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Digital Profession: eSports

The world of online gaming has become a massive and successful new business that millennials love. The creation of eSports has started to explode onto the scene on a worldwide scale. The popularity and revenue of eSports has grown so much that people are making it their permanent profession and they are making millions from it. I believe the popularity surrounding it is so robust because of the eSports community, the community is extremely diverse and reaches nearly every country in the world. Online gaming brings all backgrounds together to compete against one another.

The first eSports event took place at Stanford University on October 19, 1972. The competition was an online combat game called Spacewar and the winner was to receive a one year’s subscription of Rolling Stone magazine. Fast forward about 30 years and now you have leagues, scholarships, sponsorships, endorsements and etc. eSports has blown up at seemingly a blink of an eye. The 2000’s is when eSports really flew into fame. In 2006 FUN Technologies held an online gaming competition with 71 players and the grand prize was $1 million. These types of competitions were open to the public but unless you were showing up in person there was no real platform to view the event. That all changed in 2011 when a company by the name of Twitch was launched. Twitch is a video livestreaming service that focuses mainly on online gaming. With eSports already on the rise Twitched immediately expanded the market, they had close to 3.2 million unique visitors a month and that increased to 20 million in just 3 years. This much web traffic opened the door for multiple revenue streams which even includes donations. Twitch as a company saw the opportunities with how successful eSports was becoming so they created an affiliate program where gamers could gain an income through Twitch by livestreaming through them and give Twitch more publicity. Probably the most famous Twitch affiliate is Richard Blevins who goes by his gaming alias Ninja, he has over 12 million subscribers and brings in a monthly revenue strictly from Twitch of approximately $500,000. This type of profession and popularity of online gaming was nearly nonexistent two decades ago. The almost immediate stride to fame can be thanked the generation Z and millennials.

Generation Z and millennials formed a society that relies heavy on technology, efficiency, and speed. Online gaming gives you all three of those in one package, viewers can access Twitch from any mobile device and play any online game they want at any time. ESports is for everyone because of how easily accessible it is.

The revenue of eSports has shot up because everyone wants to be a part of what is new. Tech giants like Google and Amazon have their ties to Twitch as well because what appeals to millennials and gen Z is also what appeals to the economy. The numbers do not lie and with revenue over $1 billion that speaks for itself. Twitch a relatively new business they do not have much competition, but I believe competitors are on the way with how lucrative the market is. The lack of competition comes from how new the industry and market is. Who would’ve thought that livestreaming video games would one day be a billion dollar industry in itself. Then who would have thought that simply playing video games would be a professional sport that could bring an individual millions of dollars annually. I, myself, am an eSports member but I haven’t gained big enough of a following to provide in a steady income from it. The fact all you need is a gaming device and an internet connection to be part of the eSports world makes thing so simple.

So, what is next for Twitch and eSports? For Twitch, analyst believe that the company will eventually move to live television and movie streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. Twitch has already expanded its industry of strictly streaming eSports to now talk shows, crafting, music festivals and etc. The future is bright for Twitch because of the already massive following the company has. Anything that they do I believe will eventually work out for them in the long run. For eSports I believe things are just getting started in the business. The future of eSports brings a lot of questions because of how big the business already is and how far they have already reached. The business of eSports is doing everything by the book they have created player unions, training programs and college programs. In conclusion I found that almost all experts and researchers believe that the future cannot be predict for an industry as such. I was left with this statement by David B. Hoppe regarding the future of eSports “in the words of ten-thousand local television news stories, the outcome remains to be seen.”

Works Cited

Daring, M. (2019, March 4). Twitch: The Future is Streaming, Live. Retrieved from Digital Innovation: https://digital.hbs.edu/platform-digit/submission/twitch-the-future-is-streaming-live/

Gray, A. (2018, July 3). The Explosive Growth of eSports. Retrieved from World Economic: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/07/the-explosive-growth-of-esports/

Hoppe, D. B. (2020, January 18). The Future of eSports is Bigger, Messier and Worldwide. Retrieved from Venture Beat: https://venturebeat.com/2020/01/18/the-future-of-esports-is-bigger-messier-and-worldwide/

Phillips, L. (2020, April 1). The History of eSports. Retrieved from Hot Spawn: https://www.hotspawn.com/guides/the-history-of-esports/

Webb, K. (2020, January 31). Ninja, The World’s Most Popular Gamer. Retrieved from Business Insider: https://www.businessinsider.com/ninja-tyler-blevins-twitch-subscribers-fortnite-drake-youtube-2018-3

The Music Industry and Copyright Claims/DMCA

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The Music Industry is vast, full of diverse songs and can define cultures just by its very existence. Songs can define generations, countries, movements, and everything else in between. Many consider music a necessary part of their lives, while others use it for simple background noise. But there is an artist behind every track, with its well worked on compositions and notes. And with it comes copyright laws, that as of recently, have really hindered many content creators and even many of the artists themselves. The only ones that benefit are the ones that abuse the system to its fullest, for profit.

The internet is a grand place, and also a chaotic place. Really saving your work as your own is incredibly difficult without a system in place. In this case with music, there have been many controversies with MP3 Downloaders, streaming services such as Spotify and Pandora, and YouTube. There are many ways to receive these products for free, while before, it had to be bought through CDs and seeing the artists in person. In 1998, in order to combat users from taking works as their own, Congress passed the DMCA Act.

A basic overview of what DMCA is.

These DMCAs are essentially a way to combat people who try to claim ownership of their works by filing claims towards them. It is reviewed to see if the claim is true then the ownership of that type of media is then given back to the artist.

YouTube is the first thing I will talk about in terms of copyright claims and DMCA. Most of the ownership claims comes from using music that they did not have permission to use. For example, a copyright claim for using 6 seconds of a song in a video. While incredibly strict, they are forced to do this due to DMCAs and how much artists want their works protected.

How copyright claims work in Youtube.

However many have criticized how strict these claims can be, especially on YouTube. In the video, they say that even if you sing the song that is owned by someone else, it can be claimed still due to them owning the rights for every single aspect of said song. But YouTube themselves have stated in their rules, that if creators make their content under “Fair Use”, then copyright claims can be invalid.

