LGBT Youth and New Pedagogies of Media Production A
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Making It Better: LGBT Youth and New Pedagogies of Media Production A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Communication by Lauren S. Berliner Committee in Charge: Professor Lisa Cartwright, Co-Chair Professor Brian Goldfarb, Co-Chair Professor Zeinabu irene Davis Professor Nitin Govil Professor Roddey Reid Professor Shelley Streeby 2013 Copyright Lauren S. Berliner, 2013 All rights reserved The Dissertation of Lauren S. Berliner is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: Co-Chair Co-Chair University of California, San Diego 2013 iii DEDICATION For Sophia Arredondo and the youth of Changing Reels. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION…………………………………………………………………………………iv TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………………………………………………...v LIST OF IMAGES………………………………………………………………………......viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………………………..ix VITA..………………………………………………………………………………………..xiii ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION…...……………………………………………...xiv Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………..1 Contributions…………………...………………………………………………….8 Method: Situated Research...…..……………………………………………...16 A Note on the Use of Language……..………………………………………...19 An Overview of the Chapters………………..…………………………………25 Chapter One: The Mobilization of Viral Video in Anti-Gay-Bullying Projects….31 The Emergence of the Anti-bullying Viral Video…………………………..…39 “It Gets Better”………………………………………………………………..….40 Spreadability…………………………………………………………………..…44 Legibility, Visibility, and Identity Management…………………………..…...53 LGBT Youth and Visibility……………………………………………………....57 Chapter Two: Re-thinking Digital Media Empowerment Discourse in Scholarship and Practice……………………………………………………………...…67 The Limits of the ʻDigital Generation' Concept…………………………….....73 From “Digital Natives” to “Participatory Cultures”: Situating Media Pedagogy…………………………………………………...…87 Problematizing ʻYouth Voiceʼ as Inherently Empowering……………...…..100 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………..….128 Chapter Three: ʻVernacular Voicesʼ: Business Gets Personal in Public Service Announcements……………………………………………………………………...…..130 The Business of Public Service Advertising…………………………..…….138 Even the Doctor is an Amateur: YouTube PSAs and Vernacular Voices………………………………..……159 Conclusion………………………………………………………………..…….183 vi Chapter Four: Authentic Voices, Institutional Prompts: Negotiating Expression in a LGBT-Youth-Produced Anti-Gay-Bullying PSA…………………...…………..186 Prompting Production…………………………………………………...……..189 The Expression Paradox: The Tension Between Live Connections And The Imperative to Produce…………………………………………………...…….199 Who can Represent Bullying?...................................................................204 The Vocational and Professional Discourse Inherent in PSA Production…………………………………………………………..…....212 The Challenge Of Non-Productivity……………………………………….....217 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………...224 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………...…226 The Conflation of Digital Media Participation with Identity……………..….230 Against Digital Media Empowerment…………………………………...……232 Toward a Process-over-Product Approach to Production…………...…….234 Youth Digital Media Empowerment in the Age of Online Education…..…237 References……………………………………………………………………………...…239 vii LIST OF IMAGES Image 1.1: Google Trends comparison of terms in news media………………23 Image 1.2: A comparison of Google Trends search terms between January 2008- January 2013…………………………………………..…..….24 Image 2.1: South Park Elementary students produce an anti-bullying music video in the episode “Butterballs”…………………………….….....33 Image 2.2: Dan Savage and Terry Millerʼs inaugural It Gets Better Project Video…………………………………………………………….…...…41 Image 2.3: Jamey Rodemeyerʼs It Gets Better Project video, May 4, 2011…………………………………………….…….………..60 Image 3.1. Yul Brynner addresses smokers in an American Cancer Society PSA,1985……………………………………………………………..131 Image 3.2. Pam Laffin in "I Canʼt Breathe" Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 1999…………………………………………….…....151 Image 3.3 Dr. Clarke raps about how to prevent H1N1…………………........165 Image 3.4 Screen shot of Sascha Sternecker in “I am…”…………….……...176 Image 3.5 Sascha Sternecker threatens her scale with a hammer in “goodbye, Scale!”……………………………………………….