Rave Resistance

1. The goal of our project is to uncover just how raves have devolved as a site of resistance due to heteronormative culture and capitalism. This phenomenon has taken away opportunities for queer artists, resistance, and safe queer nightlife; in our video, we hope to reclaim our right to party.  

2. Throughout the entirety of the production process, the most important aspect of feedback was narrowing our subject down. Each step of the way, we had to cut significant amounts of fluff from our video. The most difficult aspect of this process was the creation of the video draft, it was simple to write a script and find media to incorporate; however, it was the hardest aspect of production due to the difficulty of coordinating all of our assigned works. 

3. The biggest challenge we faced was finding queer testimony regarding raves. Due to the underground nature of early, queer raves, many individuals did not want to out themselves as part of the scene; however, we were able to find an interview with one major early artist. 

Not Euphoria in Fantasy, but Queer in Reality

Released in 2019 by HBO, Euphoria (Season 1) has gained wide popularity with its presentation of Gen Z. What fascinates our group is how it tells queer stories and how it depicts queer people. We admit that Euphoria has made a breakthrough in presenting queer community, yet we also cannot ignore the potential problems it contains. Therefore, our group tries to "queer" Euphoria in terms of its characters' portrayal, acting, and audience reception, in order to deconstruct this show and provide some critical understandings.

At the very beginning, Selene from our group came up with the idea of analyzing Euphoria. And after several discussions, we decided to focus on its queer representations. We had many ideas when brainstorming the points that could be critiqued, but their connections were not logical and robust. Fortunately, we figured out the three main arguments we would like to discuss, and two proposals helped us clarify our minds. Later, when we showed our draft video to our roommates and friends, we found out that our pacing was too fast and some parts were hard to follow, which Mia also pointed out in the feedback. We soon re-recorded some unclear parts and adjusted the pacing. In addition, we also made some subtle changes and adjustments to make the video more fluent.

The first difficulty we faced was the collection of visual materials, especially the clips excerpted from Euphoria. Due to the copyright issue, we cannot too the clips directly from HBO, so we could only find them online. But clips online sometimes could not be the exact parts we expected to use, so finding and selecting appropriate materials took some extra effort. The second challenge would be the Language. Since we are not native speakers of English, some of our words and pronunciations can be problematic. Still, we tried our best to make the sentences logical enough and pronounce each word clearly and accurately.

--- Group 2: Selene, Miles, and Jess

Final Video Project Group 1 Leah, Haliey, Maya

Video:

1. The goal of our video project is to critique Netflix’s heteronormative media practices like queer baiting, casting straight actors, and using performative statements, to attract queer consumers to their product. We propose that alternatives to Netflix should be considered and guidelines that Netflix should adopt to end these harmful practices.

2. From every step of the process we tried to incorporate the feedback we received to improve the next iteration of the project. The proposal draft was probably the hardest part of the process, as it required more time to develop our thoughts while we settled on a topic and made connections to class readings and evidence from outside sources. We took the feedback from our proposal and integrated our sources and examples more closely with our argument in the scripting and final video that we produced. 

3. One challenge we faced was determining our topic because Netflix has such a wide array of subjects relating to queer media. We ended up honing in on our three main points because they seemed to fit the video essay format well and could be trimmed down. Another challenge we faced was video editing the script through the production period. We sought help from the Communications Department and tutorials on how to make transitions flow better in our final draft. 

Group Three- Cole, Trinh, Emi, and Aurora Final video project

Subaru listens to ‘Girl in Red’ 

Many people are aware of the running joke about how lesbians drive Subarus. The main goal of our video is to demonstrate how this joke came to be, and more importantly how it turned into a situation in which Subaru began latching onto the correlation between lesbians and Subarus and using this to their advantage while also being a breakthrough supporter in LGBT alliance. This discussion includes their released works, their messages, their services to the community, and more aspects of their identity as a company. 

