M.I.A, Born Free from ROMAIN-GAVRAS on Vimeo.

There is a new controversial video out and it is M.I.A's new music video for Born Free. The video originally began its controversy when youtube decided to ban the video from being aired on their site. They claimed the graphic content was too mature and they would no longer be showing it. While the video is pretty hard to watch, there is a message she is trying to put out there with this video. While I have my own ideas, I will leave everyone to interpret their own as well because that is not the point of this blog. Youtube is known for being a site that is commonly used to share and watch videos. You can add your own or just watch the mass amount of pop culture that lives there. With the magnitude of graphic and adult content on the internet, when do we know someone has gone too far. I know I have seen video games with the same kind of content only way more bloodshed. Is there a difference between violence when it is an image of a real person or a digital image being portrayed. To me violence is violence and most video games that come out now make me sick to my stomach but some how it is okay for those to be available on youtube and not a video made with a purpose that goes beyond entertainment. I think or would at least hope that people would be aware that this is not actual footage since the murders appear very digitally enhanced but it still was enough to make youtube reconsider allowing this video to be aired on their website. So again I come back to my question of censorship. Where do we draw the line and when is enough actually too much? While the internet is accessible to anyone of any age as long as there is a warning label legally it is okay. So how come that kind of violence is inappropriate but shows like the secret life of the american teenager, which targets a young teen audience, allowed to always talk about sex. I would think that both contents are slightly inappropriate for that age group. The Born Free video however would not really appeal to that audience especially because she is not really known to them so really the only way most would even see the video is with all this commotion about it now. They are going to want to see what the big deal is and guess what it is still on the internet for anyone to see. So what is the harm in keeping it on youtube. Give it a mature rating and call it a day because the content is still out there and not just in this particular video. There are thousands of violent games and movies being watched every day but because this is more personal it suddenly becomes more offensive. Well to those I say this, if you don't like it, don't watch it!

Cagney and Lacey

The two clips shown in the course module for the week show the difference between the opening credits of the TV show Cagney and Lacey. I have never seen this show but from the opening clip I gather it is a show about two women cops portrayed as a comedy and a drama. After viewing both clips there is a huge difference between them and a slightly disturbing one at that. In the first clip, the original, it features the two women running around doing police duty. One would think that would be acceptable for a crime show but after viewing the second opening credit, it is obvious it is not. The second clip features a new actress and one of the previous actresses from the show and instead of running around doing police work, they are hanging out, window shopping, stopping by to kiss their boyfriend. The difference between the two shows that they producers or whoever was behind the change decided that the first opener was too masculine for the women. They looked tough and intimidating and that is not the right stereotype women should be portraying in the media apparently. Even if the show is about crime fighting women, they must be window shopping on their way to work and dressed very feminine as if someone might mistake them for a man or a homosexual. They even make a point in the second opener to have one of the women kiss her boyfriend as if they are trying to prove a point “hey, I’m a girl even though I am a cop.” Why does the media think they need to portray a women in that light to get the point across that she is a women. After all you would think it was pretty obvious. Television has gotten slightly better about addressing these issues now but is still hanging on to those stereotypes for dear life. They wanna give you a taste of something but god forbid they go all the way. This reminds me the of the Will and Grace episode where Jack is addicted to this show that features two gay men and he gets really excited when they get together because gay men will kiss on tv for the first time. In the end they do not end up kissing and Jack is furious with the network. While that may seem somewhat off point it seems that there is a line that has been constructed by media and instead of trying to blur it, advertisers and producers are acting like its the plague making sure to stay on the right side of it. They do not want to offend anyone but it seems that by doing so they have locked themselves in this stagnant bubble. Media will never progress if no one pushes it to and this is shown in Cagney and Lacey because they give you a taste of a women working in a “man’s job” but they make sure to make her feminine and inviting. I will give credit where credit is due and things have changed since then but they need to keep going because there are a lot of areas out there that are in the same position Cagney and Lacey was in back then.

The Nuclear Family

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDu5s309Ouw

As you can see I am a big fan of Modern Family considering both my blogs have been about this show. However, during the show I cannot help but notice how episodes relate to themes from class. The show as a whole represents the idea of the nuclear family while also opposing it. They provide three families and each of them have their own representations of what family is. Claire and Phil have a nuclear family while her brother Mitchell is with his partner Cameron. Their father used to have a typical nuclear family but than remarried a much younger woman Gloria. While it still would represent a nuclear family, it is slightly different from what we were brought up to think of as an ideal family situation. Often time marrying someone much younger than you can seem sleezy or not right, despite the reasons behind people will often judge. We are given this idea of what a family is suppose to look like or consist of and unless you grew up with a non-nuclear family, it can seem weird to find a family living any other way. Even though most people do not live in a nuclear family and life has provided a wide variety of situations, media does not portray it that way. It is fairy uncommon to see a show or movie not use a nuclear family and if it does not it is a drama or comedy about their personal situation. The days of Leave It To Beaver seem long ago but shows still seem to want to give you that family feel even if it is full of disfunction for effect. What is nice about Modern Family is that it gives you the nuclear family feel with their trials and tribulations but they also show two other types of families. A gay couple that represents and challenges stereotypes and a nuclear family with a Columbian flair. While they use comedy to show the variations families come in, it is still nice to see something other than a mother, father, and children. Families do come in all shapes and sizes and representing them in the media will help break this idea that the nuclear family is the standard family.

Modern Family

One of the more recent episodes of Modern Family featured an issue between Mitchell and his father. The problem began when his father did not acknowledge Cameron as his boyfriend but instead his friend. Mitchell, who is usually the more subtle of the pair, is offended that his father will not say this in front of his friends for fear of what they might think. He reminisces of when he came out of the closet to his dad in the first place and how hard it was when they stopped communicating because of it. This is one of the bigger points of the show because Cameron is always loud and proud but Mitchell is always concerned with others and how they are going to react. He tries to get Cameron to be less dramatic and often finds his antics embarrassing but now he is taking a stand and wants it to be known that they are a gay couple. Even though it did not bother Cameron, Mitchell felt it was something that needed to be said no matter who the audience was. Not only is this a big step for Mitchell but it also shows the strain that can be put on a relationship when two people find a lack of communication because an issue is too taboo or hard to accept. This scenario is probably a common situation for families that may not be against homosexuality but also find themselves without the capacity to be open to it in their personal lives. This was what happened between Mitchell and his father and fortunately now they are able to work on their relationship and acceptance but that is not always the case for everyone. I love Modern Family and that they can use humor to shed light on something that could be affecting their viewers.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/121405/modern-family-fifteen-percent