Talking Points: Teens Talk Back

Reflection

I have to start by saying that I didn't think it would be hard to find teens standing up against the negative images that the media displays about them. I guess my thinking could have been persuaded by our positive talks about teens in class and after seeing the Youth in Action group. I was very impressed by their presentation and on their awesome progress with their school. This article reminded me of the three Queer readings when they linked personal experiences with teens. For this blog and research, I started by searching on Google and then went to YouTube where I found a video. This video showed girls talking back against the negative and unrealistic images that the media portrays. Many of them felt angry and upset with the commercial and shows because they were displaying unrealistic images that they thought all girls should live up to. The girls said the following things when asked to talk about media and the negative images that it displays “if you’re rich or you have money, then you can be popular other than that you’re a nobody. That’s not fair,” It’s trying to say your ugly without this product, or you’re not popular without this product,” “The media gives you standards for looking good, and makes you think the product will help,” “It’s almost like they want you to judge people by their clothes instead of this personality,” “It makes you get angry at the companies and say why can’t I look pretty on my own, why do I need something to help me.” Everything that the girls said was true. The media does try to make you feel like you need “things” to make you more popular, pretty, successful, liked, etc. It is constantly trying to make you feel like something is wrong with you but if you do these few simple things such as buying make-up products or losing weight, you can be the “picture perfect person.” It is unrealistic and gives young girls false hopes and dreams. There isn't any commercials that say “your beautiful you don’t need anything to make you better” or anything along those lines that I can think of, can you? 

Another interesting link I found about media and its effect on teens- Check it out and let me know if you agree with what it says! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzsYxR7Y9Pw&noredirect=1  

Hip Hop Controversies

Free Writing:

This article reminded me of Oriensteins "Cinderella ate my daughter" because they both expressed memories from their past that implemented what they said in their article. Tricia Rose is a professor of Africana studies at Brown University. She is also the Director of the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at the university. “Professor Rose is also on the Boards of the Nathan Cummings Foundation and Black Girls Rock, Inc (Van Evers, 2014).” 

She is best known for her award winning book, Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America, which is about the emergence of hip hop culture. 

Her primary position on the contemporary world of hip hop in the US is covered in her lectures and seminars. Rose argues that hip hop artists and the commercialization of black popular culture more generally has more power than ever to shape racial and gender images, perceptions, and policies (Van Evers, 2014). The people who are on her team and support her work are MSNBC, CNN, NPR and other local media connections as well as in Time, Essence, The New York Times, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Her speech in the YouTube video was very educational. I liked when she talked about playing basketball while she was growing up and how the creative players would rap on the tape. I agree with her when she says that hip hop music has been “dumb down” and its creativeness has really escaped. A lot of it has to do with being able to sell the product and it has effected hip hop to be commercial than inspirational. The article on “Hip Hop Wars” was also very powerful and filled with knowledge. She is trying to get the point across that hip hop isn’t what it used to be and it is because of media and the “need to sell” that is affecting its original origin. Hip hop music used to be about implementing change for the better in society and people’s lives. She talks a lot about this in this article. I like that she is passionate about hip hop and see’s the good that it was and still can be but also acknowledges that change needs to take place and I couldn't agree more! 

"Queer Youth Readings"

Free Writing:

I decided to free write for my blog this week. These articles made me think back to Croteau’s article when he discussed media and ideologies, another classmate also picked this out. I want to talk about the representation of queer people in the eye of the public because I felt that it came up in all of the articles and was discussed thoroughly in each. A lot of my classmates also discussed this topic and I think it’s because it’s a big concern and issue that everyone notices, whether they care or not, it’s still visible to society. The media doesn’t always give the best representation of queer population and how it is portrayed isn’t always true. It is sometimes seen as either really negative or really positive. There is never a happy medium and this portrays them as being different than everyone else. The article “Queer Representation and the Media” talked a lot about this. One point that it mentioned is that queer representation has been brought to media’s attention and they are finally noticing it. However, even when it is seen in a positive light, there are still challenges that are brought up like sexuality and actors/actresses that play queer roles have different obstacles than heterosexual roles. This article also talks about representation in the negative light as it stated, “criticism was particularly concerned with negative portrayals of gays and lesbians as sissies, drag queens, butch lesbians, and other groups that didn’t fit into mainstream gender categories.” This is a big issue that arises in the media representation. It is definitely something negative that queer roles are seen as in the media and can be hurtful and also create false stereotypes. I am interested in hearing my classmates view on this topic.

~If you look at my hyperlink for queer, the first definition is very interesting. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts!