The World We Choose To Or Not To Live In

Technology now lets us explore realms of the globe we never saw and see different images of people from there.  We interact with them through social media and gain new perspectives, yet most of the accessible media presented either enforces positive messages or negative ones.

Since the beginning of electronic media, we have seen distorted views of different people that relates to gender, sexual orientation, religious views, ethnicity or any other form of cultural that represents a group of people.  It has been a constant struggle to reverse the negative images of people in the world now that everyone can promote their opinion.  This issue can get people stuck in thinking that that person is the exact representation of what they saw in media. 

Like the previous post, I want to explore how worlds are constructed to what we want to see and become.  Has mainstream media limited us into seeing prescriptive package on people's identities or do we design our own?  Has it created a world of media that is already chosen and laid out on a platter for us?  Does this platter cause damage to those who are represented and those who view the media?  

Joel Pares takes photos that help reverse this idea of media racism/stereotyping by using his talents of attending to detail to depict bi-polar representations of people from different ethnicities, struggles faced and socio-economic status. Take a look at his series Judging America and see if you are impressed by his skills and think about if the media presented keeps us seeing one view of the world.

"Seconds" and starting a new life...

A few months ago my girlfriend rented a film from the Oakland Library(highly suggested).  Her choice of movies are out-there, rare and deep.

Seconds is what she chose.  This film shows an average guy who hates his life and wants a change. He is offered a chance to have a second life, similar to a witness protection program.   He undergoes the changes, enjoys his new life, then he remembers his old life and everything he missed.

This film is filled with up-close, fisheye, and obscure angles to distort the reality of the main character.

Continuing my theme of new worlds and/or lives, the movie Seconds shows how we in American society have the choice of choosing a new life.  In the old movies people would get a lot of money and move to a secluded part of the world to start a new life or avoid the old.  Many people have done this from James Baldwin to Josephine Baker.  And they had a legitimate reason due to the racism in America and their art.

Today it is more difficult to physically leave due to limitations, but the internet has changed that.  With online virtual worlds like Second Life, There.com or Onverse.com, people can recreate a different world from their homes.  I admit this is a definite advancement of technology.  It could benefit online learners, connect people to new ideas and so forth.  One thing that happened in Seconds and The Congress the main characters were not satisfied with their choice after seeing all that was sacrificed.

Now that it only takes 10 seconds to be apart of these online worlds, are the sacrifices not that large?  The information and trust we give to new online communities has become not that big of a deal.
If that is so, why are we not trusting each other in real-life?

"The Congress" and sharing our Information...

Now that I'm learning more about digital media and how it functions in our society, I wonder when we will slowly become victims of our own discoveries?

It is becoming more of an accepted idea to frequently to submit our information for others to log and use every time we visit a site or give our email to be apart of a new app.  The reality was there once watching a new film called The Congress.  The film is about an actress who's career is over, but has one chance to revitalize it forever.  The way to revitalize it would be to scan herself.  Everything that makes her her would be in a computer file to use for future movies.  Just think if we scanned all the influential actors and actresses before they passed to keep them in roles for today?  Could you see a conflict within yourself when doing this?

In a sense this movie represents how we are living today regarding our connection with social media and information sharing.  If we decide to give up or scan our information to certain sites or show too much information of ourselves on social networking, are we basically doing the same thing in the film?
Check out the trailer and the website for The Congress and hopefully you can see the detailed animation on the big screen.

In The Beginning...

                                     The First Blog...

This first entry is the beginning of a series that explores and ask question how media can construct new worlds or tear down existing worlds.  All entries are media, society, and technology related.  Topics range from virtual realities, music, the future, film, and social media.  Enjoy