QT MASHUP

A few posts back, I mentioned a research paper that I was writing. In many ways, the essay was a culmination of ideas that I discussed in my blog, including hidden curriculum and gender bias. To summarize my argument, I argued that inherently learned and socially acceptable forms of sexism are the common motivating factors behind instances of gender inequity. For the purpose of my essay, this was an effective thesis. I had close to ten pages to prove my point in careful detail and my argument was structurally designed around this theses. However, my guess is that you are already bored hearing about the structure of a research I wrote for my English class. That’s because the essay wasn’t addressed to you. Rather, as most research papers are, my paper was basically written for my grader.

 

However, luckily for you, I have created a revised digital version of my original essay which is intended for you! Unlike my research paper, this video mashup is a much more accessible form of communication which is addressed to a much wider audience. As I mentioned previously, it took close to ten pages to detail my original argument. Therefore, I chose to simplify my message down to its core for this revised version. Basically, in this new version, I want to communicate that gender issues deserve and demand more attention

Furthermore, the structure and content of my video mashup are designed around this basic principle. As you likely know if you have read much of my blog, I am a huge fan of movies. Nearly half of my blog posts use movies as a lens through which to view other relevant topics that I am discussing. Therefore, from the very beginning I was inclined to design a video mashup since it meant I would be working with movie clips. After some thought, I decided to  use clips from Quentin Tarantino films including Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, and Django Unchained. There are multiple advantages to using these films.

Firstly, these movies are so popular that they are likely to be well-known by my audience. For this reason, my hope is that I can capitalize on my audience’s preconceived admiration of these movies to increase attentiveness and encourage positive reactions to my own video. Additionally, Quentin Tarantino uses much of the same cast in many of his films. For this reason, I knew that I would have the ability to put actors and actresses in conversation with one another between multiple scenes and films. Before I talk too much about it and give away the whole thing, why don’t you just watch it?

Here it is.  

I am by no means an expert in video editing or film design but I hope at the very least you found my project to be interesting. I believe that one of the biggest obstacles that gender issue face today is the lack of serious attention they receive. Therefore, I believe that it is important to simply encourage people to engage the subject of gender issues wether it be through a serious academic paper, or a simple video mashup like the one I have created.

Elevator Ethics…

Today I was standing and waiting for the elevator in my residence hall. I know, I should take the stairs. What can I say? I’m not perfect. Anyway, as I waited, I was forced to stare at an “educational” poster reading “37% of women and 42% of men” remain sexually inactive during college. As I contemplated this somewhat random statistic, I began thinking about Santa Clara University’s policies relating to sex and sexual education/preparedness. Being a Jesuit institution, Santa Clara University opposes sex before marriage.

Why then should they inform me that, “37% of women and 42% of men” remain sexually inactive during college? It is a well known fact that abstinence only sex education is an ineffective method of preventing pregnancy and sexual activity. At first, I thought that this statistic was supposed to discourage me from having sex by suggesting that a large portion of my peers are sexually inactive. However, despite the posters nagging tone, it might as well read “The majority of your peers are having sex!” because anyone with a GED should be able to do some mental math and determine that if “37% of women and 42% of men” remain sexually inactive during college, “63% of women and 58% of men” are sexually active during college.

The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that this poster is almost laughably ineffective. Honestly, I am not even sure that the statistic is true. I tried searching for it online, but was unable to turn up the original source. Coming from the same disciplinarians who ineffectively struggle to enforce a no-alcohol policy, this poster comes off as more of a joke than a serious message.

Furthermore, I find myself questioning the logic of Santa Clara University’s policies on sex when, walking through Benson, I see tables offering free pregnancy tests. As previously noted, Santa Clara University opposes sex before marriage. Yet, by offering up free pregnancy tests, they are acknowledging that some of their students are sexually active. In my own opinion, Santa Clara University should promote student health proactively rather than retroactively, especially given that they are seemingly aware a large portion of their students are sexually active. Therefore, if I was to be in charge, I would promote the distribution of contraception rather than the distribution of pregnancy tests which obviously do not prevent either pregnancy or the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. 

I won’t begin to argue that any sort of changes should be made. After all, this is a Jesuit institution which is rooted in historical and traditional Jesuit values. I chose to attend a private institution and therefore I forfeited my right to complain. However, I will simply point out the ways in which these policies seem illogical from my perspective.

