I signed up for English 302 because it met an IT minor requirement. I didn’t know what the class would be like or what “new media” meant. All I knew was that it’d help me get one step closer to graduation. I thought we’d read books and use computers and analyze news articles or something basic like that. In high school I took a media studies class where we analyzed contemporary media including everything from tv shows to advertisements to magazines. I expected this class to be similar, but I was in for a pleasant surprise because I’ve learned quite a lot, an almost overwhelming lot. If I were to narrow down what I’ve taken away from this class into the 3 main concepts that I found most valuable, they would include:

1) Analyze everything!
Who knew memes had a purpose? I didn’t! I thought memes were superfluous, immature, and pointless graphics made by a bunch of pissed off and bored teenagers with nothing better to do but troll the internet with seemingly irrelevant comments. Boy, was I wrong! I learned that memes play a significant part in allowing this generation a new medium to express themselves and voice their opinions, especially in response to contemporary matters in a cynical and creative way. Memes are outlets that can be both constructive and fun. Why does Snow White have Steve Buscemi’s eyes in this picture? What does this photoshopped image say about society?

Or this one?

Or this?

I do not know, and I’m not sure I care. But I do know that someone out there does know and care. I’m sure that if I wanted to and if I had the time to, I could probably write pages upon pages about what this meme means and what its significance is today in society. Memes are fun. They’re playful, but they also hold important messages.

2. Don’t trust Google, even though we need it!
Google and other platforms, as warm, fuzzy, and friendly as they appear are untrustworthy sources that possess way more information about us than they should. At the same time, however, these platforms like Amazon and Facebook and Google have become an integral, almost central part of our lives. We are constantly checking our Twitter feeds, our Instagram likes, our Facebook notifications. Platforms have given us a new way of life–a new way of socialization and connection. These platforms have made communicating easier and faster than ever before in the entire history of humanity. But we need to tread carefully.

3. New media creates a space for minorities to voice their opinions, to express themselves, and to make themselves more present in today’s society.
Which is awesome! Web series have given minorities more air time in a way that television has been slow to do. It has opened up an entire world for minority viewers to see themselves reflected online or even in video games. New media is diversifying entertainment. It’s giving minorities a voice, empowering them, and legitimizing their presence. Finally! A world in which they are in charge of what they produce, create, write, and publish. No longer are minorities constrained to the limitations of mainstream media. New media has created a promising and welcoming space for minorities to speak, share, and communicate.

YAY!

I love Amazon. Amazon Prime is a life saver! When I broke up with my ex last year I needed a new mattress, and I needed on quick. So what did I do? I didn’t go to Sleepy’s. I didn’t have the means to transport a 100lb mattress from the store into my apartment. I also didn’t have the funds to pay for a mattress worth more than $500. I avoided all this hassle. I avoided the awkward mattress testing. I avoided the desperate salesman. I avoided the burdensome pick up and drop off. What did I do? I went to Amazon, and in just a few clicks, and after reading a few reviews, and in just a matter of 2 days, I had a brand new mattress!

Amazon has made my life incredibly easy. I’ve found everything from textbooks to bathing suits to special light bulbs on this platform. Amazon has saved me obnoxious trips to random hardware stores or to distant malls. Amazon has allowed me to use and expend the least amount of energy to receive a product I probably purchased on a mere whim. Amazon has allowed me to indulge in my American, first world, world class laziness. Amazon has opened up a world of possibility for me, a world of consumerism and shopping and joy and gratification I probably would not have experienced otherwise. And I love Amazon for this, but after reading several articles on platforms and their sneaky sales tactics, I have to admit that Amazon doesn’t appear as kind and pure as it once had been for me.

The author of “The Age of the Platform” used a metaphor to best present the idea to me:

“Amazon Prime’s cheap and fast shipping causes shoppers to buy considerably more than they normally would…everything Amazon does–and how the company does it–is by design…For instance, grocery stores place milk in the back and put high-margin items near the register. They make it reasonably difficult for customers to run in and run out. Customers in the store for longer periods of time are more likely to purchase more things; they have more time to make impulse buys.”

When I read that my mind was blown. Milk is always in the back! And I always end up buying Icebreakers at the cash register! And Amazon’s design with its recommended products and ease of use and efficiency have definitely forced me to splurge more than once or twice! Reading that made me feel like a stupid, senseless, gullible, vulnerable, pliable, dumb, and greedy consumer. Reading that paragraph made me feel like a fat, wasteful cow easily goaded into buying products I don’t need.

But at the same time, hello?! I can order books I’ve been meaning to read and have them at my doorstep in 2 days with FREE shipping! I can order Dunkaroos (which have been discontinued in the US) from Canada and snack on them in 2 days! I can grocery shop on Amazon. I can buy shoes, clothes, bags, food, beds, and even milk from Amazon! As much as I feel I should be skeptical of Amazon, I really don’t see myself ever not using it.

Platforms, as sneaky and untrustworthy as they may be, in the long run do a great deal of good for the hungry American consumer. They make connections more efficient, fast, and easy. Americans will always value this over the hidden downfalls.

My television is alive and well. Well, perhaps that’s an exaggeration seeing as I haven’t had cable in almost 4 years thanks to being in college and thanks to the insane cost of cable. There’s no way I’m going to ask my parents to pay an extra hundred a month so I can get my fill of SpongeBob and The Walking Dead when I can easily stream these shows online for free or wait a year for my favorite series to become available on my ex-boyfriend’s Netflix account.

