, “Two billion people all over the world who look like us whose lives are much harder, and Wakanda has the tools to liberate them all. Where was Wakanda?” Through this quote, he openly admits that people who look like him are going through a socially unjust time simply based on the color of their skin. Jeff Nesbit of U.S. News states that “When almost 90 percent of white people in America who take the Implicit Association Test show an inherent racial bias for white people versus black people, that means something. When young, black teenaged men are shot and killed by white police officers and trigger extraordinarily intense social commentary about racial tension in communities like Ferguson, Missouri, it means we haven't solved the equation yet. When a mentally unbalanced, young, white man sits quietly in a historic, black church during a Bible study for an hour and then kills nine black parishioners in order to start a race war, it's more than just an isolated incident.” However, no matter what we do to get rid of racial tension in America, it’s bound to happen because racism is based on perception. It's something we learn over time through repetition in all forms of media, in conversations, in dialogues, in the way that we interact socially in our daily lives. Fortunately, films like Black Panther are produced to bring light to the subject and awareness of racial discrimination.

Another small factor that makes Black Panther relevant to the real world is when T’Challa’s father abandons Killmonger as a kid in Oakland, California, which is the same place the political party Black Panther Party was founded. Killmonger himself is a kind of representation of the Black Panther Party’s deterioration in its final years when rebelling against white supremacy gave way to even more destructive conflict. He embodies the Black Panther Party’s revolutionary possibility and noble intentions, but also it's falling into violence. The film’s title thus has a double meaning, a reference to the impactfulness of  Killmonger’s character—a Black Panther against the Black Panther. Also, after T’Challa defeats Killmonger, he ends Wakanda’s isolationism and begins to plant Wakandan capitals to help impoverished black neighborhoods, beginning in Oaklands—again echoing the legacy of the Black Panther Party. Going back to Killmonger, he seeks supremacy and dominance, more than aid or revolution. Here, there are echoes of the breakdown of the original Black Panther Party in its later years, as some people sought a direct armed struggle to overthrow the U.S. government—a plan that most of the Party’s established leadership saw as rash and foolish.

Black Panther also nicely executes the idea of feminism—the advocacy of women's rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes— unlike other Marvel films. When T’Challa is given the mission to kill Klaw or bring him back alive to Wakanda to face his consequences, he brings along with him Nakia, an undercover spy, and Okoye, the head of the king’s (all-women) bodyguards. It’s worth mentioning that during the fight, both women rely on their adept fighting skills to take down men double their size, and they do so successfully despite their lack of superpowers like T’Challa. During the fight, they also get backup assistance from T’Challa’s sister, Shuri, back home from the lab. Marvel did a good job in showing that women aren’t just looks— they’re as strong, intelligent, and independent as (or even more than) men. And despite all the men leaders surrounding T’Challa, he still seeks for help through the same three women: Nakia, Okoye, and Shuri. Nakia attempts to nudge him away from his father’s isolationist stance so that they can provide aid to other African countries. Okoye is his confidante, and she shares with him a strong sense of duty to the job and an easy rapport, as evidenced during their banter with one another in their native tongue in front of Everett at the police station. Shuri is his sidekick, consistently testing the limits of technological advancement and designing for him the ultimate suit and footwear for combat while serving up affectionate ribbings the way siblings do. Looking at the Wakandan court, there’s no discernible gender-based hierarchy among the tribal elders, who take turns voicing their opinions respectfully. Little in the script suggests that women are considered incapable of doing what the men can do merely because they aren’t men: Shuri’s joke about her corset at T’Challa’s crowning ceremony seems a sly nod to her possible ascension to the throne; the other tribe members’ laughter could be read as a reaction to the idea that the king’s own sister would challenge him, rather than simply because she’s a woman. Wakanda represents an ideal world in which men and women coexist respectfully, on an equal playing field.

