Final Slides: Internet Study

Liz Taylor's Legacy

Liz Taylor has been immortalized as one of Hollywood's biggest stars. When I visited the Whitney Museum in New York over spring break,  I came across this painting and thought it was especially share-worthy when reading the caption, which details Liz Taylor's defiance of gender norms.

 

Along with the Artist's Card and Explanation:

You're a Joke, Mr. President

Comedy analysts have already begun to wonder how much longer Trump-Centric humor can last, before audiences tire of the densely saturated landscape of presidential jokes. It's hard to go to a stand up show without hearing at least one mention of President Tr*mp, if not many, many more. This week proved especially heavy in the amount of Trumpian-anchored content: Samantha Bee hosted her special 'Not the White House Correspondents' Dinner' which out-rated the actual White House Correspondents' Dinner.



The actual White-House sponsored event, which Donald Trump controversially decided not to attend, was hosted by Hasan Minhaj and also received critical acclaim. Each host didn't hold back in making jabs at the President and confronted him straight on.

Also in the past week, Comedy Central premiered the new late-night talk show THE PRESIDENT SHOW, which garnered more views than the President's actual inauguration, and features comedian Anthony Atamanuik in character as President Trump, hosting his own talk show.




Despite having built quite the reputation for responding to televised satirical content via twitter-rant, the President has yet to directly comment on either Correspondent Dinner or The President Show. God Bless.

Style, Selfies, & Sarah Paulson: #MetGala 2017

After Monday night's annual #MetGala, the internet took Twitter and other media outlets by storm, racing to define which celebrities had made the cut for the 2017 ~hot list~ and which ones...not so much.

Fans were particularly supportive of Rihanna and Zendaya's looks for the night (both pictured above) while other celebrities (*ahem* Katy Perry) did not fair as well.

 #sad

In addition to the array of couture ensembles, the notion of celebrities as spectacle was certainly on display. Despite the Met's fervent attempts to enforce a 'no-selfie' rule, Kylie Jenner charged right ahead, iPhone in hand, and was ready to capture a star-studded moment in the restroom. Kim, Kendall, Paris Jackson, P Diddy, Frank Ocean, and ASAP Rocky were only some of the Hollywood vetted subjects of the photo, which has now been compared to Ellen's 2014 Oscar Selfie.



But even after the parade of glamour and glitz, at the end of the day, we're lucky enough to have Sarah Paulson to remind us celebrities are usually just like anybody else. Even an Emmy Award Winner sometimes freak out when their idol enters the room.

Met Gala 2017: A Recap

I know nothing about fashion but somehow find myself every year looking into who wore what and what people are saying about it. Frank Ocean showed up this year? Good to know he’s alive--even though it looks like he just walked into H&M and grabbed what he could. Jaden Smith showed up literally hold his locks that he cut off? Typical Jasen stuff. Rihanna looked incredible as usual, also Zendaya? Just wow! Everyone really loves the Ryan Reynold x Blake Lively duo for some reason? The Migos were there looking dapper as hell. Also everyone loves making fun of The Weeknd and Selena Gomez as a couple for some reason? I don’t know really know what that’s about but I’m on board with it.

Honestly, I don’t fully understand what the Met Gala is but it's a perfect time for a bunch memes to circulate. Here’s one of my favorites:

Core Post #5: J Lo / Selena

The article on J Lo’s butt was a fascinating read for me. I have always viewed J Lo as the star who leeched off Selena’s dying star, since that role seemed to launch her into stardom. I have always viewed J Lo as more of a singer than an actress, probably because I have been exposed to her music more than her films. The article discusses how the Puerto Rican butt, specifically a large one, represents the excess of Latinx culture. J Lo’s butt therefore serves as an event, in which her body becomes representative of Latinx communities at large. This is important both because this reveals a lot about the consumption of the brown body, but also is interesting because it is important that this is not a black body. In general, J Lo capitalized on the fact that the media was fascinated with her behind. While this can be seen as self-exploitation, it seems to be more of a strategy based on knowledge of the consumption of her image. The article mentioned the rear as a site in which Latina women could reclaim their beauty, which also happens to co-exist with their exploitation. The dynamic between the two can be seen in Selena’s image. One interesting thing in the article was the mentioning of Selena’s obsession with her plastic surgeon who helped maintain her figure, since this is something I did not know about. This says something about the limited pathways in which brown bodies are launched into stardom. I can’t help but challenge how much progress has been made in this front. There still are only a handful of popular Latinx stars, one of them being Jennifer Lopez herself.  A hyper-focus on the physicality of brown bodies seems to hint that there value is not in their talent, their music, their acting, their products but rather just their body. This maintains power dynamics while simultaneously enjoying these bodies. 

