#ITS A STORY ABOUT HOW A DESIRE FOR HUMAN CONNECTION DRIVES THEM TO MEDIA ITS A STORY AB HOW THAT CAN MAKE THEM BAD PEOPLE ITS
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I FUCKING LOVE EVANGELION
#IT HAS IT ALL#ITS A STORY ABOUT VICE ITS A STORY ABOUT PERSERVERENCE ITS A STORY ABOUT LONELINESS ITS A STORY ABOUT PURPOSE#ITS A STORY ABOUT BEING A BAD PERSON ITS A STORY ABOUT DOING BETTER ITS A STORY ABOUT PEOPLE ITS A STORY AB MEDIA#ITS A STORY ABOUT HOW A DESIRE FOR HUMAN CONNECTION DRIVES THEM TO MEDIA ITS A STORY AB HOW THAT CAN MAKE THEM BAD PEOPLE ITS#im crazy im CRAZy im crazy
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Analytcal Application #5
Male gaze:
The concept of the "male gaze" was coined by feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey. It refers to the perspective in which visual media, particularly film, is often constructed from a heterosexual male point of view. This male gaze objectifies and sexualizes women, positioning them as passive objects for the pleasure and consumption of the male viewer. Rather than being depicted as fully realized human beings, women in media under the male gaze are reduced to their physical attributes and presented solely for the visual gratification of the presumed male spectator. In the case of this panel in Sandman (page 408), one of the female characters, Rose, appears mostly nude, falling from the sky, being covered by nothing but a cloth. Upon reading the panels and the surrounding storyline, there is no clear reason for this depiction of Rose and her fall from grace. This panel contributes to the male gaze through the objectification of Rose, and the sexualization of her body for aesthetic pleasure. In addition, there are many stills captured of her as she falls with no clear reason other than to emphasize her nudity in this scene. In the eyes of Mulvey, this depiction means “their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness,” (715) (1). Rose’s role in this panel is purely exhibitionary, and neither adds to her character development in the story nor gives her depth beyond a display captured in her multiple nude illustrations.
Scopophilia:
The concept of scopophilia refers to the pleasure and power dynamics inherent in the act of looking and being looked at, often associated with voyeurism in visual media.
This term encompasses both the desire to view others, as well as the desire to be seen and visually consumed. It reflects the power dynamics at play, where the viewer holds a position of authority and control over the object of their gaze. This concept is shaped by cultural norms and expectations surrounding visibility, surveillance, and the objectification of the human body. In this particular panel, a woman is seen splayed out naked on a bed, seemingly in a sexual context. The text elaborates on this panel, with a man describing fetishization of trans women. This connects back to Mulvey’s explanation of scopophilia, explaining that it “exists as drive quite independently of the erotogenic zones.' It is about 'taking people as objects, [and] subjecting them to a controlling and curious gaze," (713) (2). Using Mulvey’s theory, this panel reduces the woman as a commodity to be looked at, fetishized, and to derive pleasure from. Examining the dialogue as well, the woman lacks her own agency, being talked about entirely in the third person, in reference to how she can be used for the pleasure of the man. In addition, the man capturing the woman as the center of his focus emphasizes the box he places the woman into as something exotic, quoting “There's something about preoperative transsexuals that makes the connoisseur uncomfortable. Something brittle and bright in the back of their eyes. He loves them”. This description of the woman emphasizes the voyeuristic view of both the man’s words and actions, but the objectification of the drawing of the woman as well. Her sole purpose is to be looked at, observed and to create pleasure.
Mythical Norm:
The term mythical norm was widely developed by Audre Lorde, describing the dominant societal standards that are often based on a narrow, idealized image of a "normal" individual or group, typically white, heterosexual, and male. This norm marginalizes and excludes those who do not conform to it. The mythical norm in the context of Sandman manifests into the portrayal of mythical beings who hold significant power. In particular, the Sandman himself is a representation of a mythical idea with its physical form taking the appearance of a heterosexual white male. On page 195 of the comic, the Sandman’s physical power is exhibited in scale. All in all, the character Sandman upholds the common trope that mythical manifestations of power in the mortal world, those having to do with dreams, deception, prosperity a majority of the time appear in the human form of male. Lord comments that mythical norms are “the trappings of power reside within this society. Those of us who stand outside that power often identify one way in which we are different, and we assume that to be the primary cause of all oppression forgetting other distortions around difference…” (116) (3). Mythical norms affect viewership in the sense that when people in positions of power in media are depicted solely as white heterosexual males, this lack of diversity manifests into insecurity in real life. People don’t see themselves in high positions of power because artificial recreations of power structure uphold the power structure in real life. The Sandman upholds the repeated idea that white heterosexual men are the pinnacle of power in society.
Oppositional Gaze:
The oppositional gaze refers to a type of viewership described by bell hooks as the phenomenon where “Black female spectators actively chose not to identify with the film's imaginary subject because such identification was disenabling,” (313) (4). This essentially describes the rebellion of the viewership of black women from choosing not to identify with the film's imaginary subject because such identification was so at odds with their lived experience. Applying this viewership to an analysis of Sandman, the mini story within the comic titled “Tales in the Sand,” where Nada, the queen of a land falls in love with the god of dreams, and kills herself to avoid being his queen. She initially refuses to marry a man and rules her kingdom solely. However, she encounters a stranger and goes to great lengths to find him. When she discovers he is an immortal god, she refuses to be with him and runs away while Kai'Ckul pursues her. She kills herself after her kingdom is destroyed by the sun. She is chased in the afterlife while still refusing to join Kai’Ckul’s kingdom. This story refers to the oppositional gaze from multiple angles of the story. Nada, a woman of color, maintains her agency throughout the story from refusing to marry a man for the sake of validity, and choosing her own destiny without needing a man. Nada subverts classic tropes of femininity and is the protagonist of her own story. She is also depicted as a woman in power, despite her facing oppression from a man in power above her. This is significant, however, because she refuses to concede to the whims of a man, and sacrifices herself as an act of rebellion, maintaining her ideals in the end.
Gender Norms:
Gender norms are arbitrary societal expectations and standards regarding behaviors, roles, and attributes considered appropriate for individuals based on their perceived gender. These norms often reinforce traditional binary understandings of gender and may condemn alternate expressions that deviate from these norms. In another miniature story in the comic titled “Playing House”, Litya grapples with feeling unfulfilled by the traditional life she leads. She feels a loss of control over her life because she lacks freedom to pursue the dreams she left behind for her husband. Eventually, Sandman kills her husband for pretending to be him, and tells Lidya she should be grateful because she now has the freedom to pursue her own life. It is at this point where she realizes two things: she was living in a dream for years of the “perfect life”, and she was done letting men control her life and make decisions for her. This story subverts gender norms by showing that the idea of “playing house” doesn’t lead to satisfaction, it leads into a constant haze of unfulfilled desires and superficial happiness. Although Litya thought the perfect life was quote “mommy, daddy and a kid,” she actually leads a life of constant sadness and feeling like she is taking the backseat to her own livelihood. She plays a character, and in turn leads a pretend life, like a “dream”, in Lidya’s words. Judith Butler emphasizes that gender norms are essentially a “drag performance”, quoting “'imitation' is at the heart of the heterosexual project and its gender binarisms, that drag is not a secondary imitation that presupposes a prior and original gender, but that hegemonic heterosexuality is itself a constant and repeated effort to imitate its own idealizations,” (338) (5). Gender as a performance is a repeated act to uphold previous reproductions of norms implemented in society. Lidya feels unfulfilled in her seemingly perfect life because she is living a life of fantastical acts of what she thinks is appropriate for her gender.
Bibliography
(1) Laura Mulvey, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” in Film Theory and Criticism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), pg. 715.
(2) Mulvey, pg. 713
(3) Lorde, Audre. "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House." Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches, Crossing Press, 2007, pg. 116.
(4) bell hooks, “The Oppositional gaze: Black Female Spectators” in Feminist Film Theory (New York: New York University Press, 1999), pg. 313.
(5) Butler, Judith. "Gender Is Burning: Questions of Appropriation and Subversion." Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of "Sex", Routledge, 1993, pg. 338.
@theuncannyprofessoro
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The Art of Storytelling: Crafting Compelling Narratives for Your Local Business
In the bustling landscape of local businesses, where competition is fierce and attention spans fleeting, one timeless strategy stands out: storytelling. Behind every successful local business lies a compelling narrative that captivates customers, fosters loyalty, and sets them apart from the crowd. In an era where consumers crave authenticity and connection, mastering the art of storytelling can be the key to unlocking your business's full potential.
The Power of Storytelling
Stories have an innate ability to engage emotions, stimulate imagination, and create lasting impressions. They transcend mere facts and figures, forging meaningful connections between businesses and their customers. By tapping into the power of storytelling, local businesses can humanize their brand, evoke empathy, and establish a sense of community.
At its core, storytelling is about conveying the essence of your business—the why behind what you do. Whether it's the journey of how your business came to be, the passion driving your work, or the impact you strive to make in your community, every aspect of your story has the potential to resonate with your audience on a deeper level.
Crafting Your Narrative
Crafting a compelling narrative for your local business begins with understanding your audience and what resonates with them. What are their values, aspirations, and pain points? What stories would they find relatable and inspiring? By aligning your narrative with the desires and experiences of your target audience, you can create a story that speaks directly to their hearts and minds.
Your narrative should also reflect the unique personality and identity of your business. What sets you apart from your competitors? What values and beliefs define your brand? By infusing your story with authenticity and sincerity, you can build trust and credibility with your audience, fostering stronger connections that transcend transactional relationships.
Bringing Your Story to Life
Once you've crafted your narrative, it's essential to find creative ways to bring it to life across various touchpoints. From your website and social media channels to in-store experiences and marketing campaigns, every interaction with your customers is an opportunity to reinforce your story and deepen their engagement.
Visual elements such as photographs, videos, and graphics can play a powerful role in storytelling, helping to evoke emotions and create memorable experiences. Similarly, incorporating testimonials, case studies, and customer success stories can provide social proof and credibility, further reinforcing the narrative of your business.
Engaging Your Community
In addition to connecting with your customers, storytelling can also be a powerful tool for engaging with your local community. Whether it's sharing stories of community involvement, highlighting the people and places that make your area unique, or championing causes that matter to your audience, your narrative can become a rallying cry for positive change and collective action.
By actively involving your community in your storytelling efforts, you can foster a sense of belonging and ownership, turning customers into brand advocates and ambassadors. Whether it's through events, partnerships, or collaborative projects, finding ways to collaborate with and empower your community can amplify the impact of your storytelling efforts.
The Continual Evolution
As your business grows and evolves, so too should your narrative. The story of your business is not static but dynamic, reflecting the ongoing journey of growth, adaptation, and reinvention. By staying attuned to the changing needs and preferences of your audience, you can continually refine and evolve your narrative to remain relevant and compelling.
In conclusion, the art of storytelling is a potent tool for local businesses seeking to differentiate themselves in a crowded marketplace. By crafting a compelling narrative that resonates with their audience, bringing it to life across various touchpoints, and actively engaging with their community, local businesses can forge deeper connections, foster loyalty, and ultimately thrive in the long term. So, what's your story?
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Strategy of Affluence: Can Showing Off Really Sell Your Product?
