Monthly Archives: April 2011

Pretty Little Gossip Girl

A Gossip Girl Veronica Mars remix. What is it about the dead girl constantly influencing the story line? Though I guess the only difference here is the lack of “noir”. Similar to VMars, PLL doesn’t use flashbacks to advance plot moments, but uses what Gossip Girl thrives on: a faceless presence via technology.  As Stein states, “ we have Alison, similarly a sexually direct teenage girl, and a social power player when she was alive. Now dead, her digital extension “A” seemingly rules the characters from beyond the grave, through the millennial tools of social networking and mobile technology” Through text message, email and even age old note passing this “A” controls the social lives of these Pretty Little Liars, and nearly forces them to reconnect, which we see at the beginning of the episode, would not be the case without this mysterious “A”.  We have another “sheriff” like figure trying to dig into the lives of these young women, illustrating the male power versus female vulnerability aspect. But what I find most striking is Alison’s presence even in death; Stein states that her “digital manifestation is reinforced by her fluid and inexplicable power-through-knowledge; she seems to somehow see everything, know all” a fact that is astoundingly apparent at the end when all of their cell phones ring and we are surprised to find that it is Alison. But are we surprised? We’ve seen it before, and we know about social power, especially in this day and age. Facebook has us updated, and mini-fed at all times. Secrets are harder to keep, which we see is true in PLL.

As for Skins, we have a similar social routine via a cell phone early on. The whole ride to school this guy is on his cell phone running show. And the cheerleader is seemingly always connected at her cheer practice. They’re typical, right? Wrong. The cheerleader is not your typical cheerleader, infact she seems to hang with this  ” out cast-ish” group.  I guess I’m trying to understand this show in a revolutionary way, but I’m having a little bit of trouble: the show is jarring. Watching it was slightly overwhelming…and I’m not quite sure what to make of it. What are people looking for when they watch it? Representations of themselves? Or representations of what older generations perceive of millennials? For me it feels like the latter, and it makes me worry what older generations think of us. But perhaps that’s just the surface. Because the show actually addresses a lot of real issues, in the words of “Noggin”, it “ goes there”.  We see a more diverse cast, and it seems to include these diverse characters not just for their “aesthetic” appeal. We have the upper class social experience we see in Glee with the prep school, and then we have the public school experience where it seems the social hierarchies relay middle class experience. When they invade the party, the two societal spheres seem to collide, and it doesn’t end well. As if the divide created by generations before us still pervades, and while we attempt to intermingle, the hesitations still exist. Yet, the millennial teamwork still emerges in the end as this group of kids seem to work together, and rely on each other regardless of their issues.

 

Sunday

 

The English noun Sunday derived sometime before 1250 from sunedai, which itself developed from  Old English (before 700) Sunnandæg (literally meaning “sun’s day”. ( courtesty Wikipedia)

Not to be confused with Rebecca Black’s new hit single, Friday…Sunday is the day we all enjoy as the last moments of weekend freedom. I couldn’t help but mention Rebecca Black because I heard the song on THE RADIO, as in the song is no longer confined within the realm of Youtube. It has finally ruined the ears of many. I was pretty horrified. Yes, I know I should applaud a young artist getting herself out there. She has used Youtube to her advantage, and clearly made use of her parent’s checkbook in signing that random rapper on board. Yikes. Some of the people in her video have braces, and none of them have their licenses, yet they talk about going to parties that seemingly occur when you “get down on Friday”. Shes not someone I would pick to represent the millennial generation well, that’s for sure. Yet nonetheless, what she “sings” about still manages to resonate. It is particularly on days like Sunday, when you wish nothing more than the chance to go back to Friday and have the whole weekend ahead of you like an open canvas.  Because for now you have a whole week ahead of you, and a whole bunch of last weeks work that you told yourself you were going to do “over the weekend”, as if time management existed within that continuum. So here I write on Sunday, but this one has a bit of special meaning to it. It’s one that many people have actually been looking forward to, especially if you’ve given up something in light of Lent. People are actually walking around in their Sunday best and we wonder why it doesn’t happen more often. Today some opened Easter baskets filled with Cadberry Eggs or Peeps, or went to church with friends. It was a nice break from the usual Sunday routine, though regrettably the holiday didn’t promise better weather. Regardless, spirits seemed lifted today despite all of the confusing weather patterns and workloads.

