Media Assignment
How do you relate to media today? Are you inspired by the images you see? Do you feel a connection with the body types and personalities that are represented? Or do you feel alienated from the messages that are being targeted at youth?
Media is all around us in a variety of forms. Below is a video of Tavi Gevinson giving a talk for TEDxTeen. Tavi runs her own fashion blog and is a self-identified feminist. She loves designer labels and promotes positive self-image among teenage girls. In this talk, she addresses the issue of how girls are represented in the media and what could possibly be done to combat this. Please watch the video and then continue reading below.
Media is all around us in a variety of forms. Below is a video of Tavi Gevinson giving a talk for TEDxTeen. Tavi runs her own fashion blog and is a self-identified feminist. She loves designer labels and promotes positive self-image among teenage girls. In this talk, she addresses the issue of how girls are represented in the media and what could possibly be done to combat this. Please watch the video and then continue reading below.
I understand that this video was geared toward teenage girls, but we can take the message to apply it to all genders. Rather than focusing on the infinite ways media has pressured teens into thinking they're imperfect, inferior, abnormal or ugly (like seen here at http://www.genderads.com/) let's take this opportunity to seek out positive representations in the media. While it's important to identify problematic images and texts, it is equally as important to identify positive and encouraging images and texts.
So, my assignment for you is simple: keep your eyes and ears open. Whenever you hear, see or read something that POSITIVELY represents teens, or any group you identify with, in the media, send it to me. I will then post that information to our class tumblr. Remember, you can identify with someone or something based on any commonality. For example, I may identify with one person because we have had a similar life experience or another because we come from the same cultural background or another because we're both girls.