But I still do not retract my statement that my television is alive and well. I love TV. My earliest memories consist of me laying on a black leather couch that my parents bought in the ’80s. I’m sucking on a bottle full of milk and watching the Rugrats in my underwear. Good times–but twenty years later, whenever I go home during holidays, there I am again: I’m in my underwear watching ’90s reruns and sipping on a cold drink. I doubt ever seeing this kind of lifestyle, this kind of media ever going out of style.

There’s something very human, very comforting about watching television. I feel more connected to the universe. I’m comforted by the fact that there are thousands of other Americans sharing the same show with me. I’m comforted that I’m not alone, that I’m not the only one rolling my eyes at a lame commercial. Or that I’m not the only one fascinated by the way Rick Grimes says “CORAL”‘s name when a new episode of The Walking Dead airs.

It’s the same with the radio. There’s something special about listening to a song with others. It’s a communal feeling that I’m not sure if others share. I like knowing that a shared tv show, commercial, or song connects me to the rest of the world whereas choosing a song on my ipod or selecting a show on Netflix makes me feel more detached. Sure, I’m in charge of what I get to watch or listen to, and that’s an awesome perk, but I lose that sense of connection that cable and radio offers.

On that note, I feel like Netflix is definitely the way of the future. It’s cheap. It’s easy. It offers the audience control–something that cable lacks. There are no commercials. I can pause, rewind, or fastforward any time that I want. The same goes for web series–something I have never really found an interest in.

I personally can’t stand the poor quality of web series. I can’t watch bad acting, I can’t listen to bad writing, I can’t watch bad production and directing. I understand that web series offer something that TV has yet to give its audience. Web series offer minorities a place and a voice. As Professor Russworm states in her article about web series:

“Internet ‘television’ offers something network or cable programming never has: hundreds, if not thousands, of on-demand amateur and professional content…are created by or star black people… A micro-niche model best describes how to think about the audiences for the current online content, meaning it is highly probable that a given viewer will find something in the multitude relatable and entertaining enough.”

Now that I reflect on it, I have definitely, and on several occasions turned to YouTube to watch videos created by people who are like me–Asians, minorities, women. I have often turned to YouTube to watch Asian comedians describe what it’s like to be an Asian American–something that TV or Netflix has never offered me insight on.

All in all, I don’t think television is a dead medium. I will always have a desire for optimum quality and for the strange connection I feel to the rest of the world when I watch it. At the same time, I think that web series definitely have a bright future. I think it opens up mainstream entertainment to minorities and niches. I think both mediums have and will continue to have a place in our lives, and I’d be incredibly sorry to see either medium fade away with time.

There is a popular Facebook page that I’m not proud to say that I subscribe to. It’s called Stuff that makes you cringe, a “facebook page [that] collects random pictures and videos of stuff that is intended to make you cringe.” Unfortunately, however, I find that the users and commenters more often than not are the source of any cringe I receive from visiting this page. This page often pokes fun at Furries, Bronies, nerds, feminism, gamer girls, etc. Comments range from threats of murder, rape, and humorous memes, but during the Gaming and Identity discussion week, I found myself constantly coming back and thinking of this page.

This is a screenshot from their Facebook page.

Photos like the one above are commonly shared on Stuff that makes you cringe. Within minutes these pictures gain hundreds of likes and just as many degrading, demeaning comments attacking the person featured in the image. These commenters react heatedly with angry responses that often mock the self-proclaimed gamer girl. In the above picture, one commenter mockingly states, “yes i am grill, yes i play video games, problme?” The commenter brings into question her intelligence and mocks her identity. Another commenter simply posted a picture of Piglet crying and holding a gun. Clearly poor Piglet does not want to shoot, but the commenter suggests that it simply must be done. He has no other option. She must die.

This image also screencapped from the Stuff that makes your cringe Facebook page.

There are countless posts shared by Stuff that makes you cringe similar to these two. The commenters who react most heatedly are often male. Shaw addresses the stereotype that the most common gamer is “the dominant White, heterosexual, male, teen.” Shaw states that this stereotype has been disproved time and time again by studies, but that the stereotype remains rampant among so many because game developers have yet to represent marginalized groups in games. Shaw states, for example that

“the argument is that if scholars can prove that members of marginalized groups are gamers, the industry will have to offer content that is more diverse.”

So I find it quite annoying that these commenters with their threats and their lame memes feel the need to attack girls that identify as gamers. I find it extremely annoying that these people assume that the gaming community should be one belonging  solely or mostly but widely to men!

I definitely agree with Shaw that the term “gamer” should not be all-inclusive. I play the Sims. I play Animal Crossing. I’ve beat Halo 3 on Legendary, but I would never, never, never call myself a gamer. Shaw states that “Labeling everyone
who plays video games as a gamer, however, is misguided.” I agree.

I don’t even know how this one is cringe worthy at all!

However, I think that applying the term “gamer” to yourself is a personal choice that I don’t think outsiders should really have a say in. Shaw says that “identification allows for the self-definition of the individual, rather than on static definitions of identity applied from the outside.” Why can’t these little girls call themselves gamers? How does it affect the critics? Really? How does it impact their lives?

I mean it’s not the same as eating broccoli once and then calling yourself vegan.

These girls are hurting no one.