ACT 5- If I Watch This Does That Count As Activism?

BLOGGER: Hello everyone! Welcome back, today I wanted to talk about film interpretation of grassroots movements.
READER: ...
BLOGGER: What? No comments for me today?
READER: I’m waiting.
BLOGGER: Alright then. Anyways, smaller citizen journalism and grassroots movements have been around for awhile. Ironically the first instance of this was in blogs! (Weblog was the original term.) It was first used in reference to politics and political candidates; it was mainly for people to discuss politics and in correction of inaccurate news reporting from traditional journalism sources. However, blogging and social media such as Twitter became substantial platforms for activism and areas for communities to come together on social and political matters of injustice like the Black Lives Matter movement, they affected people and provoked them into action.
READER: Where do movies play a role in this?
BLOGGER: See, you spoke too soon. Give yourself more time to listen before jumping in okay? Where movies come in is that, amongst many genres and topics including the historical, movies also focus and center their stories at times around these social/grassroots movements and through a bit off dramatization and the lens of Hollywood aims to portray (in the most palatable way) these movements and their impact. Documentaries are a important and perfect conveyance of a good amount of the historic facts surrounding the movement.
READER: But isn’t it not always accurate when portraying stuff like history or social movements?
BLOGGER: That’s very true! Look who’s finally listening before opening their mouth! Even documentaries aren’t able to cover all the facts and 100% depict each aspect of each movement correctly. Reviews and blogs exactly like this exist to critique when slip ups do happen but that not why I’m here. This is more of a warning on being wary of the depictions Hollywood gives with these social movements; films in their attempt to add to the emotional and psychological drama of the event sometimes miss the message or important factors in remembering the movements. Taking into account all sides of the matter is also good to remember as well. There are good examples out there such as The Hate U Give directed by George Tillman Jr. They hit all the points of violence and police brutality and counter-arguments in the impact on the cops lives to a realistic enough degree that it would stand as a good interpretation of code switching and the Black Lives Matter Movement. Other than that you just need to be wary the next time you watch something with social or historical impact and how close to accurate they are. Until next time!

ACT 4- Who’s The Guy That Played The Guy Who Invented Facebook?

BLOGGER: Hello! Welcome back to the Reel World and today we’re going to be talking about Facebook!

READER: ...

BLOGGER: What no slick comment or judgment for me today?

READER: I’m waiting for the catch.

BLOGGER: Oh! Look who’s learning. Well, it’s not just about Facebook today it’s about the movie that did it’s best to capture the making of Facebook and the  Rights and ownership complications behind the network: The Social Network. This movie starring Jesse Eisenberg gives a good rendering of Mark Zuckerberg and how he came up with the idea for Facebook and all its features back in 2004; coming from a 2010 standpoint they still show the vast difference in comparison from the online index of the early 00s to the status uploading, wall posting site it has become.
The audience comes into the story during two intermingled legal disputes between Zuckerberg and his former friend Eduardo Saverin and between him, the Winklevoss twins, and their friend Divya Narendra on the matter of ownership of the idea and Saverin's co-ownership of the business model and as a CFO through funding the project. It does well in introducing Mark Zuckerburg's character and inspiration from the beginning where we see his computer prowess making a (though sexually degrading to women) perfect and high trafficked site for rating women while drunk at 4am. But taking the idea of your school's online index and turning into a request only site where you can explore other people's pages and add friends then later introducing statuses so people know if you're single or not is a very smart way to make the social structures of college work for you.
READER: Wasn't the problem you mentioned before the fact that he was in a legal dispute for the idea? So doesn't that mean he doesn't own the idea?
BLOGGER: That's where the idea of ownership which I talked about in the last blog comes into play. The Winklevosses and Divya came up with the Harvard connection which is just basically an online index; Facebook or theFacebook (which was the name for a bit back then) takes the index and makes it interactive. It's definitely condescending how he conveys this but Jesse Eisenberg in that starring role said it best when he said: "if you came up with the idea of Facebook, you would have invented Facebook." It's cruel and you can see the actual lack of social skill that Zuckerberg possesses, and it's true that you could say they had the idea but technically Facebook is a different and more reformed, solid version of the abstract idea they had and left for him to play with. It's a separate concept from the Winklevosses and Divya's. It's hard to tell from this standpoint of the audience because only the actual people in the incidence could know.
Overall, it was a good film. I enjoyed how they decided to portray Zuckerburg.  I believe it was a fairly accurate representation of Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Sean Parker, and other people in Zuckerburg's life and history and, though somewhat intensified, an adequate showing of how the events went down emotionally and were thought out in everyone's head. Until next time!

