An actor’s job is to act. It’s an art. Art has and will always be political. From every deliberate, red brushstroke in paintings, rendering in photography, and distinct diction used to make memorable phrases plastered on posters, art has served as a reliable method of expression and a form of silent activism in politics today. Independent artists […]
Tag: Media
The Catch-22 of Latin Music’s Global Rise
What happens to the landscape of American entertainment when the superstar under the nation’s spotlight doesn’t perform in English? In front of nearly 129 million viewers, Bad Bunny delivered his 14-minute Super Bowl LX halftime performance almost exclusively in Spanish, transforming the most-watched spectacle in American culture into a stage for Latin identity. This moment […]
The End is Nigh (Again): How Media Alarmism Numbs Voters
On January 28, 2025, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists set the Doomsday Clock forward one second toward midnight, bringing the world 89 seconds to nuclear apocalypse. The idea of the apocalypse is nothing new, whether or not one has the misfortune of regular media notifications. In December 2012, half the world was convinced that the […]
Silencing the Messenger: The War on Truth and Free Press
Between 2006 and 2024, over 1,200 journalists were killed, with UNESCO reporting that 85% of these cases remain unresolved. Journalism, once hailed as a pillar of democracy, has now become a perilous profession. This culture of impunity reflects systemic failures at the national and international levels to protect journalists and hold perpetrators accountable. The result […]
Star Wars and Politicized Media: A New Hope or The Dark Side?
Star Wars is a simple story. Light Side vs Dark Side. Luke Skywalker vs the evil Empire. I mean, have you seen Darth Vader’s menacing look? However, while Star Wars seems superficially simple, there are complex political undercurrents. This politicization was not a major problem in 1977, but recent Star Wars projects face boycotts and […]
Media Bias Covering the Russian Invasion
As Ukrainians continue to be forced out of their homes, lose loved ones, and are scared for the future, countries around the world have rallied their support. Still, news of wars and refugees isn’t new, and when asked what makes this situation different, reporters have shamelessly stated that Ukraine is a “white” and “Christian” country. […]
Russian Media Experienced Unprecedented Crackdown Ahead of Parliamentary Elections
Over the past few months, many organisations in Russia have been faced with new pressures from the government which severely limit their ability to function. This came at a time when United Russia — the political party most loyal to Putin — sought to secure a majority in the Duma, the lower house of the […]
Something Wicked This Way Comes…And It’s Not Halloween
Warning: This article deals with sensitive issues, such as domestic violence and sexual assault. October: pumpkin spice lattes, sweater weather and spooky Halloween. For a day, or even days if you count “Halloweekend,” you can pretend to be someone or something else. You can escape your reality and dive head-first into a world of manufactured […]
Behind the Scenes of ‘Crazy Rich Asians’
Within its first 9 days of release, Crazy Rich Asians made $50 million dollars. Tickets sales were surging due to its diverse cast and plot. Critics, actors, movie buffs, and movie watchers all across the world were praising this movie for achieving not only success in the box office but also in representation. However, while […]
“Snowflake” and the Decline in Civil Discourse
“Snowflake.” A precursory Google search brings about an array of sources. YouTube recommends a video entitled, “SNOWFLAKE GETS OWNED BY MILITARY VET!” Breitbart offers an article entitled, “Triggered: Journalist Snowflakes Scared Trump Supporters Are ‘Turning on the Media.’” Most definitions for “snowflakes” revolve around the same general concept: a derogatory slang term that describes a […]
Social Media’s Not the Problem, We Are.
“If only those with opposing political views were able to engage in conversation, overall animosity would decrease.” While good-natured and opportunistic, evidence consistently proves this theory wrong. There is a growing body of research in America that seeks to understand political polarization. Unsurprisingly, digital forms of communication are unhelpful. Examples abound. My personal favorite is […]
Olympic Discrimination: Asian Americans and Media
Yellow Snow: Pyeongchang 2018 The color of sunshine on a warm day, the lemons in my backyard garden, the iridescent gleam of a gold Olympic medal, and also, the shade of my skin. As an Asian American myself, the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics marked a massive milestone for Asian American representation in the media, yet also […]
Wanted: Young, White, and Angry
My friend was killed by a neo-nazi. It’s a strange thing to type out, but it’s true. Even stranger, though, are the details: killed by a former classmate of ours. He picked my friend up in his car, drove to a local park, and then stabbed him. This is a boy who was once my […]
The United States… And Territories: America’s Paradise Lost
On October 13, one news headline stood out among the rest: “Trump says he spoke to U.S. Virgin Islands’ ‘president’ — which is him.” “Must’ve been a one-sided conversation,” one Twitter user noted. The Daily Show put out a video of Trump shaking hands with his “genetic replica.” This hilarity momentarily puts a spotlight on […]
The Fight Over the First
The Forgotten, but Increasingly Topical, Debate Over Hate Speech The factions which most oppose Trump, those which most vehemently reject his policy positions and executive orders may inadvertently be working to silence themselves. Outspoken populations championing the cause for regulated speech are unwittingly pushing for policy which could imbue Trump with one of the principal […]
Megaphone to the Bypassed Masses
This article is part of a series examining the anti-Milo Yiannopoulos protests and their aftermath — a campus event that has since pierced and provoked people nationwide — from various different perspectives. Several of these pieces include first person testimonies and narratives that illuminate facts of the protests not necessarily highlighted in mainstream media coverage. […]