Fyre Festival

Fyre festival was supposed to be an up and coming, massive, luxurious, music festival in the Bahamas. Tickets cost between $500 to $1,200 with an impressive artist line up including : Blink 182, Major Lazer, Disclosure, and many others. Many celebrities including multiple Victoria's Secret models, Kendall Jenner and Hailey Baldwin have promoted the festival on all forms of social media including instagram and twitter. Because of these celebrities influence and promoting skills, many people have bought tickets to the anticipated festival. However, the festival seems to be the exact opposite of what it promised. Most of the music acts have dropped out of the festival, the luxurious tents and canopies that were promised are actually left over disaster relief tents from USAid, and the gourmet meals turned out to be anything but. Interesting how much trust people put in celebrities who are paid to promote new events and products.

Here is an interesting article from one of the people who worked on the festival: http://nymag.com/thecut/2017/04/fyre-festival-exumas-bahamas-disaster.html

Roseanne is baaaack...

Maybe. It isn't officially official yet. But apparently ABC (the original's airers) and Netflix (pro poachers) are vying for a reboot of Roseanne, the 90s classic blue-collar sitcom.

I don't know if you guys remember this show as fondly as I do. It's kind of our Happy Days - the daughter, Darlene (Sarah Gilbert, so funny) was as close to the Fonzie of my childhood as anyone. The definition of unaffected cool, the non-traditional girl who still couples with a cute boyfriend in the program's course. Thinking back, characters like her, and Buttercup on Powerpuff Girls, and Daria of Daria all had the same anti-establishment, tough girl, gender ambiguous thing going on. That was a character type that I think really emerged in TV in the 90s, following Reagan and the reactionary culture of the 80s.

Watching clips of Darlene in her flannels... can I really say that type wasn't an influencer on me? That having the most popular sitcom in the country feature these outspoken, boyish, dgaf females didn't make me feel more comfortable going to school in boy's basketball shorts, rejecting anything pink - my 4th grade rebellion against the gender binary?

I hope this show comes back, and with John Goodman and Roseanne attached (and she herself, such a fascinating figure in gender politics, having been dealt so much derision and disrespect from men throughout her career), it'll no doubt be worth watching. But I think for me, it'll always live in the 90s/early 2000s, giving me (along with Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Full House) my weekly dose of American Family. I wasn't any blue collar Chicago kid, but I connected with this family, and so far as formative sitcoms go, I can appreciate it - plus Roseanne Barr is the homie.

Supplemental Post: The It Girl Cycle

While scrolling through my Apple Newsfeed, I came across an article on Anne Hathaway and her currently evolving star persona from "utterly-annoying" to put the articles words nicely, to "likable." I think it's a really fascinating look at a current star who's image has ebed and flowed for years now.

The article then breaks down the phases of the "it girl" using examples like Jennifer Lawrence and Taylor Swift, tying it strongly to sexism.

Article: http://www.vox.com/culture/2017/4/10/15179082/anne-hathaway-publicity-cycle-hathahaters-jennifer-lawrence-taylor-swift

The Met Gala is IMMINENT!

The first of May is the Met Gala – known by alternate name: The Oscars of Fashion. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala is themed every year to benefit the Met Costume Institute, and this year, the theme, or suggested dress code for the gala is “avant-garde.” Specifically, it is “Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between.”

Rei Kawakubo is a 74-year-old fashion designer who arrests the fashion world with designs that shock and vitalize. Big names like Lagerfeld and Marc Jacobs are huge fans of her line, Comme des Garcons, because of her breath of “newness,” never recycling her own designs, and prioritizing art over wearability. Kawakubo’s designs can be seen below:

Why is this important? Well, it’s super different from the past Met themes. The Hollywood Reporteris calling it “anti-glamour,” as Kawakubo’s designs have rarely touched red carpets, and at this year’s Met, they’ll be worn by many, many stars. They say it’ll be easy for icons like Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim K to adopt, but a little weird for more classically styled stars like Selena Gomez, Tom Brady, Gisele, the like.

Further, I think this year’s avant-garde theme is fitting with a lot of recent news on stars intersecting fashion.

A$AP Ferg, a rapper, recently partnered his streetwear brand, Traplord, with Uniform, a socially conscious and sustainable label produced in Africa, that gives a uniform to a child in Africa for every item sold.

Elle Magazine also just launched Elle Fashion Now, a new interactive platform that will spotlight emerging, new designers from around the globe. Viewers can vote for their favorite looks – a push for multiplatform engagement?

Finally, luxury brand Jimmy Choo just opened itself up to stockholders.

Commes des Garcons’s website wears only three words: “Wear Your Freedom.” I know Kawakubo has been around for 40+ years, and I know her prices ($240 for a fedora) are far from “common people,” but as the first designer to be featured at the Met since YSL in the 80s, there’s a huge distinction between the two brands. Does this mean luxury high fashion may be at the state of displacement by a more hybrid, offbeat aesthetic?