Week 15: November 30 & December 2

      No Comments on Week 15: November 30 & December 2

What’s Due Next?

This Week

  • Tuesday (today)
    • Keyword Surveillance
    • Response post to “Gaze” (this is a change from our normal pattern)
  • Thursday, December 2:
    • “Gaze” reply comments
    • Response post to “Surveillance” (no reply comments for “Surveillance” required)

Near Future

  • Short Response Paper #3: Convergence is due Friday, December 3 (this is a change)
  • Your Final Project, the ArcGIS StoryMap illustration of a keyword, remains due on Tuesday, December 7, but you have an automatic extension until December 14 if needed.

Tuesday, November 30

Two Closing Arguments

  • “Gaze” and “Surveillance” in media studies both represent viewing of different objects by different subjects for different purposes
    • Gaze
      • Objects are generally marginalized in culture and society (e.g., women, BIPOC [black, indigenous, and people of color]) who lack subjective agency.
      • Subjects are generally mainstream, white, and heterosexual in culture and society who have subjective agency
      • Purpose of the Gaze is to sexualize, genderize, make available and touch objects of desire
      • Not generally overtly about power relations, but clearly interwoven with them
    • Surveillance
      • Objects are generally those who need to be controlled or disciplined in some way
      • Subjects are generally nation states and multinational corporations
      • Purpose of Surveillance is to control and manage presumed inevitable future dangers
      • Overtly dictates power relations
  • Gaze and Surveillance belong with Agency, Assemblage, and Flow as components or aspect of Convergence
    • Convergence represents the tendency toward merger and assimilation, subsuming individual perspectives and approaches under over-arching paradigmatic umbrellas
    • Gaze and Surveillance both proliferate in media and seek to expand power and influence over “the other”
    • Consider corporate convergence in the example of Facebook, Meta, and the Metaverse
      • Facebook acquires Instagram
      • Facebook acquires WhatsApp
      • Facebook renames itself “Meta” and shifts focus to the metaverse, a virtual world in which data represents (or perhaps is) identity
      • Gaze and Surveillance become corporate values in the guise of data collection, data analytics, and marketing and advertising revenue
      • Gaze and Surveillance are enabled by Assemblage and Flow, and result in the lost of individual agency in the form of assemblage agency: assembled in the metaverse, owned by Meta

Thinking about StoryMaps

Details of the Assignment

  1. Select a keyword (can be one we covered or any other keyword in KMS)
  2. Illustrate that keyword as an ArcGIS StoryMap
  3. Embed your StoryMap in a paragraph-length project summary blog post in category “StoryMap”

Reminders about StoryMaps

  • Review notes from Justin Madron’s presentation (see class notes from October 28) on how to plan and outline your StoryMap, along with the Storytelling Tips he shared.
  • Review Justin’s key approaches
    • Identify your target audience (not “everyone everywhere”)
      • How much knowledge will you target audience bring to the story?
      • How can you make your story relatable to your target audience?
    • Define 2-3 key takeaways (i.e., do some planning); simplicity is key
    • Define your goals and metrics for success (clicks, engagement, learning)
    • Create content inventory list (media heavy; get your media together, and switch up your media a little)
    • Draft an outline or “storyboard” your project – check for flow, story or logic gaps, linearity
    • Hook your audience at the very beginning: graphic, image, statement — like an abstract in a research project
  • You are free to play, but you need to give yourself time to fail before your succeed in communicating your ideas.
  • You don’t need to provide an in-depth definition of your keyword, but you’re encouraged to use a definition as an introduction along with some way to illustrate the keyword.
  • You’re welcome to use research to dig into deeper meanings of the keyword, which may be useful if you seek to illustrate the history of the keyword’s emergence in critical studies.
  • You’re also welcome to focus more directly on creative aspects of illustrating the keyword’s use as a critical lens.

Grading

200 points total (20% of final grade)

  • 75 points: Identify and fully build out a StoryMap of the selected keyword (i.e., the StoryMap is about the keyword, not about something else, and you clearly understand the keyword)
  • 75 points: Accurately depict the StoryMap of the keyword without errors or misinterpretation (i.e., the illustrations are applicable to the keyword, and you’ve not used the keyword inaccurately as a critical lens)
  • 25 points: Provides depth and breadth of creativity, integrating multiple complete media types (i.e., you’ve integrated creativity in the StoryMap, and it’s not just one or two rows in length)
  • 25 points: Takes full advantage of StoryMap medium, demonstrating technological and information literacy (i.e., you’ve demonstrated understanding of StoryMaps by creating a good one)

Thursday, December 2

Closing Discussion

  • What do you believe you’ve learned about this semester in this course?
  • Do you see ways that what you’ve learned will help you in future classes?
  • What did you learn about using the blog as a tool for reflection and response?
  • How does the blog as a technology affect the learning experience?
  • How does working in the blog compare to class discussions and using Blackboard for discussion?
  • What worked well this semester?
  • Where is there room for improvement?