In the age of social media influencers and celebrity endorsements, the strategy of influencing consumers through displays of wealth and luxury has become a prominent marketing tactic. But is flaunting a lavish lifestyle truly an effective way to sell products? This article dives into the allure of "show off" marketing, explores its potential pitfalls, and proposes alternative strategies for building brand loyalty and driving sales.
The Sizzle and the Sell: The Allure of "Show Off" Marketing
The core principle behind "show off" marketing is simple: aspiration sells. By showcasing celebrities or influencers using a product amidst a backdrop of wealth and success, brands aim to trigger a desire to emulate that lifestyle. This strategy taps into several psychological factors:
- Social Comparison: Humans are wired for social comparison. Seeing others enjoying a product in a luxurious setting can make us feel like we're missing out, driving the desire to acquire it ourselves.
- Aspirational Appeal: If a product is associated with success and a glamorous lifestyle, it becomes more desirable. Consumers might believe that owning the product will bring them closer to achieving that aspirational image.
- The Bandwagon Effect: The idea that "everyone else is doing it" can be a powerful motivator. Seeing influencers and celebrities using a product creates a perception of popularity and social validation, influencing purchase decisions.
The Glitz and the Glitches: Potential Pitfalls of "Show Off" Marketing
While "show off" marketing can be effective in some cases, it also comes with potential drawbacks:
- Relatability Factor: Consumers may not connect with celebrities or influencers living in a world far removed from their own realities. This disconnect can breed resentment and hinder the effectiveness of the marketing message.
- Short-Term Gains, Long-Term Concerns: "Show off" marketing might generate a temporary sales surge, but it may not foster long-term brand loyalty. Customers who feel they're buying into a fantasy might be less satisfied with the product itself.
- Focus on Image Over Substance: An overemphasis on luxury and lifestyle can overshadow the product's actual features and benefits. Consumers might be left questioning the product's true value proposition.
The Bottom Line: "Show off" marketing can be a tool in your arsenal, but it should be wielded strategically and thoughtfully.
Building Brand Loyalty Beyond the Bling: Alternative Strategies
Here are some alternative strategies for influencing consumers and building lasting brand loyalty:
- Focus on Authenticity: Consumers crave genuine connections with brands. Showcase real people using your product and share stories that resonate with your target audience.
- Highlight the Product's Value: Don't let the glitz overshadow the product's core benefits. Focus on how the product can improve your customer's lives and solve their problems.
- Build Community: Create a community around your brand. Engage with your customers, listen to their feedback, and foster a sense of belonging.
- Emphasize Customer Experience: Prioritize providing exceptional customer service. Positive experiences create brand advocates who will naturally influence others.
- Transparency and Trust: Be transparent about your brand and its values. Building trust fosters loyalty and encourages repeat customers.
Remember: True influence comes from building genuine connections with your audience. Focus on creating value, fostering trust, and showcasing the authentic benefits your product offers. By prioritizing these aspects, you can build a loyal customer base that goes beyond the allure of fleeting trends.
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The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (2017), Taylor Jenkins Reid
LGBTQIA+
Summary: One of Hollywood’s greatest legends summons a struggling writer for a final tell-all to set the record straight about who amongst her many lovers was her one true love.
Review Link: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4981011136
Full review: Roughly 2,408 years ago, Plato wrote of a Symposium (a drinking party for artists and philosophers in Ancient Greece). This particular Symposium produced a series of texts that are studied across different courses in schools and universities worldwide today.
A poignant text from that evening is the Myth of Aristophanes, a farcical creation myth detailing the origins of man. According to the playwright Aristophanes, humans began as an intersex species with multiple sets of limbs. They aggrieved the gods in a display of great pride by attempting to climb Mt. Olympus. As punishment, Zeus cast them down and cleaved them in two, birthing our current anatomical state (fewer arms, legs, and eyes) and the two sexes. In addition to this, humanity became cursed, doomed eternally to forever search for their other half, their “soulmate”. This union the soul could only be found through Eros, in love or lust.
Aristophanes meant this tale as a drunken joke, yet today we cling fervently to the notion of the soulmate. In cultures where we have the freedom to choose relationships, the majority of people believe in the existence of romantic soulmates.
There are the other forms soulmates can take, especially for those who de-prioritize romantic love as a driving force in their lives, or who may practice non-hierarchical forms of nonmonogamy, like relationship anarchy. As the Washington Post states: “Biologically speaking, close friendships are a type of soul mate too…This ability we have to make someone special — our brains can do it again and again. That’s why we can have more than one soul mate in our lives. (Lervine, 2022).
In offices above us all, companies from dating apps to food companies capitalize heavily on this same notion to sell products. “What you call love was invented by guys like me, to sell nylons,” says Donald Draper in the very first episode of Mad Men.
No matter our personal stances on the soulmate, it is the latter that has the biggest influence, all stemming from that drunken farcical speech Aristophanes made. The billion dollar industry of love powers media, social mores, and consumer markets. Its mark on literature is poignant, and for authors like Taylor Jenkins Reid is how they have found success.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo epitomizes this obsession with love, in an Americana-laced tale about an Old Hollywood star who reveals the secret she’s been hiding most of her life: her true love hasn’t been any of her seven spouses, but a woman.
The titular character is an amalgamation of our world’s legendary screen sirens - Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Ava Gardner, and Rita Hayworth. She’s beautiful, unscrupulous, and has a rags to riches story that takes her to Hollywood where she skyrockets to success.
At the beginning of book we’re introduced to Evelyn post-career, as an elderly woman who reaches out to a little known reporter named Monique and offers her an interview. Her words suggest a tone of finality that indicate terminal illness, and a desire to get some things off her chest. From there, she begins to recount her life, experiences, her seven husbands, and the woman she hid beneath it all: Celia St. James.
Two connections are made clear in Evelyn’s contacting Monique, who is a talented but unknown quantity. The first, is that the two share similarities as women of color, with Evelyn being Cuban and white passing and having hidden her identity during her career to attain stardom. Monique on the other hand is Caucasian and Black, and proud of her biracial heritage. This pride in the seeming duality of her race is something Evelyn assumes wille make Monique an inherently open-minded person when she reveals the truth about her relationship with Celia.
Monique does not inherently understand. She instinctively assumes Evelyn is a lesbian, much to Evelyn’s chagrin despite her own numerous passages stating that she is “biracial, not black”.
As Evelyn recounts the history of her career and husbands, readers are interestingly treated to descriptions of men she loved, and men she abhorred alike. She meets men who use her, abuse her, love her, and idolize her all alike. Out of the seven, the general point of the book is that Celia is her one true love.
Celia is a fellow actress and co-star of Evelyn’s and a lesbian. While far from unscrupulus as Evelyn, she does not possess a careless attitude about social norms of the time. That said, Celia possesses a seemingly naive attitude about what will happen if they are exposed and their lives subject to ruin.
The result is a tumultuous relationship that is depicted as romantic. Both maintain beard relationships at various points, and Celia explodes into emotionally abusive tirades. Neither defines solid boundaries about what they’re willing to do or not do for their relationship, nor do they simply walk away when they feel disrespected. As with many Classic Hollywood movies, Celia is portrayed as the passionate lover who just cannot stand to see her femme fatale behaving badly. Her cruelty is justified as romantic, while Evelyn’s actions can be justified as simply doing what she has to for their relationship, or reviled for doing Celia wrong.
While poorly studied, data shows intimate partner violence among LGBTQ partnerships is staggering. “Life-time prevalence of IPV in LGB couples appeared to be similar to or higher than in heterosexual ones: 61.1% of bisexual women, 43.8% of lesbian women, 37.3% of bisexual men, and 26.0% of homosexual men experienced IPV during their life, while 35.0% of heterosexual women and 29.0% of heterosexual men experienced IPV. (Rollè, Giardina, Caldarera et al.)
For the majority of readers of the book this relationship is viewed as simply passionate. Celia’s insults, degradation, name-calling, and devaluement is something that can be forgiven in the name of love, or simply doesn’t count because Celia and Evelyn are both women.
On the Multiamory podcast, guest speaker and OkCupid Dating Coach Damona Hoffman joined the shows hosts to promote her upcoming book F the Fairy Tale: Rewrite the Dating Myths and Live Your Own Love Story. Among those myths she detailed the soulmate narrative, which she believes prevents people from pursuing relationships as they do not expect meeting people to mirror the feelings Don Draper and advertising executives have described in movies, advertising campaigns, and books. Show host Jase Lindgren also echoed the concerns growing numbers of relationships therapists and psychologists have stated with this idea today, which is that many people adhering to this idea are inclined to stay in relationships that are emotionally or physically abusive because they believe they have found their soulmate and won’t find another. As Jenkins Reid writes shows us, that’s all that matters.
For the rest of the tale the two continue to part and come back to the each other, with Evelyn flying between men. She does find love in a way that is troublesome. Evelyn marries one of her best friends, gives birth to a child, and has perhaps one of the most stable relationships in the book–but its completely discounted as meaningless because he’s not Celia. He is a bisexual man who has been with her from the beginning, has been the only one who did not judge her, and has been the only character to treat her with respect throughout the entire book. Their love is one that is real, whole, and for those of us that believe in multiple soulmates, fulfills the criteria.
While the book has been well received, it doesn’t always sit well in its representation of queer or BIPOC individuals. Evelyn’s character is the walking embodiment of harmful stereotypes about bisexual women. She is portrayed as hypersexual, narcissistic, manipulative, persistently unhappy, and unable to maintain a monogamous relationship. She is consistently questioned about whether she is really bisexual, attached to mostly men, and seemingly only finds the resolution to some of these things through Celia. Add to this her description of being Cuban contains frequent reference to her body type, which is at odds with beauty standards of Latino culture (or even white beauty standards of the 50s) and the characterization becomes a fetishization of these aspects of her character.
These instances are seen again whenever characters who are not white or straight are present. Monique has cringeworthy passages alluding to her status as biracial. These reflections are indicative of an author who does not spend significant time engaging with the culture or communities they are writing about, and is producing work that is not intended to be consumed by them.
You can find The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo here via its publisher Simon & Schuster, likely at your local library, or perhaps your local bookstore.
Citations:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2022/09/16/soul-mates-real-science-research/
#thevisibilityarchives#tva#lgbtq#bisexual#bi characters#bisexual characters#evelyn hugo#book review#now reading#bi representation#representation matters#visibility matters
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The Power of Storytelling: How to Use Narrative to Elevate Your Content Marketing Efforts
In the vast and competitive landscape of content marketing, storytelling has emerged as a powerful tool for brands to connect with their audience on a deeper level. From ancient oral traditions to modern-day marketing campaigns, storytelling taps into the innate human desire for narrative, emotion, and meaning. By incorporating storytelling into your content marketing strategy, you can create engaging, memorable experiences that resonate with your audience and drive meaningful action. In this blog post, we'll explore the power of storytelling and provide practical tips on how to leverage narrative to elevate your content marketing efforts.
Why Storytelling Matters in Content Marketing
At its core, storytelling is about more than just conveying information—it's about creating a connection and eliciting an emotional response. Stories have the power to captivate attention, evoke empathy, and inspire action in ways that traditional marketing tactics often cannot. By weaving compelling narratives into your content, you can humanize your brand, build trust with your audience, and differentiate yourself in a crowded marketplace.