The film also paid close attention to detail when it came to costume designing which helped build the story of Wakanda’s global socio-cultural world. Through this intricate and precise attention to detail, African descents all over the world can be able to culturally identify themselves and can give them a sense of belonging and sense of self. Ruth Carter, the Oscar-nominated costume designer, went through extensive research to create the characters’ looks not only for the show of it but to, in fact, bring these costumes and accessories from different African societies and tribes to life. One tribe leader in the movie was seen wearing a lip plate, a ceremonial form of body modification by different cultures, but is primarily associated with the Mursi and Surma tribes of Ethiopia. T’Challa’s mother, Queen Ramonda, wears a distinct headdress known as the Zulu headdress and is traditionally worn by married women for ceremonial celebrations. It is similar to reed Zulu flared hats or as they call it: "isicholos.” The costumes the all-women bodyguards wear have unique and futuristic ornamentation and details. These were made by emulating styles of the Masai people of East Africa live in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. W'Kabi and some other tribesman are seen in many scenes with blankets wrapped aesthetically around their necks. These blankets are called the Besotho blankets, originated from the Lesotho people. The designs, however, are inspired by the Sesotho tribe. In one scene Erik Killmonger wears a mask that he steals from the museum. The masks, known as Mgbedike, are distinguished by the large size and bold masculine features. They are used in Igbo rituals and are designed to contrast the female dancers with their more feminine beauty. Shuri and the Dora Milaje have outfits with a prominent collar. The South Ndebele peoples of Zimbabwe/South Africa wear neck rings as part of their traditional dress and as a sign of wealth and status. Many of the costumes have a distinctive red earthy tone. This was done by studying the colors used by the Himba people of north-western Namibia. Himba people are known for applying a red ochre paste, known as "otjize", to their skin and hair. Forest Whittaker plays shaman Zuri who's the spiritual leader of Wakanda. He wears ornate flowing robes known as an Agbada. It's one of the names for a flowing wide-sleeved robe worn by men/women in much of West Africa, and North Africa. Michael B. Jordan's bumpy, ritualistic tribal markings on his chest and torso resemble the scar tattoos of the Mursi and Surma tribes in Ethiopia.

Not only does Black Panther perfectly execute the ideas of feminism and cultural identity, it also does so with the idea of postmodernism. Postmodernism is the idea that there’s confusion over time and space and new art/media is influenced by previous ones. Black Panther is a great example because the film was based off a comic book that came before it, so without the comic book, there wouldn’t be a film. It’s also a great example because there’s confusion over time and space in media and reality. The setting could very much take place now due to racial segregation and technological advancements, but at the same time, there’s confusion that it could also take place in the future because of the very advanced technology that Wakanda created thanks to the metal Vibranium.

[becksleeepy]

The Matrix

The Matrix is about a man named Neo who wants to find Morpheus, a so-called dangerous man who might have the answers to Neo’s problems about what the Matrix is. Trinity helps guide Neo to a different world where Morpheus resides and throughout the movie them and Morpheus’ team fight against the intelligent “government” agents.

When Neo meets Morpheus for the first time, Neo tells Morpheus that he doesn’t believe in fate because he doesn’t like the idea that he isn’t in control over his own life, to which Morpheus responds, “What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad." In no other scene would the quote fit in as nicely as it does in this section of the movie because Neo doesn’t know the answer to the Matrix yet, which explains why he can feel and get the general idea of it, but he can’t verbally explain it. If Morpheus said this at the end of the movie, then Neo hasn’t fulfilled his job at being The One and understanding what the Matrix is. And it’s also suitable that this was said earlier on because Neo knew that there was something wrong with the world, there was something greater like the Matrix, which turned out to be his goal to find out what it is. And not knowing what it was made him constantly think about it, which lead him to find Morpheus. After this quote, Neo then decides to take the red pill and find out what it’s like to find out what’s at the end of the rabbit hole.

Before watching the movie and not knowing the context of the quote, this quote stuck out to me because I find myself in a lot of situations where I can’t verbally explain what I’m thinking about, but I feel what’s called a “gut feeling.” And because I can’t explain it, it bothers me “... like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad.” So in a lot of ways, this quote is very relatable even though in the movie it was referenced to the Matrix.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1kOO1v388N98xgeovFLwjBSHLaq9kfuvYIx5gSOkh9Fs/edit?usp=sharing 

[becksleeepy]

Fight Club Analysis

Fight Club is revolved around an unnamed, insomniac man who goes to support groups with no relation to one another in order to freely express his feelings and pretend he has hit rock bottom like the people in these groups. On a business trip, he meets a radical, rebellious person named Tyler Durden, a man of many unrelated jobs, and finds himself living with Tyler in an abandoned house far away from the public eye after his IKEA wonderland condo blew up. They both fortuitously form an underground fighting group called Fight Club that grew from a two-man group into a large following cult of men who are fed up with their mundane lives and need to resort to participating in the club to release their bottled-up anger and frustration with their dull lives. Fight Club later reforms itself to Project Mayhem, formed only by the most devoted members of the fight club and its goal is to bring down the modern, consumerist civilization. One day, Tyler runs away and the narrator travels all over the country to find him and comes to a realization that he is Tyler and Tyler was only a character in his mind of the perfect and ideal self that he is not.