Under Fair Use, you can use copyrighted material as long as the content does not claim direct ownership of said material. The most referred to part of Fair Use is “transformative content”. As long as the copyrighted material is used in a transformative fashion, then the content creator will not be claimed. A good example of Fair Use is for using content for educational purposes, such as a review of a movie or show, or using other material as a reference. Other such uses can include some clips and musical tidbits.

When it comes to music on YouTube, it becomes a different story, and alot more complicated. For one, does a 6 second audio clip of music count as copyright or is it still under Fair Use? How about a cover of a song, someone remixing it, or even just praising it? Many would say that as long as the audio clip is not directly said by the content creator that the audio is theirs, that it counts under Fair Use. However, YouTube is a lot more stricter when it comes to that. Any audio clip that’s copyrighted, if not used in a transformative way, can have the potential to be copyrighted. In doing so, many content creators have used either copyright free music, or asked for written permission to use their music.

There have been many instances of this not really benefiting anyone besides YouTube. The copyright system automatically stops revenue from flowing into the video, even if its a false claim, and instead gives the revenue to the copyright claimer. There have been some Music Records that have used this to basically strongarm channels and potentially receive extra revenue for little to no effort. Artists, who are supposed to benefit the most from this system, can have the system work against them. A very famous case of this was between the artist TheFatRat, and The Ramjet. Ramjet copyright claimed one of TheFatRat’s own song and prevented revenue for the artist, while attempting to claim the music as their own.

TheFatRat announcing his copyright claim situation, which he thankfully won.

Twitch is another such site that has been recently hit by DMCAs, however, it was not always like this. Twitch is famous for its streamers and a variety of content, from gameplay to technology. What many streamers tend to do, as it they have to entertain people for an extended amount of time, is play music. Some have made deals, and some just use music as much or as little as they want.

Now, what Twitch streamers have been doing with music was and still is technically illegal in the eyes of DMCA. Their content is not transformative enough to be considered Fair Use and they have been doing this openly and publicly for quite a while. The only reason that this is recent is because they were never punished for this. Now, they are. However there is one key thing here that makes most Twitch streamers incredibly scared. They were never warned that this is something they should not do, and DMCA strikes are being issued for saved videos on their channels and even on their clips. This has made most streamers panicked, for a permanent ban on Twitch basically means an end to their career as they know it.

An extensive summary of Twitch DMCA strikes.

Now, there is no way to combat this as of now besides fighting them directly, which is not recommended. Many have said that this is not YouTube or Twitch’s fault, it is mostly how Copyright Laws are made that are at fault. Fair Use is not explained quite enough for content creators so they take literal shots in the dark, claims are one-sided towards the claimer, and there are no official warnings whatsoever to the piece of content being claimed. All in all, it seems to benefit companies and records that claim indiscriminately then artists trying to genuinely protect their work from being copied.

Weight of the World- Final

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Living in the age that we do right now can feel very suffocating for the youth, even though we have to live through a disease that has left us spreading apart and is shutting down nearly every social gathering. This has left us with very limited options in terms of how we communicate because now instead of in-person meetings, most people are using social media and programs such as “Zoom”. This has lead, to not only the youth, but society as a whole feeling like the weight of the world is on their shoulders and social media hasn’t helped that for several reasons.

One reason why I believe we, as a society is stressed, is because of a topic I have actually talked about multiply times in my blog, “Fake News”. To touch on the topic because I did go into it deep in my last blog but in short “Fake news” is the biggest threat to our democracy because it has caused the American people to doubt what’s real and has made a strong division between Democrats and Republicans, as they are creating what seems to be a social media civil war. Over the last 4 years, both sides have been coming for each other throats on which information is correct and incorrect and this has been the absolute worst because of the virus and election both taking over this year. According to Statista.com, a study from 2018 found “14 percent of people admitting that they have deliberately shared a fake political news story online, it is clear that these fake news stories will continue to gain traction as long as people are still willing to share them online.” This stat is extremely concerning because this is from 2 years ago and due to the times we are living through I confidently say the number has most likely gone up.

Another reason why society is stressed is because of social media and the repercussions of it. According to businessinsider.com “The Harris Poll conducted between late March and early May, found that between 46% and 51% of US adults were using social media more since the outbreak began. In the most recent May 1–3 survey, 51% of total respondents — 60% of those ages 18 to 34, 64% of those ages 35 to 49, and 34% of those ages 65 and up – reported increased usage on certain social media platforms.” This is alarming because social media addiction is very real and dangerous for everyone, but most importantly the youth because according to another report from mcleanhospital.org “Social media has a reinforcing nature. Using it activates the brain’s reward center by releasing dopamine, a “feel-good chemical” linked to pleasurable activities such as sex, food, and social interaction. The platforms are designed to be addictive and are associated with anxiety, depression, and even physical ailments. According to the Pew Research Center, 69% of adults and 81% of teens in the U.S. use social media. This puts a large amount of the population at an increased risk of feeling anxious, depressed, or ill over their social media use.” One thing that can cause mental health illness from social media are “Trolls”, a person or people that say controversial things or baseless claims with no evidence. For example, a troll could be someone who comments that “Coronavirus doesn’t exist” under a tweet that clearly shows how the virus is affecting day to day life. The abundance of trolls because of the pandemic has led to false information (much as I talked about) before to be spread and during this election year has led to confusion and uneasiness for people because it is very tough to find the truth.

Last the pressures of social media and the need to be active have to lead to us as a society consuming more info than we can handle. As I said in the opening paragraph in last week’s blog titled “Oversaturated in Media” I stated “Living in 2020 means that most people are being exposed to more info in 1 week than people 50 years ago would be in their entire life. Technology has made us lazy yet smarter as we can look up any question you have in a little box in your pocket. We are in an age where we are oversaturated with content, which is causing anxiety and depression to grow among the younger generation.” This has stressed us out because people before social media weren’t told every single piece of news told from around the world, instead ignorance was bliss and they had no one to worry about except their own country. But now we can hear about news from everywhere and anywhere, which might sound like it would be a good thing but knowing everything that’s going on can cause anxiety and make people live in fear. During the Trump presidency is when this hit its peak because there was always something new every day and since the people had to wait till the next election to get him out this lead to people getting scared for their livelihoods and day-to-day lives.