Elements of Effective Storytelling
To harness the power of storytelling in your content marketing efforts, it's essential to understand the key elements that make a story compelling:
Character: Every great story revolves around relatable characters with goals, challenges, and emotions. In your content, identify the main character (which could be your brand, your customers, or even a fictional persona) and develop their narrative arc to create a sense of empathy and connection.
Conflict: Conflict drives the plot forward and creates tension that keeps the audience engaged. Identify the central conflict or challenge your character faces—whether it's a problem your product or service solves, a common pain point your audience experiences, or a larger societal issue your brand addresses.
Resolution: A satisfying resolution provides closure to the story and leaves the audience with a sense of fulfillment or transformation. Show how your character overcomes the conflict, achieves their goals, and experiences positive outcomes as a result.
Emotion: Emotion is the heart of storytelling—it's what makes stories resonate with audiences on a visceral level. Infuse your narrative with emotions like joy, sadness, fear, or hope to evoke a strong emotional response and forge a deeper connection with your audience.
Practical Tips for Using Narrative in Content Marketing
Now that we've explored the elements of effective storytelling, let's dive into some practical tips for incorporating narrative into your content marketing efforts:
Know Your Audience: Tailor your stories to resonate with the desires, interests, and pain points of your target audience. Conduct audience research, create detailed buyer personas, and use storytelling techniques that appeal to their specific needs and preferences.
Be Authentic: Authenticity is key to building trust and credibility with your audience. Share real stories, experiences, and testimonials that showcase the human side of your brand and demonstrate genuine empathy and understanding.
Keep it Simple: Effective storytelling doesn't have to be complex or elaborate. Focus on clarity, simplicity, and brevity to ensure your message is easy to understand and digest.
Use Multiple Formats: Experiment with different content formats—such as blog posts, videos, podcasts, infographics, or social media posts—to tell your stories in diverse and engaging ways that cater to different audience preferences and consumption habits.
Invite Participation: Encourage audience participation and engagement by inviting them to become part of your story. Ask for user-generated content, encourage comments and discussions, and create interactive experiences that allow your audience to co-create the narrative with you.
Conclusion
In conclusion, storytelling is a potent tool for elevating your content marketing efforts and creating meaningful connections with your audience. By understanding the elements of effective storytelling and implementing practical tips for incorporating narrative into your content strategy, you can create compelling, memorable experiences that inspire, entertain, and ultimately, drive action. So, embrace the power of storytelling and unlock the full potential of your content marketing efforts today.
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Unveiling the Art of Copywriting: Crafting Words that Captivate
In a world inundated with information, where attention spans are dwindling and competition is fierce, the power of words cannot be overstated. Enter the enigmatic realm of copywriting - a craft that transcends mere stringing of sentences, evolving into an art form that captivates, persuades, and inspires action.
At its essence, copywriting is the strategic use of words to compel a desired response from the reader. Whether it's enticing a customer to make a purchase, persuading an audience to support a cause, or simply sparking intrigue, the copywriter wields language like a maestro conducting an orchestra, orchestrating emotions and guiding minds.
But what sets copywriting apart from everyday writing? It's the marriage of creativity and strategy, the fusion of art and science. While creativity ignites the spark, strategy provides the roadmap. A successful copywriter understands not only how to craft compelling narratives but also how to leverage psychology, market research, and consumer behavior to deliver results.
One of the fundamental principles of copywriting is the art of storytelling. Humans are hardwired to respond to stories - they evoke emotions, build connections, and drive engagement. A masterful copywriter weaves narratives that resonate with the audience, transporting them into a world where their desires and aspirations are realized.
Moreover, effective copywriting is concise yet impactful. In a digital landscape where attention is a scarce commodity, brevity is key. Every word must earn its place, delivering maximum impact with minimal verbosity. The best copywriters understand the power of simplicity, distilling complex ideas into digestible nuggets of wisdom.
Furthermore, copywriting is a constant dialogue between the writer and the reader. It's not just about broadcasting a message; it's about fostering a connection. A skilled copywriter anticipates the needs and concerns of their audience, addressing them with empathy and authenticity. They create content that speaks directly to the reader, forging a bond built on trust and understanding.
In today's hyperconnected world, where brands vie for attention in an ever-expanding digital landscape, copywriting has emerged as a potent weapon in the marketer's arsenal. From compelling product descriptions to captivating social media posts, the words we choose have the power to shape perceptions, drive engagement, and ultimately, influence behavior.
Yet, copywriting is not just about selling products or services; it's about creating meaningful experiences. It's about sparking conversations, igniting imaginations, and leaving a lasting impression. Whether it's a catchy slogan that becomes ingrained in popular culture or a heartfelt message that resonates with millions, the impact of great copywriting transcends borders and generations.
In conclusion, copywriting is more than just a skill; it's an art form that empowers us to connect, persuade, and inspire. It's the alchemy of words that transforms ideas into action, dreams into reality. As we navigate the ever-evolving landscape of communication, let us not underestimate the power of a well-crafted message. For in the hands of a skilled copywriter, words have the power to move mountains and change the world.
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Effective Ways of Brand Storytelling: Captivating Your Audience’s Imagination
In today’s highly competitive digital landscape, capturing the attention of your audience is essential for the success of your brand. With numerous websites vying for online visibility, it is crucial to employ effective strategies that not only engage your audience but also outrank your competitors. One such strategy that has proven to be incredibly powerful is brand storytelling. By crafting compelling narratives that resonate with your target audience, you can create a strong emotional connection, foster brand loyalty, and ultimately drive more traffic to your website. In this article, we will explore the most effective ways of brand storytelling that will captivate your audience’s imagination and help you outrank your competitors in Google search results.
1. Understand Your Audience
Before embarking on your brand storytelling journey, it is imperative to have a deep understanding of your target audience. Conduct thorough market research to identify their needs, desires, pain points, and aspirations. By gaining insights into their preferences, you can tailor your brand story in a way that resonates with them on a personal level. Use data analytics tools to gather information about your audience’s demographics, interests, and online behavior. This knowledge will serve as the foundation for creating a captivating brand narrative that connects with your audience on a profound level.
2. Define Your Brand’s Core Values
To establish a compelling brand story, you must first define your brand’s core values. What does your brand stand for? What principles drive your business? By clearly articulating your brand’s mission, vision, and values, you can develop a coherent narrative that aligns with the beliefs and aspirations of your audience. Communicate your brand’s story in a way that evokes emotions and creates a sense of authenticity. When your audience feels a genuine connection with your brand’s values, they are more likely to engage with your content and share it with others.
3. Craft Engaging Content
Once you have a clear understanding of your audience and have defined your brand’s core values, it’s time to craft engaging content that tells your brand story effectively. Utilize a variety of content formats, such as blog posts, videos, infographics, and social media posts, to convey your brand narrative in a compelling manner Utilize narrative elements such as developing characters, introducing conflicts, and providing resolutions to craft an engaging storyline that captivates your audience’s attention. Remember to focus on the benefits and value your brand brings to the lives of your customers. Highlight how your products or services can solve their problems and enhance their overall well-being.
4. Leverage Visual Storytelling
Visual content plays a pivotal role in brand storytelling. Humans are inherently visual beings, and incorporating visually appealing elements into your brand narrative can significantly enhance its impact. Utilize high-quality images, videos, and interactive media to convey your brand story in a visually compelling way. Leverage the power of visuals to evoke emotions, create a memorable experience, and leave a lasting impression on your audience. Visual storytelling not only captures attention but also increases the chances of your content being shared across various digital platforms.
5. Consistency Across Channels
To establish a strong brand presence and outrank your competitors, consistency is key. Ensure that your brand story is consistent across all channels, including your website, social media profiles, email campaigns, and offline marketing materials. Consistent messaging and visual identity reinforce your brand’s story and make it easily recognizable to your audience. Maintain a consistent tone of voice, imagery, and brand elements to create a cohesive and impactful brand narrative. When your audience encounters your brand story consistently across multiple touchpoints, it reinforces brand recall and builds trust.
6. Incorporate SEO Best Practices
In order to maximize the reach and visibility of your brand story, it is essential to incorporate SEO best practices into your content strategy. By optimizing your content for search engines, you can improve your website’s ranking on Google and outrank your competitors. Here are some key SEO techniques to consider:
Keyword Research: Conduct thorough keyword research to identify relevant terms and phrases that your target audience is searching for. Use keyword research tools to uncover high-volume, low-competition keywords that align with your brand story. Incorporate these keywords strategically throughout your content, including in your headings, subheadings, meta tags, and body text.
High-Quality Content: While optimizing for keywords is important, it should never compromise the quality of your content. Focus on creating valuable, informative, and engaging content that provides solutions to your audience’s pain points. Google prioritizes high-quality content that meets the needs of searchers, so ensure your brand story is comprehensive, well-written, and relevant.
Optimized Meta Tags: Pay attention to your meta tags, including the meta title and meta description. These components are visible in search engine outcomes and have the potential to greatly influence click-through rates. Incorporate relevant keywords naturally into your meta tags while making them enticing and compelling to encourage users to click on your website.
URL Structure: Ensure your URL structure is clean, concise, and includes relevant keywords. Avoid using long and complicated URLs that are difficult for both users and search engines to understand. Use hyphens to separate words in your URLs, making them easier to read and comprehend.
Internal and External Linking: Incorporate internal links within your content to connect related pages on your website. This helps search engines understand the structure and hierarchy of your website, as well as improves user navigation. Additionally, include external links to authoritative and relevant sources, as it adds credibility to your content.
Mobile-Friendly Design: With the increasing use of mobile devices, it is essential to ensure that your website is mobile-friendly. Optimize your website’s design and layout to provide a seamless and user-friendly experience across different devices and screen sizes. Google prioritizes mobile-friendly websites in its search results, so this is crucial for outranking your competitors.
Page Loading Speed: Improve your website’s loading speed to enhance user experience and search engine rankings. Compress images, minify CSS and JavaScript files, and leverage browser caching to optimize your website’s performance. A fast-loading website not only improves SEO but also reduces bounce rates and keeps users engaged.
Social Media Integration: Integrate social media sharing buttons into your content to encourage users to share your brand story across various platforms. Social signals play a role in SEO, and when your content is widely shared, it can lead to increased visibility and traffic.
Conclusion
Effective brand storytelling is a powerful strategy for captivating your audience’s imagination and outranking your competitors in Google search results. By understanding your audience, defining your brand’s core values, crafting engaging content, leveraging visual storytelling, maintaining consistency across channels, and incorporating SEO best practices, you can enhance your brand’s visibility and drive more traffic to your website. Remember to continuously refine and adapt your brand storytelling strategy to meet the evolving needs of your audience.
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Social Media Tips & Tricks
Social media marketing is the new norm with more than 4 billion users and growing each day and a lot of businesses irrespective of the niche are using social media to drive the audience to their page and their website with rigorous customer engagement in order to drive sales.
But then the question is that is being on social media enough?