Throughout the film, the characters reveal and touch upon many topics like anti-consumerism, identity, and death. Tyler was an advocate for anti-consumerism, an ideology that is opposed to consumerism, the continual buying and consuming of material possessions, which explains why he doesn’t have a car and dysfunctional house and many other materialistic things. The narrator, on the other hand, buys a lot of IKEA furniture and continues to renovate his home over a period of time and tries to make the clothes in his closet respectably decent, which is, in fact, an example of continual buying for material possession. Tyler states the obvious of the man’s behaviors by saying, “We are consumers. We're the by-products of a lifestyle obsession.” He tries to help the narrator by letting him hit rock bottom and living with him to experience what an anti-consumer lifestyle is like. To strengthen the argument that Tyler separates himself from tangible and materialistic possessions because it’s not absolutely essential for human survival, he says, “Now why do guys like you and me know what a duvet is? Is this essential to our survival, in the hunter-gatherer sense of the word? No. What are we then? You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your fucking khakis.” Project Mayhem is the by-product of Tyler’s ideas against consumerism and tries to enforce that ideology by blowing up shops, smashing cars, setting buildings on fire, and tearing down public sculptures.  

Another topic covered in Fight Club is identity. Tyler is one of the narrator’s identities, a character that is the polar opposite of himself. Another way the narrator is shown experiencing an identity crisis is by the names he uses depending on which support group he goes to. Marla even asks, “Who are you? Cornelius? Mr. Taylor? Dr. Zaius? Any of the stupid names you give each night?” And all the Project Mayhem members experience an identity crisis, which is why they’re in the group to begin with because they believe serving Tyler is giving them an identity or purpose in life. And once they’re in the group, they don’t go by their names because the moment they signed up for the group, they threw away their past. A member said, “But, in Project Mayhem, we have no names.” They all wear the same attire as well because it unifies them and shows that their identity is in Project Mayhem. The only time a member’s name was spoken out loud was when Robert Paulson died. Marla Singer also experiences a mild identity crisis when the police come to her motel and try to save her, but Marla was already out the hallway shouting, “She's a monster! Infectious human waste!" in the third person. This shows that Marla disconnected herself from her identity for a while now. And Tyler has one of his doors full of driver licenses, which are identities from other people he wants for them to pursue their goals in life.

Death is also a theme talked about in the film. The narrator’s job relates directly to death because he has to go crime scenes and see the remaining evidence of the accident. The support group he goes to are also filled with people who are about to die and him and Marla wonder what it’s like to die. Marla also uses substance abuse, which can lead to death, “I got a stomach full of Xanax. I took what was left of a bottle.  Might've been too much.”

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1m_beGyQn78OUGR45rjofnsDoQQRG8P_o75-vtiqtHo0/edit?usp=sharing

[becksleeepy]

Post-Feminism & Postmodernism

Alessia Cara’s “Scars to Your Beautiful” touches upon the topic of body image, a problem every woman (and/ or man) faces at least once in their lifetime. She talks about how some women go through drastic measures-- such as starving themselves-- to look a certain way and feel loved by others because media portrays unrealistic beauty standards upon women. Through this song, Cara wants to change the mindset of women to embrace their outer appearance and wholeheartedly love how they look, and if the world isn’t satisfied with it, the world should change its perspective. She also emphasizes that beauty isn’t just measured through outer appearance because sometimes it’s intangible; beauty comes in an endless amount of forms and people need to start realizing that. The music video features 20 people, including Cara herself, of different looks, sizes, shapes, and colors. After Cara sings the first few lines in an all-black outfit in a faded, washed-out warehouse, the camera introduces the viewers to real, everyday people--having celebrities in the video would contradict the message of the song because celebrities uphold beauty standards. The featured guests share their personal stories of not being able to fit in with their community mainly because of how they look and following that, they give advice to the audience on how to overcome that problem and learn how to love oneself. This music video shows signs of post-feminism because Cara doesn’t want women to be, for the most part, the one suffering from beauty standards and have to undergo change in order to feel and be loved by the opposite sex; women shouldn’t be the subordinate ones having to please men just by how they look. It’s also postmodernism because the distinction between media and reality is blurred, which is why women think these models on magazine covers are real and their beauty is achievable, but in reality, they’ve just been photoshopped into perfection and how they look isn’t real at all.

