Special thanks from the FOCUS Media Journal Staff to the following for their continuous support: Staff Joe Palladino Janice Strobach Dana Welch Faculty Peter Bloom Anna Brusutti Alenda Chang Michael Curtin Anna Everett Cynthia Felando Jennifer Holt Ross Melnick Laila Shereen-Sakr Cristina Venegas Janet Walker Funding Associated Students UCSB FAMST Department Michael Curtin i ii President Ian Laughbaum Vice President Elizabeth Cook Secretary Matthew MacPherson Officer Alejandra Gularte Chief Copy Editor McKinsey Fidellow Copy Editors Irene Chen, Catalina Fernandez, Angelina Garcia, Hannah Maerowitz Writers Alejandra Gularte, Alex Tritt, Cassidy Pyle, Catalina Fernandez, Elizabeth Cook, EmmaClaire, Fong Kuo, Ian Laughbaum, Joey Goodman, Kai Glick, Keana Alden, Matthew MacPherson Graphic Designer Tinna Lam Staff Advisor Joe Palladino iii ABOUT THE STAFF President: Ian Laughbaum After having come out of the FOCUS editorial board last year confused as to how he became president in the first place, now fourth-year Ian Laughbaum knew he wanted to do it again, right this time. He’d like to give out his thanks to all of the journal’s authors, the faculty and staff who made it possible, and of course the journal’s staff, without whom he’d be utterly lost and probably doing something silly. Vice President: Elizabeth Cook Elizabeth Cook is a second-year double major in Film and Media Studies and Feminist Studies hailing from Los Altos, CA. When she’s not talking about women in film, she performs with the Women’s Ensemble Theatre Troupe and volunteers with Camp Kesem, an incredible non-profit dedicated to supporting kids through and be- yond their parent’s cancer. This year she became even CLOSER with her best friend, Joe Palladino, and is a firm believer that Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga are in the midst of a passionate affair. Secretary: Matthew MacPherson Matthew McPherson is always caught in a hustle. Since last year, he added a third major, joined KCSB, and start- ed delivering pastries at at 6AM-all while maintaining his status as the Secretary on the Santa Barbara Stu- dent Housing Cooperative Board of Directors, and help- ing steer the FOCUS Media Journal towards new fron- tiers. How he has managed it all, he does not know! What he does know is that he is eternally grateful for the most supportive, loving staff in existence, who kept things moving at a tenacious pace. He also offers a tip of his metaphorical hat to Joe Palladino, a man who had tickets to see XTC in LA before they became a studio only band. iv Officer: Alejandra Gularte Alejandra Gularte is a fourth-year graduating senior and she’s extremely happy to be spending her last year with the FOCUS Media Journal. In her spare time, she performs stand-up comedy around California and as- pires to have her own television show. She loves learn- ing about digital media and media censorship. What inspires her most is the iconic Joe Palladino! Graphic Designer: Tinna Lam Tinna Lam is a fourth-year Art major. Last year, FOCUS gave her the chance to prove her self-taught design skills by designing the cover and layout. This year, she returns to create an even better design for the journal! She is proud to have worked with an amazing team of students and staff for her last two years at UCSB. Chief Copy Editor: McKinsey Fidellow McKinsey is a fourth-year Linguistics major from a small town in San Diego County that you’ve probably never heard of. She has served as a copy editor for several campus publications and this is her second and final year with FOCUS Media Journal. She is grateful and proud to have been part of such a wonderful editorial team and publication. v Copy Editor: Irene Chen Irene is a second-year Communication major from the Bay Area. This is her second year working with FOCUS Media Journal. In her free time, she enjoys traveling to new places, drinking lots of good coffee, and document- ing her adventures with her camera! Copy Editor/Writer: Catalina Fernandez Catalina Fernandez is a third-year honors student pur- suing a double-major in Communication and Film and Media Studies and an intended minor in Multimedia Writing. