Call for Action: HBO

Dear executive officers,  Jeff Bewkes and Richard Plepler,

As a student of Human Development, I am committed to creating a world with positive outcomes for individuals and families. As a citizen, I choose to be engaged by taking action in pursuing changes in the multiple realms of influence. One such realm that affects a large amount of American people is the television industry. I would like to assist you in reevaluating your content by informing you how your current content negatively impacts our world and stifles the potential for beauty and creativity in our world.  

As a premium cable television network, you hold a substantial amount of power in dictating the quality and quantity of content that is provided to the general American audience.  Congratulations on being the oldest and longest paid TV service that has ran continuously since 1972. With such a feat, you have an immense opportunity to promote powerful messages that either negatively or positively influence the overall well-being of your viewers. Some of your shows like, Game of Thrones or The Deuce, although popular, reinforce harmful messages that normalize rape myths and sexual violence. Such sexual exploitation can create mental scripts that can influence an individual’s behaviors when placed in triggering, real-life situations.

Pornography, sexual slavery, and prostitution as shown by such TV shows,  are real-life harms that cause deep wounds that have long lasting effects. Showing graphic portrayals of sexual exploitation makes such acts seem less serious with less negative consequences. Additionally, the average consumer may unintentionally treat such real life matters as a form of entertainment--something from which they receive pleasure rather than disgust. In turn, false beliefs about victims of sexual violence are internalized by the general public, potentially minimizing the need for legal action to protect victims and seek out perpetrators.

Whether or not one is passively permitting or actively creating the objectification of another human being, all are responsible for the consequences of such choices. Often those consequences harm seemingly powerless, vulnerable populations, but the effect of such exploitation is in reality, far more expansive. By allowing for gratuitous, drawn out sexual scenes to be shown on your network, you are placing not only the fictional characters, that happen to be real humans with actual souls, in sexually objectifying contexts, but you are positioning your viewer as a voyeur of sexual assault.

Please stop producing that shows that normalize commercial sexual exploitation, eroticisizing sexual nudity and paid for nudity. Our world needs those in power, such as yourselves, to make informed decisions about the consequences of your choices. You can choose to be known as leaders of the media industry that create positive, healthy behaviors that allow for positive human development,  or you can choose to be known as promoters of the dehumanization that accompanies sexual violence for the sake of more green paper.

Thanks,

Karina Okoren

BYU Mens Choir

Well this week was so strange. Everything felt quite subdued and subtly sober. I walked into the tanner building around 4pm on Thursday and had headphones in. I was on my way to meet my friend to study but some external force influenced me to remove my headphones and be present. In the process, I was hit with a wall of power. The byu mens choir filled the staircase of the tanner buliding and were singing christmas hymns. I stopped in awe. It was like I couldnt move any further. The power of the music was so powerful. Wow. I felt grateful to be a part of our community and to be experiencing mortality and that I get to wake up each day, not knowing what new walls of power will hit me next, passing from one lane of media into the next.

Work Posting

This Saturday I worked a full day at my job and it felt like an abnormally looooong day. I work at an assisted living center as an activities assistant and oof it was just one of those days where no one was pleased and the schedule kept getting out of hand. I was the only one working this day and I felt so so tired and I couldn't handle hear any more residents critique what I was doing and my patience was growing thin. We had a christmas party and my boss asked me to where an elf costume which just felt like the cherry on top. I was the only one dressed as an elf and the only one really there to clean up and set up all the rest of the activities. Lets just say I didn't feel like the happy, christmas elf you would want at a christmas party. Anyways I ended up posting a picture of myself in the elf costume on social media and I realized in that moment how social media became a coping mechanism for me. When I was alone working, feeling like the only sane person, absolutely exhausted, I felt validated, understood and comforted by posting and feeling like other people also have long hard days at work and it is okay to laugh about it at the end of the day.

