Reflective Journal (Entry 3)

It’s no secret that the media use airbrushing. It’s been happening for years but I recently came across this video and was shocked to see just how much Photoshop is capable of. Of course the models used in magazines are naturally stunning but it’s frightening how much they can change a person.

Right from the get go we are born into a society where we are constantly comparing ourselves against others. Every click of a button, every turn of a page we survey the celebrity world and think to ourselves “she’s prettier” or “she’s taller” or “why doesn’t my hair look like that?” So much so that when we look in the mirror, instead of seeing who we are, we see who we’re not.

Photographer, Sarah Brimley reveals the extreme airbrushing requests she receives from celebrities “They’ll say can you make my nose a different shape or make me slimmer. It happens with almost every celebrity photograph. The most common request is to make the waist go in a bit or make the legs longer” (BBC, 2013). It seriously angers me that the general public (young girls especially) believe that these people actually look like that when in reality, they don’t. Airbrushing is creating impossible expectations. No one’s hair is that glossy, no one’s skin is that flawless and no one’s figure is that incredible. Models in magazines and mannequins in shops – that body is not achievable. I admit that I often look through magazines or blogs and wish I had Scarlett Johansson’s body or Cheryl Cole’s hair but the thing is, I bet they do to. People need to realise that even the girl in the magazine doesn't look like the girl in the magazine. We have become so obsessed with this perception of beauty that we've even started to use post-production techniques on ourselves. That selfie you posted on Instagram last week, did you put a filter on it first? The answer is probably yes. I can remember doing this from such a young age (back in the days of Myspace). I would never dream of posting a picture of myself online before every blemish had been erased to the point where i looked like a plastic doll. I am ashamed to look back at those images now but it shows just how obsessed and cautious we are with how we present ourselves to the world.

Society is putting so much pressure on young girls to look ‘perfect’. If you're not a size zero, you're fat and if you don't have gorgeous blonde locks, no one is going to find you attractive. The Apple App Store is full of diet and fitness plans but when scrolling though, one in particular stood out to me. 'Quick Diet - Celebrity' (Lose weight like a Star and get a Supermodel body). The aim of this app is not to make women feel comfortable in themselves but to create thousands of stick thin Kate Moss lookalikes. As a result, young girls are essentially starving themselves to keep as thin as their celebrity role models. However, this may not be necessary due to an even more ridiculous new app called 'Skinneepix'. As if there wasn't already enough pressure to be thin, we now have an app specifically for shaving 15 pounds off our selfies. Soon enough, social media will be full of unrealistic, skinny-fied images, making people feel even more under pressure to conform to the "ideal" body image.

Thankfully, it’s not just me who is sick to death of seeing stick insects with lollipop heads on every page. A whole host of young Hollywood stars have shared their views on the issue. Harry Potter star, Emma Watson has recently spoken about the “dangerously unhealthy” image the fashion industry projects and the pressure to look good on young girls. She said "As a younger woman, that pressure got me down, but I've made my peace with it. With airbrushing and digital manipulation, fashion can project an unobtainable image that's dangerously unhealthy. I'm excited about the ageing process. I'm more interested in women who aren't perfect. They're more compelling" (GLAMOUR, 2014).

Pretty Little Liars actress’ Ashley Benson and Troian Bellisario also took to Twitter and voiced their opinions to a devoted following of teenage girls…

For me, it’s Jennifer Lawrence who is the most inspirational young actress around at the moment. The 23 year old is considered in Hollywood as a “fat actress”. She is by no means fat or even slightly chubby for that matter so you can imagine how that makes girls feel about their own bodies, myself included. In an interview with Elle magazine, Lawrence said “I eat like a caveman, I’ll be the only actress in Hollywood who doesn’t have anorexia rumours. I want to look like a woman, I don’t want to look like a little boy.”

Being a victim of Photoshop on many occasions, Lawrence stands up for herself and fights for what she believes in. She has spoken out to let girls know that it's okay to be who you are and you don't need to change for anybody.

Sources...

BBC (2013) What does it feel like to be airbrushed? [WWW] Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24522060

GLAMOUR (2014) Emma Watson slams "dangerously unhealthy" pressure on women [WWW] Available from: http://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/news/celebrity/2014/03/31/emma-watson-on-pressure-young-women-ageing-airbrushing

ELLE (2012) [WWW] Avilable from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N7QpoSdFcc

Ethnography

In nowadays, we rely on technology for everything. We wouldn't leave the house without our mobile and we probably couldn't function properly without our social networking sites. Teenagers today have been surrounded by technology since the day they were born so I wanted to see what would happen if it was all taken away from us. I somehow convinced my four flatmates to take part in a study. We each placed our phones, laptops, iPods and other electrical items in the centre of the room; from this point on, we weren't allowed to touch them for a full hour.