From start to finish, we were always open to feedback provided in our process of creation. We heavily considered notes to improve our thesis, proposal, script, and final video. This included revisions to establish a clearer connection from our thesis to our main points, to concepts we learned in class, and to the application of these concepts to our example. In terms of our video draft, we engaged with the feedback provided by including more relevant clips and content from class to provide a more scholarly approach to this topic. This allowed our draft to have a better flow as well as line up with our thesis more effectively.

Our main challenge in pre-video production concerned gathering sources from Subaru’s early support of the LGBTQ+ community as well as more recent commercials of support. We had an abundance of information but the accompanying videos and sources require a deep search. During production, our main struggle was deciding who would say what, how it’d sound, and so on. We ultimately decided to have one voice because the accumulation of multiple made it sound choppy, messy, and group-slideshow-presentational-like. We were worried about how this would look on the receiving end as it might communicate that only one person did the work, but for the sake of quality, we agreed it was better this way. Regardless of who smoked, we all had a heavy contribution to this project. Trinh took care of the voice-over and illustrations provided, Emi took charge of compiling and editing the video, and Cole and Aurora took the main initiative in sourcing and providing information and clips for the video. Overall, we had fairly few challenges to face and unanimously agree that this video project and production went smoothly on all parts.

Vampires Are Gay and Always Have Been

The goal of our group’s video project is to bring awareness of the queer roots within the vampire realm of the horror genre. We chose to focus on the history of queerness in vampires because it highlights a specific example of how queer history is often overlooked, erased, and rewritten to appeal to the masses that are the heterosexual population. Our production process began with researching vampire media throughout the centuries and comparing it to more recent adaptations of the monsters. This information was gathered to support our thesis that gay vampires are not a new concept and that their queerness has existed since their creation, despite pop culture’s blatant ignorance in films like Twilight and Interview With a Vampire in 1994.

The video proposal we made was slightly vague but included snippets of examples that we later incorporated in our draft. We took the feedback that our thesis needed three distinguishable main points and reworked it to focus on classic vampire literature, older movie adaptations, and modern day takes on vampires to explore where the queerness has always been and where it has been erased. After the proposal we continued to finetune our research into our draft and work the feedback we got from our professor and peers into our script writing by creating a call to action in our conclusion as well as selecting specific media examples to incorporate into the video. Almost everything was set going into filming, but we shortened several lines and quotes in our script upon the suggestion of our professor. We filmed everything in one day through many takes and spent the next few weeks getting together to edit to create our final product.

Our biggest challenge overall was in the first stages of the production process as it took us a while to create a strong and specific thesis. We went back and forth many times on how to phrase it as we utilized the feedback we received. Because of this, the proposal and the draft took a lot of work, but everything was smooth sailing after that. We hope everyone enjoys our deep dive into the historical and modern queerness, or lack thereof, of vampires.

A Quick Glance at Dramatical Queer History in China

This is the most complicated but short video I have ever made since I met many challenges. The first challenge is the thesis statement which is very hard for me to cover my whole ideas. The second one was the video editing process. The editing tool made errors several times, which drove me crazy. The time-limited was also a big challenge for me to conquer since all the materials I found were helpful. I felt sad when I have to delete some of the content.

I have several versions of my queer video because I am unsatisfied with my voice-over. I have issues with my accent, rhythm, and captions because I only got 5 minutes to present my idea about queer history in China and why it is essential.

This video does not meet my expectations. I would narrow down my topics to the marriage issue next time if there's still a chance. But I am glad this video would bring a new sight of China for everyone to watch.

This video aims to advocate queer people united together no matter how tough right now and also erase the stereotype that China is always being a conservative country.

The U.S. is one of many countries that celebrate the Pride movement. China which has always been considered conservative also has similar queer activities. Thus, I hope that more and more people also believe that Yellow Lives Matter.