Always the pad company has a segment called #LikeAGirl to bring back the self-confidence girls lose during puberty; and to bring awareness that the coined term “like a girl”  is not an insult but rather a positive affirmation. In this particular video, the director tells a group of kids and teenagers to fulfill actions “like a girl.” While the teenagers followed through the actions in a weak and submissive manner, the kids, on the other hand, acted in an unexpected and opposite way from the teenagers: they put their all and full energy into these actions. It makes sense why the teenagers acted as such because after going through puberty and what society tells how a girl should behave, their confidence drops to make them feel like girls are frail and inadequate. The kids haven’t gone through puberty yet which is why they showed the actions in the most confident and strongest way possible. This video is a good example of post-feminism because Always wants to diminish stereotypes that girls are weaker than boys and can’t accomplish anything unless a man is involved; it wants to reaffirm to girls that doing anything “like a girl” should be rewarding because girls are getting things done and fulfilling jobs that men can’t do. It’s also an example of postmodernism because it alludes to the quote “like a girl” which is very common and still used colloquially today. It also refers to female stereotypes that women are considered weak and can’t accomplish anything without needing help and the male stereotype that they’re much stronger.

The second Always commercial focuses more on young women athletes, while still trying to convey the message that “like a girl”  is not an insult but rather a positive affirmation. The athletes talk about how people commented that they should be girlier, or girls can’t play “x” sports, or girls shouldn’t play “x” because they’re going to get bulky. But these girls are defying those stereotypes that girls can’t play sports just because they’re “girls.” This video is also a good example of post-feminism because Always wants to bring awareness of this social hierarchy and stereotype between the sexes, that men are better at sports because they’re physically built and capable to do so while women aren’t because “they’re smaller and weaker.” This commercial wants to tear down that barrier from women becoming the lesser of the two sexes and instead wants the two sexes to be equal in that they can play whatever sport they want to. This video is also a good example of postmodernism because it alludes to the quote “like a girl” which is still a term thrown around today. It also indirectly talks about the female stereotypes within the Western culture and how it portrays them as the weaker of the two sexes and men are shown as being the more capable ones.

[becksleeepy]

Remix Assignment

Maleficent (2014) was remixed from the 1959 Disney Classic, Sleeping Beauty; however, this film focuses more on the character and backstory of the evil witch that wasn’t fully revealed and thoroughly talked about in the Disney animation. In a brief synopsis, the live action movie starts off with the magical and idyllic life of Maleficent who lives in a forest realm, until she falls in love with a human boy who is later blinded by power and wealth and, therefore betrays her and cuts off her wings. Devastated by his actions, Maleficent turns evil and places an unbreakable curse on his daughter, Aurora, which can only be broken with a true love’s kiss– but later on she realizes that Aurora is the only person to unify the two kingdoms and bring ultimate peace; and the viewers, later on, find out that Maleficent is the only one who can break that spell. This film is to be considered a remix because it takes the storyline from Sleeping Beauty and adds an unexpected twist by focusing on the antagonist from the animation and turning her into a protagonist in the live action film.

The remix culture can also be defined as something that was based on something else; in times like this, some people– like postmodern theorists– believe nothing is ever original, but everything is simply a copy of a copy. Maleficent, for example, was inspired by the animated movie Sleeping Beauty, which was inspired by the Brothers Grimm version of the fairy tale, to which that was inspired by the literary tale written by Charles Perrault called “Sleeping Beauty” or also commonly known as “Little Briar Rose.”

