The documentary Voyeur (2017) has two subjects. The first is Gerald Foos, a voyeur who secretly observed guests at his motel. Foos built an observation platform above the motel’s rooms and spent decades spying on guests through fake ceiling air vents. In violating the privacy of his guests, Foos witnesses their unmanaged backstage selves in addition to sexual acts, heated arguments, and even a murder. Even more intriguing, Foos considers this to be his “research”
Who gets an obituary in the New York Times? Obit (2016) gives us a glimpse inside the most prestigious obituary outlet in modern day America. Editors and writers tell us what makes for a good obituary as well as the types of people they profile in these widely-read life histories. We also learn about the history of obits such as how old obits used to avoid words like “death” or “died”. Moreover, did you know many obituaries of famous people are written well before they die? These are called “advances” and are often composed when notable individuals become ill or pass a certain age.
Inside Edition, 2023, 1:48… Taylor Swift's sold-out Eras tour added $4.6 billion to the local economies of the cities she performed in. Her impact on the economy is being called "Swiftonomics." Many of her fans traveled long distances to spend lots of money to make her concert a night to remember. The so-called “Taylor Swift tourists” spend an average of $1,300 per person. Those purchases include tickets, hotels, car rentals, restaurants, merchandise and hair stylists.
Hillbilly (2018) examines the history and continuation of disempowering rural stereotypes. Though the film is based around the 2016 election of Donald Trump, the content extends far beyond our current political landscape. It is also engaging to watch as it masterfully integrates media stereotypes from popular shows and movies. Some prominent sociological concepts evident in the film include othering, codeswitching, and cultural appropriation as hillbilly may have become the new hipster..
CBS Sunday Morning, 2022, 4:59… "Entertainment Nation/Nación del espectáculo," a new exhibition at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., features artifacts from 150 years of music, sports and moving images. CBS News' John Dickerson gets a tour, and looks at how Prince, "The Wizard of Oz" and "Star Wars" helped define our national character.
Vice, 2021, 22:39… Celebrity stalking is an old problem. But it’s happening way more in the age of YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. Fans repeatedly show up at their favorite content creators’ homes and expect the stars to be as welcoming as they are in their videos (“heeeeey guys”). Why don’t these fans realize this is invasive? In part, because the influencers encourage it.
Vice News, 2021, 6:08… As debates around teaching Critical Race Theory in schools continue across the country, Hollywood has tackled exploring the conversation for decades. Science fiction is being used as a tool to tell stories of American history and a sociologist (Jean Beaman) tells Krishna Andavolu that it may actually be effective.
The Take, 2020, 20:09… Films and TV shows have long used the onscreen interracial romance as a way to explore our own evolving relationships with racism. From I Love Lucy, to Jungle Fever, to The Big Sick, we’ve progressed from cautious depictions of interracial romance, to politically charged melodramas that confront them head on, to more modern tales where race is seen as just one of love’s many complexities. But even as movies and TV have increasingly normalized the interracial relationship, it remains a singular, and significant dynamic on screen—and an essential part of our cultural conversation. Here’s our Take on how all of these depictions of the interracial relationship bring something to the table, even if they come from different points of view.
The Take, 2020, 21:10… Why do so many stories about racism revolve around the White Savior? In 2020, as the Movement for Black Lives grew in the wake of the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others, The Help experienced a resurgence in popularity, becoming one of the most-streamed movies on Netflix. The 2011 film about a white woman confronting racism may be well-intentioned, but—like Green Book, The Blind Side, and other White Savior movies before it—The Help centers its story on benevolent white characters, rather than on firsthand black perspectives. How did this trope become so persistent? Here’s our Take on the dangers of the White Savior, and how we can change our own narratives and conversations to become more anti-racist ourselves.
The New York Times, 2020, 4:20… Introducing the credibility bookcase, a background that lends authority to your video interview. From a dramaturgical perspective, it can be seen as a form of sign equipment we display to others to enhance our front stage self. In other words, books and bookcases are intellectual accessories. But it’s not just books, though—Joe Biden’s carefully placed football delivers an all-American vibe, and the material of the bookcases can indicate socioeconomic status as seen with the fancy woods endemic in celebrity homes.
Inside Edition, 2019, 3:47… Death is a topic few people in the West care to discuss, and mortician Caitlin Doughty would like to change that. Doughty helps people confront the nuts and bolts of death on her YouTube channel, “Ask a Mortician.” “I think that people want to hear the information we're presenting,” she told InsideEdition.com “They want to hear somebody like me talk about death as if it's not strange.” She added, “People should not be afraid of death.”
Vox, 2019, 6:35… Child labor was widely practiced until a photographer showed the public what it looked like. The 1900 US Federal Census revealed that 1.75 million children under the age of 16, more than one in five, were gainfully employed. They worked all over the country in cotton mills, glass blowing factories, sardine canneries, farms, and even coal mines. In an effort to expose this exploitation of children, the National Child Labor Committee hired a photographer to travel around the country and investigate and report on the labor conditions of children.
Vox, 2019, 20:50… While the PMRC’s involvement was allegedly sparked by some raunchy lyrics from Prince’s 1984 album Purple Rain, the debate over rock lyrics had been infiltrating American culture and politics for a decade. The driving force behind that debate was the rise of heavy metal, a genre that saw explosive popularity with the launch of MTV in 1981, and the growing influence of the religious right, who saw rock music as a powerful threat to Christianity.
Vox, 2019, 8:37… Carlson’s show is meant to distract Fox News viewers from Republican economics, channeling their frustration and anger at groups that don’t deserve it. That kind of misdirection produces what Marxist theorists call “false consciousness”: when workers are tricked into accepting their own exploitation.
Vice News, 2019, 2:37… Ralph Northam is still the governor of Virginia—for now. But he’s facing increasing pressure to resign after a conservative media site unearthed a photo of a man in blackface on Northam’s page in a 1984 medical school yearbook. Northam insists it isn’t him in the photo. And the New York Times today reported that a group of his medical school classmates is standing behind him.
