TOW #9 – Visual Text: Trumping, Tweeting, Trolling by Clay Jones

Due to the recent election results many people are protesting the outcome. Most of the people protesting are minorities who believe that Donald Trump is a racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobia, etc. person. A lot of Trump supporters are very outraged at the protesters, they think that the democrats should just accept the election results and deal with it. So while the protests are occurring against Trump, many of his supporters are attacking and intimidating African-Americans, Muslims, and Latinos in the streets, at schools, basically everywhere and anywhere. Clay Jones created this cartoon to address how ironic it was that Trump tweeted that the protests were unfair even though everything they’re protesting for is valid.

            Jones’ purpose was to bring light to the truth behind the protests. He achieves this by using satire and irony. All of the trump supports are sporting some type of racist, anti-Semitic, and violent accessory. Jones draws them this way because this literally what they wear in public. Many Trump supporters walk around with confederate flags and ‘make America ____ again’ shirts. Then Jones portrays the three protesters in the middle as scared for their lives because in reality that’s what they’re doing. Because of the election results and the personalities of many Trump supports a lot of people feel as if once they step outside they could be attacked or even killed.

            Jones’ audience is everybody in America because there’s a large majority of the country that feels as if the protests are unwarranted and he wants to point out to them that they aren’t’, that the people protesting have every right.

TOW #8 – IRB: Eating Fire, My Life as a Lesbian Avenger by Kelly Cogswell (Part II)

In the second half of Eating Fire, My Life as a Lesbian Avenger the lesbian activist group has officially started to disband. The rumors of the group being racist and exclusive have ruined the reputation of the organization. All of the original leaders have distanced themselves from the organization in order to protect their own person reputations, Kelly Cogswell and her girlfriend Ana were some of those leaders. Upon leaving the group Kelly and her girlfriend decide to live in Paris for a few years. They feel that a brief hiatus from America will help them find who they are again.

            Kelly’s primary audience is minorities and people who are unsure of who they are. After finishing the book, I no longer believe that Kelly’s purpose is to speak the truth of the Lesbian Avengers. Instead I believe her purpose is to teach her audience that it’s important to find your identity.

The end of the book is less about the activist group and more about Kelly herself. Due to the group disbanding because of rumors of white supremacy and exclusion Kelly felt like she lost who she was at the beginning of the group. This is why the whole second half is more about her than the group. 

Kelly achieves her purpose through her use of personal anecdotes. Kelly retells her struggle of trying to remember who she was before she helped created the Lesbian Avengers. With the help of her girlfriend Ana she travels through Europe and rediscovers her identity as a lesbian and an activist.

TOW #7 – Visual Text: ‘One Bad Night’ directed and written by Hayley Kiyoko

Hayley Kiyoko is an indie pop singer-songwriter. Recently she directed and released a music video for her song ‘One Bad night’ from her third solo EP, ‘Citrine’. The video follows two young adults both having terrible nights, however the female lead’s night is significantly worse.

The video follows trans activist Erin Armstrong as she walks down the street to face constant harassment from the men she passed, eventually she is pinched down by two men and repeatedly punched in the face. Luckily the video’s male lead ends up fighting off her attackers and saving her. The video ends with the two of them at a diner having a meal together and turning the terrible night into a good one.

Erin Armstrong was the first transgender person to document her transition on YouTube (today her channel is still focused on trans issues). Hayley purposely used a trans actress as her lead. She wanted to bring awareness to the violence that trans people have to deal with every day. Since a majority of her fan base is a part of the LGBTQ community most of her songs and music videos related to LGBTQ themes.

 Shortly after the video was released she was asked what she wanted people to get out of the video, she tweeted, ‘human compassion. To look out for one another. And to find hope in humanity’. Hayley believes that anyone can become a hero and that their heroic act doesn’t have to be as drastic as what the male lead did, it could be something as simple as smiling at someone.