Tolstoy & The Coen Brothers

I just finished reading Tolstoy's, Anna Karenina, and took my midterm on it for my Russian Literature class and I have to say I really came to love Tolstoy. His writing is so beautiful. I was amazed by how many situations he would create just using character's dialogue but the themes that were addressed within each interaction were so powerful and universal! I loved it.
Anyways, I watched the movie, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and I felt like I was watching a piece of Tolstoy's literature in each short story. I know a lot of people that didn't enjoy it, but honestly I thought it was artistically brilliant intentionally created. I think because my mind has been conditioning the last few weeks to interpret themes and imagery through the lens of trying to interpret Tolstoy, I couldn't help but see a connection in the movie. I loved how the movie created such unique characters that caused me to question with whom to sympathize and where my moral expectations and when that happens. I loved it! As weird as it may sound, I would love to write an essay or something about the various themes of the short stories and how they were conveyed and connected to each other.

Usher

Well well this week I remembered how much I love Usher. My roommates and I hosted a game night at our house this weekend and we played catch phrase and the name, Usher, came up. It then led to me showing my friend multiple music videos that reminded me of being a teenager or bonding with my older siblings. I loved re-watching these videos but I was also reminded by how much my experience and attachment to music videos has evolved as media has evolved. I remember being in middle school and even high school and really loving music videos and knowing all of them because I used only Youtube as my means to play music. I now only know a select few music videos of some favorite artists of mine but for the most part I dont even think of music videos. I am curious where the future of music videos will go and if it is going anywhere right now...

Dance Ensemble

This weekend I got to perform in the Dance Ensemble concert on campus. I love how dancing is a unique form of media. It can be either fully experiential or simply visual. I love that for me as a dancer,  I get to use every thing I have: my mind, body, emotions, experiences, personality, etc. into every little movement or lack of movement in dancing. Performing will always be a highlight for me as I get to experience the unique power of connecting with strangers as I invite them into my expression of self through movement. It is a unique communicative method that for me is irreplaceable. I am grateful for dance and art because I get to create media that inspires both myself and hopefully others.

The West Wing

When it comes to TV shows, I am a bit of an 80 year old woman. I don't really have "my shows" nor do I get hooked very easily. I think just because currently I am very busy and don't have time, the idea of watching TV doesn't even cross my mind. Im grateful for this class though because I have to watch a TV show to code for our media project. While watching the West Wing this week, I have been so awakened to the gender discrepancy in women's roles versus men's in media. Although that is not a part of our group's study, I am consistently finding it to come up in what I code for and I think in the future, I want to be especially aware of it. I like coding while watching because I feel completely engaged and mentally, it is far more stimulating to be an active viewer and participant in media.

Anime. Who knew?

Miyazaki. Spirited Away. My first introduction to Myazaki films and I loved it. I have never been interested in anime but over the years I have consistently heard great things about these films. I have loved the music and been curious to see a movie. Finally I saw one! At first, I thought wow this is neat but I felt like the themes were so overtly deep that I was a little turned off. Buuuttt, as the plot unfolded ooof! I fell in love. I loved how the symbols and the imagery of the movie was so intentional. It felt like a really incredible novel put into 3D and I couldnt help myself. I wanted to keep watching more and more. I loved that the lead role was female and that there was such an emphasis on the power of humility, compassion and innocence. I loved it and I want to watch it again to keep picking up on new symbols and themes. So good. All should check it out.

Miss Representation

This week I saw the movie Miss Representation for the second time. This time around I was really hit by the reality of how much I personally feel a need to overcompensate as a female when in leadership positions. I realized that in unique cases of leadership, I dont trust I am enough, nor that my voice will be heard or that I have or deserve the right to take control merely because I am not a man. This has led me to really reconsider the engrained beliefs I have about gender and how much my gender is directly or indirectly a part of my social identity or personal understanding of self. I am grateful to be a woman and I feel empowered by the opportunity I have to learn and grow in the unique experiences that womanhood presents to me. I hope to intentionally confront my subconscious and untrue feelings of inferiority merely because I am woman. I want to focus on me as a human and believe that all facets of me, including my femaleness, contribute to the unique voice I have to offer in the world. 