While more and more LGBTQ media content is being removed under the new political system in China or other countries, it does not matter since we can spread the information through word of mouth.

There were various dynasties in China, each reflecting a particular phase of Chinese features from thriving to declining. Poems, songs, and fiction books extoll the emotional connection between LGBTQ people and those prevalent in enlightened ancient Chinese cultures. This positive historical information is ignored and not covered in Chinese history books.

I chose this topic since I have learned a lot queer history in the U.S., and I wonder whether China has the same situation. Thus, I started my research after that.

I appreciate Professor Fischer encouraging me and helping me to improve this queer video. And my classmate Bryn helped me with the thesis statement part, and my friend Ruby helped me provide information related to Chinese LGBTQ TV series and ideas.

Please click CC for captions

Reminders for Final Video

Hi everyone,

For our final video presentations in class on Wed: please post your video (shareable URL) no later than 9pm today here on Tumblr (please submit the link on Canvas too) and include a brief post/cover letter that addresses:

1. Goal of your video

2. Reflection on production process: from proposal, draft, to final. How did you engage with feedback?

3. Any challenges you faced.

3pts of extra credit if you add captions to your video.

I look forward to our screening tomorrow - there will be donuts!

Behind the Umbrellas: Marginality as Joyful Resistance

Final Queer Video

When we first talked about the video project, I thought of Parasol Patrol, a non-profit founded by Eli Bazan and Pasha Ripley in 2019. I wanted to show how Parasol Patrol creates a queer space in the midst of a visual culture filled with hate and violence aimed at LGBTQ children. The Barker and Scheele (2016) graphic novel informed my goals.

1. I wanted to show one type of queer activism (p. 51). As queer people of color, Eli and Pasha are uniquely able to address the threats facing queer children, including queer children of color.

2. Barker and Scheele describe “how queer theory has engaged with popular culture…” (p. 6) and given the increasingly violent actions directed at trans people and at drag events, I wanted to show how a local organization could resist the hate targeting LGBTQ folx.

3. Barker and Scheele say, “Queer activism is a form of sexuality/gender activism that opposes assimilationist agendas of trying to show how ‘normal’ LG(BT) people are. Instead it celebrates difference and diversity…” (p. 15). Pasha often says, “We’re here because of the hate groups. We’re not here for them.” Parasol Patrol carves out a space in the midst of violent hate that doesn’t try to change LGBTQIA children—it celebrates them. I wanted to show this joy.

4. Most importantly, I wanted to make queer media about queer people. So I focused on how Parasol Patrol creates space for youth to grow into powerful adults. Parasol is really about queer elders modeling community care for queer youth. This is our genealogy and I want to document it.

5. As a secondary goal, I wanted to create something Parasol Patrol can potentially use in its marketing because yay capitalism and the Nonprofit Industrial Complex.

I had good access to Eli, Pasha, and the rest of the Parasol Patrol regulars. I’ve been a Patroller since their 3rd month, so I knew getting footage and photos wouldn’t be a problem. I also felt pretty sure I could show the change in atmosphere when participants move from the hate group side of the venue to the protected queer-friendly side behind the umbrellas. I questioned how much of the hate I should show, and I’m still not sure I balanced that right.

I had some other problems. I’ve never made a movie, so in terms of technology, I started at zero. Mia provided some helpful guidance, and the links on the module helped with editing. I also tend to be pretty wordy (ha!) so my first proposal was enormous. I needed to cut the scope down.

I had some tech issues, all user error, but I finally got a first rough draft posted. Moss watched it before I submitted it to Canvas. Their feedback basically boiled down to “what does Parasol Patrol even do?” but said in a very nice way. I reworked the intro, but after submitting the 2nd version, I still needed to clarify some things, rethink some quotes, and work on my ever-lagging tech skills (note to self: film in landscape next time). This is when I added voice over, bullying my husband into being the narrator. He agreed because he’s scared of me I think.