The Results... This proved a lot more difficult than anticipated! Within the first 15 minutes, two of the participants had given in and reached for their phones to read a text. It was also interesting to see how others reacted when we didn't reply to their messages. Texting is supposed to be quick and easy so when we don't respond, people start to become impatient and send follow up messages along the lines of "why are you ignoring me?" or "text be back!" But it wasn't just texts which proved to be a problem. Usually, at this time in the evening we would be sitting in the living room either streaming shows on the internet or scrolling through Twitter. This study made me realise how much we take the internet for granted. If you have a question you simply just type it into Google and within seconds you have your answer. So when conversation moved on to how old Leonardo Dicaprio is, we were faced with a real problem! (He's 39 by the way).

This video makes me feel very sorry for Google!

Reflective Journal (Entry 2)

Our next project was to hold a debate about file sharing and piracy. My group had to argue that file sharing should be legal and that culture on the internet should be free. This meant that our opposing group were to argue the view against file sharing.

This Charlie Rose discussion with Lars Ulrich (Metallica) and Chuck D (Public Enemy) gives two different perspectives on the file sharing issue.

Ulrich argued his point against file sharing. Metallica have worked hard to achieve their success and he believed that it’s the artists right to own their songs and be in control of how they are distributed. This discussion took place in 2000 so a lot has changed since then but the principle is still the same. Downloading from sites such as Napster is theft of property. People are consistently breaking the law but they take it for granted that anything which is available to download on the internet is theirs to own. Essentially it’s like pick-pocketing someone on the street. Artists and record companies put a lot of time and effort into making music and for each illegal download you’re basically stealing money right out of their pockets. For world renowned artists like Beyonce, this is just petty cash. She probably uses $100 bills as toilet paper anyway. But for small bands who are just getting out there, illegal downloading is making it near enough impossible to achieve success. These bands have to pay for everything themselves and the money they should be getting from record sales is being stolen from them.

On the other hand, without websites like Spotify how are we ever going to discover new music? Beyonce has already been around for as long as I can remember, will she still be dancing around in a leotard when she’s in her 50’s? Well, if she’s anything like Madonna then yes she will. Consumer buzz is highly important for sales success and with links so social networks such as Facebook, spreading the word is easier than ever. I believe that one of the most important points is this; where do we draw the line with ‘file sharing’? How can we define it? If you invite a friend over to listen to a new CD you bought, that isn’t considered sharing music. If you can hear the guy at the bus stop playing Eminem far too loud, that isn’t considered as sharing music either. So how is sharing music online any different? Music has a significant effect in people’s lives and people who can’t afford it shouldn’t be deprived of this culture.

There are valid arguments from both points of view but let’s put it this way, I have 2649 songs on my iTunes and I do not have £2649. With most tracks costing 99p there is absolutely no way I could pay for the entire content of my iTunes library. If I were to legally download each and every song I would probably be listening to the same 10 songs on repeat for the rest of my life because that’s about all I can afford. The last album I physically purchased was ‘You Me At Six – Sinners Never Sleep’ in 2011. The only reason I broke the bank for this CD was because I was going to signing and having Sharpie signatures scribbled on my arm didn’t quite cut it. This doesn’t mean I don’t support the band in other ways though. I’ve bought merchandise and tickets for two of their shows. Granted, if it were possible to illegally download and print off my concert ticket for free, I would have done it. Unfortunately, it isn’t.

Campaign Video

Shannon and I decided to focus our campaign video on the dangers of Neknominations. This is a trend which is all over Facebook at the moment and to be honest i am sick of seeing it!

Social media has great power. It all started with one lad having a joke with his mates but as more and more people were nominated the 'game' just continued to grow. Truth is, you don't have to do it. You don't have to do anything you don't want to but instead of declining a nomination these boys try to out do each other by making the game more dangerous. Instead of drinking boring old beer people have invented delicious cocktails of vodka, whiskey, wine, eggs, chilli powder and for the cherry on top...diesel fuel.

Reflective Journal (Entry 1)

Inspired by the topic of my pecha kucha presentation, my first reflective journal entry will discuss the nature of authenticity in online mediation. With the slogan ‘Broadcast Yourself’, YouTube is the ideal platform used by vloggers all over the world. The video sharing website is defined as a form of ‘post-television’ (Tolson, 2012, p.283) but what is it about user generated content that has become so popular?