Chick Flicks

I haven't watched a movie in so long, especially any type of chick flick. In the last week I have watched two chick flicks that I have never seen before: "Must Love Dogs" and "Two Weeks Notice".  While watching these two movies I was reminded how much power media has in influencing the way we view and understand romantic relationships. I was really disappointed in the female lead for "Must Love Dogs". I felt like her acting and character development or at least portrayal of it, felt shallow and underdeveloped. Especially as a counterpart to John Cusack, I felt like he was much more complex and rich of a character and she did not match him in that. I realized also how interesting it was to see what messages were sent about online dating through the movie. I think it is a tricky balance mentally to not immediately accept whatever messages are indirectly implied through the movies I watch. I want to be an active media consumer that is intentional about how I process and interpret what is being shown and more importantly what is not being directly shown.

Music Re-evaluation

This week I had an eye opening experience. I have spent so many years listening to and loving music. This week I felt an unusually stronger determination to stop listening to music that uses a large amount of profanities. I of course happened to find these two songs that have a really good groove to them, but they are quite crass. At first, I thought nothing of it and kept listening to them and enjoying them. Then one day, while thinking about the power of words and media and I started to feel unsettled about the songs. To be honest, I don't think I am at a point yet where I can say that I will totally abandon these songs all together but I am participating in the 10- day media fast. So these songs will have to go and this will be my experiment to see how my spirit and mental pathways or behaviors are affected as I try to filter out songs that use such harsh language. I am willing to give it a try and see. 

MOA Exhibit

This week I got to go see the art exhibit of Pulitzer Prize winning photographs in the basement of the MOA. Seriously, I wish the whole world could go see that exhibit. It was so touching and profound that connected my emotions to my own personal experiences while connecting me to tragic events I have never imagined experiencing. I honestly just wept while I walked through the stories and faces of each picture. It was stunning. Media can be so powerful in connecting people and documenting rare and fleeting moments of human life.

Live Art

This week I attended a dance concert to watch my friend perform. As a dancer myself, watching dance is a very interesting and regular form of my personal entertainment, but I have never quite viewed it as a form of entertainment. It is interesting to think about how dance uses the whole being of a person to create an experience, that visual, physical and often audible. It is definitely unique in the art form because you have to engage every part of your inner being and your outer being (your body) to participate. I think there is power in being the creator of media and the viewer and being able to understand both roles. I'd like to spend more time in my life welcoming in live forms of media.

Music Purge

I love music. It is a very powerful influence in my life and is a huge part of my identity. Since starting this class, I have become more aware of how much music I listen to on a regular basis. It is always on in my car, my headphones are always in whenever I am walking or studying, and my laptop plays music anytime I am home in my bedroom. It is a constant. I realized how I often isolate myself into my own world through my music. I am comfortable in my musical space and am alone and honestly, would rather be there than meeting more people or thinking about my schedule and other stresses that constantly ruminate in my mind. I desire to be more connected to God, myself and others and to listen and slow down. As a part of this, I am going to experiment never using headphones while walking in between classes on campus. I hope this will help me recognize the feelings, the smells, the sights, and experiences of my external world and those around me a bit more keenly. We shall see!

Return to Reading

Evgeny Onegin

This week I started to read literature again for the first time in a long time. In my Russian Literature class we began reading the Pushkin masterpiece, "Evgeny Onegin". I was reminded very quickly how enlightening reading can be to inspire change. As I read and try to understand characters, experiences, I inevitably start to rub the layered, complex smudges off my own mirror. The content of the first two chapters was positive as it sparked enlightenment. I believe it can have potential to be bad, if I get so wrapped up in the content that I use it as justification for egotistically building my own intellectual repertoire, or for the sake of isolating myself from the present and real characters, or situations at hand in my present life. I am excited to continue to read and better understand and analyze the effects of reading more literature on a consistent basis in my life.