March is certainly a busy month for me but I’m thrilled to be participating in a WAM! sponsored event. After Remixing Pop Culture at Cal State Northridge on Thursday March 25th, I’ll be heading straight over to Santa Monica to present a series of online videos made by women. I will celebrate women’s use of video to take action and comment on issues that are most important to them by screening online videos in the form of remix, video blogging and documentary. The videos discuss a range of topics from pop cultural criticism to anti war messages. I will be joined by a Kamala Lopez and a screening of her film “A Single Woman” and Carla Ohrendorff will speak about feminist activism and media.
The events will take place Thursday, March 25, 2010 at Santa Monica College, Bundy Campus (Bundy 123) @ 3171 South Bundy Drive, LA CA 90066
** You can watch, comment, share and subscribe on YouTube
In the new SyFy show Caprica we are introduced to a queer character, Sam Adama. Here is the good and the bad of his queer representation.
Check out other great blogs and commentary:
“Ron Moore wants to include more gay characters in his shows. That is fine. Now, if he could just stop making them of a certain type. So far, we have: Cylon Saboteurs and mentally insane Admirals, mutineers, cold-blooded Mafia-esque hitmen (here in Caprica, one of the Adama clan), and cold-blooded fanatical terrorists (Soldiers of the One in Caprica).” from “10 Brief Notes about Caprica“ (I took out the character names for Battlestar Galactica in case of Spoilers)
I have been busy organizing this great event coming up in March at California State University, Northridge. If you live in or are visiting the Los Angeles area you should come out and watch some of the most intriguing remix videos that subvert traditional gender and sexuality norms. The videos will be curated and presented by Julie Levin Russo, Alexis Lothian and Jonathan McIntosh. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the curators. Special thanks to Laura Shapiro who consulted on the event.
Political Remix Video is a genre of transformative guerilla media production whereby creators challenge dominant media messages through re-cutting and re-framing fragments of mainstream media and popular culture. Fan videos or “vids” set remixed footage from TV shows or movies to music. They are often used to subvert the traditional canon or tell an alternative story. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at anita [at] feministfrequency.com
Location and Time info:
Thursday March 25, 2010 at 12:30pm
California State University, Northridge
18111 Nordhoff Street, Northridge, CA 91330
Armer Theater, Manzanita Hall, Rm 100 View a map of the campus
I’m excited to be leading a workshop about video blogging at Reel Grrls on Saturday March 13th, 2010 (the workshop in December was rescheduled). We’ll be learning the process of putting a video blog together from conception to distribution as well as the fun of media literacy!
Reel Grrls is a great organization dedicated to providing media literacy and filmmaking skills to young women in the Seattle area. You can see details and sign up for the workshop here and also take a look at the great videos Reel Grrls have made on their YouTube and Vimeo channels.
Although, Reel Grrls afterschool programs and workshop are usually reserved for young women between the ages of 9 and 19, they have decided to open up the videoblogging workshop to women of all ages!
** You can watch, comment, share and subscribe on YouTube
The Bechdel Test is a simple way to gauge the active presence of female characters in Hollywood films and just how well rounded and complete those roles are. It was created by Allison Bechdel in her comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For in 1985. It is astonishing the number of popular movies that can’t pass this simple test. It demonstrates how little women’s complex and interesting lives are underrepresented or non existent in the film industry. We have jobs, creative projects, friendships and struggles among many other things that are actually interesting in our lives… so Hollywood, start writing about it!
Check out other great blogs and commentary about the Bechdel Test:
The Bechdel Test Movie List: here you can find a long, long list of movies and where they rate on the Bechdel Test.
I’m excited to be leading a workshop on video blogging at Reel Grrls this coming Saturday December 12th, 2009. We’ll be learning the process of putting a video blog together from conception to distribution as well as the fun of media literacy! Reel Grrls is a great organization dedicated to providing media literacy and filmmaking skills to young women in the Seattle area. You can see details and sign up for the workshop here and also take a look at the great videos Reel Grrls have made on their Youtube Channel.
You’ll also find me helping out Jonathan Mcintosh (of Rebelliouspixels.com) on Wednesday December 9th, 2009 who is doing a remix workshop with the Reel Grrls Thesis class.
** You can watch, comment, share and subscribe on YouTube
Here is an easy to follow guide for the guys on the right versus the wrong reasons to hate on Twilight. With the release of New Moon, there has been an awful lot of sexist, homophobic, patriarchal crap floating around the internet and I just wanted to set the record straight.
Check out other great blogs and commentary about the Twilight Series:
Bite Me or Don’t over at Bitch Media is a great look at the repercussions of this new wave of young adult fiction and what the author is calling abstinence porn.
** You can watch, comment, share and subscribe on YouTube
From the first time I heard about the concept behind HBO’s True Blood I was a little bit horrified. Vampires are “coming out of the coffin” and want equal rights? Since television producers (and especially HBO) want to make shows that are as sensational and scandalous as possible, I had my doubts about whether they could provide commentary about social justice struggles in America without being painfully offensive, ignorant and stereotypical. I am unhappy to report that, no, they completely failed.
Check out other great blogs and commentary about True Blood:
** You can watch, comment, share and subscribe on YouTube
Veronica Mars has got to be one of my favourite shows of all time. No seriously, it’s funny, witty, smart, progressive. Women are technologically savvy, the privilege of white rich kids are exposed (well sort of…), and it generally has progressive commentary. Watch this video for the things I loved about the show and also the more problematic elements… and keep watching because I included some hilarious and entertaining clips from the show.
ps. Steer clear of season three, my love for the show ended during the last episode of season 2.
Check out other great blogs and commentary about Veronica Mars:
Great commentary and analysis by The Hathor Legacy “Veronica Mars: Grade is Not the Verb I’d Choose” and also commentary about sexual violence in the show written in three parts entitled “Rape in Veronica Mars” read here: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3. Many of the situations they write about are in the third season of VM, which I will comment more about in another video.
Reactions about the third season of Veronica Mars from “Across the Pond” - “Et Tu Veronica Mars“
This article at Other Magazine talks about Veronica Mars and Dr. Who trying to emulate the strong empowered female character that we so many fans loved about Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Also check out this wonderful vid by Keewick which exposes some of the sexual violence issues in Veronica Mars.
**Update: You can now see my clip review about how the writers used wit and humour to talk about gender and class in Veronica Mars over at Critical Commons.
** You can watch, comment, share and subscribe on YouTube
Fox Networks decided to renew Dollhouse for another 13 episodes but canceled Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I’m less then thrilled about this decision.
Also please check out this amazing fan vid about Dollhouse It Depends on What You Pay. Brilliantly edited by Gianduja Kiss to expose some of the more controversial aspects of the show. Word of warning, it’s kind of intense.
This video can be viewed with English subtitles at DotSub and is available to be translated into other languages.
March is certainly a busy month for me but I’m thrilled to be participating in a WAM! sponsored event. After Remixing Pop Culture at Cal State Northridge on Thursday March 25th, I’ll be heading straight over to Santa Monica to present a series of online videos made by women. I will celebrate women’s use of video to take action and comment on issues that are most important to them by screening online videos in the form of remix, video blogging and documentary. The videos discuss a range of topics from pop cultural criticism to anti war messages. I will be joined by a Kamala Lopez and a screening of her film “A Single Woman” and Carla Ohrendorff will speak about feminist activism and media.![[Post to Delicious]](http://www.feministfrequency.com/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-delicious.png){kind=icon}
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I’m excited to be leading a workshop about video blogging at 
