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I have learned a lot from this course. The most compelling topic for me was the Trans Media Studies with the movie Disclosure (2020). I did not know much about Trans representation in the media before watching the documentary and I learned a lot. For one, I did not realize that the majority of trans representation was negative for the community. Transgendered people are often portrayed as villains, sex workers, criminals, or are killed off. Additionally, I learned there is hardly any POC transgender women in media. The industry focuses on having representation of POC and trans women, but having a POC trans woman is 'too much'. The queer reading concept challenged what I thought I knew about media studies. I had never heard of a queer reading and questioned if you can apply it to non-queer characters. After learning more about queer readings however it made more sense to me. The reading about semiotics in Storey's book, Structuralism, was the most important to me for the course. This reading helped me get a better understanding on semiotics and I referenced it a lot in my essay. One way I will approach the media differently is by paying more attention to small details and being more aware. A lot of topics discussed in class are prominent in the media industry if you are aware and active to what's currently happening. Overall, I have learned a lot in this class and will use my knowledge in future classes and in real life.

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I find that many underestimate how powerful a fan base can be. Through the influence of a celebrity or group, fans come together to enforce political activism. Emma Kelly's article, Stop Dismissing the K-pop Fandom’s Political Power, discusses how powerful fan bases can be using K-pop fans as an example. A part of cultural studies is an audience interpreting media texts a certain way, even if it is not necessarily the way the producer intended (Thrift, 2022, p 3). In the article, Kelly discuses how the K-pop fandom overthrew the #whitelivesmatter hashtag on Twitter by spamming the hashtag with videos, images and gifs. News outlets were shocked at the impact the K-pop had on overthrowing this hashtag. Another example of fan political activism is when the K-pop fandom and TikTok users came together to reserve seats for a Trump rally with no intentions of going. The rally had 19,000 seats available  but only 6,200 people showed up (Rosenblatt, 2020). It is however unclear if the activism had an impact on the turnout.

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Eating the other refers to the idea of white people desiring and fantasizing about aspects of other ethnicities, especially black culture. They look to spice things up and add flavour to the basic white culture (Thrift, 2022, p 23). In Hook's chapter, Eating the Other, they argue that while people desire aspects of other ethnicities and feel that they are not doing anything wrong, when in reality it comes across racist. A quote that stood out to me was "The acknowledged Other must assume recognizable forms. Hence, it is not African American culture formed in resistance to contemporary situations that surfaces, but nostalgic evocation of a "glorious" past" (Hooks, 2015, p 26). This quote is important because it shows that when acknowledging the Other white people do not look at the real history and culture, they glamorize the past, even if there is bad history in the past.

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The documentary, Disclosure (2020), was very eye opening for me. I have never really payed attention to have they are represented in media, nor do I personally know any transgendered people. One of the topics I found the most interesting was how not all trans representation is positive, in fact a lot of it can put trans lives at risk. The media portrays transgendered people as people that should be feared or avoided. The more representation they get, the more danger they are in. The film also touched upon how there is very little positive representation of trans women that are a POC. There is POC representation and there is trans women representation in the media but there is hardly any overlap of the two. If there is a character who is a Transgendered women that is POC, they are ported in a negative manner. What I found the most compelling was the different portrayal between trans women and trans men. Trans women are more 'noticeable' than trans men within media and real life, and although they are both present, trans women are more likely to be mocked or at risk. Both are oppressed, but trans women become a higher target. The course concept of tropes and stereotypes were brought up in the film. Transgendered characters are often portrayed as deviant, criminals, sex workers or are killed off. The repetition of these characteristic creates negative stereotypes of how people view the transgender community as a whole. I feel that there should be more positive transgender roles within the media, off the top of my head, all the transgender characters I can think of have some negative attributes in the way they are portrayed. If they are portrayed in a more positive manner it could potentially help the trans community feel more safe and comfortable.

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A queer reading is a concept that allows an audience to read a characters potential queerness that are not explicitly a part the the LGBTQ+ community (Thrift, 2022, p 10). Queer readings go against the heteronormative characters that dominate the media industry. This concept is beneficial for audience members who are apart of the LGBTQ+ because it make characters more relatable. The character Merida, from the Disney Pixar movie Brave, is a character that can be applied to a queer reading. She is given the option of three different men to pick for marriage, instead of choosing one she fights for her own hand. Merida is not like other princess' she is independent and has no interest in marriage. She is also one of the only Disney princess' to end the film without a love interest. Although her sexuality is never discussed in the film, Merida is a character that is relatable for those who are a part of the LGBTQ+ community.

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From this course I wish to learn more about the relationship between humans and media. With the media being so prominent in modern society it will be interesting to learn how our relationship has evolved overtime and how dependent we are on the media now. This course draws my attention because it touches on topics many people, including myself, have never heard of. The field of media studies much larger than most people realize. I am excited to learn about semiotics because it is interesting to be how certain colour schemes and shapes can connect us to something.

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Engstrom’s article, Unraveling The Knot, discusses the hegemonic message about weddings and how gender roles play a part in them. Engstrom argues that media that processes content about weddings focus on the "underlying message to women that they need a large, expensive wedding in order to move from being single to being married" (Engstrom, 2008, p 61). Political economy is an important part of Engstrom's research because these wedding websites, such as The Knot, are focused on selling the idea of an expensive and lavish wedding. My main take away from this article is that media outlets such as The Knot condition brides into thinking their wedding needs to appear perfect or else it is not successful. They show brides the 'correct' way to have a wedding and if one thing is not right, the whole wedding is ruined. These media outlets also promote the ideology of a 'traditional' wedding and always have similar attributes to them. Other cultures' ideas are hardly promoted in these wedding websites. Overall, The Knot and other wedding sites convinces brides that weddings are more about looks rather than a unity of love.

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The two concepts I found to be this most important from this week's readings are the male gaze and the politics of feminine beauty, both coming from Harvey's, Representing Gender, chapter. The first concept, the male gaze, refers "to the ways in which women in oil are structured as objects to be seen and looked at rather than as active subjects" (Harvey, 2020, p 68). This concept is important because certain factors in media are influenced a certain was in order to please the heterosexual male audience. The male gaze objectifies women in the representation of gender in media culture. Women's characterization is to be helpless and a prize to be claimed by the strong masculine man. The second concept, the politics of feminine beauty, is "emblematically linked to both feminist protest and negative stereotypes about women seeking gender equity, indicating the political potency of resistance against, and feminist critique of, beauty and fashion" (Harvey, 2020, p 72). This concept is important because it looks into who society has certain expectations of how women should dress and what makeup they should wear. Magazines, Instagram posts, commercials and other forms of media advertisements tell women what they "should '' be wearing in order to fit the feminine beauty standards and if they choose something different it is against the social norms and these women are considered more 'masculine'.

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For this week's journal, I found this image from the company WWF. Unlike the advertisement I choose for my semiotic analysis paper, this piece of media is more of a PSA. The signifier of this image can be seen in the actual image. The ocean, the birds flying in the background, the WWF logo, the can that appears as a bomb under the water and the text "Your Waste Fatal. Keep Marine Life Safe" are the signifiers of this image. The signified of this image is that trash in the ocean is dangerous and toxic for marine life. A bomb is used to represent the dangers of littering the ocean because bombs symbolize destruction and death. The caption, "Your Waste Fatal. Keep Marine Life Safe" seen in the image, adds to the underlying message of potential hazards that come from throwing garbage into the ocean. With the signifier and signified composed together, they form the sign for the WWF image. The overall message WWF is trying to promote is to keep the oceans clean in order to protect marine life.