Unfortunately, it is a concern for marketers to grow rapidly and gain mass visibility when the competition is this stiff. So today we bring you some tips and tricks to skyrocket your social media engagement traffic:-
1. Learn About Your Target Audience
Before starting off with any kind of marketing it is important to properly identify your target audience and to know what they exactly need and what they’re looking for. You may or may not already have a strategy but without the audience it will be in vein. So make sure to take extra efforts to identify and work on knowing your target audience very well. Because no matter how good your marketing strategy is, but if it doesn’t revolve around your target audience then it isn’t of any use. You need to know everything right from the social media platforms and the content you’ll ever create. Know and define your goals
Once you have your target audience in mind, make sure you’re then working and marketing with a goal or objective in mind. You need to have a target, and knowing the 5 whys behind your actions will help enhance the effect of your social media strategy. Following are a few things you must keep in mind while setting goals:
● Be specific
● Set attainable goals
● Make sure that your goals are measurable
2. Select Your Social Media Platforms
With so many social media platforms to play around with, you can easily get overwhelmed and as a beginner you may even try to use all the social media websites to reach your audience, but it is important to know the specific social media sites that will be useful for your brand specifically, because at the end of the day it’s not about the quantity but about the quality.
3. Use the Art of Storytelling
It’s the stories that sell, not the product! We, as humans, connect to stories. It is the emotional affection that a brand builds with its audience. Stories inspire ideas and encourage interaction.
4. Humanize Your Brand
As much as all the digital innovations have made it easier to communicate, it is the emotion that we miss out on and desire for. By the term ‘humanize your brand, we mean to go beyond the upper layer of these digital screens. Let your viewers know what goes in your office, introduce them to your employees, and show the people behind your brand. Brand stories are not marketing capitals. They are not ads, and they are not auctions terrains. They help the viewer’s bond to your brand. Your sections tell them what you stand for, and they display your philosophy as well as your values.
For occurrence, share your plans for Friday and the fun team-building activities. Let workers take over your social media for once and connect with the viewers. Letting the audience into your brand’s lives, let them live with you and makes them relate to you even more.
5. Game-Winning Social Media Strategy
It is important to have a unique brand strategy for you brand that can effectively engage, gauge and attract the audience. After all, capturing down a social media marketing strategy is important to turning your vision into reality.
While you prepare your strategy, consider significant social media platforms you’ll be posting on. Make sure your posts charm to your target audience and align with your goals. Once you have a list of all the things, make sure you plan your social media calender and go according to it for maximum productivity.
Here are some tips which help you out with your social media strategy:
● Make a list of upcoming festivals and special days
● Create a content theme to provide your audience with a unified experience
● Prepare a list of hashtags for different platforms
● Make sure it covers your primary events, features, and campaigns
Now that you know our secret tips and tricks for social media marketing, make sure you also choose amazing digital marketing company for your marketing, such as OSKIT Solutions, run by Alka Thakur, because your team can easily change your game in the market!
Feel free to contact OSKITSOLUTIONS to grow your Bussiness. We also Provide Digital Marketing Services in Nagpur. We are just a call away! Or ping us @ 9960680445
#Digital Marketing Company in Nagpur#Brand Development Company Nagpur#Social Media Marketing Company Nagpur
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The Emotional Economy: what your feed feeds you.
I’ve always understood the economy as the place where we exchange goods and services for dollars and cents, but in the digital age, where we both consume and create content of infinite variety, I find myself engaging in much more than commerce on sites like Facebook, Google, Netflix, etc. Some call it an attention economy, but this dignifies only one side of the equation, what the sites get out of us, but what do we get out of them?
I grew up watching tv and listening to talk radio with my parents. In my mind those platforms always existed as sources of both information and entertainment. Then, when the digital age first came to my door and I started running google searches and watching channels like Epic Meal Time on Youtube, the situation seemed much the same, the internet was a source of information and entertainment, but what I realize in retrospect, as its options and services expanded, was that it would soon become the primary provider of my emotional needs and desires.
Joy was maybe the first emotion served up for me. Before high school my friends and I would stay up late playing video games and laughing at Happy Tree friends. Since I was with them it was also an opportunity for social connection, that is until I began searching on my own. As a teenager I found sexual gratification on the internet. Porn brought one of the most intense and gratifying human experiences a mere handful of clicks away. After high school fascination and wonder found me when my mind was expanded by intellectual content through YouTube and podcasts. In the same period I started forming an identity as both a silly and serious seeker on sites like twitter and tumblr. Then, in my young adult life, when I became lonely, my favorite podcast hosts became a much craved source of company and belonging. When listening to them I was part of a unique group, a tribe of people who understood points and jokes that few others in the mainstream could. When I would get stressed or overwhelmed these hosts could also offer me relief, their jokes and ideas gave me a sense of comfort and safety. When I became depressed TV shows like Black Mirror, House of Cards, and Mr. Robot gave me something to be excited about and compelled by.
So throughout my life I have gotten a lot out of these platforms, too much at times. I suffered from porn addiction for years and was definitely dependent on Youtube, podcasts, and Netflix for a time. Even today I find myself falling into compulsive periods of use from time to time.
Netflix recently released a documentary called the The Social Dilemma. The film argues that it is these site’s addictive architecture which is to blame; i.e. site’s like Facebook do not treat users humanely. I liked the film a lot and I agree that the design of these sites plays a role, but I worry about how such a narrative may obscure other key elements behind compulsive use of such sites. In other words this idea that social media is addicting people because it is addicting is eerily reminiscent of how we have talked about drugs. We told kids to ”just say no”, with the idea being that you can’t succumb to drug problems if you never take drugs. I.e. the addictive thing is to blame solely. Now, I’m not saying that that there is no difference between social media and a book or carrots and cocaine, I grant that we are more susceptible to some things than others and that some things are more dangerous than others (especially for children), but my vague understanding of addiction says that addiction is not simply a problem with a particular substance or particular activity. If it was then why do the “the overwhelming majority of people who use drugs do not get addicted”? (Dr. Carl Hart). My own experience tells me that there are other factors at play driving addiction, I’ve abused myself myself the most with media, cigarettes, alcohol, and sugar when I was overwhelmed, stressed, and lonely.
So though I am glad the experts interviewed in the Social Dilemma pointed out the manipulative tactics of social media, I was more impressed by a subtler narrative in the movie involving the children using their devices. A young girl and a teenage boy are shown struggling with common insecurities and emotional vulnerabilities: was the girl pretty enough? Why was the teenage boy’s girlfriend dating someone new? What were they supposed to believe about the world? The emotional states drive them to use their phones and then the apps give them hits of what they need: affirmation, relief, belonging, but these are only tastes of what we need, they are not the full embodied experience of human connection. Take my own story from above, those sites and services helped me cope, but only because I needed a way to cope, because I didn’t have access to authentic connection, with myself, with others, or with life in general. And critically I also lacked alternative ways to deal, alternative ways to relieve or handle my stress, to feel my emotions, my pain. You see, though we often call our devices distractions, this label can be misleading, in times of distress they are actually pacifiers. They put off the pain that we are not prepared to feel, whether it be boredom, loneliness, shame, regret, anxiety, guilt, etc.
Drugs solve real pain for addicts, albeit at a cost, and so does compulsive media consumption. In a study I’ve heard about known as Rat Park, rats were much more likely to use the drug morphine when they were alone isolated in a cage than when they were among other rats in a large enclosure with plenty of things to do. The implication is that one’s environment may play a decisive role, a source of distress or an alternative to it. If you don’t care for a study about rats So the upshot I for me of this study and my view here generally, is that if we find ourselves craving the emotional snacks that these sites serve up, then let’s ask ourselves what are we missing in our current environment, what don’t we have access to? For then, if we want we can start looking for it ourselves. Heck, maybe we can even opt of meeting our needs through an economy and create an emotional ecosystem, something I hope to write about in the future.
Writers notes:
I read that a recent attempt to replicate the findings of Rat Park were unsuccessful, but that it had been replicated multiple times in the past. I have also heard about how early adverse childhood experiences (ACES) put people at greater risk for drug abuse, which seems to get at the same idea, that environments drive people to drug abuse rather than just the drugs themselves.
In general I am still uncertain about how to proceed with using such evidence when I admittedly am not taking deep dives into the research. Nonetheless what I include is still part of my ideology for better or for worse.
I was given this idea of an emotional economy while on an LSD trip.
I also think these points could be applied to the larger consumer economy in general, but I focus on social media because of how prevalent and well targeted it is.
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viewing guide
At its core, divine knowing is an exhibition about knowledge, power, and agency. It’s become a more common understanding that governments, institutions, and algorithms will manipulate the public with what information they frame as fact, fiction, or worthy of attention. Though I am early in researching this topic, I've only come across a minimal amount of mainstream discourse on how the initial threat limiting our scope of knowledge is a refusal to listen to ourselves.
In a world faced with so many threats - humans being violent toward each other, toward animals, toward the earth - it can be a bit unsettling to release the reins and allow ourselves to bear witness for a moment, as we slowly develop a deeper awareness of surrounding phenomena and happenings.
divine knowing includes works by formally trained and self-taught artists. A majority of the artists are bisexual, non-binary, or transgender. Regardless of degree-status, gender, or sexuality, these artists have tapped into the autonomous well of self-knowing. Their artworks speak to tactics for opening up to a more perceptive mode of being. They unravel dependencies on external sources for knowledge and what we might recognize, connect with, or achieve once we do.
The installation Femme Digitale by Sierra Bagish originates from a series she began in 2017 by converting photographs of women that were taken and distributed online without the subject’s consent into paintings. Her practice at the time was concerned with female abjection. Sourcing images found via simple keywords and phrases (e.g., passed out, passed out drunk) she swathes a mass-circulated canon of internet detritus that articulates and produces aggression towards women. With her paintings, she circumvents the images’ original framing mechanisms and subverts these proliferated images through a sincere and personal lens.
These paintings divulge the blurred space between idolatry and denigration these online photos occupy, asking whose desires these images fulfill and what their propagation reveals about the culture producing them. While Bagish's work contends with political motivations, she also remains keenly observant of form and the varying utilities of different media.
“I use the expressive potential of paint as a vehicle to intervene and challenge ideas about photography as a harbinger of the real and everyday.”
Chariot Birthday Wish is an artist and angel living in Brooklyn. They have seen The Matrix 28 times in 2 years and love horses. The tarot series included in divine knowing is their most intuitive project, something they revisit when unsure of what to work on next. The Major Arcana are composed of digital collages made from sourced images, the Minor Arcana are represented by short, poetic, interpretative texts about the cards. The series is played on shuffle, creating a unique reading for each viewer. This is a work in progress that will eventually finalize as a completed deck of digital collages available for purchase.
Chariot's work emerges from a constant consideration of apocalypse and connection. They reference technology in tandem with nature and a desire for unity. Underneath their work's surface conversation on beauty, care, and relationship exists an agenda to subtly evoke a conspiratorial anti-state mindset. Through a collective imagining of how good things could be and how good we want them to be, we might be able to reckon with how bad things are in contrast.
“I think about texting my friends from the middle of the woods...
Humans are a part of nature and we created these things. There's this Bjork quote where she says that "You can use pro tools and still be pagan." I'm really into the idea of using technology as a tool for divination and holy connection with nature. I imagine a scene; being in moss, it's absolute bliss, and then the connection of texting, sharing an image of moss with a friend, sharing that moment through cellular towers.”
