The 2008 election is coming up and the candidates are campaigning like crazy. In the past couple of decades, the lowest voter turnout was in the 18-25 category. A campaign known as Rock the Vote tries to get the youth of America to go out and vote so they can be heard by their fellow candidates. Rock the Vote is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1990. Celebrities like Brittany Murphy and bands like Against Me!, All Time Low, and The Donnas get involved and try to persuade and get kids to go out and register to vote. They feel that if we really wanted to make or see a change in the future, we really need to go out and do something about it. They encourage young adults to think about the issues affecting us, for example, the War in Iraq. In the past election in 2004, the voter turnout for 18-25 year olds was at 47% which is a greater increase from the voter turnout in 2000 which was 37%. Still, the 18-25 age range had always ended up having the lowest number of votes compared to the 55-74 year olds who had the highest voter turnout at 73%.
Why do you think that is? What's the reason or explanation behind the youth of America having the lowest voter turnout? Are we just too busy or are we making excuses? Do the celebrity endorsements work and persuade the youth to vote? Will it increase the voter turnout in the 2008 election significantly? Will the youth vote ever reach as high as the older vote? If you do vote, why? If you don’t vote, why not?
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Fashion Photo Gone Wrong? Stereotypes in the Media
In this day and age, many of us are trying to break and banish stereotypes but for some reason we can't seem to escape them. Stereotypes are portrayed all over the media whether they are positive or negative or even unintentional. Someone out there is bound to point a finger at an image that means no harm. Now, is this the case for the April 2008 cover of Vogue?
An article from USA Today covers the controversey behind the Vogue cover. This cover, shot by photographer Annie Leibovitz (warning: may contain nudity), stars basketball star LeBron James and Victoria's Secret model Gisele Bundchen. It shows LeBron in an aggressive gorilla-like pose which some find racially stereotypical because, Tamara Walker states, "it conjurs up the idea of a dangerous black man." Supposedly, this isn't the first time that a magazine cover has invoked ideas of racial stereotypes. Former NBA star Charles Barkley, on a cover of Sports Illustrated, was shown breaking out of shackles (the image is small but you get the idea). An assistant professor at University of Maryland, Damian Thomas said these aggressive images of black male athletes "reinforce the criminalization of black men."
The cover of Vogue was supposed to show LeBron James and Gisele Bundchen doing what they do best, with Gisele posing pretty and LeBron with his game face on. Some say that, that is all the photo is depicting but many think otherwise. Cover photos are not something that magazines breeze through. They go through a process of elimination to choose the best out of the bunch to represent the entire issue. Walker said, that if more people of color had editorial authority at Vogue then someone would have caught the racial overtone in the photo before it was chosen as the cover photo.
What do you all think about the Vogue cover controversy? Do you believe that the cover photo was intentionally set up to portray racial stereotypes or do you think that people are just over analyzing a harmless photograph? Also, what are your thoughts about the media's role in stereotyping?
An article from USA Today covers the controversey behind the Vogue cover. This cover, shot by photographer Annie Leibovitz (warning: may contain nudity), stars basketball star LeBron James and Victoria's Secret model Gisele Bundchen. It shows LeBron in an aggressive gorilla-like pose which some find racially stereotypical because, Tamara Walker states, "it conjurs up the idea of a dangerous black man." Supposedly, this isn't the first time that a magazine cover has invoked ideas of racial stereotypes. Former NBA star Charles Barkley, on a cover of Sports Illustrated, was shown breaking out of shackles (the image is small but you get the idea). An assistant professor at University of Maryland, Damian Thomas said these aggressive images of black male athletes "reinforce the criminalization of black men."
The cover of Vogue was supposed to show LeBron James and Gisele Bundchen doing what they do best, with Gisele posing pretty and LeBron with his game face on. Some say that, that is all the photo is depicting but many think otherwise. Cover photos are not something that magazines breeze through. They go through a process of elimination to choose the best out of the bunch to represent the entire issue. Walker said, that if more people of color had editorial authority at Vogue then someone would have caught the racial overtone in the photo before it was chosen as the cover photo.
What do you all think about the Vogue cover controversy? Do you believe that the cover photo was intentionally set up to portray racial stereotypes or do you think that people are just over analyzing a harmless photograph? Also, what are your thoughts about the media's role in stereotyping?
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