theaceman42

[theaceman42]

LGBTQI & BIPOC Representation In Media

For our next blog in Media and Society, our job was to watch several films regarding LGBTQ in media. Mysterious Skin, Boys Don’t Cry, Moonlight, Brokeback Mountain, Call Me By Your Name, and Chasing Amy. 

The term “Queer Cinema” was first coined by B. Ruby Rich to describe a movement in queer-themed independent film-making in the early 1990s. Most films in the genre typically depict the lives of LGBT protagonists living on the fringe of society. 

The 1991 film Poison is a prime example of Queer Cinema.

Queer Cinema presented human identity and sexuality as socially constructed, and therefore fluid and changeable, rather than fixed. They frequently featured explicit and unapologetic depictions of same-sex sexual activity, and presented same-sex relationships that reconfigured traditional heterosexual notions of family and marriage. 

Brokeback Mountain, starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, is considered part of the “New Queer Cinema” genre that started in the early 2000s.

While not all identifying with a specific political movement, New Queer Cinema films were invariably radical, as they sought to challenge and subvert assumptions about identity, gender, class, family and society. Overall, the genre’s representation of queer identity shows that LGBTQ people crave to be represented in media. They show the world that queer people have depth, and shows just how similar society really is. All in all, the audience can understand and identify with the character in a queer film. 

We were then told to write a “re-imagining” of one of the films we watched. I chose the 2017 film Call Me By Your Name, which is based on the novel of the same name. Directed by Luca Guadagnino, the story chronicles the romantic relationship between Eilo, an Italio-French boy, and Oliver, an American living with Eilo and his family in Northern Italy. 

Plot

Eilo Perlman, a 17-year old Jewish Italio-French boy, lives with his parents and family in Northern Italy. Elio's father, a professor of archaeology, invites a 24-year-old American graduate student, Oliver, who is also Jewish, to live with the family over the summer and help with his academic paperwork. At first, Eilo believes he and Oliver have little in common. As Eilo is more of a bibliophile and talented musician, Oliver seems more confident and carefree. Elio spends much of the summer reading, playing piano, and hanging out with his childhood friends, Chiara and Marzia. During a volleyball match one day, Oliver touches Elio's back as a sign of interest but Elio brushes it off. However, Elio later finds himself jealous upon seeing Oliver pursue Chiara, a young beautiful Italian girl. 

As the summer progresses, both Eilo and Oliver form a friendship and begin to spend more time together. Whether going for long walks into town, or accompanying Elio's father on an archaeological trip. Elio soon finds himself becoming increasingly drawn to Oliver, even sneaking to Oliver's room to smell his clothing. One day, Oliver catches him, but Eilo runs off before Oliver can speak to him. 

Oliver begins to date Marzia, leading to the two having sex one night. But Eilo slowly begins to realize who he is, which Marzia notices. While they end their relationship, she says she will support him no matter what. Later, Elio speaks with his parents about Olicer, to which his father reveals that he had almost had a similar relationship in his own youth, and that the two knew of Eilo’s feelings for Oliver. 

Eilo leaves a note for Oliver to end the silence between the two, to which Oliver responds by telling Elio to meet him at midnight. That night, the two share their first kiss, and Oliver reveals that he is gay as well. However he is unable to openly show it, due to his family, who look down upon it with disdain. Elio convinces him to fight his fear, and to “Call me by your name, and I’ll call you by mine”. The two then spend the night together.

Elio and Oliver begin a relationship of their own, much to the happiness of Elio’s family, and friends. However, both soon realize that Oliver’s time in Italy will end soon, leading Elio's parents to send them to Rome for a few days. The two spend several days together until Oliver has to leave. Before doing so, Oliver says he is worried about returning before calling Eilo by his name, with Eilo, sadly, reciprocating.

Three months later, during Hanukkah, Elio’s family receives a call from Oliver, who reveals that he is arranged to be married. Eilo is heartbroken, and refuses to speak with him. The next day, Oliver arrives in Italy and reveals that he stepped up to his family (being disowned in the process), and that Eilo’s father arranged for him to stay with them. Happy that Oliver will be staying with him, the two happily embrace before call each other by their names.