…....179 viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS If I have learned anything through this process, it is that it takes a village to write a dissertation. Hereʼs to mine! I am thankful for the support of many of my colleagues who have nourished me with stimulating conversations and excellent feedback on drafts and presentations. But more than anything, it was their friendship and encouragement that sustained me. Thank you Pawan Singh, Andy Rice, Maggie Levantovskaya, Jaimie Baron, Michaela Walsh, Marisa Brandt, Toby Beauchamp, Kara Wentworth, Susan Pearlman, Kelli Moore, Jennifer Hsu, L. Chase Smith, Suzanne Stolz, Jonathan Cohn, Katrina Peterson, Erin Cory, Deniz Ilkbasaran, Monica Hoffman, Camille Campion, Robert Lecusay, Patricia Montoya, Dolissa Medina, Mark Walters, Stephen Mandiberg, Chuk Moran, Lyn Headley, Kate Hoffman, Laurel Friedman, Kristine Vandenberg, Aimee Bahng, Kyla Schuller, Elizabeth Steeby, Lauren Heintz, Jodi Eisenberg, Dixa Ramirez, Tania Jabour, Eun Smith, Emily Cohen, Amanda Keil, Cathy de la Cruz, Elliot Montague, Michael Jo, Karen Carniol, and Pooja Rangan. I feel especially bolstered by such a strong and supportive cohort: Kate Levitt, Reece Peck, Sam Martin, Carl McKinney, James Perez and Deborah Downing-Wilson. Together we will always be “the seven deadly sins.” I consider myself very lucky to have had the opportunity to be a part of UCSD Communication department, where I have been challenged and inspired. In addition to the graduate students I mentioned above, I am grateful ix to many UCSD faculty and staff who have supported me and paved opportunities and connections for me along the way. I am particularly indebted to David Serlin for guiding me through a significant portion of my graduate career. His generosity of time and spirit drove much of the thinking that led me to this project. I also wish to thank Patrick Anderson, Boatema Boateng, Kelly Gates, Christo Sims, John McMurria, Kalindi Vora, Denise McKenna, Marion Wilson, and Elana Zilberg for their advice and support. I am grateful to Chandra Mukerji for facilitating the graduate writing group that helped me to begin to find my voice and the confidence to pursue academic writing. Gayle Aruta, combination graduate coordinator and guru, provided the resources and optimistic perspective I needed to thrive in graduate school; Stacie Walsh was equally supportive in that role. I am also deeply appreciative of Adriene Hughes, her colleagues in Media Services, and undergraduate coordinator Jamie Lloyd for their support of my work in the classroom and the Hillcrest Youth Center. I am thrilled to have a committee of faculty who I not only deeply respect as scholars and artists, but as mentors and committed educators. Thank you Shelley Streeby, Roddey Reid, Zeinabu irene Davis, Nitin Govil, Brian Goldfarb and Lisa Cartwright for engaging with my work and helping me to piece together where I have been with where I am going. This dissertation would not have been possible without the dedicated mentorship of my co-advisors Brian Goldfarb and Lisa Cartwright. Their x commitment to my progress has been above and beyond what any graduate student should ever expect from their mentors, and I appreciate their tremendous patience with my development as a thinker and a writer. Lisa rescued this project from the ether, finding an entire dissertation in a chapter draft. Brian was instrumental in providing me the tools and advice to start youth media programs in the community. Together they supported the many youth media screenings that I have facilitated--one of the countless ways they have “shown up” for me over the years. Their expectations and hopes for me have always been higher than I have had for myself, and I am better off because of it. Their insistence that I could simultaneously pursue a career as a maker, teacher, and academic, helped me to believe it to be true. They understood the kind of scholar I was becoming before I did, and made every possible effort to introduce me to myself. I am deeply grateful for the support and love I receive from my family: my parents, David and Donna, my siblings, Debra and Robby, my brother-in- law, Josh Rosenau; my grandmothers Miriam and Gloria, who, both in their 90s, plan to travel across the country to be with me at my graduation; and my nephew Miles, who didnʼt exist when I started writing this dissertation and will never fully know how much he kept me going throughout. This project was driven by the creativity and spirit of the youth at The Hillcrest Youth Center, the volunteers, and Sophia Arredondo, the HYCʼs program coordinator. I honor their trust in me, and am grateful to have had the xi opportunity to share so much time together. Over the past three years, they have become my San Diego family and have taught me that connecting is always the most important work. My deepest gratitude to Diana Fisher and The Collective Voices Foundation for making our workshop possible. Most of all, thank you Minda Martin, for believing in me and providing the comfort, support, and encouragement that keeps making it better. xii VITA 1998 Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and English, Wesleyan University 2005 Master of Arts in Visual and Media Art, Emerson College