LGBTQ in the Media --Week of 11/5-11/9/2012

     Throughout this past week, our class focused our discussions around the LGBTQ community and their representation in the media.  We began the week by watching a documentary titled Further Off the  Straight & Narrow: New Gay Visibility on Television (2006).  The documentary discussed many different television sitcoms that feature gay characters within their story lines, and how their characters are overall represented within the context of the show.  The documentary not only highlighted their visibility within the mainstream media, but also the stereotypes media perpetuates and promotes for gay characters on television.  Some of the shows the documentary had discussed were Ellen, Will and Grace, Six Feet Under, Sex and the City, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, The L Word, Queer as Folk, and The OC.  All of these shows feature a character who was gay within the context of the show, or shows that featured homosexual people in real life playing the characters in the shows like Ellen Degeneres.  Over the years the integration of LGBTQ representation in media has definitely increased; however, not all of those representations have been a good portrayal.
     In addition to the documentary, our class was able to enjoy a presentation by two members of the LGBTQ organization  from here at UW-Parkside.  One of the members had mentioned that LGBTQ people in the media back as far as the 1950's had always been portrayed as people who are villainous, and joker/ clown character, and/or suicidal.  The documentary expanded this topic by explaining that in the 1980's and early 1990's gays were presented in media mostly only through stories of AID's and HIV.  In the 2000's this had shifted where baby plot stories were also becoming incorporated into sitcoms with gay individuals.  The media perpetuates many stereotypes around these characters.  Some of the stereotypes may include that being gay is just a phase, the hyper-masculine depictions of lesbians, or the hyper-feminine depictions of gay males.  The media also enforces the idea of people being able to tell the difference between gay and straight people based on stereotypical gender roles.  There are many more stereotypes surrounding the LGBTQ community within the media, and although some of them have gotten better throughout time, they are still an issue being represented.  One of the speakers had mentioned in their presentation, " gender is between your ears and sex is between your legs."  This quote stood out to me because I had never heard it before but it still tells why some people are still having issues with discriminating that community.  Regardless of how one person understands gender and sex, discrimination isn't necessary hindering people from achieving their overall happiness.  As guilty as the media is for perpetuating stereotypes of the LGBTQ community, there is still much media that perpetuates this Homophobic idea too.  It is very hypocritical, and deceiving to people who don't question what they witness through media.
    Today, the media had made more frequency within programming of sitcoms to represent the gay community.  Again all of these portrayals are not in the best lights, but some of them do depict a better identity.  With that being said, we see a lot more gays being represented in the media perpetuating both bad and good ideas.  Two of my favorite sitcoms, Pretty Little Liars and American Horror Story have lesbian characters in them.  Some of how they are represented are good, and while some images are still stereotypical and promote the representations in a bad image.  Overall, the LGBTQ media has increased.  Even though some of the same harmful stereotypical views are still prevalent, the representations of good images associated with the community has also increased.  It is a win or lose battle within media, but with all the bad there is more good.

Looking at gender, race & violence in video games-- Week of 10/29- 11/2/2012

     Over this past week our class finished presenting our research on pornography, and began to look into how video games displayed race, gender, and violence.  Our class viewed a documentary titled Game Over: Gender, Race, and Violence in Video Games (2000).  This documentary had many interesting points regarding its subject in analyzing how gender, race, and violence is portrayed in video games and the large impact these portrayals impose and subconsciously impose on its users.  The documentary had mentioned that in 1999 approximately 90% of households with children either on or rent video games.  I believe that since this documentary was made, that percentage has escalated significantly.  I don't even think I know any children or men who don't own a gaming console.  With that being said, I don't think I know anyone who doesn't play video games of some sort, or have played them at some point in time.  The documentary began addressing that realism is the grounds of the video game industry, and allows the players to become the characters within the game.  Hyper-masculine, over sexualized femininity, stereotypical portrayals of race, and extreme violence can all be found in practically almost every video game.  This can be an issue for those people who allow their understanding of life be explained to or controlled by what they learn from video games.  For children, this is probably the most problematic concern simply because they are looking to everything around them to enhance their understanding of reality.  The documentary had suggested that overtime the distinction of reality and fantasy become transparent and hard to separate from one another.  Does this mean that anyone subjected to violent video games are going to become murderers?  Absolutely not!
     I can remember as a child playing video games, and all of these characteristics were perpetuated into them back then.  However, as technology has advanced the video games we see today are much more graphic, and potentially shows more violence, more hyper-sexualization, more hyper-masculine characters, and even more racial stereotypes within their characters.  For instance, video games like Call of Duty, Grand  Theft Auto, Assassin's Creed, and Resident Evil are all very violent games, that one's success level within the game does depend on how many people you kill.  However, these are all games that at some point in time I have seen my boyfriend or one of my brothers play.  I do not see them yelling at the game when their character dies, but the storyline of most of these games require one to kill or be killed.  To them it is just a game, some mental stimulation, and relaxation.  Most of every one I know who plays these games, aren't playing with 10 year olds.  I think there are rating systems in the video game industry for that purpose.  I don't think it would be necessary or appropriate for a 10 year old to play games like these.  If some young teenagers do play these video games, the frequency of playing should be regulated by an adult, and they must still be able to consciously separate fantasy from reality.  However, this also goes back to the idea of how long children and teenagers should play video games for.  Do they play for a couple hours every now and then, or do they play day in day out?  I see no problem with people playing video games for fun or on occasion, but when a person's life becomes revolved around them there is a huge concern and issue.  The issue would be that they are putting their leisure time before priorities in life, and the concern would be how much of what they are playing is being merged into their reality of believing.  When a person's life is revolved around this, it is all they begin to know, and that is when there is a concern of fantasy vs. their own real life reality.