[theaceman42]

Rewatching 80s Era Films in a Cancel Culture World

For our second Blog in Media & Society, I was too watch Sixteen Candles, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Animal House, Revenge of the Nerds, and Do the Right Thing. hen make a mock interview with one of the characters, and how they view the movies in the modern day.

Character: Gilbert from Revenge of the Nerds

1. When watching Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing, has there been an improvement in racial equality in the world, or a decline?

Gilbert: Hmm, you know, I can’t really tell. I’d say that there was improvement before, take the Civil Rights Movement for example. Since then, there have been bumps in the road. But being honest with you, that there… (calculates percentage with calculator)...Hold on… a drastic change in equality, and quite recently in fact. A year ago, we had a man’s death that sparked massive civil rights protests all over America, and to other parts of the world. It honestly feels like decades of work was just flushed down the drain. It all seems similar to the end of Do The Right Thing, when the police accidentally killed that kid, sure it was wrong for him to beat up Sal, but really? The police should’ve known when to stop. It parallels the real world, there were riots in the streets, massive arrests. It was all wrong, and it's rather sickening to look at.

No no, it's horrific. I’d like to say that the movie predicted what could happen in the future.

2.  Has Cancel Culture affected the film industry in a negative way?

Gilbert: Oh definitely. Where do I even begin? Looking back at all these movies, I feel there has been some massive effect on the film industry. Coming-of-age films have been relatively sparse since then, yet you might get the occasional one here and there like 10 Things I Hate About You. Many Movies, TV Shows, even Broadway plays have been a victim of Cancel Culture. Look at Gone With The Wind, one of America’s most influential and greatest films. BAM! Can’t watch it anymore. Even Sixteen Candles and Animal House have received scrutiny from people. Those movies defined a generation, as they could relate to them when they were kids. Even during my time in college, fighting against the Alpha-Betas felt like one of those movies.

3. Has the passage of time since these movies came out changed people’s perspectives? 

Gilbert: Oh definitely, and I mean that both good and bad. Look at Sixteen Candles, when Anthony Michael Hall’s characters has sex with Caroline, an act that in whihc the former pretended to be her boyfriend Ryan. At the time many, including myself, found this to be funny. But now, it just seems wrong on so many levels, and borderline disturbing.

Wait...didn’t I do the same with Betty? Oh dear, but eh, it got us together after all.

Anyway, back to my point. You can also look at Do the Right Thing as an example. I’m one hundred percent sure that the final scene in the movie changed people’s views on race, and ignited hate as well. I’m positive it has made people question whether or not people still have hate for other people’s background.

4. Compare Short Round from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom to Long Duck Dong from Sixteen Candles. What are the positives and negatives of these characters?

Gilbert: Now I enjoyed Temple of Doom when it came out, despite being my least favorite in the Indiana Jones franchise. Short Round is one of my favorite characters, as it was the first time we saw a kid go on an adventure with Indy. Now some people now see Short Round’s character as “questionable”, and honestly, I don’t. Shorty doesn’t seem to be portrayed in a stereotypical way whatsoever. He’s friendly, reliable, smart, and fast. Almost like a young version of Indy in some ways. Sure he speaks in a Chinese accent, but that’s because he is Chinese. 

Now when it comes to Long Duck Dong, I can see some problems. His entire portrayal is basically one big stereotype. Lack of, but not limited to, social interaction, driving a car, and his accent being somewhat thicker than Short Rounds in my opinion. On top of that, whenever his name is pronounced, a gong can be heard in the background. Even his name is a pun/innuendo, which I find somewhat inappropriate. Overall, Long Duck Dong is basically created to be an American’s stereotypical view of foreigners who aren’t from the US. 

This is why many people in the modern day aren’t very fond of his appearance in Sixteen Candles, sure in the past he was comic relief. But with social changes over the years, many see it as racist in some ways.

5. I know the Alpha Betas were cruel to you and your friends, but do you think they got what they deserve?

I remember this day like it was yesterday. Betty in my arms, Lewis by my side, the alumni and other campus members supporting us. All while the Alpha-Betas were forced to sleep in the gym like we were when college began. It was a win for us nerds.

But looking back now, I can’t help but feel guilt for humiliating those guys. For once they got a taste of what it felt to feel like...well...a nerd for crying out loud. I could see it in their eyes, the defeat, the pain, their reputation all down the drain. Lewis and I wanted us Nerds to be accepted, not put in and replace the Alpha-Betas. 