According to Tolson (2012, p.277), it’s the ‘freshness’ and ‘spontaneity’ of user generated material which offers a new form of authenticity. Although traditional broadcast talk may appear to be conversational, I completely agree with Tolson in that ‘because of its institutional location, its authenticity can be called into question’(p.278). As you sit in your pyjamas on a week day morning, munching on your cornflakes, you will be greeted with a whole-hearted “Good Morning” from Holly and Phil. It may seem as if they’re nestled next to you on the sofa, ready for a good chat but unfortunately, the ‘silver fox’ is reading off an autocue in a fake, ceiling-less living room, somewhere in London.

I don’t tend to watch much TV anymore, as long as I have my laptop I’m pretty content with cosying up for the evening and searching through YouTube. Vlogging is something I only discovered in the past year or so but I’m not ashamed to say that I’ve become a little obsessed. Unlike broadcast media where big bright lights and fancy cameras are used, vlogs are technically very easy to produce. As long as you have a camera and internet connection you’re pretty much set to go. Documenting each and every aspect of your daily whereabouts can be very intrusive and personally, this is not something I could ever see myself doing. Quite frankly, I don’t think anyone would be the slightest bit interest in seeming my trip to town but these are the kind of mundane activities vloggers are receiving millions of views for.

Tolson (2012) examines vlogging in terms of presentation, interactivity and expertise (p.280-282) which I think is more evident in this second type of YouTube video.

The presentation of these videos appears much more professional and polished than traditional vlogs. They are usually filmed in the person’s bedroom where the perfect background has been carefully selected (no one wants to broadcast their dirty washing to the world). Interactivity was also outlined as a reason why vlogs are seen to be more authentic than traditional television. The use of ‘conversational character’ and direct address to the audience gives the illusion of a face-to-face relationship with the performer (Horton and Wohl, 1965, p.215). I have been known to spend six hours straight watching video after video from some of my favourite YouTubers. I now feel like I know more about them than some of the people I see every day in real life. I know all about Zoella moving to Brighton. I’ve joined her brother, Joe at work, thatching a roof. I felt genuinely proud of Tanya Burr when she released her own make-up line and I even know what kind of soap Jim Chapman uses in the shower (‘FUN’ from Lush in case you were wondering). As viewers we are not just an over hearing audience, we are a participatory audience. We’re able to respond by commenting or liking the video. We can even use Twitter to directly talk to the YouTuber, asking them questions or requesting future videos.

Expertise is the final thing which Tolson identifies. YouTube videos generally follow a structure and have a specific topic to discuss. This could be absolutely anything from beauty to baking, gaming or fashion. Sometimes if a vlogger endorses a product it has more of an impact of viewers than if it was just featured on the page of a magazine. I can vouch for this as I have previously rushed out to buy a jumper which I saw in one of Zoella’s Primark haul videos. Some companies will even pay you for advertising their products – Zoella was unemployed before starting her YouTube channel but has now managed to turn it into a career.

Personally, I would rather spend my time online, searching through YouTube than watching most of the rubbish which is on TV these days. I still don’t really understand why vlogs can entertain me for hours in end but for some reason they are just so addictive and it’s nice to see what your ‘friends’ have been getting up to!

Tolson, A (2012) 'A New Authenticity? Communicative Practices on YouTube', Critical Discourse Studies, 7:4.

PechaKucha

Our second project was to create a pecha kucha. Di and I decided to focus ours on the various ways in which we use Youtube and social networks to map ourselves. Having just hit four million subscribers, Zoe Sugg, otherwise known as ‘Zoella’ is one of the most successful British YouTubers. Being the queen of the YouTube community (in my eyes), Zoella demonstrates how versatile you can be on the web.

PechaKucha from lindseyberrill95

Psychogeography

The idea of the dérive is to explore our environment in new ways, with fresh eyes. Every time i go into town i take the exact same route. I don't even have to think about it anymore, i just let my legs do the work and allow my mind to drift somewhere else. Shannon and I came up with a way to change things up a bit. We wanted to randomize the route to take me a direction i had never been before. We used a pack of playing cards to make our decisions for us...

♢ = TURN LEFT

♧ = TURN RIGHT

♤ = STRAIGHT ON

♥ = YOU DECIDE

As you can see, we picked a lovely cold and rainy day to film this...