An accurate depiction of someone reacting to a troll

In conclusion, people living in 2020 are much more stressed and have a lot more on their plate than people did 20,10, or even 5 years ago. Corona, the election, and social media has led people to be more depressed and anxious causing a lot more to be on everyone’s plate

Essay; Are Video Games Really Linked to Violence?

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In this essay I will be discussing the link, if any, between video games and violence. There has been much research and opinions on this topic, some of it based on emotion and some based on empirical studies. What I will present will be a summary of some of that work and my own thoughts based on my readings.

The topic of video games leading to violence is a natural outflow of concerns that have been raised as early as the 1950’s with comic books and pinball machines. The 1970’s and 1980’s saw the emergence of video arcade games developed by companies like Atari. The 1990’s brought about Mortal Kombat. This was one of the first games to depict much blood and gore. Numerous arcade games followed in Mortal Kombat’s wake. So concerned were citizens that in 1993 and 1994 there were two congressional hearings held to discuss the issue of violence in video games with concerned academics, advocacy groups, and the video industry presenting before congress. In 1999, the Columbine massacre reignited the debate about violence in video games because the perpetrators were found to be avid players of violent video games.

The 2000’s brought about Grand Theft Auto, a very popular and very violent video game. Later came Call of Duty which was even more violent. To address violent video games (VVG) several states passed laws to restrict a sale of certain video games to children. Unfortunately, this did not help the 20 children and 6 adults that were massacred at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The perpetrator, Adam Lanza was found to have a trove of video games several of which were considered violent. The viewing of violent video games were also blamed for the shootings of the Olympia Mall in Munich, Parkland School in Florida in 2018, the Sao Paulo Suzano School and the El Paso and Dayton Ohio shootings in 2019.

Florida receives $1 million from federal government for Parkland shooting | Blogs — Parkland Shooting Protest

Were video games responsible for these atrocities? Why might violent video games incite some people to violence and others not? What is the connection?

One researcher that has studied this topic of violence is George Gerbner, a professor of communications at the University of Pennsylvania. Though his focus was television, he spent his career studying how TV, particularly violent TV, affects people. He differentiated between a “Mean World” of violence and danger and “Happy Violence” He said that “fearful people are more dependent, more easily manipulated and controlled, more susceptible to deceptively simple, strong, tough measures and hardline postures. They may expect and even welcome repression if it promises to relieve their insecurities. That is the deepest problem of violence-laden television” (Myna, O. George Gerbner, 86; Educator Researched the Influence of TV Viewing on Perceptions. Los Angeles Times, December 29, 2005).

The Mean World Syndrome: Media Violence & the Cultivation of Fear — George Gerbner’s Mean World Syndrome

Gerbner differentiated between types of violence. Happy Violence is funny violence. It is the old routine of someone slipping on a banana peel or being bopped on the head with a pan. The Mean World violence makes us fearful and afraid of confrontation. In an essay by Derek Scott in Roman Espejo’s book Introduction to Video Games (2003) the author claims that in his analysis of a variety of studies on the topic of VVGs that these games may have a calming effect and actually inhibit aggression in people who play VVGs. He states that “violent computer games don’t spur violence; violent computer games channel anti-social impulses in societally acceptable ways.” Many other studies have concluded that VVGs act as a stress reliever much like drugs and alcohol.

Tom and Jerry' Blamed for Mid-East Violence | Animation World Network — Tom and Jerry example of happy violence

Others caution that VVGs may harm children. They say that children who play VVGs have increased aggressive thoughts and behaviors, psychological arousal as well as antisocial behavior. Furthermore, exposure to violence in video games leads to desensitizations and a reduction in emotion-related psychological reactivity to real violence. (Carnage, N., Anderson and Bushman, B. The effect if video game violence on physiological desensitization to real-life violence. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 43 (2007): 489-496).

Head teachers to report parents if children play Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty | Daily Mail Online — Child playing GTA

Some people point out that children have been playing games related to violence for centuries. Cowboys vs indians, superhero vs villains, police vs criminals, Star Wars games — these are all games that involve shooting and fighting. It’s been argued that the factors that make video games especially prone to violence in real life is the level of engagement that these games have (Funk, J., B., Violence exposure in real-life, video games, television, movies, and the internet: is there destination. Journal of Adolescence 27 (2004) 23-39). Funk theorizes that intense engagement may increase the probability that the game behavior will generalize the game situation. This would be a result of the active participation that the VVG requires of the gamer.

Hangar 37 Airsoft Battle Field on Gran Canaria - Action & Fun for Everyone — Airsoft gun war

Studies indicate that the reason for increased aggression to violent scenes is because aggression is based on the learning function of the brain and each violent episode is in essence a learning trail (Dill, K., E. (2009) How Fantasy Becomes Reality: Seeing Through Media Influence. Oxford University Press US).

Supporters of video games are quick to point out that video games are not the only source for violent material. It’s all around us in the media and in the movies. Even Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia scoffed at the belief that real world violence is caused by violence in video games. Violence as entertainment has always been an aspect of mainstream media and video games should not be viewed in isolation.
According to the review of VVGs on children and adolescents, overall the evidence supported the hypothesis that violent video gameplay is related to aggressive affect, psychological arousal, aggressive thinking and aggressive behaviors (Gentle, D.A., Stone, W (2005) Violent video games effect on children and adolescents. A review of the literature. Europe PMC Minerva Pediatrica 57(6),337-358).

In Antonin Scalia, the arts had a passionate patron - and defender - Chicago Tribune — Antonio Scalia did not believe video games cause violence

In another study on vulnerable populations there was no evidence found for increased bullying or delinquent behaviors among youth with clinically elevated mental health symptoms who had also played VVGs ( Ferguson, C. J., Olson, C.K. (2014) Video Game Violence Use Among “Vulnerable” Populations: The Impact of Violent Games on Delinquency and Bullying Among Children with Clinically Elevated Depression or Attention Deficit Symptoms Journal of Youth and Adolescence 43,127-136).

What to do if your Child is Bullied - Help Kids Deal With Bullies — kids bullying each other

In summary, it seems that violent video games can increase aggressive behavior in children and adolescents. There is no evidence to indicate that there is any correlation between VVG watching and mass shootings. In fact, some researchers believe that VVG watching can also have a common effect in that tension is released while playing video games. These seem to be reasonable conclusions. Based on the research to date there doesn’t seem to be any evidence of a need to regulate violent video game watching.