I wish I could go back to that day, and welcome them into our lives as equals. I just hope they have good lives, and are successful.

[theaceman42]

Examining Youth Culture

For my first assignment in Media & Society, I was told to watch 5 different movies centered around youth culture. These movies were Euphoria, The Breakfast Club, Mid90s, KIDS, Mean Girls.

1.  Which character in any of these stories do you identify with the most and why?

In all honesty, I can’t really find one character that I can relate to the most, because most of them seem to be eerily similar in their problems. The two that are closest for me however are Caty Heron from Mean Girls and Claire Standish from The Breakfast Club. Both characters suffer from two things: friends and peer pressure. Caty is a new student at high school but is relatively new to public school in general due to being homeschooled by her parents and living in Africa for over 12 years. She has trouble making friends, and lacks the social skills of other students until she meets the “Plastics”. This was a group of popular mean girls whom she ultimately befriends: Regina, Gretchen, and Karen. On top of that, Caty also befriends Janis, a social outcast who was Regina’s former best friend turned rival. Not even halfway into the movie, you can already tell that the Plastics are influencing Caty. They tell her a bunch of ridiculous rules she has to follow, such as wearing pink on a specific day and not being allowed to wear hoop earrings at all. Caty doesn’t see anything wrong with this as she’s not used to being with other people, let alone having friends. Eventually halfway into the movie, Caty ultimately agrees to help Janis sabotage Regina’s popularity. This results in the latter losing her friends, and Caty unwittingly recreating herself in an image of Regina. But by the end, Caty returns to herself and the Plastics disband. 

For Claire, we don’t actually see her problems unfold, instead they are told. Much like Caty and the Plastics, Claire is a popular girl and suffers from peer pressure from her friends. She agrees with them constantly because of this all in order to keep her popularity up. However this ends up with her in detention in the film, as her friends pressured her into going shopping rather than going to school. On top of that, she’s constantly used by her parents as a bargaining chip to get back at one another. To summarize, Claire is a victim of social life and has never really made any of her own decisions until the end of the film, where she breaks her pristine image by kissing John Bender. 

For me, the reason I relate to these characters the most is through my time in middle school. Ever since junior year, I’ve also considered middle school to be this “buffer limbo period” where kids have to figure out who they are as a person and where they stand in the world.  No one’s the same when they leave middle school, you enter in a kid and leave as a teenager. I myself had to go through this ordeal and I remember it thoroughly. Sixth grade felt normal in some ways, but I could tell it was only the tip of the iceberg. It wasn’t until seventh grade where I started to have internal conflict and problems with making friends. I went through about three friend groups in middle school. One of them seemed good to me until I realized they honestly couldn’t care less about me. Since then up until I’d say the end of my freshmen year, I had a lot of distrust towards people, I couldn’t tell who wanted to be my friend and who didn’t. This would come crashing down in eighth grade, when I got into a fight with another student, who hung out with the people I was with. The student got in my face and in an attempt to get them away from me, I pushed them. They in retaliation punched me in the face. However during that time, I was forming a bond with other students who knew each other without me even knowing, all while I tried to make friends being someone who I wasn’t. I came out of middle school with a group of friends I’m still in touch with today. Throughout high school I also formed friendships with other people and respect with others who were mean to me and other students.

2. Identify three (3) common themes that are present in these stories and elaborate if they are relatable to contemporary youth culture. Draw from your personal experiences and elaborate on how these themes may have impacted your adolescent life

Three common themes throughout these stories are choice, redemption, and fear. Choice is an important aspect of our lives where we pick something that can affect us in any way shape or form. 

Euphoria is a prime example of this, Rue the narrator and one of the show's main characters talks about the choices she made that made her take drugs. She explains how it made her feel great, like there was nothing wrong with her. This would lead to Rue falling unconscious and taken to the hospital and ending up in rehab. 