Millennial Musical

As the title of this week is Millennial genre’s: Musicals. I can’t help but wonder…where did this phenomenon come from?

Maybe it started somewhere between the popularity American Idol and the reality musical, or perhaps “ you’ve got the music in me” from High School Musical. Both use music to touch the hearts and maybe even minds of viewers, but with the knowledge that it is the MILENNIAL generation that is watching. Music has become an integral part of TV we watch, when it isn’t there we wonder what’s wrong. If I had seen The OC without its iconic opening song, I don’t think it would’ve caught on. It’s a bit of nostalgia infact hearing “ California, here we come.”  In fact, I think some people may even argue they live their lives to a daily soundtrack. And I’m not even kidding. With iPods and iPhones you not only have your phone with text messaging capabilities, but YOUR MUSIC as well. The age of the CD player is over and the age of digital music have taken over. Imagine what the Von Trapp family could’ve done with that as they sang across Europe in The Sound of Music. My millennial imagination runs wild…

So about Glee: a new kind of musical experience. I admit, it took me a while to catch onto the whole Glee phenomenon. Why? Because it felt too clichéd and I associated it with High School Musical too much. But then I realized it was not created by Disney, and therefore wouldn’t take a similar path. And eventually someone convinced me that I actually am one of those people who frequently bursts into song and therefore needs to watch the show. I tried it, and after a few episodes and a lot of witty comments from Jane Lynch I was sold. Yes, the singing is quite good, but I think the satire is better, the wit is the real driving force. Maybe I’m completely reading the show wrong, but it seems to pose a self awareness at some of its seeming “after school special” messages or politics. It is this exaggeration on addressing issues that I think has the greatest effect. We stop and think, why are we beaten over the head with this? Perhaps there is something inherently true. It overtly plays to the stereotypes: the popular jocks versus the losers in glee club. As is expressed clearly in the Pilot episode.  As in the Hildebrand essay, and I certainly agree Glee “[operates] outside the conventions of realist plausibility, but it nonetheless makes attempts at social relevance”.  We know that the situations aren’t really that black and white. But boy don’t we want them to be, which is why Glee tries to push for representational equality. In episode 4, Kurt, the clearly identified gay character tries out and makes the football team, the cheerleader gets pregnant, and one of the ethnic members of the Glee club gets a better part than the white girl. OMG look at all of this social progress! Even the latest episode that just aired last night (the 19th), acknowledges the fact that Mercedes is a talented enough singer, but just doesn’t get the stardom she deserves. As if the episode poses an awareness of its own faults. But sadly we learn, its only one episode and after 40 minutes of enduring this challenging of norms, they will go back to normal. For as Doty states, “the first season because it trafficked in the worst kind of United Colors of Benetton liberalism. Kurt, Mercedes, and Artie were consistently used to create a colorfully diverse narrative and musical background for the straight, white, able-bodied characters. Sure, they occasionally got a “big scene” or a solo, but these stood out because of their scarcity”. The Original Song episode shows us that only the white characters get the real spotlight, and their issues are the ones that matter and the ones that effect the other members of the Glee club. And thus, what we notice are the gaps that are left when those minority characters don’t return to stardom, because they were quite good at it. Glee is a strange breed: it presents popular culture, gives us music to sing to, provides witty bits, presents us with a more diverse cast only to put them in the back row immediately. And what we find is we like when ALL voices are heard. That is a more millennial harmony we recognize.