Although Maleficent chose to focus on an entirely different character, it still shares similar and different qualities to Disney’s remix of the fairytale in Sleeping Beauty. For instance, both Maleficents showed their wickedness and deep hatred to the king and his family; both unexpectedly arrived at Aurora’s birthday ceremony and placed a curse on her, and the curse being the princess would die on her 16th birthday after pricking her finger on a spinning wheel spindle; and both use their magic to build a huge wall of thorns around the castle. The differences are the live action Maleficent had wings and the animated one didn’t, however, the live action movie did cover why she lost her wings; the 1959 Maleficent placed a curse on Aurora because she didn’t get an invitation to the princess’ arrival celebration, but the 2014 Maleficent cursed the princess because Aurora’s father cut off her wings– this gave the 2014 version a more complex reason to why the witch was evil; Disney’s Maleficent doesn’t experience any character development and stays cruel and heartless throughout the whole movie and the recent Maleficent undergoes character development by becoming someone cold and evil to someone who becomes a loving and caring godmother to the princess; and the 2014 Maleficent wants to lift the curse once she realizes her motherly love for Aurora, while the 1959 Maleficent is set on having the princess sleep an eternal rest.

Maleficent proves to be the first of its own kind of remix because it takes the story of Sleeping Beauty but makes it original so that the film focuses on the villain, rather than the hero. Countless remixes of Disney Princess movies center around the princess in the new adaptation but fails to talk about the antagonist, much less the antagonist undergo some sort of character development. For instance, Cinderella (1950) had more than 10 different adaptations following it– and the plotline is very much predictable. Every plotline follows some sort of pitiful orphan girl who goes through a transformation that catches the boy’s attention and follows her losing one of her possessions that the boy so happens to find, and the boy uses that to find the mystery girl, and they end up together at the end of the movie. It’s safe to say that there is no movie solely centered around Cinderella’s stepsisters or her stepmom and making them the protagonist, like the way Maleficent does.

Maleficent is a good example of a remix because it takes the original plotline of Sleeping Beauty and adds its own twist by revolving around the “antagonist.” It’s also another good example of a remix because it was based on something prior to it. The 2014 film was inspired by the animated movie Sleeping Beauty, which was inspired by the Brothers Grimm version of the fairy tale, to which that was inspired by the literary tale written by Charles Perrault called “Sleeping Beauty” or also commonly known as “Little Briar Rose.”

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Assignment #3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3AVtQkEHaE

Aminé’s music video for “Spice Girl” is an example of postmodernism because it utilizes simulacrum, which is an image or representation of someone or something.

The music video starts off with a personal close-up distance from Aminé’s face, and the vibrant orange backdrop makes the singer stand out even more. The camera pans out to reveal the artist wearing a dark wash denim overall and him sitting on a green couch with his arms stretched out on the backrest; and as the camera steps back out even more, the scene shows a naked woman sprawled on the couch laying on his lap in a way that doesn’t reveal too much of her body at the same time. But an interesting detail to take note of is that the woman has Aminé face, which was, presumably, made possible through special effects. All the facial expressions so far have been straight and poker-face, not showing any emotion. The transition to the next scene was utilized by the camera shaking for a few seconds. The next scene is a medium shot of him wearing typical motorcycle gear but he’s riding anything but a motorcycle– in fact, he’s riding a yellow and blue bicycle through a neighborhood in the nighttime, and two policemen are running close behind him. He appears to be anxious because he keeps looking over his shoulder at the police officers. The following clip is a long shot of Aminé in a bright magenta tiled bathroom and he’s rubbing lotion all over his upper body while his lower part of the body is wrapped in a yellow towel. The typical bathroom setup is easily seen with the sink in front of him, the shelf with toiletries behind him, and the towel rack behind him as well. But the inhumanely large lotion bottle off to the right side of the scene throws off the normality of the bathroom. The bottle is labeled as “CLBN” in big bold letters, and there’s a guy on the top operating the lotion dispenser. The guy is wearing skatewear and his shirt has Aminé’s face printed on it along with the text “Support Me.” Another peculiar element in this scene is as he’s about to shave his legs, the camera shows a close-up shot his foot and it has his face on it. The next set up is of him lying on a reclining chair that matches the color of the green backdrop. He’s getting a tattoo done on him but the viewers can’t tell what he’s getting done because the tattooist is covering it with his body and other clues that he’s getting a tattoo is evident through the tattoo materials and ink sprawled all over the table next to him. The next scene is really brief, but it’s a medium shot of him sitting on the toilet and he’s looking around the bathroom. The following clip shows Aminé wearing prison attire and sitting behind a glass window for a conjugal visit with other cellmates next to him talking to their visitors. He’s conversing with his girlfriend and they’re fighting over the phone about him cheating with other girls given the subtitles provided. The camera brings us back to the tattoo scene and the tattooist reveals to the viewer that he inks on him the phrase “GOODFORYOU,” and by his facial expression, he seems to be disappointed by it. The following scene is of office supplies covered in yellow Post-It notes and some of the notes say “Good For You.” As the camera shows the different supplies, it captures Aminé covered from forehead to toe in the Post-It notes as well, and a different scene shows him eating crumbled up notes from a concealed bowl as if it were cereal. The next clip is an establishing shot to show that he’s latched onto a large yellow and blue spinning wheel in the pattern of a bullseye. He’s painted as well and there are running yolks dripping down his body and the camera slowly zooms in until it only shows his face. The final scene in the music video is an older looking lady sitting on a casting chair yelling at the camera while using large, gestural hand movements. The background looks like a behind-the-scenes moment, very raw and candid.