Unique helped me figure out how to script something that made sense without having to redo the whole video. She answered tech questions. She also gave me snacks and tea, both of which gave me enough energy to work on the video when the cold hit.

I sent the 3rd draft to Mia, she gave more feedback, and I changed roughly 1/3 of the video. I also added some different images about recent events.

While the assignment was for a 5 minute video, mine goes over that. The credits begin at 5 minutes 25 seconds, so that’s where the for-a-grade project ends. But. Because I wanted Parasol to be able to use the video, and because I adore the owner of Second Star to the Right Bookstore (she always gives us food when we patrol there), I added a Marvel-Studios style post credit clip. Honestly, in my eyes, Eli and Pasha and the rest of the patrollers are superheroes, and Dea has been a long-time knowledge-keeper and child-protector, so it seems very apropos.

Bryn

Question and Response

“This isn’t about getting the government to say we’re good. It’s about ending capitalism and white supremacy.” Dean Spade at 24:39 This quote forms the basis of my analysis of episode 6 and this week’s readings.

The article “Kids in South Dakota have spent most of their youth fighting anti-trans bills” by Kate Sosin debunks one of the myths about respectability politics: if we prove we’re just like them, if they just get to know us, they’ll let us into the club. When the “club” is built on white supremacy (which is straight supremacy), why would we want into the club? I think the article talks about this, too. It talks about the harm done when people in the “club” (politicians, doctors, soldiers, police) make decisions about us, they cause direct and lasting harm. One example of this is the anti-trans bill mentioned in the article that bans trans girls from sports. Even after spending 8 years lobbying his legislature, transgender teen activist Elliot James Vogue was unable to prevent his state Senator Wayne Steinhauer from signing the anti-trans bill. Another example is in the episode of “Pride” where Dean Spade is violently arrested by a police officer in the bathroom.

What type of activism works? Capitalism seems to be a way to influence some of South Dakota’s decisions, particularly large-scale boycotts of the state. But that’s extremely hard to promote. It’s also like sweeping the sea back with a broom—we might get some sort of concession, but it doesn’t seem to stop the tide.

Spade earned a degree to help him in his activism and has focused on bathroom accessibility. Yes, because bathrooms are about physical safety and about acceptance. But this goes back to the same discussion we’ve been having—acceptance is not enough, and, as Spade says, “It’s not enough to pass laws.”

Chase Strangio similarly argues that hate crimes laws “just puts more people in prison and it doesn’t actually deter violence.” (32:12) Dr. Lourdes Hunter concurs, saying that anti-hate laws don’t prevent violence against trans people. In fact, when trans women defend themselves (like CeCe McDonald did), the woman is the one who is charged. This is the intersection of color and gender. Black trans women are repeatedly punished just for being alive.

This, then, is my question:

How do we make large, systemic change when neoliberal capitalism has a way of bouncing back? If passing laws doesn’t work (including the Respect for Marriage Act likely to be passed soon), and boycotts are extremely difficult to manage long term, what do we do to end systems of oppression that consistently position the most harmed people at the bottom of the white patriarchal hierarchy?

Bryn Brody

Queer Activism II: Comment + DQ

Although queer movements have made significant progress in protecting and fighting for the rights and interests, trans people (or more specifically, Black trans people) are often excluded. The 2020 Brooklyn Liberation march shows that there is still work that needs to be done for the rights and interests of Black trans people, and such work is not easy. Previous fighters like Marsha P. Johnson had made an important contribution to this process and later generations have their legacy and are still working on this issue. There is a quote in the documentary that "because of you, I know that I exist." Fischer (2021) also argues that "the historic Brooklyn Liberation march highlights what intersectional and intergenerational community-building and collective advocacy can and must look like in order to make all Black lives—including Black trans lives—matter" (p. 116). The intersectional and collective community is bringing a new era for Black trans people. My DQ is what are the potential reasons behind the fact that black trans people were often excluded from the queer rights movement in history?