 

Best Actor or Actress in a Leading Role…

During the 2016 Oscars, Chris Rock made an insightful comment about gender inequity. Essentially, Chris Rock asked why it is necessary to have separate award categories for men and women when one’s ability to act is not defined by their gender. I think that this is a really interesting idea, especially in consideration of the evolution of women’s roles in movies. Historically, women have been marginalized in film. As a trend, women are less likely to be the protagonist of a screenplay. Therefore, actresses have often had less opportunity to act in leading roles. Often times, especially in older films, female characters are stereotypical archetypes of traditional gender roles.

This of course does not mean that there are no great movies with female leads. The first movie ever shot in color and one of the most successful films of all time, “Wizard of Oz,” features a female lead. However, even the “Wizard of Oz” is influenced by gender bias. As discussed in a recent TED talk, the remake of “Wizard of Oz” will be written from the perspective of the wizard thereby diminishing the role of Dorothy.

It is interesting to consider how a restructuring of the academy awards might affect gender biases. I for one believe that an elimination of the gender based award system might discourage gender bias. For example, if the “best actor in a leading role” and “best actress in a leading role,” awards were to be combined into one award, viewers of the Oscars might be less likely to mentally reinforce outdated ideas of gender roles.

However, should the Oscars actually consider changing their award categories? While arguments for gender equality are certainly likely to gain traction amongst the notoriously liberal “Oscars Academy,” there is also something to be said for tradition. It has been said that, “to be separate is to be inherently unequal,” however the in the current landscape of the film industry, this separation might be in the favor of actresses. As I mentioned earlier, women are less likely to be given leading roles. Therefore, a combination of male and female categories might lead to an unequal distribution of awards between male and female actors and actresses.

After thinking about this question from both perspectives, I believe that there is a much stronger argument in support of revising the Oscars categories than in keeping them the same. While females may be featured in leading roles less frequently, this trend is slowly changing. For example, Star Wars The Force Awakens features the first female Jedi in a leading role. While this inequity does not compare in significance to the more glaring inequities of pay discrimination and sexism, I believe that there is no strong argument for maintaining separate award categories for different genders in a society which is increasingly seeking to eliminate gender roles and stereotypes.

 

R-r-r-r-remix!

Recently, I finished a research paper in which I argued that researchers frequently ignore the influence of sexism on hidden gender biases. Throughout the paper, I gave detailed examples of ways in which the hidden curriculum of classroom education features gender bias that is motivated by inherently learned and socially accepted forms of sexism. While this essay was an effective means of compiling my thoughts and evidence into one cohesive argument, it was not intended for a large audience. Rather, as my professor acknowledged during class this Wednesday, the paper was written for her, my grader.

 

In my next project, a multimodal representation of the ideas that I developed in my paper, I hope to develop a more accessible argument that might be appreciated by a larger audience. For a project to be “multimodal,” it must take advantage of a variety of technologies or methods of communication. One possibility, is to create a “remix.”

Most likely, you have heard of a song being remixed. By taking an original source material, and editing it so that it behaves in a way it wasn’t originally intended to, an artist can express their own interpretation of another artists work. For example, in EDM music, it is very common for an artist to borrow a chorus or sample from other genres. By building a new song around these samples, artists can re-envision the sound of a song and possibly encourage alternate interpretations of the original source material.

Furthermore, remixes are often referred to as “mashups.” However, I would like to draw a
syntactical distinction between these two descriptors. While a remix may only draw from one source material, a mashup must combine at least two or more source materials into one new cohesive piece. In this way, a mashup draws upon the interaction between artists and ideas by putting two or more pieces of work in direct “communication” with one another. In order to prepare for my own project, I watched a few remixes and mashups on YouTube to see which ones were most effective. Each of these two mashups is a compilation of movie trailers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGmcYTKSfaQhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGmcYTKSfaQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UxZLCtatAo

By combining a plethora of short clips together, each mashup claims to build one “mega trailer.” Both mashups succeed quite well in this manner. Yet, I feel that the latter of the two is stronger since it seems more like one trailer than a compilation of many. Unlike the first mashup, the second features a voiceover which effectively serves to tie all of the clips together into one.

In creating my own mashup or remix, I will hope to provide new insight to the original source material that I utilize by applying my own vision to the works that I borrow from.

 

Meow Mix (Remix)