Fozz's Thoughts: April 2015

Sunday, 26 April 2015

How Pop Culture Can Influence Change

Rihanna has recently uploaded the video for her new song "American Oxygen" and has already received over 11 million views (https://youtu.be/Ao8cGLIMtvg). Partly because of Rihanna's dedicated following but also because of the actual content of the video which features an important message. The song initially emits vibes of patriotism however this is juxtaposed by some of the images in the video. National pride is strong when we see scenes reminiscent of Martin Luther King and American soldiers bravely fighting for their country...

However it takes a more critical route when we see more recent footage of Ferguson protests and signs with "I CAN'T BREATHE" sprawled across them in regards to Eric Garner's final words and an ironic link to Rihanna's lyrics of "Breathe in. Breathe out... American Oxygen". This message of the harsh reality of the American Dream is an important one and has had more exposure due to Rihanna's significant role in modern pop culture.

It also highlights how much of an impact celebrities can have in connection with social justice. These people are idolised and seen as role models by so many teenagers and so when a celebrity attracts attention towards an issue it can have vital effects. When Rihanna sings about racism on stage or when Emma Watson speaks about gender inequality at the UN or when Hozier voices his support of marriage equality, their fans take note and are ever more closer to adopting a more positive attitude towards activism. People have a tendency to twist the lives of celebrities and like to highlight their problematic behaviour but we should always commend the progression that will take place amongst young fans when they call out injustices.

Fozz.
P.S.- Due to revision and exams, I'm going to be on a hiatus so no posts for a while but hopefully will be back soon!

Saturday, 18 April 2015

Our Voices Matter

Politics isn't usually aimed at young people. Teenagers aren't really expected to have an opinion on new government policies. We're meant to leave that to the grown-ups. But actually a lot of younger people have become interested in the way our country is run due to all the coverage of the lead-up to the General Election.

Instead of the usual adult superiority that is commonly linked with politics- teenagers and young adults have started to use their voice a bit more and show their concern for who will be the next leaders of our country. This has become apparent through occurrences such as The Leader's Debate when an A-Level student posed the first question to begin the discussion and many more students shared their opinions on social media throughout the programme. Politicians have started taking note of this and have begun to approach issues concerning the future leading generation more so however there is still a way to go.

Young voters have never had much of a turn out at elections yet that seems to be changing as we can see on media outlets like Buzzfeed UK Politics and Free Speech on BBC3 which are aimed at the growing interest from younger audiences. We now want improvements for our education system, lower tuition fees, more available apprenticeships and more answers from leaders about how they're going to fix the mess that they've created for us.

There's actually a large number of young adults who don't vote as they don't see the point as some feel as though their vote doesn't have much of an impact. Others feel that the leaders are all the same and that our current political system is just too corrupt. However, this leads to current politicians ignoring the requests of younger people which means we at least need to be involved in the conversation, express our concerns and have our voices heard because our voices matter.

Fozz.
Recommended Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPgS7p40ERg (The Green Party Election Broadcast- recently became a viral hit)
http://www.buzzfeed.com/alanwhite/any-point-in-registering-to-vote

Friday, 10 April 2015

Update & Install: Representation Matters

When Apple users installed the new iOS update earlier this week, they were delighted to discover the emoji keyboard had been improved significantly. Emojis are weirdly a part of our daily lives in social media and are used mostly by younger people and have even become an aspect in our identity of being the modern generation. However, even with their vast use, there were still some key problems with the emoticons.

There was limited choice of alternate sexual orientations to heterosexual when selecting emojis of families and couples and-arguably more concerning- the majority of emojis were white. In fact the only other varieties of ethnicities were those conforming to a cultural stereotype such as an Indian man in a turban and Japanese ladies dressed in kimonos. Even though emojis do not seem like a major issue for social justice advocates to be passionate about, it is still absurd and important to notice that even though you could send a text filled with many different vegetables and clock faces, you didn't even have the option of sending a simple emoji of someone with dark skin.

This was highlighted to Apple and led to them making amendments to the keyboard. Now those with the update can select a larger range of families and couples as well as being able to choose a different skin tone for a significant amount of emojis.

Even though in the grand scheme of things this is a minute victory, it is still vital that we recognise that representation is starting to be addressed and that this could mean that if a small screen can improve representation, hopefully the big screen can too.

Fozz.

Friday, 3 April 2015

Agender's Agenda

I was thrilled when I learnt that Selfridges in Birmingham was opening up a pop-up department store called "Agender" which featured a collection of clothes designed with no specific gender being targeted and aiming to help everyone feel free to wear the attire they want with no judgement attached. From the moment we are born, we are already pushed to conform to social constructs by wearing certain types of clothes according to our sex. If you simply look at clothing aisles for young girls and boys, the boys' aisles will be flooded with blue materials plastered with 'manly' slogans and stereotypical masculine franchises however the girls' will be sickeningly pink with delicate flowers and the idea of subtlety and grace will be sowed into the hems of dresses. Even at such a young age kids are placed into moulds- trying to make their gender identity and appearance mutually exclusive.

Which is why the 'Agender' clothing has been so well-received. Breaking down these absurd boundaries is a progressive step for the fashion industry and hopefully shines a light to a future of less limitations on our clothing. But when I visited the store earlier this week, there was still room for improvement. Some people have critiqued the chrome colour scheme that the clothes follow however I find this understandable as the collection emits a sense of neutrality and juxtaposes the concept of blue= boy and pink= girls. My main issue nevertheless, was the fact that most of it still felt stereotypically masculine. The majority of mannequins I saw had the average male physique and there were hardly any skirts or dresses- to be honest I wouldn't find it strange if I saw the collection in a men's department of somewhere like Topman or Zara.

What does this mean then? I took it as further evidence of how people find it embarrassing or devaluing to look "feminine". When women casually wear baggy male shirts or adopt a subtle 'tom-boy' look, many say how attractive she looks but if a man is to wear a pink skirt or take on a more 'girly' style- he is either mocked/harassed or most of us just feel very uncomfortable. Even though 'Agender' is promoting a positive message and is trying to push our boundaries in fashion, I hope they go on to recognise how it is more respected to be 'masculine' than 'feminine' and challenge that idea so we can destroy even more constrictions we find in our wardrobes.