Dr. Sara DiazWGST 280: Gender, Sex, & Popular CultureGonzaga University

Alternative Media

“Poaching”

• Emphasizes active relationship to media texts.•Meaning is negotiated rather than static• Reimagining allows fans to create

alternative narratives that fulfill our need to ourselves reflected.• Gender, sexuality.

Consumer -> Producer• http://youtu.be/5MqREwP0CLU• http://youtu.be/Lo7Xk7X6qeI

Re-vision

•What narratives did the producers of these videos remake in ways that suited their own vision of the world?

Independent Media

• Local or non-profit• Radio Stations• Theater• Television• Musicians• Artists• Writers

• Make USE of technology and social networks to identify non-corporate producers of culture.

For Example: CMTV

•Community Minded Television – Spokane•Native American programming• Local Arts/Music/Authors• Independent News• Low-Cost classes on media

production

Open Source Technology

• Software that is collectively produced and “open” for any one to tailor it to their own needs and redeploy it for others to use and share.

Better yet …

Create your own texts!

This does not mean you need to become the next Lady Gaga …

• http://kck.st/JJSvTo

Cultural Texts as “Process”

• The emphasis on cultural texts as a “product” created by exceptional individuals commodifies cultural expression.• Instead, consider cultural texts as

collective processes worthwhile on their own, independent from the final product.

Creativity & Talent

•Many of us have been told or simply fear we don’t have the talent or creativity to produce a cultural text.• This is not ever true. Exceptionalism is a

servant of the commodification of culture.• If there is a text you wish you could engage

with but doesn’t exist. Make it.