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Queer reading is the act of interpreting or experiencing and enjoying queer elements of media as someone who does not identify as queer. This concept might be useful when looking at popular media cultures because it may help to analyze media discourses of prevailing gender norms.

A contemporary example of queer reading that would be useful is early on in the TV show House MD. A patient stalks House in order to have his medical case looked at because no other doctor can seem to find out what is wrong with Kalvin Ryan. We get a look into his lifestyle and how his stereotypically depicted homosexual lifestyle has affected his relationship with his family. Kalvin remarks that his father wished he had a son who was more "manly" and it's later revealed that he would take his son hunting in Montana. It is not said directly, but it could be reasonably assumed that his father brought his son hunting to "straighten him out" and do a manly activity. Ironically this activity is what nearly kills Kalvin and is afflicting his dad. They both have a parasitic disease called echinococcosis which is caused by the echinococcus parasite that can come from foxes. This could be interpreted as the straight audience experiencing family dynamic issues through the life experience of Kalvin

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After watching the documentary Disclosure, I learned there has been more trans representation in movies than I originally thought. One part I thought was compelling was when one of the actors spoke about being rejected for the role of a transgender character in a TV show because she looked was "too convincing" as a woman and the audience would not fully believe that their character was a trans person (I believe that was the wording of the actress).

I believe the documentary raised the concept of discourse without explicitly doing so. Nearly all of the actors touched on a movie or media representation example where trans people are prostitutes or engage in some sort of similar behavior that would fall into the deviant category. The actors constructed this discourse that produced the attitudes or ideas that trans people are often depicted and associated within spheres of deviant behavior such as prostitution

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The two concepts I find most important in the readings are tokenism and tropes

Tokenism is a practice that can be seen in many popular pieces of media. The first example that comes to mind is the character Token in South Park. His name was given to him as a jab at political correctness as he is the "token black guy" that many other TV shows have. Recognizing tokenism can help to analyze media texts and the intentions behind them.

Understanding and recognizing tropes within a media text allow those analyzing media pieces to critically examine the purpose of characters within a text and how that is supposed to affect audience perception

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To me, the quote is talking about how reality TV or social media can be an example of how to participate in a certain culture rather than serving as an example of behavior at all points in time. Michel Foucault calls this as the theoretical concept of "Governmentality". He defines the concept as the "Processes through which individuals shape and guide their own conduct - and that of others - with certain aims to objectives". (Keller, W6#1)

My example is from a TV show inside of a TV show. In House MD, there is an episode where House and his team are featured on a TV show/documentary about a boy with a cranial disfigurement and it tells the story of his journey to get it surgically repaired, but there are some health complications along the way. House is known as being rude and brash, but the documentary within the show is revealed to have been edited to make him look like a very nice doctor. While this is some trickery and "movie magic", this would show people watching the show that House governs his behavior to that of a nice doctor. Again, it's a lie, but it could shape and guide the audience's behavior towards doctors.

For a social media example, I would say that how most people behave on Linkedin vs Twitter are examples of governmentality. On Twitter, I am more likely to use slang and emojis whereas I would not on Linkedin. On Linkedin, the goal is to shape and guide my conduct with the objective of looking professional and appealing to employers rather than look like a funny guy like I would aim for on Twitter

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The image I chose is a promotional image from the Fox show House MD (Sign). The show ran for 8 seasons and was based on the insane antics of Dr Gregory House and his innovating diagnostics department at Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. The more you re-watch the TV show, the more you can see the components of semiotics in this image.

Signifier - The image depicts Dr House with a white and red pill on his tongue with the reflection of operating rooms lights in his eyes. In the series, House is portrayed as a doctor with a drug problem and an addictive personality. He experiments with drugs at many points throughout the series.

Signified - The blue background signifies health and healing which is symbolic for a doctor. House is referred to as a "healer" at some points in the show which the blue backdrop represents. Red and white together signify "presage of death" in Roman literature. (http://www.rhm.uni-koeln.de/122/ThomasPL.pdf) In other words, it is signifying death or that something bad will happen. Linking back to the show, the final episode is titled "Everybody Dies". This also calls to a line from the TV show stated by House "Good things usually happen. Bad things sometimes happen". It can be seen as alluding to either of those lines or to the nature of his story arch. House deals with both setbacks and successes outside of medicine but typically will have a relation to the medical case in the episode.

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The political activism of K-Pop "stans" demonstrates some components of feminist theory within cultural studies. K-Pop fans are described as predominantly teenage girls and young women. Those groups have been traditionally excluded or silenced in political movements. By becoming politically active and engaged, they are reclaiming or reaffirming their positions in the political activism space rather than standing by and letting it continue to be dominated by men. This could be seen as its own popular feminism because of the visibility within media spaces. Someone analyzing their activism on social media can analyze it as a role that women are having in the production of media.

Another example of political activism from fans is in regards to the Right to Repair movement that has been gaining steam within the last few months. Fans of the Youtube tech channel/media company Linus Tech Tips have started becoming active in the movement to give consumers the right to repair their own equipment. They have been promoting legislation and organizations that have been vocal about Right to Repair and directing fans to become involved. While it is still an ongoing movement, some companies have started giving independent repair shops the resources to repair electronics and cut down on e-waste

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What is the main argument that Ross makes in this article?

That the media made a concerted effort to have Trump elected by putting him in the media constantly so they could continue to publish sensationalist articles and media pieces about his antics. The media wants to be able to continuate an "outrage culture" by producing cultural artifacts and passing it off to the cultural consumers.

“Of the clouds and shadows that hung over Clinton in the press, the darkest, perhaps, was the prospect of boredom.”

What does he mean by this? How does it relate to the argument made by the Frankfurt School?

What Ross means with this quote is that despite negative press towards Clinton, the media feared be boring nature of Hilary Clinton being elected since she did not shoot tweets off at 5am or say unfiltered comments at her events.

Mass culture in the Frankfurt school focused on the commercialization and commodification of culture industries and the coverage of the US election turned into an industry itself

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Main argument:

The main argument being made by Engstrom is that the wedding industry is propped up by hegemony with media outlets portraying and advancing the ideology of a large and expensive weddings as a life goal for women. Her specific analysis is of "The Knot" and how they use media synergy to promote the "ideal wedding" across all of their channels. She also talks about how The Knot uses vertical integration tactics like launching their own online TV channel to promote their ideal wedding.

Why is a political economy an important approach for her research?

Political economy is an approach to studying media developed from Marxist theory. The approach asks who owns, produces, and distributes media and how that may shape the content. Analyzing the wedding culture and "The Knot" using this approach helps to show who has a vested interest in propagating the "ideal wedding" as being extravagant and expensive. Engstrom explains that The Knot crafts this idea and then sells it to their target demographic as a hegemonic ideal.

What was your main “take away” from this article?

My takeaway is that the paper does a good job at informing readers of how the media can be used to manipulate the general public into believing that there is one accepted way to do things such as have a wedding. People need to be constantly aware of media messages and not fall into the trap of "that's how it's done"

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What I want to learn from this course are theories and how they can be applied in the modern world of communications. More specifically in the social media landscape.

This course is interesting to me because I intend to go into the communications industry and want to have the tools to interpret messages in the media.

After looking through the course outline, I would say I am most excited for the readings of K-Pop fans and their political power.