Lily's Blog

Today, I watched the movie Booksmart . It's the story of two teenage girls who want to make the most of their last night before they graduate from high school. I enjoyed this movie because I felt that it defied so many of the stereotypes Hollywood has established for the typical teen chick-flick. This movie showed a healthier (though still exaggerated) view into teenage life than most. For example, in a lot of high school-centered movies, there are mean girls who are portrayed as dumb and shallow. Thankfully, that cliche doesn't really exist in this movie. The female characters in the movie actually support and guide each other. While many elements of the film are dramatized, it portrays friendship in a realistic way. The two main characters, Amy and Molly, don't have the perfect friendship, but they fight about real emotional issues, instead of over boys or popularity or the stupid stuff we see so often in teen movies. The girls aren't dumbed down for our entertai

Most films in existence are dominated by men, whether that be onscreen, acting as the protagonist, or behind the scenes, directing and holding power. While it is true that conditions for female representation in film has improved over the last few decades, we could still be doing much better. And the film MissRepresentation  reminded me of that. I have definitely noticed a lack of female leads in most Hollywood blockbusters. According to the Women and Hollywood organization, only 28 percent of films were led or co-led by women in the top grossing films from 2007 to 2018. Most of the time, women serve as background characters or, as  MissRepresentation  reminded us, they are just there as something pretty for men to look at. This is especially true for many action movies. Even when these films have a powerful female lead (Wonder Woman, Lara Croft, etc.), they are often still painted in the image of what an "ideal" woman should look like: skinny, hair and makeup done perfe

"I'm so depressed." "I just had a mental breakdown." "Just had my third anxiety attack of the day." These are all phrases I read (in some way, shape or form) on social media almost every day, and they are most often said by teenagers or young people. There's often an "lol" or "ksjdksksjk" added to the end of these expressions, as if it's a casual thing that they're used to happening to them. These phrases are also often played off as jokes or funny little anecdotes. I admit that I have said these things in person or on social media in a casual way to make them seem less dark than they really are. But I've realized that this is actually a harmful way to handle teenage mental health. From the articles we read in class, I learned how quickly and dramatically teenage anxiety levels are rising. It was alarming to hear that more teenagers deal with mental health problems now than ever before. And as these problems are be

Media being a mirror would involve companies and brands observing their target audience's behaviors and interests. They would then take that data and formulate their marketing strategy or show or other form of entertainment around it. According to "The Merchants of Cool," media is not a mirror, but a feedback loop. A feedback loop being a group of people responding to media in a certain way, leading the media to react by catering more closely to that audience, and the cycle repeats. I had never really considered this question. I knew that people's behaviors and habits were represented by media, but I never considered if the media had adopted those ideas from people, or if people adopted those ideas from media. The more I think about it, the harder it gets to pinpoint a solid answer. But media has to be more of a feedback loop than just a mirror. The way certain groups of people (take teenagers for example) behave and think seems to be constantly changing. Take

In the weeks leading up to Mother's Day, I see advertisements reminding me of the holiday everywhere I look. Whether it's a commercial on TV or an ad in a magazine or on social media, these ads seem to span all forms of media. Most of these ads are for products these companies think the basic consumer-mother would like: makeup, flowers, edible arrangements, jewelry, etc. This is obviously not applicable to every mother, but it must be for many, as it was reported in 2018 that American consumers spent a total of $21.3 billion dollars on typical Mother's Day gifts, such as the ones aforementioned. Some of the Mother's Day ads can become borderline—or outright—sexist. I have seen ads in the past advertising KitchenAids, vacuum cleaners, fridges and more for Mother's Day. This clearly insinuates that all mothers do is cook and clean, which is obviously not true. Some mothers may appreciate these gifts, but this is such a blaring generalization made about a whole gr

In the PBS documentary "The Merchants of Cool," Sprite was brought up. Apparently, the soda industry is very competitive and Sprite was struggling to attract new customers. So in an attempt to lure in America's biggest consumers—teenagers—Sprite incorporated a number of new marketing techniques in their campaigns. These included "anti-advertising," getting celebrities or athletes to promote the soda, and incorporating hip hop music into their commercials and events. A spokesperson for Sprite in the documentary said that through their campaign, Sprite and hip hop music have become heavily linked. She also goes on to say that the Sprite brand has become "iconic" and that it has become the latest "cool" product for teens to buy. This confused me for several reasons. First, I don't really understand how a soda brand or drinking a certain soda can be "cool." I can understand thinking certain shoes or clothes are cool, but I don&