New Contributors!

So over the next week or so, I’m planning to add some more people here. It’s simply that I’m kind of lazy and I think I might have more motivation to post if I wasn’t the only one adding content. I get wigged out by schedules on stuff I’m not being compensated for, to be honest, and yet I would really like to maintain this blog in order to publish more of my writing that isn’t related to social-justice or feminist analyses of media.

That’s a lot of what I’ll be focusing on in adding people to this blog: other people who are women, people of color, LGBT or other groups where our opinions on media tends to get pigeonholed into talking about what is sexist/racist/homophobic/etc. about it. That’s a valuable perspective, and one that you’ll definitely find plenty of on this blog, but it’s not the only one most of us have to offer. Media criticism in general needs less straight white males, not just the parts of it focusing on social justice, and it’s frustrating for those of us who have a whole range of thoughts on media to find that’s the only one people want to hear from us. We’re far more than just whatever societal oppressions we face.

The first person I’m adding is Eric McLeod, a friend of mine from “Anitwitter”. He is a history and film student who also has a strong interest in anime, but not only. Expect some of his posts, especially on recent anime series, up here soon!

I hope you enjoy his writing as much as mine, and I’ll keep updating if I add even more people!

Blog update

So yeah, I don’t think I’m going to do that “character deaths” series, at least not yet. I realized it’s kind of silly to “assign” myself anything like that when I’m just starting at this blog, and when the point at the moment is for me to post what I want here, apart from whatever I have to do for school or work. Instead, I’m going to discuss whatever media – music, movies, anime, etc. – I feel like analyzing at the moment, perhaps as pieces of ongoing, but not regularly-scheduled posts series.

I hope that’s cool with you guys (if anyone is reading this). I’m sure you’ll enjoy at least some of what’s to come!

And I probably will revisit that “character deaths” idea eventually. When it captures me again.

Likely upcoming posts: I’d really like to talk about music. I’ve been thinking a lot about some of my old favorite classic rock albums from when I was a teenager, and how they stack up to my current tastes.

Welcome to my new blog!

Hi! My name is Rose. I’m 23 years old, a graduate student in musicology, and someone with a strong interest in analyzing media – specifically music, film and television (including anime). I have been up to this for a while on my Tumblr, as well as with some of the articles I’ve written for Autostraddle.

To get you started, here’s a list of some of what I consider my better posts:

Television and Film:

• How Do We Solve a Problem Like “Queerbaiting”?: On TV’s Not-So-Subtle Gay Subtext (Autostraddle, was also reprinted at The Huffington Post)
• Princess Tutu, Media Analysis and Feminism (Tumblr — update 2/21/15: link is to re-post here)
• Revolutionary Girl Utena Transgresses Gender and Sexuality (Autostraddle)

Music:

• Artist Spotlight: Sally Whitwell (Autostraddle)
• Ladies of Note: A Brief History of Women Composers, Queer and Otherwise (Autostraddle)

Other/General:

• Artists, Politics and “the Gays” (Autostraddle)
• Claire Messud’s Interview Highlights Sexism Against Female Authors, Characters, and Actually All Women (Autostraddle)

As you’ll see, this is heavily focused on “social justice” approaches to media, particularly with regard to feminism and LGBTQ representation. What I’m hoping to do with this blog is to carve out a space for myself to analyze media in a broader sense, outside of that niche. While I still plan to use that lens, I’d really like to widen how I’m able to write about and look at music and film media.

(I also expect to write more about music here! Since, you see, that’s my area of greatest expertise, and yet, I rarely get to write about it in the non-academic writing spaces I’ve been given. So I’d really like to flesh that out!)

Happy reading!