The album "adding up" by thanks for coming is composed of songs Rachel Brown wrote during what they believe to be the most challenging year of their life. Rachel now looks back on this time in appreciation, recognizing they grew in ways they had never imagined. The entire year, they were committed to following their feelings to wherever it may lead.
“If I hadn't been open to following the almost indiscernible signs I was being sent, then I would have missed out on some of the most important moments in my life.”
Kimberly Consroe holds a Masters in Anthropology along with degrees in Archaeology, Literature, and History. She is currently a Research Analyst at the US Department of Commerce. Her artwork is a passionate escape from a hectic professional life and touches on themes of feminism and nature.
Her works begin as general ideas; their narrative complexity growing with the amount of time she invests in making each one. Her decoupage process starts with cutting hundreds, if not thousands, pieces of paper. The accumulation of clippings sourced from vintage and current-day magazines overlap to tell a story. In Domestication, Kimberly borrows submissive female figures from found images of Ryan Mcguinness's work and places them in a position of power.
“I believe intuition is associated with emotion and experience. It is wisdom and fear, empathy and outrage, distrust and familiarity. It is what we know before we know it. This relates to my artwork in that, from beginning to end, there is never one complete idea concerning the outcome: it is a personal journey. It emerges from an ephemeral narrative that coalesces into a definitive story.”
Anabelle DeClement is a photographer who primarily works with film and is interested in relationships as they exist within a frame. She is drawn to the mystery of the mundane. Intuition exists in her practice as a feeling of urgency and the decision to act on it --- a drive often used to describe street photography where the camera catches unexpected moments in an urban environment. Anabelle tends to photograph individuals with whom she has established personal relationships in a slow domestic setting. Her sense of urgency lies in capturing moments of peak intimacy, preserving a memory's informal beauty that otherwise may have been forgotten or overlooked.
Gla5 is a visual artist, poet, bookmaker, production designer, and educator. Play is at the center of their practice. Their process is an experimental one embracing impulse and adventure. Their compositions are informed by relationships among bodies of varying shapes, materials, and densities. Interests that come up in their work include a discernment between symbols and non-symbols, dream states, the portrayal of energy in action, and a fixation on forms such as cups, tables, and spoons.
“I generally think of my work as depicting a layer of life that exists underneath what we see in our everyday lives.”
Gladys Harlow is a sound-based performance artist, comedian, and activist who experiments with found objects, contact mics, textures, range, analog formats, present moments, and emotions. Through raw, avant-garbage performance art, they aim to breakdown societal barriers, abolish oppressive systems, and empower communities. Gladys was born in Queens, NY, raised in Miami, FL and has deep roots in Venezuela. Currently haunting in Philadelphia, PA, Gladys is a founding member of Sound Museum Collective. SMC holds space for reconstructing our relationships to sounds by creating a platform for women, nonbinary, and trans sound artists and engineers.
Street Rat is a visceral exploration of the mysteries of life. Attempting to bring heavy concepts to your reality, it is the eye on the ground that sees and translates all intersecting issues as they merge, explode, dissolve, and implode. Street Rat is Gladys Harlow's way of comprehending, coping, feeling, taking action, disrupting the status quo, and rebuilding our path.
All Power To The People originated as a recorded performance intended to demystify sound by revealing the tools, wires, and movements used to create it. All Power To The People evolved into an installation conceived specifically for this exhibition. The installation includes a theremin and oscillator built by Gladys, a tarot deck they made by hand, and books from the artist's personal collection, amongst other elements. Gladys has created a structure of comfort and exploration. They welcome all visitors of divine knowing to play with the instrument, flip freely through the books, and pull a tarot card to take home.
Phoebe Hart is an experimental animator and filmmaker. A majority of her work is centered around mental illness and the line between dreams and reality. Merry Go Round is a sculptural zoetrope that changes in shape and color as it spins. Its form is inspired by nature and its color by the circus. The video’s sound was produced by Hayden Waggener. It consists of reverbing chimes which are in rhythm with the stop animation’s movement; both oscillate seamlessly between serene and anxious states.
“I often don't plan the sculptures or objects I am fabricating, there is a vague image in my mind, and my hands take care of the rest. I find that sometimes overthinking is what can get me and other artists stuck. If I just abandon my judgments and ego, I can really let go and create work that feels like it came inherently from me.”
Powerviolets is the solo project of multi-instrumentalist Violet Hetson who is currently based in New York. After experiencing several false starts while bouncing coast to coast, recording and performing with several lineups, Hetson has finally released her debut album. ~No Boys~ namesake is a sarcastic sign she hung on her suburban CT teenage bedroom door. Violet Hetson grew up primarily listening to punk and hardcore. She parses elements of these genres with influences from bands such as X and Suburban Lawns. ~No Boys~ takes a softer, melodic approach to Hetson's punk roots. Powerviolets' music is linear, unconventional, dark, and airy with a sense of humor.
Mary Hunt is a fiber artist specializing in chain stitch embroidery. This traditional form of embroidery uses vintage machinery and thick thread to create fibrous art and embellishments. They use an approach called "thread painting," which requires each stitch to be hand guided by the turn of a knob underneath the table while the speed of movement is controlled by a foot pedal. Chainstitch works can take anywhere from 20 minutes to 200 hours, encouraging a slow and thoughtful process. Mary uses a Cornely A machine, made in Paris more than 100 years ago.
“I think we are sent messages and guidance constantly. Our intuition is simply our ability to clear the path for those messages. The largest obstacles on my artistic path are usually self-imposed negative thoughts. I simply do things to take care of my spiritual well-being, first and foremost, and the rest follows. If I can trust the universe, trust the process, then I am much more likely to listen to the messages sent my way.”
Jes the Jem is a multi-media artist working with acrylic, watercolor, mold clay, and whatever else she can get her hands on. She uses vivid color to bring joy into the lives of those who view her art. Jes the Jem has experienced a great deal of pain in her life. Through that unique displeasure, she has been gifted a nuanced perspective. She aims to energize the present while paying homage to the past events that shape us. In her art, her life, and her interpersonal relationships, Jes the Jem appreciates the gift of all of life's experiences.
“The pursuit of happiness and understanding is instinct.”
Pamela Kivi pieces together visual scraps she has saved over the years, choosing to fuse them at whatever present moment she sees fit. Her work reflects on creative mania, fleeting emotions, and memories. Pamela's collages are a compilation of unexpected elements that include: old notebooks, cut-outs, text messages or Facebook message conversations, nostalgic cellphone photos, and visual materials she has chosen to hold onto. She prints out, cuts up, scans, edits, repeats. Pamela's artistic practice is deeply personal. It is a submittal to the process of dusting things off until a reflection can be seen, all enacted without an attachment to the end result.
“I rely on intuition and whatever state of mind I am in to whisk me away. In life, I often confuse intuition with anxiety- when it comes to creative work, I can decipher the two.”
Through sobriety, Kendall Kolenik's focus has shifted toward self-discovery and shedding old adaptive patterns, a process that led her to a passion for helping others heal themselves too. In autumn, she will begin her Masters in Social Work at Columbia University.
“I love how when I'm painting my self-doubt becomes so apparent. Painting shows me exactly where my doubt lies, which guides me towards overriding it. When I paint something and lean into doubt, I don't like what comes out. When I take note of the resistance and go with my gut more freely, I love it. This reminds me of my yoga practice. What you practice on the mat is a metaphor for how you show up in life. By breathing through the uncomfortable poses on the mat, you learn to breathe through challenging life moments.
I think we all grow up learning to numb and edit ourselves. We are taught not to trust our feelings; we are told to look outside ourselves for answers when we already have a perfectly good compass within. Painting is an archway back to that for me - rediscovering self-reliance and faith in my first instinct. When I'm creating these rainbow squares, sometimes I move so fast it's like something else is carrying me. I sort of leave myself and enter a trance. Like how you don't have to tell the heart to beat or the lungs to breathe - thinking goes away and I can get so close to my knowing that I become it. I love how art allows me to access my love for ambiguity, interpretation, and an interpretation that feels closer to Truth. I find no greater purpose than guiding people back to safety and reconnecting them with themselves. The most important thing to ever happen in my life was when I stopped trying to deny my reality - listening to your intuition can be like a freefall - no one but you can ever know or tell you - it is a deep trust without any outside proof.”
Lucille Loffredo is a music school dropout, Jewish trans lesbian, and veterinary assistant doing her best to make sure each day is better than the last. Lucille tries to find the music rather than make it. She lets it tell her what it wants to do and what it wants to be. The Wandering EP was in part written as a way to come out to herself. She asks all listeners to please be gentle.
“Change will come, and it will be good. You are who you think you are, no matter how far it seems.”
Whitney Lorenze generally works without reference, making thick, graphic pictures with precise forms conceived almost entirely from her imagination. Images like a slowly rolling car crackling out of a driveway, afternoon sun rays shining through a cloud of humidity, or headlights throwing a lined shadow across a black bedroom inspire her.
“As it concerns my own practice and the creation of artworks generally, I would define intuition as the ability to succumb to some primal creative impulse. Of course, this implies also the ability to resist the temptations of producing a calculated or contrived output.”
Ellie Mesa began teaching herself to paint at the age of 15, exploring landscapes and portraiture. Her work has evolved into a style of painting influenced by surrealism where teddy bears will morph into demons and vice versa. Her work speaks to cuteness, the grotesque, and mystical beings. The painting "Kali" is an homage to the Hindu goddess of creation, destruction, life and death. This was Ellie's first painting after becoming sober and is an expression of the aforementioned forces in her own life. Through meditations on Kali, Elli has been able to find beauty in the cycle of love and loss.
“To me, intuition means doing the thing that feels right whether or not it's what you want it to be. When I'm painting or making a sculpture, I give myself the freedom to follow what feels right, even if that means starting over or changing it completely. I allow the piece to present itself to me instead of forcing something that doesn't want to be.”
Mari Ogihara is a sculptor exploring duality, resilience, beauty, and serenity as experienced through the female gaze. Her work is informed by the duality of womanhood and the contradictions of femininity. In particular, the multitude of roles we inhabit as friend, lover, sister, and mother and their complex associations to the feminine perspective.
“Intuition is an innate, immediate reaction to an experience. While making art, I try to balance intuition, logic, and craftsmanship.”
All Of Me Is War by Ames Valaitis addresses the subconscious rifts society initiates between women, estranging them from each other and themselves.
“It is an unspoken, quick, and quiet battle within me as the feeling of intuition purely, and when I am making a drawing. I am immediately drawn to poses and subject matter that reflect the emotion inside myself, whether it is loud or under the surface. If a line or figure doesn't move me, after working on it for a few minutes, I get rid of it. If something looks right to me immediately, I keep it; nurture it. I try to let go of my vision, let my instinct take hold. I mirror this in my life as I get older, choosing who and what to put my energy into. The feeling is rarely wrong; I'd say we all know inherently when it is time to continue or tap out.”
Chardel Williams is a self-taught artist currently living in Bridgeport. Her biggest inspiration is her birthplace of Jamaica. Chardel views painting as a method for blocking out chaos. Her attraction to the medium springs from its coalescence of freedom, meditative qualities, and the connection it engenders. rears.
