A Critical Forum on Media and Culture
A Critical Forum on Media and Culture
Dr. Elizabeth Ellcessor examines the emergency alert message in terms of its production and dissemination as constructed and negotiated texts. She considers the infrastructures and institutions of campus safety, emergency management, and policing.
Read moreDr. Jess King explores how standardized rules for screenplay formatting constrain the representation of intersectional identities that are historically underrepresented. They note how disrupting the standardized white space of screenplays can make room for new characters, such as Vida’s Emma.
Read moreZizi Li discusses Shudu and the practice of creating virtual 3-D Black models and influencers, exploring the post-racial politics and commodification of Black labor and femininity in fashion and social media.
Read moreDr. Emily West discusses the lacuna in scholarship about NCIS and argues for critical interrogation of popular and mainstream texts alongside “quality” and fan favorite content.
Read moreLauren Rouse and Mel Stanfill present the results of a survey of users of popular fan fiction hosting site Archive of Our Own (AO3), providing updated statistics on fan fiction readers and writers.
Read moreAidan Moir examines how the seemingly non-commercial platform BeReal has been utilized by beauty brands to interpolate users as authentic consuming citizens within their larger brand communities.
Read moreEmily Lynell Edwards explores how office or knowledge work is performed on BeReal. Edwards cautiously explores the consciousness-raising potentials of these performances of work within the platform to illustrate how BeReal reflects broader shifts in contemporary labor politics.
Read moreJasmine Banks, Mel Monier, and Olivia Stowell examine the desires for authenticity and nostalgia at the core of BeReal’s affordances. These authors argue that the staying power of this app is yet to be seen, the structures of feelings evoked and constructed through the app’s design points towards enduring subject-making processes of the digital.
Read moreTaylor Annabell examines how the platform BeReal encourages visibility through smiling selfies. Annabell argues this directive of happiness reveals how the construction of authenticity has particular implications for young women.
Read moreJ.D. Swerzenski and Brendan McCauley examine how BeReal creates discursive boundaries of reality through its format and platform design. The authors argue BeReal shows how our contemporary conception of “real” is always already produced by and for screens.
Read moreYou’re working remotely at a local coffee shop. Waiting at the baggage carousel for your suitcase to arrive at the airport. Attending the funeral of a loved one. Standing in line at the bank. Suddenly, your phone pings with an all too familiar notification. It’s time to BeReal.
Read moreAnanya Reddy & Priya C. Kumar detail their findings on how college students understand impression management and BeReal.
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