After reading the lyrics to “Spice Girl”, it doesn’t seem to have a correlation or relationship to the visuals of the song; but the lyrics were interesting in itself. The chorus talks about how he wants this girl to make his world better; she’s beautiful, has an attitude and can stand up for herself, and is stylish and trendy. The first verse deals with him noticing that this girl starves herself to fit beauty standards when she shouldn’t because she’s beautiful and “prime” as is. He wants her to be down to hang out with him when situations get tough and hopes she isn’t “boujee” because those are the women who tend to cause a lot of troubles for him. The pre-chorus talks about if his feelings for her are “real or fake,” if he has a chance with her or if their friendship will fade away if he tries to ask her; but he can’t get over her because there is no one like her. The second verse talks about Aminé going out of his ways to make time for her, but she’s not returning that effort by making up excuses like “studyin’ for Masters.” He wants her even knowing she’s “deceivin’, super thievin’…schemin’.” The post-chorus talks go over how this girl is his world and fills the “infatuation” he feels.

The music video and the lyrics for “Spice Girl” is an example of a simulacrum, an image or representation of someone or something, because the Post-It scene refers to a scene in Bruce Almighty (2003) when a Post-It storm covers his whole office. When Aminé is spinning on the wheel, that scene refers to Johnny Knoxville’s cover on the Rolling Stone Magazine in 2001 when he was strapped to a red and white bullseye wheel. The song title itself, “Spice Girl,” refers to the popular 90s girl band Spice Girls and he mentions some of their names in the song like Sporty, Scary, and Ginger Spice. Other than literal visual and textual references, Aminé brings up topics like police culture through the conjugal visit scene and the police chasing him in the neighborhood; and talks about the underground tattoo culture that’s very popular in America through the scene of Aminé getting the tattoo, but rather him endorsing or rejecting these lifestyles, he just introduces it.

[becksleeepy]

Assignment #2

Selena Gomez released a music video for her 2017 single “Fetish” in partnership with Petra F. Collins, who is known for her dreamy, ethereal, feminine photography and took on the position of being the director. The music video starts off with the camera capturing a bee flying around a flower tree with the sun’s ray peeking through the branches in a worm’s eye view. The camera then descends slowly down the tree, when a millisecond shot suddenly appears of what looks to be like skin. Then the scene brings the viewers back to the trees, the camera still slowly descending. Now another scene is abruptly cut to a longer shot of someone’s hands caressing their own wet legs. And we’re brought back to the trees, the camera still going down; and another image is unexpectedly shown of Selena’s face looking up at the ceiling in an unfamiliar room, her whole body wet and dripping. All of the episodes of the abrupt images during the panning of the trees are tinted orange and the camera is unstable and shaky. The trees slowly lead the camera, which is now eye-level, to a quiet, desolate suburban neighborhood. And a second into the screening of the neighborhood, we’re brought to a different scene of seeing Selena eye-to-eye, the camera is at a very personal distance away from her face-- we can clearly see her eyes and nose and dripping wet hair. And then the camera brings the viewer back to the neighborhood; Selena is walking down the street while holding grocery bags on both hands, and she’s wearing a pastel yellow maxi dress and white sneakers. The camera is showing an establishing shot of the neighborhood while she’s walking: all the houses look identical, there are kid toys in the front lawns, sprinklers are going off, there’s a broken car with smoking coming out of it in the distance, and at the very end of the street it seems to be very foggy.