Final Requests

  1. Please complete the official course evaluation form. This is important for lots of reasons, but for me it’s a method for identifying areas of strength and weakness in the course.
    1. I won’t see results until after I’ve submitted grades.
    2. Your responses will be anonymous.
  2. Please consider taking a couple of minutes during class to complete a feedback form that identifies strengths and areas of improvements in the course.
    1. I’ll see these results immediately.
    2. Your responses will be anonymous.

Grades

I’ll announce final calculated grades in Blackboard before I submit them to BannerWeb. You’ll have a short window to ask questions about your final grade, but you can work with your advisor to appeal grades if that’s something you wish to do. I don’t mind questions about grades.

Final grades are due Friday morning, December 19.

Gaze- Caroline Rowe

      4 Comments on Gaze- Caroline Rowe

As defined in the reading, “gaze is concerned with how gendered, eroticized, and controlled bodies become visible within media and other texts, and how individuals look at, identify with, and are constructed by visual representations.” Gaze is often seen through what we know as the “male gaze” which is portrayed in most forms of media. In most movies, especially those that are expected to be viewed be a mostly male audience, the leading female role tends to be one that is white, skinny, straight, and meets the typical beauty standards. These women will also be dressed in revealing outfits that show lots of their skin and body. This is extremely demoralizing for women and portrays them as objects instead of people who are capable of all that a man is. I feel that the portrayal of women through the male gaze was more of an issue when I was younger, as I have recently been seeing this issue improve. There are several different ways this has improved, one of them being that there are far more women of color in movies and TV shows who serve a greater purpose in the plot than to just look pretty. I have also noticed when online shopping that there are far more body types represented. Plus sized models are far more frequent than they were in the past which allows for women of all shapes and sizes to be represented.

Mimi Bainbridge “Surveillance” Post

      No Comments on Mimi Bainbridge “Surveillance” Post

As mentioned in the reading, surveillance has “a string of related associations—monitoring, tracking, observing, examining, regulating, controlling, gathering data, and invading privacy.” (186) Ultimately, it means to watch over something. More recently, a new era of surveillance equipment has been introduced through technological advancements. Security cameras, drones, and hidden microphones all aid in this process. Moreover, an array of social media platforms have now become surveillance-related as well. These apps and devices act as major data-trackers. Data can be collected and watched to detect any illegal activities but can also be tracked to simply aid companies in selling their products. For example, companies like Google, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok all take part in the act of data-tracking. Personal data can be taken and processed by state security. Secondly, the reading also suggests that the genre of reality television can be viewed through a lens of “surveillance”. The people featured on the show continuously broadcast their lives for millions to watch and are followed by cameras for a majority of their day. In a way they lose all their sense of privacy and the world now has the opportunity to freely comment on their everyday lives.

Gwen Savidge: Gaze

      5 Comments on Gwen Savidge: Gaze

As the keyword gaze has several different meanings behind the simple word, in this instance gaze refers to the lens through which the viewer observes the media from. For example, in many movies, the male gaze is placed into perspective to make the males feel they have a superiority complex that entitles them. However, this is far from the real truth. Often women are known to be the cooks and cleaners while the men work, putting a male gaze on the roles of life, and yet many males are better cooks than women and women are better at desk jobs than housework. Another example is on social media such as Instagram. Through posts, there is a gaze on the content put onto the app and distorts people’s realities. Like some influencers such as Kim Kardashian, as people edit and morph their bodies, an unrealistic gaze is cast upon these images and put unrealistic images into users’ heads. The keyword gaze can have both a negative and positive connotation, it just depends on who and what is it being used with.

Flow: Mary Margaret Clouse

      No Comments on Flow: Mary Margaret Clouse

Throughout my reading of this keyword I began to think of the types of flow we see on social media. There are many, but the one thing they have in common is that we, as media viewers, want this flow to continue. This user need is evidenced in the technology and software itself. Instagram’s explore page has the ability to go on exponentially. Twitter can be reloaded to show new tweets, and we often discuss the infinite scroll of TikTok. This constant flow of information, ideas, and media as a whole has created a sort of “anxiety about being out of sync,” which is a fairly universal feeling similar to real life “FOMO” or “fear of missing out.” I think that social media has impacted this greatly, as we are now constantly presented with so many more people’s experiences to compare to our own. This anxiety and need to be up to date pertains not only to social media, but also to more essential aspects of life, such as employment and academics, which are constantly updated through digital flows like apps, websites, or emails. Flow as an idea isn’t inherently negative, but its constant nature can hinder human ability to relax and participate in leisure because of the incessant presence of potential stressors.

Keyword #13: Surveillance

      No Comments on Keyword #13: Surveillance

Something I found interesting about this keyword is that, in a modern context, while it is correct usage to suggest that surveillance is synonymous with observation, this ignores “efforts to govern or control” (Gates, 2017) the behaviors of its observants. As author Kelly Gates notes, the term “surveillance” was not popularized or used in the definition mentioned until the mid to late 1960s as technology began to advance (Gates, 2017). The term has grown exponentially in meaning in our post-9/11 world with a focus on neoliberalism and domestic protection. As I sit in the airport writing this, I am noticing all of the ways I am being surveilled both physically and digitally. My geolocation is showing my parents that I am at the gate as well as my connection to the wifi. Furthermore, I am being watched by various cameras, police, and gate officials for dubious behavior. This is done particularly with the intent for the safety of fellow passengers and workers on both a private and federal level. American Airlines is a private airline surveilling my activities onboard as to advertise for future flights and in-flight purchases such as wifi usage. LaGuardia Airport, on the other hand, is owned by the City of New York and not by a private company. 