--- Miles

Comment on FX Pride-Jess

n the FX Pride episode is mainly about minorities groups within the LGBTQ+community, mainly referring black queer transgender people. There exist a divergence between white elite trans leader and radical black trans activists, and people would mostly take former one as representing all transgender people, leading to a consequence that black trans people are ignore. Spade (2019)’s article, Dean Spade argues that being radical is a legacy of stonewall riot, since stone wall riot itself was a radical activity with violence and fighting involved. It is not enough to just post selfies with rainbow or posting supportive slogan to help minorities trans community grow and fight, there should be more radical movement such as supporting trans prisoners. It is also mentioned in the episode that the legal system itself is homophobia and transphobia. Black transgender people receive heavy sexual harassment and criminal injustice, however seldom noticed or knew by people outside of their community. One example mentioned is CeCe McDonald, who defended herself in a hate crime, but was put in prison although she is self defending. She received a lot help that were racial and powerful.

Question: Since the legal system and law enforcement system are fundamentally homophobia, transphobia, and racist, it comes with more prosecution and injustice when these identities intersect. Although radical movements aiming to help transgender people in prison with injustice sentence are and powerful, there exist the possibilities that radical action might cause counter-consequence ( for example, a protester arrested in a radical protest). How to balances these possible consequence, and how can people protect themselves while remaining the radical statue facing the whole system?

"Black Trans Lives Matter"

The document shows the evolution of the efforts and commitments contributed by black trans folks and their allies in the past several decades, revealing the ever-critical, elevated, striking moment currently after the iteration of #BlackLivesMatter regarding the life of black trans folks. That is true, marriage equality and activism launched by the elite, cisgender, white gay and lesbian community is never enough for the overall well-being of the whole LGBTQ+ community. This community is a whole, even if one of them is being left, the activism should never be ended. We saw the death of Cece as an alarm.

In this sense, black trans folks, who are marginalized, neglected, and stigmatized both in the normative society and the queer community, are still suffering the trauma and attacks, because they are loaded with the intersection oppression of transphobic, homophobic, and racist. Where, they need more voice, opportunities, and media exposure to tell their stories and the institutional elevation, in the end, the shift of people's attitudes towards black trans. As Fischer (2021, p.116) concedes, "This requires not only legal and political action—for example, by working towards defunding the police and dismantling the prison-industrial-complex—but a larger cultural change in how society views and values trans life."

Question: How white cisgender allies of the queer community can use their privileges under white supremacy to empower black trans folks?

-Selene

Queer Activism Comment

The portion of the video where CeCe McDonald’s story was discussed reminded me greatly of Mia Fischer’s Making Black Trans Lives Matter. In her piece, Fischer discusses how transfeminine people, especially of color, are targeted because, “It is a vicious cycle. For people of color on the transfeminine spectrum it is particularly the confluence of racism and transmisogyny—the belief that trans women aren’t “real,” “authentic” women— that makes them the target of violence and discrimination” (Fischer, 2019, pg 111). This conjunction of racism and transmisogyny is exactly the reason why CeCe McDonald was subjected to violence and a subsequent arrest. The attackers were motivated by their racism and transphobia in attacking McDonald. The arresting police officers likely employed racist beliefs in wishing to target McDonald as a perpetrator of violence rather than acting in self-defense. Furthermore, transphobic beliefs that trans women are not real women certainly played a crucial role in her arrest. If police had arrested a cisgender woman acting in self-defense, there would be nationwide outrage; however, because McDonald is a trans woman, especially a black trans woman, much of the media chose to ignore the story or espouse narratives pushed by cops.

How can we shift public attitudes regarding racism and transphobia to better protect trans women of color? Is this even fully possible in a society that pushes white, cis, and straight as ideal? If not, how can we radically alter the structure of society to render it one that protects marginalized identities?