Drowned by Social Media-Essay

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In week 8 we talked about the effects of social media on our society and how it has fundamentally changed how our society is run. Social media today plays a pivotal part on how we connect with people on a wider scale than ever seen before in history. We can talk to someone on the other side of the world in a literal second of our time. This connection between people has allowed us to feel more understanding of peoples cultures, ideas, and identities. But in the midst of global pandemic with riots and protests beings seen around the world some would say that we have lost touch with our morality and that social media is playing a larger part to divide us rather than connect us as was social media platforms purposes. I believe social media platforms have gotten exposed for their usage of algorithms to predict what people would want to see or the friends the algorithm thinks they should add. When social media platforms do this they polarize and radicalize people to certain beliefs that they themselves do not notice. Therefore I think social media has become a unhelpful source in peoples daily lives unless its used in the right way to create more understanding.

We see it all to regularly that people are consumed with how they take information and can be trapped in the same area of the social network not being exposed different ideas and cultures. This is especially true when people feel like they are in the minority and will choose to not speak their minds because of the difference in population that have the ideas in question “Facebook and Twitter users were also less likely to share their opinions in many face-to-face settings. This was especially true if they did not feel that their Facebook friends or Twitter followers agreed with their point of view”(Social Media Spiral of Silence, Keith N. Hampton, Lee Rainie, Weixu Lu, Maria Dwyer, Inyoung Shin,Kristen Purcell, August 26, 2014, Pg. 4) . Not allowing people to have a comfortable place to voice their opinion without fear of being made fun of or brutalized with attacks is something social media platforms have continued to lack.

We can also see how social media platforms try to cater us to certain products that we might like. This can be good in certain situations that we might find objects that we would want. But we can see how using such algorithms to predict products we might like is in fact still a part of our social problem of being trapped in a cycle only things recognizable to us. This can be anything from the color of a T-shirt we want to the sizes of T-shirt to what is said on the T-shirt. It personally perplexes myself when I’m talking about a product out in the open then I see a ad for the same or similar product the next time I’m on a social media site. This goes past trying to help out the individual in situations it is clear how these social media sites are trying to make as much money as possible while taking advantage of the usage of phones and technology in general.

With the social media model that has been shown there’s a dilemma at the core of social media business that counter acts it. A social media platform can either keep advertising the same kind of social groups and products that allows people to find things similar to the person. But doing so it risks radicalizing the person due to only being subject to the same kind of social network. Social media platforms could also let people experience different ideas, people, and products that might be very different to who they are as a person. Doing this would allow for better personal connection with people of different areas of society. The downside to this is that the algorithm does somewhat help with getting people to see products that they might like and potentially become a sale of said products. This is a hard choice for businesses as a whole to make because the point of a capitalist economic system is to make as much value as possible. But doing so could allow for side effects such as the spiral of silence. “We’re the real culprits. When it comes to elevating one perspective above all others and herding people into culturally and ideologically inflexible tribes, nothing that Facebook does to us comes close to what we do to ourselves”(How Facebook Warps Our Worlds, Frank Bruni, May 21, 2016). The crazy about how his system is that we as costumers don’t get to choose how we want it, these companies choose for us using these algorithms trapping us in our local sector of the internet.

It has become apparent that such social media sites are not doing the intended results. Instead of bringing people together and connecting people from around the world it has lost its morality. It has instead chosen to be the benefactor of the capitalist system and be able to profit off the polarization of countries such as the United States.

Bruni, Frank. How Facebook Warps Our Worlds. New York Times. May 21st, 2016.

Dwyer, Maria. Hampton, Kieth. Lu Weixu. Purcell Kristen. Rainie, Lee. Shin, Inyoung. Social Media Spiral of Silence. August 26th, 2014.

Essay

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The Cultivation Theory was created by George Gerbner and Larry Gross from the University of Pennsylvania they believed that the more time people spend watching television, the more likely they are to believe the social reality portrayed on television. Which means that heavy television viewers have a stronger opinion for a particular social reality such as violence, prostitution, wealth, and employment. American cartoons and animation movies have benefits, such as teaching children; the values of honesty, courage, and friendship, fairness, and good will triumph over evil. In these cartoons the protagonists often use aggression to beat evil. Violence, sexual category problems, and religious issues show up more in films than we think. Children could easily confuse reality and fantasy, especially in our current society where parents who are busy with work, socializing use video games, and television for their children. This may affect children’s childhood by presenting negative messages.

Most children start watching television at the age of six months, when they are around two or three. The children become enthusiastic viewers. Watching television is not all that bad, children can learn the alphabet, learn about wildlife, but watching too much tv can have a negative effect. Psychologists believe that children that watch tv for more than 4 hours a day is more likely to be overweight. While kids are watching tv, if they observe aggressive behavior, they may become hostile or they might fear the world.

These cartoons concerns started the AAP in the 1930’s which stands for American Academy of Pediatrics. This group believes that there is a better way to help children learn than watching television. In a recent study, they found out that 90 percent of parents said that their children under the age of two watch one to two hours of some form of electronic media. At the age of three, 1/3^rdof children has a television in their bedroom.

In the mid 1960’s there was research to focus on media effects. Specially, whether watching television influences the audience’s idea and perception of everyday life. This theory states that high frequency viewers of television are more susceptible to media messages and beliefs that they are real or valid. This called the Mean World Syndrome which is the belief that the world is a far worse and dangerous place than what it is.

Agenda-setting theory is the create public awareness and concern of salient issues by news media. This theory was developed by Dr. Max McCombs and Dr. Donald Shaw in 1968 which was the presidential election. Both Doctors was part of the “Chapel Hill study” which gave them a correlation between one hundred residents of Chapel Hill, in North Carolina. They reported the most important election issue and the local and what the media reported was the most important issues. The research gave two beliefs, the first on is, how the press and the media do not reflect reality. The second was how media focused on a few issues and subjects that lead to the public to receive those issues as more important than other issues.

Agenda setting goes through a mental process which is called accessibility. Which means the more commonly and significantly the news media covers an issue the more cases that issues become accessible in the audience’s memories.