“Intuition for me is going where my art flows. I implement it in my practice by simply creating space and time to listen. There are times when what I'm painting is done in everyone else's eyes, but I just keep picking at it. Sometimes I would stop painting a piece and go months without touching it. Then, out of nowhere, be obsessed with finishing. I used to get frustrated with that process, but now I go with it. I stopped calling it a block and just flow with it. I listen because my work talks.”
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This is A LOT.
I see so many instances mental unhealth, heartbreak, distraught romanticized in the media and social media.
Let me set the record straight.
Tears don't always come the moment you realize a loss. Sometimes, they do. When it is absolute. Like the time I learned I lost my Oma or my dog Gina, I was near instantly overcome with intense anxiety and sadness. It was hard to breathe.
But other times, like this loss...it waits. It builds. You know the loss isn't absolute, but there is a loss.
The subject might not be lost to the world, but the subject is lost to you, seemingly for ever. You wait. You ponder.
Where is your place in the loss.
Could you have prevented it?
Can you make it easier?
No matter what in the end, a piece of you and the subject is lost forever. An idea you held on so dearly. A feeling. Hope. Love.
Loss. It waits. It builds.
You recite the story over and over, sometimes becoming teary-eyed, but never breaking.
You drive, triggered along the way, vision blurs, but never enough to slow you.
You feel, a building depth inside your being, welling up, taking up so much space, but nowhere to go.
You carry it with you. The weight. Day to day, interaction to interaction. Hoping it goes unnoticed. Maybe it does, in some instances.
It does not feel unnoticed. The weight is real. You feel it. Swelling. Like a dam. That won't break. Just...release. You say "I'm ready" or "I have time now, go!" but it won't.
Grief does not operate on your logistic, convenient terms.
This is grief.
This is loss.
It hides behind a coping façade.
"I'm having a hard time" you say through tearless eyes.
"I'm doing okay" you say through calm, collected breaths.
You look fine.
You feel okay,
after a while.
Time passes.
"Okay I got this, let's move forward"
The song hits you in the gut.
This time its
can't get it out - Brand New (problematic, I'm aware)
Yes.
Someone knows the damn. Dam.
Eyes water. Okay.
Nose starts to run. I guess we're ugly crying now.
Hide and Seek - Imogen Heap (but the Amber Run cover so the lyrics hit different)
Hyperventilate. Suffocating. Gasp for air, frantically.
You know this...You've been here before. Acute loss.
Realization. Nothing will be as it was.
Comfort in another... gone.
You've been waiting.
"Come at me tears"
Be cathartic. Free me.
You've forgotten what entails a good sob.
Snotty nose. Can't breathe.
Desire to calm.
Desire to see it through and let it,
do what it needs. What you need.
Imagine a paper bag.
Now you know why you've seen them in comics or TV.
Slow. Down.
You imagine the bag sucked in against your nose a lips rapidly. Panic.
Was this the point? To make you feel suffocated?
No. The point is to help regain control.
You control the bag, you control your breath.
In for 1...2...3...4
Out for 1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8
That's what school, etc have taught me.
Slow down your out-breath. Worry less about IN.
OUT controls the parasympathetic nervous system.
You slow down. You feel okay.
Okay, let's carry on.
Big Black Heart–Better Oblivion Community Center
Do you deserve calm right now? How is the subject? Do they ache?
You know others have ached like you ache.
Tears for them. All.
You can't possibly be calm already.
The hurt can't be this small.
Just a few minutes? A song?
No.
You let your paper bag be caught in the wind out a window.
You have not hurt enough, through your lungs.
Chest.
There is still hurt stored. Like batteries.
Waiting to be used.
Okay.
"Come at me while I'm hot"
"I got this"
And you mean it, this time.
You can stop it anytime you want.
All you need is a paper bag.
In your mind.
Hyperventilate again.
Claw at your arms.
Good thing you just trimmed your nails.
Dig in, but don't leave marks.
Claw/grab at your ribcage like you're trying to free your lungs.
Escape.
From this bone prison. Person.
Let it out. Yell. Let it outside you.
Give it to the universe,
so that,
it may find
who needs to know it's okay.
Okay to feel and act unhinged when you are safe.
Okay to sob or ugly cry until you literally can't breathe because for days, weeks, or months, it has already felt like you couldn't
anyways.
Wait it out. Like a storm.
Collect, breathe, take a break.
Cry. Sob again. Hyperventilate.
Collect.
Not like a storm,
you CAN control this.
You get to have this time.
If you are lucky, it will wait.
Until it is "socially acceptable"
Until you have privacy.
In the evening.
Alone.
When just the right songs come on in succession.
Like the universe knows–and it does–what you need.
Well heck. I'm here to say you don't need to be alone.
You don't need privacy, if you can't get it–to feel grief.
And heck, you shouldn't have to wait for privacy.
Sadness. Grief. Loss.
These are human.
"Coping" day to day...or "functioning" as society would prefer you to...
Shut it down. Out.
Move along now.
Forward.
You got this.
Distract.
Whatever means possible.
I'm here to show my ugly crying self.
Share how ugly loss and grief really is.
How ugly it is, and how privacy makes it uglier.
Hiding behind a mask that you're "fine" shuts people out.
People who want to support.
People who want to see your grief and hold space for it.
People who feel it bottled up, feel a damn dam.
Where is the release?
It will come when it does. We have no real say.
We can contain it for a time, but it has to go,
and it should. Go.
Calming your breathing is good. The paper bag helps. Regain your blood oxygen level.
Think.
Do I need more?
Do I have more to unload?
Is there more I'm willing to let go at this time?
Sometimes it's a yes. Sometimes no.
But if it comes knocking on your soul's door,
I hope you embrace it, give it space.
Grief needs space.
Hiding, minimizing does no favors.
Let it roar, so that it does not become
displaced
in anger
at others.
Give yourself the compassion to let it out
like you would an upset child, friend.
It is not pretty, but it does leave you feeling
lighter
unburdened or
less burdened.
And maybe, just maybe, your expression of grief will reach another person energetically to do the same.
Maybe someone who is attached or connected to your grief, so they can let it go too.
Or maybe, a random soul who just needs that
extra push
to know it's okay.
You're not alone.
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Kawahara and Trauma: by me, who has PTSD
So, the SAO fandom (and related Accel World and very small Isolator fandoms) has a pretty mixed bag of fans, but I’ve noticed I’m not alone in reading and watching it for its take on PTSD. These three stories all have exciting, fun elements and stories that can be loved by a large number of people, so it isn’t like trauma is their only selling point. So, AJ- why the big deal about PTSD in Kawahara’s writing?
(Spoilers for Sword Art Online, Accel World, and The Isolator peppered throughout the post. TW for various mentions of traumatic events.)
Firstly, why is this an important topic?
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that stems from experiencing something terrifying. That terrifying thing can be what people tend to think of when they think of the term PTSD (i.e., being in a war zone) but it can also be something that many people don’t typically find terrifying (i.e., death of a family member from illness).
Representation in media is important for many people, so accurately portraying or portraying certain aspects of people’s lives is important to those people. For me, seeing PTSD handled the way it is in Kawahara’s works is very special to me, who both has PTSD and has loved ones with PTSD.
So, what’s so special about Kawahara’s takes?
Kawahara handles it in a very varied way. Not all of his characters have equivalent trauma, nor do they all respond to trauma the same way. Their PTSD manifests in different ways and stems from different things. Let’s break this down by series.
Sword Art Online
Kirito, whose perspective is the most intimate in the series because the writing usually focuses on his first person perspective but others’ third person perspective, has the most detailed image of PTSD. He’s been shown to have nightmares in the Phantom Bullet arc, noticeably gets very angry and switches into a fight or flight mode when triggered, and has even panicked when he thought he killed someone.
We’ve seen him shaking after running into Death Gun and connecting him to Laughing Coffin. When he fights Fanatio with Eugeo in the novel, Eugeo notices he turns uncharacteristically panicky as he realized he might have killed her. And in the Fairy Dance arc, when cornered on the bridge underground with Leafa, his switch flips because he refuses to die and doesn’t yet get that he can’t physically die in a game.
But we also have Sinon- who reacts a bit differently to trauma. Recall that seeing guns make her physically sick in a way that Kirito never deals with. She throws up, has to hide the image of the gun before she feels worse. Her fingers freeze on the trigger of even a virtual gun when it gets pretty bad. That freezing up, nauseated reaction is in stark contrast to Kirito’s more lively outbursts.
They aren’t the only characters dealing with trauma, though. Asuna is mentioned in the first arc to have nightmares that keep her awake, and she plows through her trauma ignoring it to the point of violent insanity. She pushes her issues down and very rarely do we, the audience, see them come out. She’s shown to have a flashback to her near-death in SAO in Ordinal Scale, and when she begins to lose her memories, we see her have another unsettling dream. But she deals with her frustration and trauma quietly, away from Kirito, which he respects and chooses to give her distance because she needs it.
Klein, even, who usually doesn’t get much attention, is shown to have a panic attack in Ordinal Scale when Eiji fights him. We don’t get much of a view on how Klein deals with it, but we do know that his panic triggered quite a bit of screaming from the one scene we did get.
Lisbeth is revealed to deal with trauma shortly in Alicization, when she addresses fellow gamers in ALO. She mentions the nightmares (a key depiction of PTSD in SAO) and the therapy she and the other students have to go through. She’s a very “push it to the back of your mind and make a quip” sort of character, too. Like Asuna, she focuses on something else, but for her, she’s doing her best to get others to laugh with her.
There’s also more negative portrayals, such as Laughing Coffin/Death Gun members who succumb to violence and delusions. They refuse to cope with their trauma and turn to violent outlets. We also see Eugeo, whose trauma numbly drives him forwards, and can lead him to unpleasant actions, such as his move to kill Deusolbert and his intent to die fighting Administrator. His trauma gives him those intrusive thoughts of violence and suicidal behavior, including the feeling of being unloved.
Accel World
The crux of Accel World is that avatars are basically born from mental scars (trauma). Avatars are trauma worn on the sleeves of the players, so while they aren’t obvious to other players, they are painfully obvious to the individual controlling them. I won’t cover every single character, since the whole point is that they’re all traumatized here, but I will make some key points.
First off, we’ll start with Haruyuki himself. This is the big point- unlike the traumas we see in SAO, Haruyuki’s trauma might seem a bit meek. His trauma stems from years of bullying. His self-confidence was eaten away at and he cowers and wants to flee the bullying, giving birth to Silver Crow. Portraying the results of bullying as trauma is SUCH a big deal, and it’s pretty obvious why.
A lot of people scoff at PTSD stemming from situations they don’t see as traumatic in the real world, and there are a few times I can think off where Haruyuki wonders if bullying really is a mental scar when compared to the traumas of other Brain Burst players. But Kawahara is showing us that PTSD isn’t just a condition for people in life or death situations. It can apply to someone who was bullied just the same.
Haruyuki’s trauma births an avatar the same way Kuroyukihime’s did: her trauma comes from her family. She’s cut off from them and feels unloveable and forms an untouchable avatar from that feeling.
Some of the kids in Accel World had traumas that stemmed from something physical- Utai has her aphasia. Fuko has her prosthetic legs. But others stem from personal relationships, such as feeling like friends are slipping away (Chiyuri), being orphaned (Niko), or having a lack of identity (Cobalt and Manganese from the Leonids).
