Voices Final Blog
The two most influential ideas I learned from my research was how much influence the media has on society’s views, and how important it is to have representation in the media. While reading Interior Chinatown, I realized how much of a bubble people of color are trapped in, and thus how important it is to encourage representation in media. It made me realize that having educational and informational sources to explain the harm about societal stereotypes is important, because people will listen and learn. I think as teenagers, people take social media for granted. I think through this project, I’ve realized exactly how much influence it has over our lives. We look at social media everyday. Our personalities, fashion influence, music taste, political values, lifestyles are influenced by social media. If used well, there can be a difference by educating people through this tool. For an issue as important as correcting dehumanizing stereotypes, our usage of social media and our exposure to it is crucial in terms of setting new standards.
In addition, seeing people that aren’t represented much being shown in media is important for the audience to see because it frames the represented people as real people, rather than mere figures defined by stereotypes. These ideas impacted me because personally, I have dealt with pressure to confine to stereotypes determined by my gender and race. However, as I got older, and the more I saw people like me in the media, the more comfortable I felt as my own person.
I hope people will recognize how important this topic is but how normalized it is in society, and I hope it is clear that in order to address this issue properly, we need to start at the core- small comments, and normalization in the media.
Through my time at NNHS, the most important thing I learned about myself, my community, and my world was how time is precious. Though I look forward to college, I certainly will miss my time here, and I wish I took every single second as a blessing. If you think about it, every minute was important, no matter what happened. Homework led to learning. Hanging out with friends led to strong connections. To future NNHS seniors, I would give the advice of learning how to balance social life, academics, and personal life in a healthy manner. I think that helps create a healthy and happy lifestyle, and will prepare you for the future well.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m_wPC4ovA2CkiD1dFTDiD6TuUTfVKTmj/view?usp=sharing
Works Cited
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-deadly-consequences-of-hypersexualizing-asian-women/
https://www.popsugar.com/entertainment/hollywood-objectification-asian-women-48319105
https://time.com/5952819/history-anti-asian-racism-misogyny/
Great video, Esther! You raise a good point; our views of concepts and peoples — especially those that we are unfamiliar with — are often created and reinforced by popular culture, and when Asian women are depicted as submissive and weak, such portrayals may then adversely impact Asian-American women. Social media has the potential to be not a curse but a blessing; if we can utilize it to challenge the perpetuation of stereotypes and encourage the depiction of strong and capable Asian women, the detrimental effects of said stereotypes can be alleviated.
Esther, wow! Your video was exceptionally well made. The visuals, and the way you laid your points out, were very engaging and informative. You raise great points about the lack of representation of genuine, human, Asian women. I was, initially, shocked by the statistic you shared about only 13% of Asian characters being portrayed as ‘human’ in films, in 2019. Though, I thought about it more, and now I am recognizing things I hadn’t paid much attention to before. There definitely needs to be a larger conversation about this, and I appreciate your video bringing this issue to light. Great job!