A great example of the agenda setting theory is the Clinton scandal and the Watergate scandal. The Clinton scandal, sexual affair of Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky which was an intern. This created a media frenzy and was sensational news for years. Media gave pages of news about top stories. The media influenced the mindset of people so much and the news got viral to result in a presidential impeachment. The Watergate scandal was exposed by media and was blown out of proportions. The media created different falsehoods such as corruption.

At the end of the day, it is proven that social media may have given people the ability to shut out information. People that are a part of the social network means you could still get affect but those issues by being accidentally exposed to them. Social media now a days is not that reliable anymore especially in politics. I am personally not into politics because it is only hurting yourself and others and for what reason? American is not what picture it would be like. My little cousin has Facebook which I do not think is healthy, posting terrible things about the opposite group. When I was 13, I was not thinking about politics because younger people are so gullible, I would believe what other people would tell me and the chances of it be correct was slim. Being a teenager is difficult, our frontal lobe is not fully developed which controls a lot of decision making, our sexuality, and may more things. When I was 13, I didn’t know what I wanted, among many other people which is why everyone has “stages” of what we want to be because we are trying to find our true self’s. It is hard for younger people to learn to not always believe in what you heard because media is trying to push you to believe in something that may not be the full truth.

What made the Disney Renaissance so great? What happened to it? – Essay

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Ever since its mainstream introduction back in the late ’30s, animation has proved to be a powerhouse when it came to not only children’s entertainment but also adult entertainment. From Max Fleischer’s Betty Boop and Popeye and then eventually Walt Disney, with his many critically acclaimed creations, it’s no wonder that animation has become what it has today. (which is what?)

Though things had started out relatively strong and ramped up in the 19 to 2000’s era, there’s been a recent decline in mainstream 2D animated films with less and less 2D animation seen in the modern day. Why is that? With the rise of live-action remakes within the “house of mouse” alongside the take over of live-action sitcoms on TV networks traditionally known for animation, such as the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon, why does it feel as though animated entertainment is taking a back seat?

One of the reasons I believe classic cell animation has been taking a backseat to live action and even 3D animated movies recently is, sadly, money. With the more recent purchase of companies like Lucas films and Marvel, Disney’s focus is no longer on what originally made them the powerhouses they are today. But then again, there’s more to it than that. For me what I believe is the true reason why Disney hasn’t been so successful at, or even motivated, to make 2D animated films is that they are chasing what they once had.

consequenceofsound.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/...

For example, when you think of Disney animation, you may think of movies like The Lion King (1994), Aladdin (1992), Mulan (1998), or even Hercules (1994), etc., To name a few. Though you may initially think of these movies when Disney pops into your mind, you’ll find that there’s a common theme when it comes to these movies. They were all produced between the years 1989 and 1999. This is what’s categorized as the Disney Renaissance. A stretch of years that proved to be the most prosperous for the Disney Corporation. With the help of many workers such as lyricist Howard Ashman, composer Alan Menken, animator Glen Keane, director Kirk Wise, and director Kevin Lima, Disney had pushed their films into high gear when it came to not only stories but music and so on.

Although The Walt Disney company had started off their legacy with their golden age of animation, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Pinocchio (1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo (1941), and Bambi (1942), Disney had fallen out within the company after the tragic passing of Walt Disney himself in 1966. With the company on the verge of bankruptcy, it was on the shoulders of the new crew of men coming in the company to take it out of its rut. Which, in turn, caused the rise of Disney once more in the form of the Disney Renaissance. But why did these movies make their mark on the world and how did they go about it?

Well, we can’t go any further on the topic, without addressing the very large elephant in the room. When it comes to Disney, you may think about their music first. Well, you can certainly thank Alan Menken and Howard Ashman for that. Disney’s music-filled animated movies first started out as simple animated films with some songs within them, though with the introduction of these two men, Disney would surge into animated musicals. This had been one of the reasons The Little Mermaid had become such a success and the first animated movie to pave the way for the Disney Renaissance era.

There’s a Youtube video, and subsequently, my favorite You-tuber, who covers this much better than I could ever hope to relay. Though, he relays a saying from PBS:Think Tank: that I find really interesting and something that i feel holds very true and is a big issue with modern Disney movies. “When the emotion becomes too strong for speech, you sing; and when it becomes too strong for song, you dance”. I love this adage because it holds so true for modern Disney. From what I’ve noticed in modern animated movies that try their hand at “the Disney formula” they never seem to pick this up, not even Disney themselves. They’re too busy trying to fill the hole that Disney left off that they’re forgetting the key aspects of what made Disney’s movies back then so powerful. In the video below, the video even explains why he believes the movie Tarzan was the reason this golden era of Disney ended. Music was, and is still, such a big part of Disney but it’s the way they’re going about using their music that makes their movies so palatable and great.

Disney is a large multination corporation with many holdings and subsidiaries, and from what i’ve noticed the companies that try to follow in its footsteps tend to miss what used to make them such a powerhouse. One of the last key things that i think made Disney so synonymous with creativity and expression was the fact they weren’t afraid to tell strange and fantastical stories. From old grimm stories to stories about families of the future, there wasn’t a fear of showing these amazing stories that went beyond the imagination. Though, with modern times I see that such a big company, such as Disney, are more focused on remakes, live action, and sequels. Although Walt himself wasn’t that gracious of a man, I can hardly believe that he’d be alright with all that’s gone on today with his company. Disney used to be that of imagination and creation, but now it’s just the shell of what it once was.

10 Problems with the Writing of the Star Wars Sequels | by Zach Vecker | Noteworthy - The Journal Blog

Work Cited:

“Think Tank: Transcript for ‘The American Musical, Part 2.’” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, http://www.pbs.org/thinktank/transcript1261.html. 