ACT 3- I Use Netflix So Much That I Own It

BLOGGER: Hello everyone and welcome back! Today we’re going to be talking about movies!
READER: Um...isn’t that kinda general for a movie-themed blog?
BLOGGER: Let me finish. Today we’re going to be talking about how the modernization of the times and different media constructs effect the movie industry!
READER: That makes more sense.
BLOGGER: I know what I’m doing...maybe. Anyway, the film industry itself (at least this is what I believe) is a system that interacts with society similar to the media in the way that it coevolves with people and participates with society to the point that certain aspects such as governance and ownership of content throughout modernization have formed the industry into its own organized socioeconomic structure. It’s concerned with the ownership of content, the technology involved, the makers, the content, etc. When we bring in modernization into effect we see how as the technology evolves and we evolve the industry also evolves and the whole structure of the distribution of videos such as trailers and the ownership of rights changes. It’s very much effected and changed by social media which is what we’re going to take a look at.
In terms of technology, with the emergence of platforms trailers and overall film advertisement is globally improved. You can make Instagram pages and Facebook ads for movies now. I can’t go 2 minutes without scrolling and seeing trailers for new movies pop up on my instagram feed and I can like them and it’s the first time you can get feedback for a trailer! Different film industries such as Sony and A24 can promote films being produced by them. When it comes to the users of the platforms there’s more active participation in the development of movies with several comments being left under production companies YouTube channels for newer trailers. The content can be shaped by platforms and people can participate with it through their own usage of platforms like YouTube where you find several people not only critiquing movies but also creating their own.
When it comes to the more legal, governing side of things like ownership that gets fairly tricky because with the emergence of streaming services ownership shifts very quickly between production companies and online services such as Netflix, Hulu, and HBO. Everything is shaped and governed with th product or the service in mind-
READER: and tacked with a Terms of Service to the end of it.
BLOGGER: Exactly! Don’t interrupt me again. But the main point is that different constructs of these systems of media are impactful on society and how it interracial with it. Through the lens of film we see it impacted technically, content-wise, governance-wise, and through other means that modernize it as a system that coevolves with us. We have the power to shape it! Until next time!

ACT 2- Everyone’s an Onion and I’m Allergic

BLOGGER: Hello again! Welcome back to the Reel World where today we are discussing layers.
READER: ...this is a movie blog and you’re starting with Shrek? And a horrible Shrek themed title? Seriously?
BLOGGER: This post is a lot more than just bad jokes, believe me. See the thing about Shrek (besides the ear-wormy songs and mass amount of punchy one liners and fart jokes) is it goes well into depth on the characters a class discussion about the “self” and how you portray yourself to others, including online. Now not that there was any magical far far away online factor to the movie, but the entire plot revolves around two characters who due to their self-perception and self-esteem struggle with opening up to others.
READER: That’s kind of a stretch just to get one point across.
BLOGGER: Not at all because like Shrek this movie has layers!...That joke I actually regret but it’s true. The entire narrative and joke behind an ogre going out on a knights quest to save the princess goes hand in hand with his own journey to make interpersonal connections with people. It seems crazy considering he’s an ogre but it just goes to show that this is a journey everyone goes through; it emphasizes this idea of everyone’s outer layer not being who they are entirely.
That’s why on the other side of things there’s Fiona with an outer layer of self or a mask she’s fine to show but her inner “layer” of what makes her who she is (the ogre side) is something she is embarrassed about so she uses the fact that she’s a princess to save face. Both of them at the end are able to create a bond with each other that penetrates those layers to where they no longer have to “save face” and act like they used to with each other. The last thing I’m going to leave you with is this beautiful link to the one and only onion scene from the movie because no other explanation is better than from the ogre himself (cringe all you want). Until next time!

Ogres are like Onions scene

ACT 1- Introduction

BLOGGER: Welcome to my blog! I’m both excited and nervous to welcome you into my little journey in this film-based blog. At first glance you probably have very obvious questions that you’re bound to ask.

READER: What the hell is this? Why should I care? Who are you?

BLOGGER: As to what this blog is I have two answers for you, just stick with me. The first answer to what this blog is: it’s an assignment. I’m currently a senior in college and for my social media class we’re supposed to create a blog…I have no idea how to do that. From what I know about blogs (which is very little) I know a lot of people write lifestyle blogs where they talk about their life and get up close and personal about what’s going on in their lives. I am an insanely shy person so lifestyle blogs are my worst nightmare. I also know that a lot of people do blogs on a passion of theirs, some hobby that’s worth mentioning; a recent passion that I believe a lot of people enjoy talking about is movies so I figured why not? And thus the “Reel World” was born! But that’s not the only reason I want to write this blog.
The second answer to what this blog is: It’s an exploration. Think of when you first discovered an interest or weird hobby you had. You probably wanted to share it with all your friends! Your Google history filled with a bunch of random searches that look real questionable out of context. You try to find professionals who have said something on the subject. This blog is in a way, that same process. You get to ride along and (hopefully enjoy the exploration as you) read into my exploration of movies, the industry, what makes it all important, and more!

READER: But how does this apply at all to your class?

BLOGGER: Great anticipated question! That’s honestly the challenge of it all; having to put all parts of the exploration into the context of class discussions. You get to watch me jump through that hoop too! This week, besides being an introductory week, was also a lot of discussion on who we are online and how we use social media. So, these posts in a way tie in because as this goes on we both get to learn who I am through this blog.(Kind of a cheat with how simple that connects to my discussion but I’ll take it.) Until next time!