Kawahara treats all of these traumas as worthy of forming an avatar born from mental scars, which turns a story that seems filled to the brim with fanservice and fighting into something that is far more meaningful and validates traumas of all kinds.
The Isolator
A bit of a hidden gem, for those that don’t know of it, Isolator is a sci-fi story about alien orbs that come down to Earth and implant themselves in human hosts. These orbs come in two kinds- black (Jet Eyes) and red (Ruby Eyes), and they give the hosts superhuman powers which, much like Accel World’s avatars, appear to stem from some sort of persona trauma. Jet Eyes appear to be the good guys, while Ruby Eyes are shown to have a killing intent paired with their powers and appear to be the bad guys.
The main character, Minoru, received these Jet Eye powers and was given an impenetrable shell around his body that he can activate from his breathing. The only thing that can pass through the shell is light, and the only thing it can surround is something Minoru acknowledges as part of himself. (Clothing, something he’s already holding).
This power comes from his desire to isolate himself from other human beings after his family is murdered when he was little. He feels that forming relationships is risky because he’ll hurt if he loses someone like that again. His PTSD in this regard is very extreme and he handles it by forcing everyone out of his life, in some cases very coldly if he has to.
On the opposite side, what makes Isolator a really engaging work is not the protagonists’ trauma- but rather the antagonists’ traumas. Each main villain of the volume until volume 5 focused very deeply on the namesake of the volume and their trauma that drives them as a Ruby Eye to kill. I’ll focus on two of my favorites because this is getting longer than anticipated.
Igniter. He was implated with the Ruby Eye as he attempted collective suicide with his family by driving his car off of a bridge into a river. He was already traumatized by his failures in life enough to think that he needed to end it, but what’s interesting is that the Ruby Eye based his powers off of the in-progress suicide attempt and not his feelings of failure and desire to die because of it. This highlights that sometimes we as people have multiple traumas that can manifest differently in ourselves or have different reactions from us. His brain registers his failed suicide as more traumatic to him than his feelings of losing everything and failing, thus the Ruby Eye feeds on his newfound fear of water.
Trancer, unlike prior Ruby Eyes in volumes 1 and 2, is a teenager. His trauma is is very particular in that he watched a friend die of something that didn’t kill him. They were locked in a freezer hiding from abusive parents, and his friend died while he survived. While the backstory is sad, it doesn’t seem all that interesting when compared to the other traumas I’ve highlighted, so let’s look at how Trancer responds to his trauma through his interactions with a Jet Eye, Olivier.
Trancer and Olivier both are upset about the loss of a girl in their lives; for Trancer, his friend died in the freezer, and for Olivier, his sister was kidnapped by Ruby Eyes. While the reasons behind this have not yet been revealed as of volume 5, it’s clear that Trancer throws their possession of Olivier’s sister, Claire, in his face as a defense mechanism regarding his trauma. He lost his friend, therefore he took something important to Olivier to take it out on someone else: a classic example of bullying stemmed from trauma.
What’s the main takeaway here?
Kawahara’s treatment of trauma and PTSD in his works is very diverse. He handles it in a way that I can appreciate as someone who has PTSD and has loved ones with PTSD.
#sword art online#accel world#the isolator#zettai naru isolator#sword art online alicization#sword art online war of underworld#sword art online ii#ptsd#tw suicude#tw war mention#tw death#tw gun#long post
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Blending left field jazz elements with club tropes to forge something truly new, Emma-Jean Thackray's work is never less than riveting. New album Yellow is out on July 2, with the composer commenting: “It’s a record about togetherness, the oneness of all things in the universe, showing love and kindness, human connection. I approached the record by trying to simulate a life-changing psychedelic experience, an hour where we see behind the curtain to a hidden dimension, where the physical realm melts away and we finally see that we are all one.” Set to be released via her own Movementt imprint, the album is led by gorgeous new single 'Say Something' - opening with glimmers of Rhodes piano, it leans on that hi-hat shuffle before Emma-Jean Thackray uses her voice to elevate the song. A plea towards communication, it's a powerful introduction. [via Clash]
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Philadelphia punk rockers Mannequin Pussy have released the title track to Perfect, their upcoming EP due out May 21. The new song comes with a flashy music video that’s inspired by the kitschy glamor of Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, too. Musically, 'Perfect' is a distorted blaze of rock guitars that sees vocalist-guitarist Missy eviscerating the idea that people must manicure their own social media presence. “Last year, I found myself spending more time on my phone than I ever had in my life… I realized that through years of social media training, many of us have grown this deep desire to manicure our lives to look as perfect, as aspirational as possible,” explained Missy in a statement. “We want to put ourselves out there, share our lives, our stories, our day to day — and these images and videos all shout the same thing: ‘Please look at me, please tell me I’m so perfect.’ It’s simultaneously a declaration of our confidence but edged with the desperation that seeks validation from others.” In the accompanying music video, directed by Missy, viewers get to watch as a 10-year reunion at Sugarbush High slowly unravels. It opens on three former classmates, all three of whom are pregnant, dishing some hushed gossip and talking about how they want to get plastic surgery that’s so good they mistake one another for strangers. Cue two students-turned-drag queens making a grand entrance and strutting their stuff on the dance floor (mirroring the 1997 comedy classic) while old classmates gasp, shield their eyes, and panic. Meanwhile, Mannequin Pussy can be seen tearing up the band stage while they perform live. [via Consequence]
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Following the release of her debut EP I Can’t Cry For You in December, Manchester’s Phoebe Green is back with new bop ‘IDK’. “[It] explores a complete detachment from reality, observing things from a place of total apathy and feeling as though I’m witnessing my life as a bystander with little to no connection to it,” Phoebe explains. “It’s a horrible state to be in, I think it happens when I get overwhelmed.” [via DIY]
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Fast-rising French-Korean artist spill tab is unveiling her latest mesmerising single ‘Anybody Else’. Accompanied by a new vid directed by friend and collaborator Jade Sadler, spill tab says, “This song is cheesy as fuck but I love it, it’s pretty straight forward, a little shameless - the lyrics are sort of a way of expressing my love without openly saying I love you. Jade Sadler (the video director) and I just wanted to have a shit ton of fun on this one. We thought about something with narrative or plot and it was just getting to be too corny. I wanted something lighthearted and playful, so we decided we would have all of our homies in this video paired with different colors and angles and set designs. I’m so excited with the way it turned out.” [via DIY]
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Willow Kayne has shared her debut single 'Two Seater'. The Gen Z talent links together huge opposing forces, creating her own potent brand of rebel-pop. New single 'Two Seater' finds Willow blazing a trail, upending convention through melding together differing sounds. The lush, 90s inspired soundscape leans on nostalgic impulses, but her punk-like disregard for convention is sheer pop futurism. Produced by DANIO, it finds Willow Kayne coming into her own completely off the bat. [via Clash]
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BENEE has shared a video for her single ‘Happen To Me’. It’s the latest cut from her debut album, Hey u x, which arrived last November featuring guest spots from the likes of Grimes, Lily Allen and Flo Milli. “This song is super important to me,” she says. “It’s the opening track [on the album]. It’s the first song where I’ve written about anxiety. The lyrics are pretty dark. Life is pretty crazy right now, and I think it’s important to talk about this kind of stuff.” Of the video, she adds: “Stoked to be sharing this music video with everyone! I filmed it with a bunch of mates, and it was the coolest set! Hope you love it as much as I do.” [via Dork]
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Los Angeles-based art-pop artist Kit Major has shared the music video for 'When the Drugs Don't Work,' a more introspective stab at her signature dark, electropop sound. Blending driving dance beats and thumping hyperpop-influenced synths, Kit Major creates an intoxicating elixir of soundbites and grit. Taking inspiration from Charli XCX, Billie Eilish, and Charlotte Lawrence, 'When the Drugs Don't Work' dives into the overwhelming vulnerability and panic of failing to curb a depressive episode with medication. With this release, Kit Major furthers her efforts to be open and make light of her mental health struggles. On the video, Kit Major shares, "'When The Drugs Don't Work' was filmed in one weekend, directed by my best friend in my departed grandparents' now empty house. We filmed this in quarantine without a crew and worked to create a dark & twisted fairytale together. When I first started thinking about the video, I knew I wanted a more lighthearted take to balance the darker theme of my mental health in the song. I wrote the lyric, “little princess hurt locked away inside her palace,” because sometimes when I'm isolated in my room I visualize myself as a Disney princess running inside her castle, instead of being in my bed, surrounded by empty water bottles. This song was written from a mix of different perspectives including my own, my persona, and outside voices. I think we accomplished the storytelling behind WTDDW by portraying the importance of imagination and trusting yourself." Alongside, director Noël Dombroski adds, "WDDW is a raw, introspective song from Kit that shines a light on parts of herself that at times may be hard to face. We were lucky enough to be able to shoot at Kit's late grandparents' house, an emotionally significant location that acts in the video as the inside of Kit's head. We wanted to challenge viewers to look at every facet of themselves and realize that each part is valuable, even if you may not like it. A conversation we had a lot was about the color scene, where the image of Kit is being pulled apart by color channels. You may hate one of those colors, but you still need it to create that full image. The same can sometimes be said about depression - it may be a layer of yourself that you don't care for, but without that experience, I don't know that WDDW could exist." The music video dives into the psychological turmoil at the heart of the track with a hyperstylized touch. Spotlights wander through a funhouse version of Kit's childhood home, hunting down our protagonist, who we find trapped behind bars, downing teardrops from teacups and champagne from the bottle. Simultaneously unnerving and stimulating in a Paranormal Activity-meets Alice in Wonderland aestheticism, the music video for 'When the Drugs Don't Work' dives into the floating images of a mental breakdown with a fever dream lucidity.