Pallent, Chris. Demystifying Disney: A History of Disney Feature Animation. Continuum Books, 2011

The History of Social Media

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Since the day my generation was born social media has impacted all of us either in a positive or negative way. To us it’s our way of life, we have become so familiar to social media its second nature. Social media has been a platform where people post their lives and feelings to the point where they post everything about themselves. The internet has impacted the way we use social media to this day.”If you’re trying to seek a job but post everything you do on the weekends, most employers can look these things up and you’re likely to not get the job. Your first impression is everything in life that affects you getting hired or not hired,”(Miller). What you do on social media is equivalent to how people will perceive you. Social media was originally started to meet new people, build new friendships and relationships. One down fall of social media is that if you want to deactivate your account it doesn’t officially go away, it can always be viewed or searched by many people.” When people start to be comfortable with being an open book on social media, the “reasonable standard” of the privacy is being lowered,”(Miller). Another downfall of social media is that younger teens are allowed access to these apps just by lying about their age when creating an account. One ,they are not old enough by the app rules and two ,they will experience and see things they shouldn’t.

History of Social Media (It's Younger Than You Think) - BroadbandSearch

By the 1980s, many home computers were becoming more common and social media was becoming used everyday.”Internet chat rooms were first being used in 1988 and continued to be popular well into the 1990’s,”(Hendricks).The invention of the smartphone boosted social media from the desktop and laptop computer. Social media dates back as far as 1840s. Andrew Weinreich founded Six Degrees social media site in 1997,(Jones).This allowed users to upload a profile and make friends with other users. In 1999 the first blogging sites became popular. “Social media was first created for a site centered on professional networking allowing people to unite with businesses and school contacts as well as companies,”(Maryville). Social media has helped many businesses develop quickly and get ahead of itself, also it has helped people find an easier and better way to connect and communicate with one another. However on the other hand “social media has provided many people with problems such as stress, mental health issues, emotional insecurities and waste of time,”(Pantic). These days social media impacts our lives everyday, whether it be work, school, or personal lives. “Moveon.org was the first activist social media site in 1998. It began as an email group passing around petitions opposing the impeachment of Bill Clinton. After it went on opposing US military actions. Just before the year of 2000 blogging sites began to appear,”(McFadden). Blogging sites are a very popular social media spot today.

History of Social Media - The Big Picture

The evolution of social media has made our human impulses to want to communicate with other people and with the advances in our digital technology. It is the history of humans wanting to establish a close connection with people. The first social media commercial advertisement site was Lunastorm, this began in the 2000s. At times social media is a challenging industry to keep their users engaged. “That is what happened to Friendster in 2002, it was used as a messaging site but also a dating site. Friendster eventually closed in 2015 due to the lack of users. In 2003 Myspace was being launched. By 2006, it was the most visited website on the planet!,”(Samur).The reason it was popular was users were able to share new music directly on their profile pages. The invention of the smartphone boosted social media from computers. The first apple iPhone made by Steve Jobs in 2007, helped focus people to the online community that was building on mobile devices.” In 2019 the Pew Research Center reported that the social media use in the United States showed that 72% of American adults use some form of social media. But in 2005, a year after Facebook went viral that number was at 5%,”(Perrin).This meant the rest of the internet didn’t even know what it was. There was two other major sites in social media that collapsed after a burst of success.

March 2002: Friendster - Then and now: a history of social networking sites - CBS News

The unstable growth of social media has provided millions of people opportunities to post and create new content on a larger platform. A few years ago, no one thought social media would be as big as it is now. There is a large portion of these social networks that is opinionated and fake news that we have to take into account everyday. These issues are constantly posted and discussed on social sites for everyone to see. This modern technology has become our life so fast. It has made distance between the people feel so close. I think people will always be in contact and share their feelings with one another. This is what has made our world full of new and exciting things.”No matter the age, we are always aware of breaking news that is happening. Even when different parts of the world are advancing or not we will still be connected through social media. So what happens next in social media? The media will be shaped by the new businesses as well as by advances in old stories about technology. How will big social media platforms such as Facebook, instagram, TikTok, and others be popular?,” (Maryville), to answer these common questions, I think it will determine how our society handles these next stage of social media’s evolution. I believe that there are people in our world who have educated themselves in these topics. They will continue to study these problems and will help us grow our social media and as a society. Our world is is quickly changing in every aspect of it.

Citations:

Samur, Alexandra. “The History of Social Media: 29+ Key Moments.” Social Media Marketing & Management Dashboard, 27 Nov. 2018, blog.hootsuite.com/history-social-media/.

University, Maryville. “The Evolution of Social Media: How Did It Begin and Where Could It Go Next?” Maryville Online, 2 June 2020, online.maryville.edu/blog/evolution-social-media/.

Miller, Kristine F. Introduction to Design Equity. University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing, 2018.

Hendricks, Drew. “The Complete History of Social Media: Then And Now.” Small Business Trends, 25 Nov. 2019, smallbiztrends.com/2013/05/the-complete-history-of-social-media-infographic.html.

Jones, Matthew. “The Complete History of Social Media: A Timeline of the Invention of Online Networking.” History Cooperative, 3 Nov. 2020, historycooperative.org/the-history-of-social-media/.

Pantic, Igor. “Online Social Networking and Mental Health.” Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., Oct. 2014, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4183915/.

McFadden, Christopher. “A Chronological History of Social Media.” Interesting Engineering, Interesting Engineering, 2 July 2020, interestingengineering.com/a-chronological-history-of-social-media.

Perrin, Andrew, and Monica Anderson. “Share of U.S. Adults Using Social Media, Including Facebook, Is Mostly Unchanged since 2018.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 31 July 2020, http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/.

Me, My Community, and Podcasting

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“Hey, Tom!” I yell up the stairs.

“What?!” my brother answers.

“Do you wanna record the podcast?”

“Yeah. Just give me a minute.”

“Okay,” I say. “I’ll be on the sofa.”

Conversations like this happen about every other week at my house. One autumn day when I was a senior in high school, my brother and I had just had a funny experience where I kept running into my friend, Ethan, and it looked like I was stalking him. As we started talking about other funny things that just seemed to happen to us, we decided it would be fun to do a weekly podcast where we told stories about what had happened in our lives over the week. One of our favorite comedians, John Branyan, does a podcast that we love, and we wanted it like his in that it was relaxed and like our listener was right there with us. The next step after deciding our content was figuring out a name for our podcast. We live in Almond, NY, and since our podcast was humor based, Two Nuts from Almond was born. Since then, we have had several of our friends on as guests and experimented with a few different topics, including the occasional movie review and giving relationship advice. We are not popular at all, but we mostly just do it for the fun of it and for our friends who like to listen to us.

anchor.fm/Twonutsfromalmond/episodes/Red-Bull-and-Mother-Mary-efmkil(opens in a new tab)

Podcasting has become super popular over the past few years. Lots of people I know have their special podcasts that they listen to, and it is not uncommon to hear about various friends starting their own. In several ways, podcasting is similar to what radio used to be as they both use audio to connect to people. The textbook, Understanding Media and Culture, makes the point that though podcasts are downloaded and radio is streamed or broadcasted, there is a chance that radio will morph more and more into podcasting (299). To understand podcasting and where it may go, it helps to look at the beginnings of radio.