In the scene after, the camera is shooting from a worm’s eye view of Selena’s hand reaching for something in the sky, her fingers moving in slow and graceful manner. Following that, the camera is looking down at her from a bird’s eye view of her actually covering her eyes from the bright sun with her long, stretched-out fingers. Her fingers continue to move in an elegant manner and if not noticed carefully-- we can see her hand and arm is dripping with something the audience doesn’t know about. Droplets are falling down her arms and her eyes are sparkling whenever the sun rays hit it.

A brand new scene of a rustic and pastel-y kitchen is introduced and Selena is picking up the remains of a broken wine glass that spilled red liquid all over the counter. It goes on like that for awhile, and the camera is showing the audience a direct look into her eyes, and we’re back outside in the neighborhood. The hand-reaching-the-sky scene is back and it switches over to the kitchen scene and the camera captures Selena putting the broken wine glass in her mouth in a close-up shot. The scene cuts away, once again, to her covering her eyes from the sun and then another section is shown of her walking barefoot on grass, presumably in her neighborhood, holding her groceries in a drunk-like, swaying motion. A different clip rolls around next to Selena walking in an unstable sense of balance toward the dark, gloomy kitchen with the grocery bags and the camera is shaky while it’s following her inside. Then a very quick scene appears of her tying a thin rope around her tongue and tightening it. Following that, she’s trying to balance herself in the middle of the kitchen while still holding the groceries and her head is moving in a contorted matter. The kitchen is messy with cupboards strewn open, the microwave is running, the counter is dirty, and the food is scattered all over the floor. Succeeding that, Selena is picking out peaches in a peach garden and next she’s wearing a yellow mesh dress with yellow polka dots and she’s sitting at one end of an elaborately decorated long kitchen table with the utensils and plates all nicely set up. A close-up shot rolls next of what appears to be her sucking her fingers, but she actually pulls out the broken glass she ate previously in the video. Abruptly after, Selena is smashing her groceries on the wall and wreaking havoc. Afterwards, she’s ripping her tights on a vintage couch, but her face seems blank and empty. The tilted camera then takes the viewer to seeing Selena’s back in a bathroom clamping her tongue with an eyelash curler. She then proceeds to mess the kitchen up even more aggressively and then she’s on the floor scrunching her wet and dirty dress and pulling her hair and the food from the grocery bags is squashed all over the room. The viewers are back in the beautifully decorated kitchen, but this time it’s raining and the candles are lit despite it raining and Selena is crawling on the table and the camera slowly backs away and starts to blur to transition into the next scene.

Selena is walking in a new set-up, this time a white and icy freezer. Gucci Mane, the rapper featured in the song, shows up in hip-hop fashion and is rapping. The camera moves away to Selena touching the carts that are holding the peaches, however, the camera is very foggy. The camera zooms back into Gucci Mane and in the next scene, she’s on the floor holding onto the carts like her life depended on it. Her hair is wet and frost is seen all over her. She slides her body down against the freezer wall and looks at the camera which is looking at her in a bird's eye view. She then drops the peaches onto the floor and is seen squirming on the snowy ground. Then there’s a close-up shot of Selena looking demonically at the camera and the camera is crystal clear unlike how it was in the other freezer scenes. The camera is at a slight worm's eye view which makes her seem more devilish. A different close-up shot shows Selena eating bright pink lipstick. And then the viewers are brought back in the freezer and Selena is walking like a zombie in the middle of it. A short scene shows off her back in the kitchen washing dishes, and as she reaches for the dish soap bar she seems to be looking at it with much thought and proceeds to put it in her mouth and bite a huge chunk out of it. A different close-up shot shows Selena clamping her tongue with the eyelash curler and she’s back in the freezer for the last time moving in a contorted manner with her feet bare.

Unlike the complexity of the imagery portrayed in the music video, the sound effects are very simple and kept to a minimum so it isn’t overpowering the song which is the main part and whole purpose of the video. From the beginning when the bee was flying around the tree to when Selena is looking up the sky, the only detectable sounds are birds singing, insects buzzing, and crickets chirping. When the scene of the suburban neighbor shows up, all the noise is canceled out except the sprinklers. Then the sprinklers are cut away and the only thing making sounds are the crickets. Right after that, the song plays in the background for a good portion of the video. After the song ends, Selena laughs and the short film is over.