Another good example of this is Mid90s, Sunny Suljic plays the role of Stevie, a 12-year old boy living in 1990s Los Angeles, who’s abused by his brother. Stevie then meets a group of older teen boys who are skateboarders and become part of their group. As the story progresses, Stevie eventually begins doing drugs, smoking, and drinking. By the end of the movie, the choices Stevie and his friends make end with them in a car accident and the former injured. I had to make a lot of choices in life, and I think everyone can say the same. What kind of ice cream do I get? What shoes to wear? Choosing who and who not to hang out with, was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Because I didn’t know what would happen to me. The movie ends with them all reconciling with their internal issues, but it's unclear whether or not they will change. Redemption is something that everyone seeks. When anyone, even yourself, does something wrong, you might regret it and try to apologize for what you had done. Caty in Mean Girls is a good example of this, after the events of the Burn Book were revealed to the entire school, the Plastics turned on one another, and everyone was angry at her actions. Caty ultimately apologized for what she had done and opted to say that everyone was beautiful in their own way. I can relate to this, just not in the way Caty did. I’ve lied in the past, either to my friends and to my own parents, sometimes about grades. When they found out, I tried to apologize and they often accepted it...to some extent. Then there is fear, the fear of what could happen and of the unknown. Sometimes fear can stem into our choices. Let me iterate, I had to choose who I would hang out with, which was very hard. Why? Because I was afraid of what would happen to me. How would I turn out in the end? Would I be evil? If I chose poorly and ended up doing something I shouldn’t then I would end trying to seek forgiveness. 

3.  First, explain how a soundtrack of a film/TV series impacts the narrative of a story. Second, create an Apple/Spotify playlist of songs that best define your adolescent experience, and embed this playlist onto your blog. 

Since the invention of the story, the play, and entertainment in general. Music has been a central part of all of it. When the first movies came out, the only sound people could hear was just the background being played, as there was no way to record or hear one’s voice at the time. Music basically takes what a story is telling, and adds depth to it. Allowing people to get a feel of what’s going on, and adding the setting. 

A good example of this is the movie Dunkirk, which tells the story of the British evacuation of France during World War II. What makes this movie different from others, is that it doesn’t rely on dialogue. There is little to no dialogue said at all, as the director and writer of Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan wanted to tell the story through music and cinematography. One tool Nolan used greatly alongside this was suspense. Here’s one scene from the film that shows music combined with suspense. 

The music used in this scene is just amazing. It shows the tension and fear of the Germans trying to stop the British from leaving.

Here is a link to some music that I can relate too and my adolescent years.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7Hs6iqrwosis1UU7TCu9KJ?si=4ebaac892a434305

[theaceman42]

Introductory Blog Post

My name is Parker Ace Dunn, people call me Parker, or just Ace. I attended Warwick Valley High School where I got into film and writing. I took two Communications courses and Video Production for BOCES during my Senior year. I spent all of March up until my graduation taking virtual classes my senior due to COVID. I am now at SUNY Orange studying New Media, film, and writing. 

I took up writing as a hobby in my Junior year of high school, mainly writing fanfiction, which I have no shame of. Since then, I’ve been working on three fanfic series, two inspired by other writers, and my first original one. I have an unhealthy obsession with Star Wars, loving all content that is released, even the new movies. I have no plans on breaking my Star Wars addiction in the future. 

Aside from media, I’ve had a love for history since elementary school. Whenever it was break time, I would sneak off and read a book on US history. Since then, I’ve taken up alternate history as a hobby, combining realistic and non-realistic scenarios. Examples include, “What if the Galactic Empire invaded Earth?” or “What if the US joined the Central Powers in WWI?”. I would share these ideas with my friends, and they would bombard me with reasons as to why I was wrong. Fun fact, they are wrong. I love these ideas because it makes people wonder what is reality and what’s not. Anything can happen at any point. 

The last movie and TV show I would probably watch would be Star Wars (A New Hope), and The Clone Wars. Once again, not breaking my addiction.

(Map and setting of the Great War series)

The last book I have ever read is The Great War: The American Front by Harry Turtledove which I’m still reading as a matter of fact. It's an alternate history novel spanning roughly eleven books. It's set in a world where the Confederacy won the Civil War. Now the Great War has begun, and the US is allied with Germany, while the Confederacy is allied with Britain and France.

If I were to choose one last video game to play, I would choose Halo: The Master Chief Collection, as I enjoy the Halo franchise. My particular favorite Halo game is Halo 3.

The last thing I've ever created is a chapter in one of my stories, roughly two days ago if I’m correct. As for my last meal, either pizza or cheeseburger, with a large Pepsi… no lettuce, tomato, or onion! And cooked medium well!!!