Like the craze of podcasting in the past few years, radio also experienced a craze when it first began. John Schneider says in his article, “Radio Broadcasting’s First Years—What Was It Like?” that at the beginning of 1922, there were 28 licensed broadcasting station in America, but that by the end of the year, there were 556 stations. As signals were established, almost anyone could have his own “radio show” if he had the radio equipment; churches, department stores, newspapers, universities, and corporations all began to experiment with various radio programs, much like the variety found in podcasts now (Schneider). There were broadcasts focused on things such as music, sermons, sports, or weather (Schneider). Radio broadcasting was eventually refined and organized into what it is today. Podcasting is becoming more organized than it was when it first started, but there will always be a certain level of spontaneity they can have that radio broadcasting cannot.

A short history of early radio broadcasting

Adam Sternburgh in his article, “How Podcasts Learned to Speak,” makes the point that with podcasts, “There are no editors to convince, no producers to pitch, no green lights to be green-lit.” Anyone can have a specifically tailored podcast and he or she does not need the go ahead to do it. All one needs is a microphone and a way to get the content on the web. Sternburgh also makes the point that podcasts are able to connect in an intimate way with people that other media has not been able to do. Another plus that podcasts have over radio, is, as Sternburgh says, “podcasts introduced portability, accessibility, and a nearly endless selection of subjects on demand.” With radio, one only has the opportunity to listen to the broadcast once, but podcasts offer the flexibility of pausing and playing when convenient. Sternburgh sums it up best why people love podcasts so much when he says that, “Podcasts appeal to the twin modern manias for constant enrichment and constant escape. Despite their low-tech origins, we should never have been surprised at podcasts’ modern allure.”

Podcasts are very portable in comparison to radio and are growing rapidly in popularity.

Both of these points about podcasts make sense, and if they are true, then it would also be true that podcasts have great power to impact people’s lives. I have been able to experience this in a small way through mine and my brother’s podcast, Two Nuts from Almond. Not many people listen to us, but those who do have told us that they really look forward to the weekly episode. Last March my brother and I were in the musical, Music Man, and it became the thing for the cast to talk about the latest Two Nuts episode. Our friends in the cast also inspired us to make merch for the podcast, so we now have the official Two Nuts from Almond anklet. We have also had several of our friends on the podcast to tell their own funny stories, and last Christmas we did an episode where we had almost everyone who had been on the podcast in the past year, come on again and share their favorite Christmas memory. We have also done some podcast “extras” for our friends to encourage people to listen to the podcast, including making funny videos and taking pictures with Tom’s toddler-sized Darth Vader.

One of the funny videos my brother and I did as a part of our Two Nuts from Almond Podcast “extras.”

Podcasting is fun, easy, impactful, and may be at least part of the future of radio. Anyone with access to a mic can easily start their own, and one can find a podcast about anything imaginable. Two Nuts from Almond has been one of the coolest things I have done with my brother, and through my own limited experience with podcasting, I would not be surprised if it continues to dominate the audio market.

Works Cited

Schneider, John. “Radio Broadcasting’s First Years–What Was It like?” The Radio Historian, John F. Schneider & Associates, LLC, 2020, www.theradiohistorian.org/first_radio/first_radio.html.

Sternburgh, Adam. “How Podcasts Learned to Speak.” Vulture, New York Magazine, 18 March. 2019, http://www.vulture.com/2019/03/the-great-podcast-rush.html.

Understanding Media and Culture: An Introduction to Mass Communication. E-book,

University of Minnesota Libraries, 2016

EARLY REELS OF RACISM

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The 1920’s to 1950’s were an exciting time for the film industry. Many famous actresses and early pioneers of film graced the screens during this time. However, for African Americans and persons of color, Old Hollywood was a different experience laden with racism, discrimination, and misrepresentation to the public. This lack of representation, along with a reliance upon stereotypes, contributed to underlying racial messaging that has helped shape a culture in film and television which disregards everyday life experiences of the African American (and other persons of color). Many talented actresses at the time were forced to play roles such as the “mammy” and hypersexualized provocateur that misrepresented them and brought shame to their race. These portrayals through film and cinema have helped to shape and solidify the images of public perception (although these images have changed over the years and representation has improved in recent years). The concept of identity, and how a person presents themselves to make a living, is not only an issue that has historically hindered Black actors and actresses, but everyday Black Americans as well. (How the Camera Sees Color) The beginnings of Hollywood filmmaking were neither kind nor truly representational for minorities.

*Minstruel shows, racially offensive and used Blackface.*

Colorism and racism plagued early Hollywood, from silent films to minstrel shows, to segregation on set and has long influenced opportunities available to African Americans in the film industry. Colorism is defined by the National Museum of African American History and Culture as the discrimination against individuals based on their skin tone. In response to this discrimination, historically, African Americans often found alternate ways to present themselves when starring in films. Some actors moved outside the mainstream film industry while others played into stereotypes. The effects of colorism have proven to be damaging to the identity of Black Americans by leading to internalized oppression in the Black community. (On Dark Girls) http://static.oprah.com/pdf/dark-girls.pdf

When African Americans were cast, lighter skinned actors obtained the more prominent roles. Roles for darker skinned actors and actresses amplified racist stereotypes, such as the role of the “mammy.” This put many lighter and darker skinned African Americans into a situation where many felt as though they could not simply be Black without being categorized. This caused many lighter skinned African Americans to make attempts at passing for White in public settings in order to compete for more opportunities, which led to increased tensions in the Black community. (How Camera Sees Color) Some actresses felt it necessary to pass for White and many African Americans turned to other means of altering their skin tone. Even lighter-skinned actresses and actors would have their makeup done in a way to make them appear even lighter. Frequently, advertisements would make actors and actresses not only appear light-skinned, but almost white. Many young children and teenagers of darker complexion began to think that it was “bad” or “evil” to have dark skin and so much that some used harmful chemicals to lighten their skin. These actions have proven to have serious implications on many levels.