After visually analyzing and hearing the music video, I feel like Selena is trying to convey more than one message here. To begin with, the song title “Fetish” should already say enough about what she’s going to portray in the short film. One way to look at her behavior is that she’s dealing with a fetish of putting items into her mouth. She tries to push it out by trying to cut her tongue with the eyelash curler, but it didn’t work because the behavior comes back. She tries to get rid of the obsession, but it doesn’t work so she’s angry and frustrated which explains her morbid response in the kitchen. The romanticizing of some of the gory moments like her eating the glass, lipstick, and bar of soap reflect one of the messages of the song, which is about how fetishizing a partner isn’t necessarily healthy. The video might be mimicking this push and pull relationship between a couple, where one fetishizes the other, as she keeps putting inedible objects in her mouth and spitting them out. As the water starts to rain down, it seems like she’s fighting her environment or fetish. Another message Selena is trying to convey along with the other one is her commentary on society’s standards for women and how it encourages self-harm, which explains her eating the inedible objects and her clamping her tongue with the eyelash curler. When she eats the makeup, spits out the items, and snaps her tongue, it represents society’s standards and how that ends up to women resulting in self-harm.

[becksleeepy]

Assignment #1

Andersen’s argument asserts that America has found itself in a culturally stagnant period of time since the 80s and 90s. Although technology has vastly improved and continues to transform people’s lives today, he believes changes in American fashion, art, music, design, and entertainment have not caught up to the speed of its technological counterparts. Every 20-year chunk of time can be easily identified-- the sideburns and bell-bottoms from the 70s and the jelly sandals and brown lipliner from the 90s-- but Andersen can’t paint a clear picture when it comes to portraying current times.

First and foremost, Andersen’s observations of the uninspiring and stagnant period of time in America’s culture right now-- I agree to some extent. The point he makes about technology reaching new lengths of powers and capabilities for the first time ever in history and how that reconstructs how humans work I hold-- and I believe many others would agree-- to be true. Who would have known 30 years ago that virtual reality; robots who can converse with people; phones the size of human heads that can access the internet in a matter of touches; and machines specifically designed for surgeries that replicate human motions with the help of censors would exist? All these technological advancements prove that there’s only more room for science and technology to grow.

But I have to disagree with Andersen’s belief that America’s culture isn’t flourishing and rather staying the same since the 80s and 90s. For instance, every 20 years, America was easily distinguished in fashion; but since the 80s, it’s harder to define America’s style because many groups of people have accumulated their own fashion taste. There may have been one style to describe everyone back then, but now there are styles such ranging from vintage, street, casual, boho, minimalist, goth, and lot more. It doesn’t make sense for people who are so radically different from each other to conform to one style fad. Fashion is how one presents oneself, and people want to showcase themselves in different ways. Forcing one particular style to a large group of people can be seen as fashion dictatorship where people won’t be able to freely and creatively express themselves. Now more than ever, it’s all about giving people the freedom to express themselves to however they please. If they don’t want to take advantage of that expression, let them be because that’s their deliberate choice; but don’t take that opportunity away from people who will actually use it to further their imagination. Taking away that imaginative and unique privilege would put us in a place no better than a uniform, fascist country.

Same goes for the music industry. The 50s were defined by rock and roll, swing, and blues and the 70s were known for its various genres within rock. Starting from the 90s, many types of musical genres were listened to by the public like hip-hop, electronic music, R&B, pop, rock, indie rock, and a lot more. Like fashion, people are so distinctive in their own tastes that it’s impossible to confine them just to one genre. One music style won’t be suitable for some simply because they can’t find themselves relating to it or liking the beat of the music. Music can be really personal and serve as an escape for people and people just find themselves listening to one genre more than the other. Moods also affect what music people listen to. Personally, I can’t listen to electronic music when I’m tired and sleepy, or sad and mellow music when I feel happy. People shouldn’t be conformed to one genre when we’re all so different and feel dynamically emotions from each other.

Even though in the future we won’t be able to define the 80s to current times into one single picture, we shouldn’t bang our heads over it because America is a melting pot of people who have different cultures and backgrounds and we’re all characteristically different, it would be impossible to conform just to one style-- like fashion and music. We may not be able to paint a picture now, but it might be different in the future when things have changed more radically. As long as we have the freedom to creatively express ourselves, we shouldn’t have to worry about being culturally stagnant.