The Ill-Named Item Number
Kareena Kapoor, a famous Bollywood actress, is seen in the still above performing the item number “Fevicol Se” in the film Dabangg 2. A colorful brothel. Scantily dressed women. Intoxicated men ogling prostitutes. These set the scene for one of the most popular item numbers in Bollywood, “Munni Badnaam Hui” from the 2010 movie Dabangg. […]
Nobels and Whistles in Beijing
Tu Youyou was labeled with “three noes”: no medical degree, no doctorate, and no work overseas. And yet, she became not only the first Chinese woman to win a Nobel Prize, but also the first Chinese citizen to earn a Nobel Prize in science. Tu was honored as one of 2015’s three Nobel laureates in […]
The Indonesia Experiment
Analyzing the tension between political popularity and economic growth in Indonesia. Indonesia, as some scholars such as Professor Steven Fish of UC Berkeley and Professor Danielle Lussier of Grinell College have said, should never have been a democracy. After the fall of the country’s dictator Suharto in 1998 following a severe economic crisis, Indonesia was the last […]
When News Speaks for the Party
“I don’t trust WeChat anymore,” a friend told me. “It’s terrifying.” She had recently updated the popular Chinese instant messaging app on her iPhone and was logged out because she forgot her password. WeChat instructed her to choose three friends for identity verification. It then sent texts to her friends, including me, with verification codes. […]
#OscarsSoWhite: The Call for Racial Diversity in Hollywood
Lack of racial diversity in Hollywood made headlines last year when the 2015 Academy Awards (AKA the Oscars) featured nominations for twenty white actors and zero minority actors in its acting categories. The outrage caught on social media fire with a blunt and catchy Twitter hashtag : #OscarsSoWhite. The #OscarsSoWhite people received backlash, too, mostly […]
The Gift That Keeps On Giving: Why Trump Fever Is Here to Stay
The man is all over national airwaves, newspapers, and internet memes. He is a presidential candidate, yes. But perhaps more than that, Donald Trump is a social phenomenon: a real-life hashtag, national trend, and constant re-tweet. Mr. Trump’s popularity has been repeatedly taken apart and examined under the social microscope. The conclusions are as varied […]
The Adverse Effects of the Western Fixation on India’s “Rape Problem”
In the past few years, India has been making international headlines not so much for its new Prime Minister or his new environmental and space programs, but for something a lot less bureaucratic — and a lot more threatening to its status as a developing nation to root for. The 2012 Delhi rape case, also […]
The Fall of John Kitzhaber
On February 18th, amid allegations that his wife was inappropriately paid by clean energy companies, Democratic Governor John Kitzhaber of Oregon resigned. The entire affair was a bizarre series of events which took down Oregon’s most experienced politician. At the inaugural address of his 4th term, Kitzhaber stated “[t]his will complete the arc of my […]
What’s Up Their Sleeves?
There was a recent New York article written by Vanessa Friedman discussing Michelle Obama’s fashion choices when she toured Asia to promote the “Let Girls Learn” education campaign. In the article, Friedman expresses her surprise that the First Lady chose to wear more traditionally feminine outfits such as a bright yellow patterned dress unlike the […]
“Under the Dome”
China’s internet censors strike again, and this time, the country’s already deteriorating environment becomes the victim of their restrictive policies. A newly released documentary, “Under the Dome,” instantly went viral on the internet as the most thorough investigation of China’s pollution problems. In its first week the documentary attracted more than twenty millions viewers and […]
Don’t Snooze, S-News!
While one might not see applications like Facebook, Twitter, or even Snapchat as anything more than entertainment, that perception is changing as more and more of these companies creatively combine knowledge of current events alongside the entertainment options they offer. Popular applications such as Facebook and Twitter incorporate news and current events headlines into their […]
A Story of Sisyphus – Islamophobia
The start of 2015 has been wrought with extremism: from the Charlie Hebdo attacks to an increasingly violent ISIS, Islam has began the year with an increasingly detrimental reputation for terrorism and chaos. However, in light of the recent tragedy in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where a Caucasian man murdered three Muslim university students, important questions […]
The Mis-Coverage of Chapel Hill
On the evening of Tuesday, February 10, three young Muslim students were fatally shot near the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Newlyweds Deah Barakat, 21, and Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, and Yusor’s sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Slaha, 19, were found dead in their apartment. Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, was arrested as a possible suspect […]
Jon Stewart: The End of an Era
Almost sixteen years ago, Jon Stewart replaced Craig Kilborn on The Daily Show, while Kilborn stole his way onto The Late Late Show. Yet that failure seems to have been his last, for there is no doubt that Jon Stewart is the founder of the late night fake news show genre, and that his show’s […]
Fighting Off the Bias
“Mo’ money, mo’ problems” is a refrain uttered by the hip-hop loving, Notorious B.I.G. obsessed 11-year old Eddie Huang, star of ABC’s new hit television show Fresh Off the Boat. There are two very interesting things about the previous sentence. The first is the phrase, “fresh off the boat.” The second is Eddie’s last name, […]
Racial Profiling and the Media
Recently, widespread attention has been devoted to instances of racial profiling, about the tragic lives of the victims of racial profiling, about how “wrong” racial profiling is, and about what we, as members of the community, should do to eliminate such activity. There’s just one problem, though. None of this incessant and often repetitive dialogue […]