 

 

FOMO

slang

Fear Of Missing Out”

Finally: millennial slang. A nice little acronym to go with our fast paced lifestyles. Why the need to say all four words when you only need four letters to symbolize it? Well, somebody thought of that, and created fomo.  I’ve only heard it used a few times recently, though I know its existed for awhile, and it seemed very relevant to our millennial theme. Symposium weekend, no classes on Friday…but oh so many activities! We want to relish the joys of spring, but we also need to get our mountains of work done. And therein lies the fomo. Especially as Midd kids, we hate missing out on something fun, something interesting etc. Do you go to the nailbiting lacrosse game, or the exciting lecture about Howl? Because unfortunately, we haven’t been able to time travel yet and our active lifestyles just won’t sit idly by. On another millennial note, I think facebook or twitter adds to the fomo phenomenon, especially where smartphones are concerned. We’re always socially connected, checking status updates, mini feeds, new albums etc. because we’re afraid were going to miss out on something. Is that a bad thing? I don’t think so, but I think we’ve redefined what it means to be connected, and since everyone is seemingly “always connected”, the fear of missing out has elevated. You don’t want to be the odd man/woman out.


Millennials Include Noir

How do millennials deal with a genre shift? In particular, a shift to noir? We often see noir explicitly portrayed as timeless. I’ve seen The Maltese Falcon , The Big Sleep the Godfather and  Chinatown and even more recent noir films such as Pulp Fiction and  Fight Club. Stylistically they do have differences but the darkness is always present, though it manifests itself differently. Yet what does noir mean to millennials? I remember an episode of Smallville titled “Noir” that plays to the older stereotypes that emerged when noir did WWII era. The whole episode was shot in black and white, and really plays on the typical crime/thriller but it doesn’t use the style to touch on underlying issues. It’s the stereotypical nature of that episode that bothers me, because noir has a lot to offer as a genre.  As Professor Stein states, “noir offers a generic discourse rife enough with its own complexities to encompass the perceived contradictions of the millennial generation” In Veronica Mars and even Gossip Girl, they incorporate from the genre of noir to provide a rich millennial representation complete with a twist. As Braithewaite introduces, both programs offer the story of crime, and the story of investigation. Though Veronica Mars is more explicit, and perhaps even more aware of its relevancy in the noir genre. The overarching theme of Veronica Mars incorporates a toned down version of “dark brooding doom”, as far as the brutal murder of Lilly and the rape of Veronica, but it also appeals to the duality of mystery and romance aspects of noir.  The noir I find most apparent are the frequent flashbacks, both in Veronica Mars, and in Gossip Girl ( especially where Chuck Bass was concerned in the particular episode with the night he doesn’t remember). But Veronica is always interacting with flashbacks to both help us and herself piece together the overall crimes, the murder and rape. And ultimately the “outsider” aspect Veronica assumes, and seems to pride herself on. As her, and her father take on the role of private eye, always digging into everyone’s business, they are always isolating themselves from their Neptune society. But perhaps the millennial in me likes the tone of the series best: skeptical. And this is the fusion I see of millennial personality and the genre of noir. Nothing is taken to its full value, and nearly everything is questioned. Sure millennials can be bought by advertisers, but its with a grain of salt. Veronica’s voiceovers and even her own personality always cast a tone of pessimism on each scene.  Duncan’s father also says of Duncan, “ I’m so tired of your cynicism”. Yet, Duncan is just being skeptical. Though his skepticism isn’t quite like Veronica’s. As she accuses him as someone who ” stands idly by”, and not someone who takes action like her. She questions and everything while she takes action, a kind of protection and distancing  she uses to deal with the murder and the rape, themes and emotions you can even see in a character like Philip Marlowe from the Big Sleep.  Thus, while “noir” evokes a pastime, it is very present in its effective incorporation in millennial television.