-Grant

The article Disability Justice/Stonewall’s Legacy shared many similarities with the documentary series FX Pride through relating to the lived experience of transgender folks and the shared setiment of advocating for the community through intersectional means. The author, Piepzna-Samarasinha shared their experience with being trans, “I also remember what it was like, back then, to be a queer femme in a community that scoffed at femme and was often deeply transmisogynist, where the AFAB queers my age all wore the same uniform of shaved head… but they weren’t butch or femme, they were just “radical queers” (p. 56) The documentary also shared a similar story with the activist Dean who remarked that they were inspired to become a transgender law activist because of the way trans people are viewed and targeted in mainstream society. Both pieces of media discuss that activism should be intersectional and that intersectionality should include black, brown, disabled, mental health, and the homeless. If activists do not advocate for everyone in society then there will always be someone left behind and threaten the rights of everyone. 

DQ: What does it mean to be intersectional in activism and what kinds of protests get media attention over others?

-Maya

FX Pride series & DQ

Seeing how Black Trans lives matter many people of color and how the law does not apply to them. Fighting for change and wanting their voices to be heard is important for them. If nowadays the media says they will help Trans voices how come they rarely talk in favor of them rather than against them.  In the series seeing a wave of people helping support Black Trans lives and how important it is, how many people had petitioned to Free CeCe from jail for her self-defense. The media not shedding light on the death of Black Trans Lives or talking about any good news about Transgender rights. With the effect of lawyers do not help trans people in any way many trans people went to law school to help many people who are trans.

In the Washington Post Article “Women of Color will be most impacted by the end of Roe v. Wade” Justice Clarence Thomas said “it was a tool of modern-day Eugenics” because high percentages of abortions were black. Why would Justice Clarence Thomas compare to that?  - Aurora

Comment on how the FX Pride episode relates to the article:

The FX episode focused on activism fighting for legal protections for trans people, and activism for trans black people specifically. The first part of the episode relates more to the Sosin article because it focused on battling the legal system directly. The quote: “I’m sure it’s easier for him to vote for such a transphobic bill when he doesn’t actually have to see a trans person from his district in person anymore” exemplifies the problem that occurs when we don’t fight for protections at every turn-and even when we do  (Sosin 2022). Anti-LGBTQ+ legislation passes especially when politicians don’t face the impact they have every day. This also relates to the second half of the episode which focuses on the Black Trans Lives Matter protests. The exclusive focus on justice for violence against cis- black men “render  invisible  another  crisis,  namely the violence directed at Black trans people, which often does not make headlines, nor prompt national conversations” (Fischer, 111, 2020). It is imperative not to ignore marginalized communities when fighting for justice because we cannot accept only  a partial solution to the systemic problems plaguing our country. 

2. Discussion Question:

How does disability, neurodivergence, race, class, gender, sexuality  etc, play into activism? What can be done to highlight the specific disadvantages (disadvantages caused by systemic bias towards certain traits/identities) these intersectional identities face and find solutions that work for everyone? 

~Nicko

In the article titled “Women of color will be most impacted by the end of Roe, experts say” it discusses how women of color, poor people, indigenous people, trans people, etc. will be the ones who suffer the most due to the overturning of Roe. Due to the lack of accessibility of safe abortions and contraceptives, these groups are put in dangerous situations if they were to become pregnant and needed an abortion. Similarly, in the FX Pride episode we watched, it talks about how black trans women are disproportionately affected by hate crime violence. Along with this, many times when it comes to legislation, both reproductive and LGBTQ+, it only focuses on how it might affect white, middle class people, while forgetting the poor, black and brown, indigenous, latino/a communities.

Question: In the article titled “Honor Our Stonewall Veterans by Being Your Most Queer Militant Self” it briefly mentions how people are more prone to show their support by voicing their opinions online or donating to non-profits rather than going out and protesting. Do you think protesting is more productive than donating/posting online? Are they equally as productive?

-Hailey