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and raised in Orange County, California, her academic and creative work explores the complexities of cultural and personal identity in dual worlds. Throughout her time at UC Santa Barbara, Catalina has focused on personalizing her voice as a writer and content creator for a future career in entertainment media. Writer: Kai Glick Kai Glick is a third year in the Film and Media Studies department at UCSB. Born in New York to a Japanese artist mother and an American graphic designer father, Kai is very grateful for all the early childhood experi- ences that have shaped him before moving to California. He would like to thank the many supporting figures— the academic mentors and inspirational figures—who helped motivate and guide him throughout this project. A special thanks for this piece goes out to Professor Bhas- kar Sarkar, for all his thought provoking lecture materi- al and his generous creative support. Writer: Fong Kuo Fong Kuo is a third-year Film and Media and Asian American Studies student. Fong likes to work on small projects as a budding cinematographer and spends his downtime listening to music and looking at memes...aca- demically. vi Writer: EmmaClaire Brock EmmaClaire Brock is in her fourth and final year at UCSB as a Film and Media Studies major, and Theater and Portuguese double minor. She is a founding member of UCSB’s chapter of the National Professional Cinematic Society, Delta Kappa Alpha. On-screen as an actress and off-screen as a crew member, EmmaClaire has contrib- uted to over a dozen short films and video projects in her time at UCSB. She has worked for the FAMST de- partment as a Video Archive Technician and currently she works as a Communications Strategist and Video Specialist at a Santa Barbara marketing agency. After graduation she plans to continue to pursue screen acting and working creatively in the fields of film and media. Writer: Alex Tritt Alex Tritt is a recent graduate from the Film and Media Studies and French departments at UCSB. She current- ly works as a production and technical assistant for the Pollock Theater on campus and has extensive production credits for Carsey-Wolf Center programming that has aired on UCTV, including production director, technical director, camera operator, and associate producer. She also works as an administrative assistant in the Film and Media Studies main office, where she is a pro at making scans and advising students. In her limited time away from the Film department, Alex enjoys watching films. Writer: Cassidy Pyle Cassidy Pyle is a fourth-year Film and Media/Commu- nication double major with a minor in Feminist Studies. At UCSB, she supports her fellow students through her work at the ONDAS Student Center, the Women’s Center, and in the Undergraduate Mentorship Program. Her academic interests include identity formation through media as well as digital media affordances, particular- ly in the domain of education. Outside of academia, she enjoys social justice work, makeup, and pugs. vii Writer: Joey Goodman Joey Goodman is a fourth-year student at UCSB double majoring in Economics and Film and Media Studies. When he is not writing about technology’s effects on loneliness, Joey spends his free time combating loneli- ness himself. He has written for the Daily Nexus and performed in a number of UCSB’s musical ensembles, from the wind ensemble to jazz combos. His favorite col- or is yellow. Writer: Keana Alden Keana Alden is a third-year student at UCSB, studying Film and Media Studies and the History of Art and Ar- chitecture. She’s originally from Cayucos, a little beach town a few hours up the coast from Santa Barbara. She loves going to college at UCSB, going to the beach, riding her bike, and writing in her free time. viii A LETTER FROM THE EDITORS Well. It’s been a long day. We’ve come a long way from where we began. This year’s FOCUS Media Journal is the first and last of its kind; this edition comes out of two years of constant collaboration, as the FOCUS staff that has come to be known as the FOCUS Freaks have worked together since November 2017. Our team members came together as a collective of friends and yet, through meetings punctuat- ed by laughter and agendas, became a tight-knit family. In a way, the title is squarely on the nose: staking our final claim as a team of researchers and media fanatics. In line with tradition, FOCUS continues to search for untethered niches and new perspectives across three areas of theoretical positions. This year, to make the most of the UCSB Film and Media Studies Department’s rich history with theory and analysis, we decided to focus on exactly that. Our three categories probe the practices of cultural consumption, modern digital media concerns, and the ever complicated questions of genre. Thanks to our unbelievably talented cadre of authors this year, the work we’ve published year has culminated in twelve essays that we couldn’t be prouder to display in these pages which bear the weight of the nearly four decades of FOCUS history. How could we not talk about family when family’s all that we got? No journey is complete without a guide. We owe a great deal of gratitude to our best bud and trusted hero, Joe Palladino.