Jayda Hill

When I think about a piece of media that reflects the social and cultural issues of the time it was released, I think of Donald Glover’s television show Atlanta. This show aired from 2016-2022 and followed a college dropout trying to navigate the music scene and manage his cousin in his rap career. It is a comedy drama that portrays the modern black experience through a surrealist lense, while tackling topics like poverty, racism, exploitation, gentrification, mental health and other social and economic issues. While it shows modern day struggles, it portrays many of them in a more dramatic, alternative or imaginative way, that makes the situation lighter or twists it, but still getting the point across. 

I was lucky enough to watch this show as it was coming out, so every episode and theme it showed was extremely relevant to modern culture, whether it be political issues, memes and viral videos or societal struggles that a marginalized group was facing at the time. One episode in particular stands out to be when discussing this topic, and it is one titled, “Three Slaps”. It is based on the tragic case of the Hart Family, where Sarah and Jennifer Hart drove their vehicle off of a cliff in California, resulting in the death of them and their six adopted black children. The episode was not subtle in the way that it referenced the family and the real events that took place, but in both versions, the solution to the fatal events will always be systematic change. In the retelling, fortunately the children were able to make it out and were given help, remaining safe and making their way back home, but the real tragedy was far different. The episode explores navigating the foster system and CPS as a black person, and dealing with unreliable, biased law enforcement. It shows the children struggling to be heard and not receiving the assistance and care they truly need because of the color of their skin and of their adopted parents as well. Keeping children safe and in a home where they will be properly taken care of, especially children of color, will always be a systematic issue, as they are looked over and unheard in serious situations. 

There have been countless other episodes where a modern systematic issue is right in front of our faces and is told in a way that is more imaginative and surreal, but is always reflecting past and current conditions. For example, in the episode, “The Old Man and the Tree” someone witnesses a quick mutual interaction between one of our main characters, Darius, and another party goer. He quickly makes up his mind that the extremely innocent conversation toward Darius was racist, and he eventually gets an entire group riled up about this abominable act that Darius had just been victim of, even though it was nothing but normal. Darius of course is puzzled and a little flustered by their reaction to this alleged “racist” statement and is constantly being told how he should feel aggrieved about it, and as the watcher we can see that the uproar is extremely performative, and is only there to make these people feel morally superior, and maybe they hope that Darius would choose them and give them that satisfaction of being upset and find comfort in them. One may even wonder if it is intentional, which brings us to the topic of performative activism and the danger of ignorance and apathy. In this day and age, more than ever before, with the increased yearning for validation from strangers, especially online, genuine activism is difficult to come by, as it was a few years ago as well and even longer before that. People who prefer the appearance of unyielding support over substance of the matter, who disrupt movements with ignorance, who have a superficial approach to issues that require education and complexity, are grueling to sniff out, and incredibly risky to have around, especially when the going gets tough. So although the interaction was extremely dramatized and a little silly, it is an issue that is relevant today in our society. 

References : When Activism Turns Performative – Old Gold & Black 

The System of Whiteness in Atlanta’s “Three Slaps”: Part I – Interminable Rambling 

I have a close friend that is a cis-straight man with two moms. As long as we have been friends, I have heard and seen many different assumptions be placed upon him or his relationship with his parents in real time. In real life, as well as in the media, men raised with two mothers often face the same stereotype, having people tell them that they’d “turn out gay”, or  pushing the idea that they won’t be able to be masculine without a father, as well as telling these boys that they will be undisciplined. The stereotypes are incredibly harmful and inaccurate because with most situations there is always context missing. No one except the parents and child know the depth of their relationship and how they function, and other circumstances matter as well, such as how and where they grew up, what their personality looks like, etc. Most stereotypes come from bias as well, and are forced upon groups and individuals without their permission, and it takes a community to undo it. This construction can be harmful because it reduces a group of people to false ideas and assumptions, and puts a target on their back. 

On the other hand, there are a plethora of positive stereotypes. It has been said that boys raised by women are more loving and compassionate, and emotionally intelligent. That they are more “sensitive” and are usually labeled as feminists. When it comes to this stereotype, it could benefit someone who is facing the brunt end of negative generalization by seeing positive examples of their situation in the media, or hearing about it from other people. When it comes to this generalization, there are a few specific examples from popular television shows that I enjoyed growing up. 