D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation galvanized African American writers, thinkers, and filmmakers. The film, a box office record-breaker, is also hugely racist, a Civil War story that casts African-Americans as rapists and the Ku Klux Klan as heroes. It was widely protested by African American audiences. (Early African American Film)

As White and light skinned actors and actresses became the stars of most Hollywood films in the early 1900’s, darker skinned individuals had few opportunities for performing on screen. When they did have an opportunity, it was primarily to play on racist stereotypes and assumptions about Black people. Many Black actors and actresses, whether they wanted to or not, were subjected to skin appearance alterations including blackface. Blackface is the use of makeup to exaggerate skin tone and facial features and was used in the entertainment industry to present a stereotypical and racist image. (How the Camera Sees Color) Soon African Americans audiences grew tired of seeing themselves portrayed in such stereotypical and racist ways and decided to take matters into their own hands. Between the 1910’s and 1950’s, African American movie theaters grew in popularity by featuring race movies. Race movies portrayed Black actors and actresses in a way that Black viewers could relate to. These films were produced as part of the African American ‘uplift movement’ and were designed with African American audiences in mind. (Early African American Film) In a popular film, Micheaux’s Within Our Gates rather than casting African Americans as “pickaninnies” the characters are “deeply engaged in the political and intellectual life of the day, debating racial uplift and waging philanthropic campaigns even as they wrestle with the romantic torments typical of melodramas of the period.” (Early African American Film) While hundreds of race films were produced in the early 20^th century, they were excluded from the mainstream. Although African Americans responded in creative and resourceful ways to discrimination during this period, colorism in Hollywood remains a pressing issue well into the 21^st century.

Oscar Micheaux’s 1919 film, Within Our Gates, is one of the few examples of a race film that garnered some attention – and and audience- from the White press. (Early African American Film)

The historic absence of African American actors and actresses in leading roles has been evident throughout the history of Hollywood films. As Black women struggled with areas of Otherness in order to emerge as Hollywood actresses in their own right, mainstream cinema erased, marginalized, and devalued them denying them their cinematic voice and reducing them to “the body.” In addition, many Black actresses’ contributions have been minimized or completely erased in the Hollywood histories of cinema. If a role were obtained, it was frequently positioned as the “shadow” for leading White female actresses of the time. In many films prior to the 1960’s, the Black actress’s main function was to illuminate the virtue, beauty, morality, sexuality, sophistication, and other qualities embedded in the “whiteness of the female character.” (The Struggle for Visibility..) If she were of mixed race, (which many were) the Black actress was the “dark” self and usually reflected negatively on the White female actress. In addition, the Black actress was typically cast in a minor role and usually played the maid/subservient, mammy, matriarch, or hypersexualized woman who was a shadow in the background of the film. In playing the shadow to the leading White character, she contrasted with what was considered correct, upstanding, or morally befitting. It was rare that the Black actress could expect to be viewed or judged based on her acting talent. The industry always identified her based on her race and sexuality. In addition, Black actresses had to be prepared for segregated practices on the studio lot and for accommodations inferior to her White associates. Segregated seating in public transportation, public facilities, and restaurants, as well as pay inequities made the Black actress’s experience in the Hollywood industry difficult.

By the end of the 1920’s, the best-known Black actress working in Hollywood films was Nina Mae McKinney. The 1930’s introduced many new White screen actresses, most notably Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Shirley Temple, Ginger Rogers, Katherine Hepburn, Jean Harlow, Mae West, and Loretta Young. Black actresses began to gain prominence as the screen companion, or shadow of these actresses. They included Louise Beavers, Hattie McDaniel, and Fredi Washington. With the beginning of the 1940’s, White actresses such as Jane Russell, Lana Turner, Lauren Bacall, Rita Hayworth, and Judy Garland began to gain prominence. (The Struggle for Visibility) Only a few Black actresses such as Lena Horne, Hazel Scott, and Ethel Waters were able to come close to the sort of fame these actresses had. The complications of racial identities with the roles they were asked to play on screen manifested in controversies within the Black community and the Black press. There were not solely the issues of “passing,” but also the issues of how a Black actress’s on-screen roles reflected on the entire Black community. The controversy ranged from actresses such as Hattie McDaniel who was accused of actually “being” the “mammy” figure she represented on screen to Dorothy Dandridge whom many had assumed internalized the role they played on screen. Lena Horne and Hazel Scott were able to negotiate lucrative contracts with major Hollywood studios that excluded them from playing roles that Blacks considered demeaning to the race. Beautiful, talented, well-spoken, and with an air of confidence and pride, Horne and Scott did not fit the image of Blacks that southern Whites preferred at the time. Scott was an activist who revealed the complexities and magnitude of issues that centered on Black actresses, which spilled over into the society at large. These issues were debated in the Black press, the Black community, in Hollywood, and in American society at large during that era. As African Americans struggle for more representation in media and film, we can look back at the early pioneers who fought for so much more than just a starring role.

The early 20^th century was indeed an exciting time for Hollywood and film, but the African American actress had a more complicated role to fill. Not only did she have to grapple with playing the role without belittling herself or bringing shame on her community, but she also faced issues of colorism, racism, and discrimination. Working on set included navigating segregation issues and playing the shadow to more prominent White actresses at the time. The early film industry distorted the image of the African American female for its own personal gain and assisted in shaping and cultivating racist points of views in culture, film, and early cinema.

Works Cited

Regester Charlene B., African American Actresses: The Struggle for Visibility, 1900—1960, Indiana University Press, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/pensu/detail.action?docID=547023

Smithsonian: The National Museum of African American History and Culture https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/collection/how-camera-sees-color

The Association of Black Psychologists, On Dark Girls

Click to access dark-girls.pdf

Early African American Film, Reconstructing the History of Silent Race Films, 1909-1930 https://dhbasecamp.humanities.ucla.edu/afamfilm/whatis/history

You-Tube. The Birth of a Nation, 1915. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGQaAddwjxg

You-Tube. Within Our Gates, 1919. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtwrCto9az0