Miss Representation (Post #6)

I thoroughly enjoyed our class viewing of Miss Representation. Despite considering myself a passionate feminist, I hesitated to watch the documentary because I was worried it would fall into the category of "white feminism" – feminism that ignores the specific issues that women of color face. While these fears were not entirely unfounded, as the documentary primarily addressed women's issues in a monolithic sort of way, I found the film to be helpful when taken at face value. The passion displayed by those interviewed was admirable and perfectly exemplifies the ways in which women can and should actively seek out change. As someone that wants to work within the political sphere, my favorite part of the film was the portion that dissected women in politics. A fact that in the film I found particularly disturbing was the correlation between women's self esteem and their political efficacy. I never would have correlated the two, but the statistics forced me to recognize these issues. Despite enjoying the film's overall message, I took issue with the film was the introductory slideshow that showed images of "sexualized" women (mostly actresses playing characters in movies, which doesn't seem entirely fair) in skimpy clothing next to well known women leaders and influencers. Pitting women against each other in this way does nothing to move society forward, but instead further pushes them into the dualism of either being sexy and dumb or buttoned up and intelligent. There is no right way to be a woman, and we should be allowed to embody all sorts of dichotomies along this scale without the fear of being shamed by other women.

This Week... (Post 3)

While I like to think I'm a pretty keen observer of the media on my own, this class has given me a framework in which to discuss and critique the entertainment I consume on an everyday basis. When we first started the class, I struggled understanding the differences between icon, index, and symbol. In literary analysis classes, we always categorized anything that stood for something else as a "symbol". Having a more direct way of breaking down the different kinds of symbolic representation in the media has been interesting. This week, I finished off the first season of the fantastic television series Mr. Robot. This show is ripe for Marxist analysis, as it's all about the classic power struggle between the "haves" and the "have-nots". The show follows protagonist Elliot Alderson (Rami Malek), a compulsive hacker with a substance abuse problem, as he and his techie cohorts attempt to dismantle the power structures of society. In this near parallel to our 21st century society, the Western world is all but governed by a mega corporation, E Corp (or "Evil Corp" as Elliot refers to them). Throughout the course of the season, we start to discover just how deep E Corp's power runs and how easy it can be for people to get sucked into its sphere of influence. The show uses obvious references to today's headspace regarding the Internet (the hacks of Sony and Ashley Madison, Occupy Wall Street, notable whistleblowers) to make its symbolic points known. It often adopts the "we are the 99%" ideals of the Occupy movement, claiming the evils of unchecked capitalism as the root of all modern problems. The entire season plays out the tug of war between the diverse group of vigilante hackers representing average, disgruntled citizens and the homogenous corporate clones of the one percent variety. 

Semiotics & Sherlock (Post #2)

In class, we were given the task of analyzing the BBC television series Sherlock. I'm no stranger to this series and even consider it one of my favorite shows, so I gladly welcome the opportunity to take an even closer look at the show and see what I can deduce for myself. This summer on a trip to London I actually went out of my way to visit the "fake" 221B Baker Street location used in the series, so yeah, you could say I'm a fan. The first episode, "A Study in Pink" (based upon Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's first Holmes novel, A Study in Scarlet), introduces us to the infamous consulting detective himself. Our first glance at Sherlock establishes him as a bit of an odd character. We can piece this together from information we're given throughout the episode. Our first introduction to Sherlock involves him beating a dead body in the mortuary with a riding crop – not exactly an everyday scenario. Throughout the episode, various supporting characters are mentioning the great work Sherlock has done for them, namely how he was able to ensure the execution of Mrs. Hudson's husband and helping the restaurant owner avoid a murder charge. These aren't the most commonplace of favors. And of course Sherlock's flat is a mess of books, scientific equipment, and dusty, old furniture – an appropriate metaphor for Sherlock's crowded, but exceptionally functional mind. All these details come together to introduce Sherlock to us as a strange genius that places his work above all else. 

Now, although the series is quite obviously titled after its star attraction, Dr. John Watson serves the important function of giving the show its suspense and structure. Just as the original stories are penned as journal entries from John himself, this stays faithful to the source material by having John be our window into the strange world of Sherlock Holmes. Right at the beginning of the episode, we're thrown into the middle of John's violent flashback of his time in Afghanistan. We are shown his cramped, bare living quarters that look more like a student dorm than a cozy apartment. Before any dialogue is spoken, we know straight away that John is a former military man with some sort of traumatic experience surrounding his service. From his stark room we also learn that he's newly arrived and doesn't have many close connections since he's on his own. It doesn't take Sherlock to figure this basic information out. Not only does John serve as our point of view, this setup also establishes a distance between Sherlock and the audience. Just as John is trying to figure out this strange, new person in his otherwise uneventful life, we are right there alongside him trying to piece together Sherlock's world. We're equally impressed as John when we see Sherlock deduce that first crime scene, and we're also thrown for a loop when it's revealed that Mycroft is Sherlock's brother, not mortal enemy. The body language in the restaurant stakeout is proof enough that John is far more invested in Sherlock than the case at hand. While Sherlock is entirely facing the window and focused on observation, John is positioned facing away from the window and towards Sherlock. We, alongside John, want to know more about this mysterious man, but he has little interest in revealing anything about himself. After all, as we learn towards the end of the episode, this case is only leading up to the bigger conundrum of the series: who is Moriarty?