Presently, the average American consumes over eight hours or media each day. We are bombarded by images that neither represent us nor please us. Ribcages and clavicles are trademarks of the fashion and advertising industries, pushing our mothers, our sisters, our friends, and ourselves farther from the spotlight and deeper into isolation. Blonde hair and blue eyes dominate movie posters and television screens, while most people wonder if they will ever see the reflections in their mirrors held in the same esteem. Straight white teeth and perfect skin are the public’s obsession while most high schoolers want nothing more than to shrink away from sight. Straight white actors are the majority in Hollywood and they tell the same tired stories
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Online petitions have led to laws that were ratified by congress. Twitter hashtags have led to entire ad campaigns being shut down due to backlash over the harmful message. Yet, little positive change has occurred regarding media. Perhaps it is the result of multiple generations of being raised in this culture or perhaps we simply don’t know how or where to start. If we want to see a prominent of example of positive representation in the media, we have to go back to the days of tube televisions and turn back the hands of time a half a century.
“Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.” Those were the lines first spoken by Captain James T. Kirk on early September night on September 8th, 1966 televisions in homes across America flickered to life to reveal the science fiction brainchild of Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek. The adventures of the Enterprise’s flooded into living rooms and across the faces of parents and children alike; little did anyone know that the show would endure and lead to change American culture. At the same time, social rights movements were swinging to life and truly bringing change. What do a show about space exploration and the greater civil rights movement have in common? Quite a lot
Online petitions have led to laws that were ratified by congress. Twitter hashtags have led to entire ad campaigns being shut down due to backlash over the harmful message. Yet, little positive change has occurred regarding media. Perhaps it is the result of multiple generations of being raised in this culture or perhaps we simply don’t know how or where to start. If we want to see a prominent of example of positive representation in the media, we have to go back to the days of tube televisions and turn back the hands of time a half a century.
“Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.” Those were the lines first spoken by Captain James T. Kirk on early September night on September 8th, 1966 televisions in homes across America flickered to life to reveal the science fiction brainchild of Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek. The adventures of the Enterprise’s flooded into living rooms and across the faces of parents and children alike; little did anyone know that the show would endure and lead to change American culture. At the same time, social rights movements were swinging to life and truly bringing change. What do a show about space exploration and the greater civil rights movement have in common? Quite a lot