Gaze- Bella Kjellen

      1 Comment on Gaze- Bella Kjellen

As noted in the reading, Gaze is “how gendered, raced, eroticized, and controlled bodies become visible within media and other texts, and how individuals look at, identify with, and are constructed by visual representations”. Media holds a large amount of control over perceptual gazes, especially toward women. The concept of the “male gaze” has held a prominent influence on the way our media is produced, especially within film. Female characters are sexualized for profit, as producing for men is commonly seen throughout the film industry. However, social media has been progressing over to a more inclusive perspective recently as new trends have arrived in efforts to shift the gaze. For example, I think there has been a big switch within fashion media. Women’s fashion does not highlight limited clothing and instead pushes toward a more diverse range of trends within the fashion industry that are not targeted toward the male gaze. Women emphasizing efforts to dress for themselves instead of for men, highlighting the obscurities within gender perspectives in media/ film, and addressing that the male gaze is legitimate are all ways in which we have tried to push from this narrative. However, the media itself ultimately holds the power in terms of production and consumerism, so it is up to producers and influencers themselves to shift this perspective.

Keyword #12: Gaze

      1 Comment on Keyword #12: Gaze

This chapter specifies that gaze and architectural structures have the ability to “facilitate social regulation” (White, 2017) and thereby dictate societal and interpersonal norms regarding gender, race, and sexuality to name a few. We’ve addressed this keyword throughout the semester in the ways that the male vs. female heterosexual gaze can influence what media formats say about traditional gender norms. One example that has been discussed lately regarding this issue is comic book characters. Wonder Woman, for instance, used to be the pinnacle of the stereotypical desired female body in the heterosexual male gaze in her 2-D drawn format. However, in her live-action version, her armor and costuming was set to be more functional than erotic, noting the passion of a strong female hero rather than a figure to simply be idled. This can be further seen in the difference in Harley Quinn’s portrayal in Suicide Squad vs. Birds of Prey. In Suicide Squad, scenes were added to simply admire the shape of Margot Robbie’s figure rather than move the plot along and her costume mirrored this idea. In Birds of Prey, Quinn’s solo film, Robbie is dressed in a way that accentuates her personality and intentions rather than simply her figure. Overall, the tactic of gaze demonstrates the director’s aims for the produced media and what the desire of the audience’s perception is. It is a tool that has both hindered and elevated underrepresented groups.

Suicide Squad vs. Birds of Prey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Suicide Squad vs. Birds of Prey. RTF Media and Culture. WordPress, 2020. https://rtfgenderandmediaculture.wordpress.com/2020/11/18/how-birds-of-prey-allows-harley-quinn-to-break-free-from-suicide-squads-male-gaze/.

 

Marielle Dibbini: Gaze

      4 Comments on Marielle Dibbini: Gaze

As the reading states, “the gaze can address gender, race, sexuality, and other identities and reveal how new media intermesh gazing, touching, and accessing” (White 2006, 2005). This reminds me a lot about our discussion on algorithms. We are able to see how some things shown in the media, such as social media, are created for one’s specific gaze. In social media, one’s gaze is seen through their algorithm, whether it be their “for you page” on TikTok or “explore page” on Instagram, because they are constantly being shown what interests them. The reading mentioned how some forms of media portray women as objects, because they are designed for the male gaze. As we know, men tend to hold higher positions of power than women, therefore these negative depictions of women are pretty common. An example of this gaze can be seen in movies that are mostly watched by men. In action movies, the male main character is the hero while the female needs to be rescued. Movies such as these are directed towards the male gaze because these films make men feel powerful and superior. This is just one example of how different forms of media are created to address a specific gaze, whether it be gender, race, sexuality, etc.

Mimi Bainbridge “Gaze” Post

      4 Comments on Mimi Bainbridge “Gaze” Post

In media, women tend to depicted as objects. Their look is made available for the “gaze of spectators who are coded as white heterosexual men.” (75) Over the years, the formation of the “male gaze” throughout different films and shows has become a controversial topic of discussion. Why is it so prominent in the media industry? The answer can be found by collectively observing how male-dominated the crew, director, producer, and writer positions are in Hollywood. A majority of films are  created by men, for men. Female characters may be told to speak a certain way or wear clothing to satisfy the gaze. For example, the movie Suicide Squad was originally filmed with the help of a male director. In the first film, Harley Quinn, one of the main female characters, was put in a costume featuring very small and ripped clothing. However, Birds of Prey: Harley Quinn was filmed by a female director. Although Harley maintained her vibrant personality, she was put into an outfit that wasn’t as sexualized. The comparison between the same character in these two films show how prominently the male gaze effects clothing choices for female characters.