Zach Wahls, a Democratic member of the Iowa Senate, wrote a story about his upbringing with two mothers. I saw a clip of him speaking on The Ellen Show a few years ago, and if someone who had a negative idea about men with lesbian mothers and expected certain behavior or wanted to push their harmful stereotypes onto him, they could not. Just like any other person with loving parents, he was smart, well spoken, and emotionally intelligent. In his book, he spoke about how his mother’s sexuality had “zero effect on the content of his character”, and how supportive they were to him in his childhood and adulthood. It did however have an effect on his compassionate personality and the way he cares for others, as he has been a voice for marriage equality and other important social issues since 2011. In this clip he talks about his famous speech in Iowa defending same sex marriage. Zach Wahls Talks About His Inspiring Speech 

In the animated television series Clarence, there is a main character with two lesbian moms. He is gentle, kind, and a good friend, and when his mothers show up in the episodes that they are in, their sexuality is not made out to be a big deal. They are shown to be loving, supportive parents who raised a smart and likeable child. They are part of the community, friends with townspeople and even take Jeff and his friends on a roadtrip at one point. Jeff and his two moms add to the positive side of the generalization by the show portraying them just as normal as any other couple, with a completely normal family. 

There are many different conspiracies and controversial topics that keep our society constantly talking and questioning the world around us. One of the most famous, in my opinion, being the moon landing in 1969, is still widely discussed today. In a nutshell, there has been a debate lasting decades on whether the famous moon landing was staged, or truly happened. For one, I believe it is so interesting that a topic like this can be passed through the ears of different generations, and as it is debated, more information is always coming out, adding fuel to the controversial conversation. 

The moon landing took place in July of 1969. The United States was in a “Space Race” against the Soviet Union, working to see who could advance their technology the fastest and get a human being on the moon. President Kennedy had a goal to make that happen before 1970, and achieved it when Neil Armstrong became the first man to land on the moon during the Apollo 11 space mission launched by the United States. Due to the effects of the propaganda spread during the Vietnam War, and the Watergate scandal, which took place a few years after the moon landing, the public was full of distrust and questioned their government. 

Persuasion played a large role in how the public felt about the moon landing, fake or not. People exploited the feeling of mistrust of the United States government, using it to their advantage to push the idea that the moon landing was fake. There was a group formed in 1980 called, “The Flat Earth Society” that spread the idea that NASA fabricated and staged the moon landing. The moon landing was looked at as a way for the United States to win the Cold War, and this news was being spread by other conspiracy theorists, leading to public skepticism.  This propaganda led people to ignore the science behind certain things when it came to the moon landing, they looked at the way the flag stood and the different movements of the shadows in the video. Different forms of media came out, using classic propaganda tactics on their audience. By activating strong emotions from the watchers and listeners, it fueled the passion people had about the issue at hand. One of the best examples of this was from a 1977 firm called Capricorn One, where a news reporter finds out that a group of people faked their mission to land on the planet Mars. This scene below shows the fake Mars landing, and it is not subtle in the way that it references the moon landing and the controversy behind it. 

Capricorn One (1978) – Faked Mars Landing Scene (4/11) | Movieclips 

I believe that the issue is not resolved, but more people than before believe that the moon landing was in fact staged. Since 1969, there have been multiple different instances that have caused the public to continue to not trust the government. People’s sense of discernment has been heightened since learning about propaganda and how to become more aware of it. For example, in the 2000s there was misinformation and faulty intelligence when it came to the invasion of Iran in 2003. Today, the new information on election integrity and learning about surveillance and how the government keeps track of us and controls our thoughts and opinion switch propaganda lead to even more public skepticism. Long story short, people are questioning things now more than ever before. The moon landing conspiracy is still alive and well today, the link below talks about not only this but conspiracy theories in general, public opinion and generational patterns when it comes to conspiracy theory and propaganda. 

Conspiracy vs. Science: A Survey of U.S. Public Beliefs 

This was my media usage from a few days ago, I chose a weekday to do it and I am certain that a Saturday or Sunday would be more packed with media usage, especially in this cold weather where there is not much to do, whereas during the week I have school, work and other activities taking up my time. 