As a side note… the cellphone references in Gossip Girl are very femme fetale of Blair and friends and their reaction is completely millennial. They are socially empowered with the cellphones, while at the same time trapped within their Upper East Side Culture. As for their reaction to the momentary loss of cellphones: it’s sad..we simply cannot function without them. We must always be connected to our social contacts, without them we feel like we’re missing out on something big,

 

Procrastination

verb
  to put off or defer (an action) until a later time; delay

Ah, a familiar term. We’re all well conditioned when it comes to procrastination. Is it a millennial thing? Is it a Middlebury thing? Probably not, but we have definitely found many creative ways to procrastinate. And springtime doesn’t help matters either. With this newfound sunshine, a phenomenon we really haven’t seen for months, being outside AWAY from homework is exactly where we want to be. And a weekend full of sunshine is the ultimate procrastination tool. So if you’re like me, and are just realizing the boatload of work you have to do and feel slightly nauseous as a result, never fear. Procrastinate more! Even as you look longingly at the window at from your carrel in the library there are plenty more options to defer from your studies. For example, the iphone and blackberry provide many facets of entertainment( see apps for more details).There’s also unlimited options when you have your laptop open in front of you. Wikipedia? Google? Youtube? Even catching up on TV shows online; the world of daydreaming is at your fingertips. Let’s not forget about Zuckerburg’s procrastination destination, oops I mean social networking site,Facebook. Endless browsing of pictures, mini feeds and of course facebook chat provide hours of entertainment. And yes, I mean hours. Think of how much more work we would get done if Facebook didn’t exist? But then life would be boring, and you couldn’t creep on pictures of people you may or may not know. Regardless which method you choose to put off your real life, its pretty much inevitable.

 

Vampires are… sexy?

I’m new to this whole Twilight phenomenon. I guess I’m just to connected to Harry Potter to venture out into another series. Plus, the idea of vampires as a central feature of the series just never seemed to draw me in. In all honesty, what is the appeal of vampires? As a film student, the kind of vampires I know are the ones that have been portrayed over the years as old and dead and grotesque. I think of Bela Lugosi and Lon Cheney Junior . I think of Halloween and horror. But I never think of attraction. But Twilight seems to have changed that, and has introduced a new face to vampires and “supernatural” beings alike. Stephanie Meyer has crafted a beautiful aesthetic about them, and then the film adaptations have reinforced the attraction. Meyer updated her vampires and gave them beauty, strength and superspeed and mindreading. As if challenging our millennial knowledge and evoking our accepting nature. Twilight fans have done that with no questions asked. Vampires are attractive I guess?

There are subtle millennial themes that we’ve seen running threads through other millennial stories. The most prominent aspect is Bella’s family dynamic: the mother and father are divorced, as if to embody the “ new kind of family”. The effects of divorce are common among our generation whether we like it or not. Bella’s dynamic with her mom evokes the equality that Gilmore Girls evokes, and the awkward air with her father just seems natural with the distance that was created in the past. They awkwardly skirt around the issue of boys, but he encourages her to go out and do her own thing. Very different from the controlling father in the Secret Life of the American Teen. The mom askes over the phone “ are you being safe?” Do we take it as a joke? I understand how many people can connect with Bella’s life in this way. Another millennial aspect is the amount Bella is plugged into her ipod. Or the fact that Edward looks 17 though is 104 and seems to get along with the millennial technology very well, as expressed in the giant flatscreen in his room.