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Number One Popstar continues to prove herself as a powerhouse, shaking up the music world with her fresh, unapologetic beats. This week, she shares another one, her new single 'Forever 21.' And no, it’s not about clothes. 'Forever 21' begins with a kicking beat, but subdued with reflective, twinkly keys. It’s a perfect mix of existential dread and dance. Carrying this vibe throughout, it breaks in between with a beaming guitar-driven bridge. Lyrically, the track makes us question why brands and media make it seem like our twenties are our prime, when we still have our whole lives ahead of us? Despite the effervescent pop sound, Hollowell got vulnerable about her past and its effect on the song, saying, "I initially started writing 'Forever 21' when I found myself looking back on my early 20’s, wanting to recapture the hopeful and dumb feelings of my youth. But the longer I spent on the song, the more it became a reflection of the loss I faced when my parents passed away in my early 20s. I started looking at my own fear of death, of dying like them. I really didn’t know where my life was headed back then. […] I eventually turned that painful experience into a motivation to go after everything I wanted in life. To be seriously less serious, recognizing everything is fleeting.” Like her other music videos, Hollowell likes to flip popular culture and societal expetations on their head. While also bringing the fear of aging to life, she also reminds audiences to stay present instead of holding on to youth. [via Earmilk]
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Following in the footsteps of Prince and Lizzo, Dizzy Fae is set to become the Twin Cities’ next pop sensation. She just dropped her brand new track, 'BODY MOVE', and much like the name suggests, it will make you want to move. Self-described as alternative R&B, Fae takes a few notes from contemporary hyperpop artists like Charli XCX and Doja Cat with an industrial iciness that plays off the technicolor pop melodies. It’s an influence you can hear on 'BODY MOVE', produced by New York’s Stelios (Young Thug, SZA). The track builds itself off a snappy, rubber band bass line indebted to pop’s recent disco revival. “It’d be so cruel if I didn’t let my body move,” Fea’s voice loops through a robotic filter. A buzzing drum machines barrels in at the chorus, transforming the lightly retro groove to a futuristic club track more akin to the production styles of 100 gecs. But for all the modern influences, the Ying Yang Twins reference shows she’s a student of all types of music. [via Consequence]
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Technically, 'Your Power' is not the lead single from Billie Eilish’s newly announced album Happier Than Ever. The album includes two songs she released last year: the jazzy, well received ballad 'my future' and the contemptuous multi-format radio hit 'Therefore I Am.' However, 'Your Power' is the first song Eilish has released since announcing the new album, debuting her new look, and officially commencing her LP2 era, so there’s definitely a deep sense of anticipations around the song. Eilish teased 'Your Power' this week with a brief sound snippet featuring acoustic guitar and the words “Try not to use your power” sung to a Feist-y melody. Now the full song and its Eilish-directed music video have arrived. The completed record remains as soft, pretty, and devastatingly sad as the preview audio. In the clip, a slow pan across a mountainside in the Simi Valley reveals Eilish in the clutches of a gigantic snake. (A press release specifies that it’s an 80-pound anaconda.) [via Stereogum]
#videos of the week#emma-jean thackray#mannequin pussy#phoebe green#spill tab#willow kayne#benee#kit major#number one popstar#dizzy fae#billie eilish
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Review: Extracurricular
Media Type: Korean Drama
Genre: Teen drama/Crime/Noir
Summary: Ji Soo, a diligent but poor high school student is saving for college and paying rent by moonlighting as a pimp. His precarious balance of school and work begins to fall apart when another student, Gyu-ri, discovers the truth about his job and wants in. Things spiral quickly out of their control.
Why you might care: If you enjoy watching teenagers do crime and get realistically in over their heads; if you are interested in dark shows with Really Good performances (in particular from the leads, who have enough chemistry for us to buy their toxic but unbreakable bond) or if you are interested in any of the themes of crime and class struggle.
Why you might not care: Give this one a pass if you don't like your shows dark and/or are looking for a happy ending. Importantly, pay attention to potential triggers in this show! (Suicidal ideation, self harm, violence against women, sexual assault, hallucinations, and torture all occur, although not always explicitly, on this show. Feel free to message me if you need more detailed warnings!)
Trope Bingo! Partners in crime/Bonnie and Clyde; enemies to sorta? lovers, literally I have no idea how to categorize their relationship
If you liked _______, try ______!
Can't say I've watched much in this vein! I've heard that School 2013 or Sky Castle are both excellent dramas about struggling high schoolers, but which have less grim endings. The Get Down is a great netflix show also about marginalized teenagers struggling to pursue their dreams despite the crime and violence they're surrounded by.
~Spoilers (not anything detailed but just to be safe) and overall thoughts under the cut~
Plot: I'll be honest, I'm not a big plot girl. Unless there's something stand-out about a story's plot, I tend to consider it more as a vehicle for character development than anything else. In this show's case, I was on the edge of my seat in horror for most episodes. The plot unfolds in a seemingly inevitable negative spiral that takes all of our characters down and leaves them far worse off than when they started. This show did rely a lot on coincidence, both positive and negative. Usually I would consider this a flaw, but I think it worked well here as a way to portray a random, unfeeling world around the characters and to emphasize the precarious nature of their situation.
Central character(s): I was really attached to both of the leads. They had the convincing contradictions and vulnerabilities of deeply troubled teenagers, and their different traumas and personalities played off of each other well. For all of Ji Soo's smarts and skill, he has a startling naivete and a tendency to panic when things don't go according to plan. Gyu-ri is equally smart, but loud and manipulative in contrast to Ji Soo's awkwardness and isolation. Gyu-ri pushes Ji Soo to try to expand his business to make up for his unexpected losses (decisions that drive the plot), but this goes against his every cautious instinct. Ji Soo tends to focus on maintaining what little he has, while Gyu-ri fully embraces the philosophy "the best defense is a good offense." Indeed, Gyu-ri is reckless to the point of suicidal, but the later episodes reveal a protective instinct that seems to be as unexpected to her as it is to the audience, an instinct which continually drives her to throw herself into harms way in defense of Ji Soo. The strongest development that both characters had was in their relationship with each other, which led them to be both braver and more open than they had ever been in their lives. But their involvement with each other and their reluctance to cut ties is part of how they got to where the show leaves them--cornered and bloody.
Romance: Technically this show has no romance, but I think it's fair to say that the leads develop an obsessive, Bonnie and Clyde-style relationship that is partially romantic in nature. Ji Soo has a distant crush on Gyu-ri at the beginning of the show, which she exploits. Honestly, some of the funniest moments in the show come from the contradiction between Ji Soo's side-hustle as a pimp and his complete and total inability to speak normally in Gyu-ri's presence. His disillusionment with her is genuinely painful, but necessary for their relationship to become one of equals. Their grudging partnership is abrasive, but their bond feels very convincing. No matter how much they resent each other, they're more strongly drawn to each other. (Watching Ji Soo pack up her discarded chip bags to bring with him on the run is just….. Its so….. Kids make me cry ok!) It's clear for both of these lonely and deeply messed up kids that simply having a partner--someone who they can reveal their ugly sides to and depend on--is an intoxicating feeling. By the end of the show, they'd kill for each other and probably die for each other. The show smartly doesn't ever "consummate" the romance--they don't really have enough downtime when they're not actively fighting to make it convincing, and despite everything they've done both characters are still very young. If there is a second season, this is a ship that is likely to sail (but possibly crash and burn).
Side Characters/Side plots: In a show like this one, which depicts a marginalized and frequently abused group of women, the presence of sympathetic characters who are also members of that group is crucial, or the drama would feel exploitative. This show's most prominent side plot depicts an underage sex worker, her post-traumatic stress response to a violent client, her struggle over whether or not to speak to the police, and her desire to find genuine human connection, whether it is with her shitty boyfriend or with her pimp. (Their odd father/daughter relationship was one of the most moving parts of the show!) While I thought the writing was sympathetic to Minhee's situation, she is frequently used as a reminder of the human consequences of the other character's actions. This is both good and bad--it's important to remind the characters and the viewer of how damaging their behavior is, but it also risks treating her as a more of a tool for the lead's development than a thoroughly explored character. Up until the last episode I think the writers gave her a distinct enough arc to avoid this pitfall, but depending on her ultimate fate (in a theoretical season 2) I could change my mind.
Tone: The tone is dark, tense, and constantly on the verge of slipping into chaos. Hallucinatory sequences play out as Ji Soo and Gyu-ri imagine themselves killing people, destroying things, or being buried alive. These sequences emphasize the character's instability, while also establishing the camera as an unreliable narrator of events in a way that pays off in the ambiguous final moments. The fantastic acting is buoyed by the directing to depict the precarious state of the leads' minds as their situation spirals further out of their control. Ji Soo's scenes feel claustrophobic and paralyzing--when he ventures out of his apartment to talk to Gyu-ri or to go to the café you get the blinking, shuffling sense of something emerging from a cave. Gyu-ri, on the other hand, is a loose cannon, and her scenes have a jittery, dangerous edge to them. As a whole, the show is excruciatingly tense and frustratingly unresolved.
Theme: This show is a full-fledged tragedy. It is a brilliant example of a negative change arc, with all of the characters taking more and more drastic actions while still managing to retain our loyalty. I think the writer's are clear that although none of these kids have made good choices, the real tragedy lies in how they have been abandoned, used, or neglected by the adults in their lives. The few adults who show any care for them are either relatively powerless themselves (like Mr. Lee and their teacher) or too late to avert disaster (like the prosecutor). Extracurricular is a grim look at how we fail vulnerable children to the point that even a boring, average life seems like an impossible dream.
#reviews#extracurricular#extracurricular netflix#i really liked this show guys!#but it is definitely dark and was a p upsetting watch#with that in mind#please more people watch this! im going nuts over here like like 5 other people!#yeah im going nutty over this show please interact#watch me post this wholeass review and it doesnt even show up in the tag
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When good and powerful arent substitute for actual personality in female characters aka Ben value to Rey's character.
The thing that i think makes women being so ride or die with Rey + Ben is the way he pushes her story and via their conflicts allows us to truly know Rey in all her struggles, pain and faults in opposition of just a)uncritically worship the floor she walks in therefore creating this bland boring heroine who is just great (cough cough you know what i mean) b) So devoided of goodness that automatically allows Rey to not ever reason or ask questions about herself and reflect on her choices and because of that we are never able to truly know all her edges.
Media lately is just unable to reflect on women with the same keen eye and absolute interest as he does on men. They are all trying to bank on feminism and empowerment as buzzwords they take of the most boring readings of what it means and make more or less the same story: "We are now gonna worship this woman that we are not developing into a fully complex person, she barely has backstory of faults or conflicts with her inner self or complex relationship with people that are either hero worshipping her or blatantly antagonizing and the narrative has decided they are -for exactly that- just evil. No, we are not developing her more. Shup up. You want female empowerment this is the absolute best we can conjure WHEN WILL WOMEN BE SATISFIED???".
It sucks me dry. Im so fucking not excited about this that my sex drive is now residing with Walt Disney's body in Chryogenic state.
We found ourselves trying to swallow that bland cardboard boring woman that we cant relate to because honestly we are far more interesting and the women in our lives are far more interesting but we have been gaslighted by the industry to think this is the absolute best we can aspire.
Enters the absolute accident that is Ben Solo (I honestly believe he is an accident made by Rian Johnson) whose fucking job in the narrative is make us discover a lot of complexity inside our Rey.
He is not here hero worshipping her (Okay he totally is all the time but gladly it does not come across that way all the time). He has his own garbage going on to just dedicate himself to nurture her in a way that is safe for her and also he is not a total dick that she can get herself of the hook and not interact with him ever.
And what happens? Wow...we get to know Rey thanks to that. We get to know that she in fact a person looking -wrongly- for parental figures, denying herself joy and adulthood because she wants to relive the infancy she never had. We learn that she is actually really feral and angry and fucking impulsive to a fault. We learn that she is brash and follows her instinct always.
We learn that she also longs for freedom of those expectations. That she in fact questions autoritive figures and wants to let go on them.
Its amazing how much of what we now about Rey that makes her into this fully fleshed character is thanks to just putting Ben there and let them both have conflicts and question each other and be allowed to be less than nice but also incredible compassionate and just connected overall. That raw intimacy allows us to see Rey at her worst and her best.
I honestly ask people to just go look for anything interesting and human we learn about Rey that comes from interacting with any other character? Something that it is not another copy of the bland cardboard heroine media always serves us. Ill wait.
He is her literal Jack Dawson propelling her story pushing her out of her comfort zone into what she desires. This is the role all female characters play for men in fiction and he is here..just doing that for her.
There is a female gazey heaven and Jack and Ben stand there.
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