9:31 am – Gmail, Substack : I have been trying hard to break the habit of immediately checking my phone or at the least going on social media right when I wake up, so today I checked some emails that I got from people that I follow on Substack. I love getting that notification because it condenses everything that I love to read or keep up on in one place. I read a post by this blog that I follow called “Escaping Flatland” about political power and Robert Caro LBJ’s biography, as well as a piece about Marty Supreme and Timothee Chalamet’s run of success. I have found this to be a great way to keep up with recent events while also keeping me off of short form media like TikTok or Reels. I also feel that Substack is nice because on other social media platforms when I interact with certain posts, they feed me similar ones all over my timeline. But with Substack I am constantly shown a different array of posts and reads no matter what I click on throughout the day. 

3:15 pm – Tiktok : I was at work at this time, taking my first break. I do love to scroll on Tiktok during breaks, since I only have about 10 minutes. My Tiktok algorithm has been so different ever since a recent update that the app went through. I scrolled through a different array of videos, my for you page is mostly the news, fashion videos, or recommendations on things such as books, food, movies, TV shows, things like that. Since I am not on it as much, it’s less unique and curated. I noticed now as I have recently that the app is filled with ads and promoted content, and I find myself continuously hitting the not interested button but almost every other video is an ad and it is very upsetting. Lately, it seems that the app is completely different and it is making me want to spend even less time on there than I already do. 

4:30 pm : I spend most of my free time listening to music, and my go-to app has always been Spotify. I was shuffling through songs, and noticed that my app must have updated because there was a huge push for curated playlists made by AI. I am very against AI in general but especially when it comes to creativity. Discovering music, writing, making art, things like that, and after some deep diving I discovered that spotify will make you AI covers for playlists, come up with names or show you pop ups of prompts using AI. While listening to music, I was curious so I did end up checking out Spotify’s AI policy, since there seemed to be so much of it, and while there was AI usage when it comes to curating your taste and account, they had recently implemented rules that allow artists to remove music that uses AI versions of their voice, as well as Ai content labeling where they take away spam generated by AI to “promote transparency”. I thought this was intriguing because while they are using AI through most of the app, it seems to be regulated.

Spotify brings AI-powered Prompted Playlists to the US and Canada

4-7pm – Reading/Schoolwork : I try to read at least two books a month, and currently I am reading the book Severance by Ling Ma. Ironically enough, this book is very relevant to the material. It is a dystopian novel about capitalism and a woman navigating life in a pre and post apocalyptic world, it goes into talk about how humans function in end times, writing and freedom of the press, and how much of our lives are actually our own. I love it so much and it is easily becoming one of my favorites. 

7:48pm : Within the hour, I got about three notifications to update my phone. I actually have auto updates off, I once updated my phone and my pictures in Google Photos were not backed up, my phone shut off mid update and I lost a good chunk of my pictures. I have become a little paranoid since then, and because I kept getting notifications, I went into Google Photos and ended up checking all of my information to make sure everything was up to date. Everytime I have to check into a Google account, whether it be docs, photos, slides, or even my gmail, I realize how much trust that I am actually putting into it, and how terrifying it would be if any information was lost. Because of that, I am constantly checking up on my settings and backing up my information. 

9:54 pm – Instagram/Reels : I have some friends that I strictly only talk to on Instagram, and after I got onto the app tonight, I noticed a few of them joined Meta AI from my notifications bar. I always try to keep up on my privacy settings and protect my account because of Instagram’s recent collaboration with Meta AI. Reels used to be something that I never checked out because of how crazy the content was, just random videos that made my head hurt a little bit. But recently, it has turned out to be what I wish my TikTok for you page was and recently it has been showing me a lot of recent events, political things, protests and world news which I love because Tiktok and Twitter (X) seem to be censoring most of it. 

Nowadays, I find myself trying to consume more nonfiction media than fiction. It is hard to stay updated with everything going on in our world, but I feel like I have to in order to support the people around me and stay safe and aware. This specific day, I did not consume as much media as I usually do, but theme-wise I find myself checking news outlets and staying up to date, or doing the complete opposite and scrolling on reels or Tiktok (even though I try not to). When it comes to how I interact with media and if I am reconsidering how I do, ‘ately, I have noticed more of an increase in AI within a few of the normal apps that I use, or I am constantly hit with new terms and conditions agreement or private policy agreements. In the past, I have always just clicked and agreed without thought, but as of late, I have been more cautious. I have had the urge to just be done with an app when this happens, because if not there is a noticeable change in content, I am worried about privacy and my data, or the whole app is taken over by AI content or ads, which is scary. Tiktok is a huge example of this recently. I am reconsidering how I use my apps and media because I would like to be more safe online. 

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