The Cullen family of vampires serves as the beautiful and rich in Forks- those are the people that are wondered about and dreamed about, and they become Bella’s obsession. The film draws out this political divide within the town more than the book does, But why use vampires to create this separation of us and them? What is Meyer trying to evoke? Because for me there is a legacy of horror that comes with vampire/werewolf territory and romance never seems to work. But perhaps, she means to take a new spin on age-old romance. The kind of romance Ovid and even Shakespeare evoked when they wrote the romance of Pyramus and Thisbe, the two lovers destined to be together but always banned because of social restrictions. Vampires add to this social distinction, and they polarize where Bella is concerned. She’s the new, and seemingly very plain and far from stunning girl. As a millennial it feels like a typical teen romance script. Except when he starts stalking her and creeping into her room while shes sleeping. Why isn’t that seen as creepy? Especially when he says shes is his own brand of heroin. Yikes! If Bella stalked him or said that it would seem outrageous. In a sense it seems a double standard among the gender roles emerges within the Twilight narrative. Bella is always a damsel in distress, and always needs to be saved by Edward. In the book Bella describes her physical appearance with resentment, wheras Edward is a god. Her self esteem is dangerously low. Edward doesn’t age, but remains attractive his entire life. He is merely flawless. Even when he steps into the sunlight her sparkles “like diamonds”, and she says “ you’re beautiful”. She refuses to believe he is a killer, as if the diamonds blind her. And when Edward repeatedly saves Bella, it seems to reinforce this double standard. When he confesses to her that he can read minds but not hers she immediately thinks something is wrong with her. The scene at the end with prom is another imbalances while she has a broken leg and just looks awkward, and  Edward just looks perfect. She is fixated, and obsessed. Her fear is losing him. As in the Toscana essay, Edward regulates not only her sexuality, but everything about her. She is “unconditionally in love with him”. She surrenders to nearly everything he says. When they have their first kiss he tells her to stay very still as he kisses her. She tries to push it further and he says “stop”. As if its only on his terms. As McGeough states, Bella’s “adolescent body loses control both physically and rationally “. When Bella is bitten, she doesn’t even have the choice if she wants to become a vampire or not ( yet). Edward makes the choice for her. He controls her pain and he takes it away. She doesn’t remember things that happen to her body, they just happen.

As a female viewer, I am kind of horrified at her behavior. She is not the kind of independent role model young girls should strive to be. Yes as the Toscana essay poses, free will is present all over the place, but the only thing she chooses is Edward. When she tells him she can’t dance and feels very self-conscious he says, “well I can make you”. Elements of the McGeough essay certainly emerge if you view it in Bella’s favor. You can understand the negativity to which McGeough holds to Twilight. Yet in opposition to McGeough, Bella’s behavior actually objectifies the men in the series, not the other way around. Bella introduces a kind of obession that seems to explain “rabid fan” behavior. For example: the hype of Edward and Jacob. They’re completely objectified sexually both by the students of the town of Forks, Bella and of viewers alike. The whole Team Edward versus team Jacob is a complete objectification of the males in the series as the fans participate with the Twilight fandom focus specifically on gender values. They vote on who they think is “hotter”, and even make T-Shirts and ad campaigns for the cause. Because the two males are in competition for Bella’s love. But why the need when it’s Meyer who decides the plot? What is it about these characters that drives such a sentiment? Sex appeal is huge, and their characters serve as an idealized romantic figure. They’re attractive AND they do the right thing. Viewers use these figures to engage a hypothetical “relationship”, as if putting themselves in Bella’s place; in this way Twilight is able to join love and sex without being explicit.

On another note, perhaps the English major in me found something very overtly sexual about the biting scene at the end? Senses are “sensual” no matter what you do with them. Taste is not excluded from that list and is central to vampire culture. From this view, Twilight suppresses the actual act of sex, and leaves the senses to imply sexuality.

Resplendence

— adj
having a brilliant or splendid appearance

This one is rather self explanatory. Here we are back on campus after tropical travels and worldly getaways. The week behind us seems like a whirlwind as I myself was on a beach in the Dominican and then 12 hours later driving through a snowstorm in New Hampshire. The funny part about it, as a Millennial, I noticed without cell service down there…I didn’t really mind. It was a nice break from technology. Yet as soon as I landed I looked around me and there we all were with smartphones in hand, and dying to reconnect. Oh well. It was a nice vacation. But as the sun is shining and the snow is seemingly melted, Middlebury doesn’t look half bad. In fact, we wonder why we were so reluctant to leave. Well that is if you don’t count the hundreds of pages of reading or whatever, but everyone carries a certain radiance about them. you can’t help but wonder is it simply their carribbean tan? Or the vivacity of the spring? Either way, it is with the greatest hope that everyone, tanned or not, is healthy and well rested and ready for spring semester to really commence.