Convergence/participatory culture

Sir Maejor. He is an actor and model. He has been cast in this music video and the music video was made by “Monokrom". When you look at their vimeo channel, they film the music video but they also using it a style bases for king star campaign. Bigger project, environmental film, representing people with a general message of coexistence. For the first time you look at their video it looks like very much as an ad. This is an example of convergence/participatory culture. People are doing it, and within it there may be a message about albinism, but Sir Maejor’s albinism is not a big deal, because he is model and uses his body for such music videos. This may be seen as a positive representation of albinism. However, the message is not about albinism, the message is about coexistence, achieving your dream and being equal.

Sociological approach is different though. If we take Marxists approach to this music video, it would be about proletariat overthrowing ruling class by gaining power.  However, a postmodernist approach would see the different elements as all the same. They would

argue that the music video is just a play, the society cannot make any grant claims about that particular video.

Henry Jenkins, however, would say that there are different people participating, creating their own meanings and ideas. Those meanings are quite progressive, even though they are made by ordinary people. 

Positive Representation of Albinos in Media

"Many characters intended to be people with albinism have made appearances on TV and in the movies. Unfortunately, the picture have been overwhelmingly negative, revealing a great deal of insensitivity and ignorance on the part of the writers and directors". 

As I talked in my last post, the "Albino Code" served (in my opinion) a negative representation of albinos in media as it undermines albinism and weaken the positive image. 

However, there are some excellent examples where albinism is represented as a very affirmative aspect. This examples include Facebook page (LINK) as well as the variety of different video clips and web blogs. 

Only because someone lacks the pigment in his/her skin, doesn't mean that they cannot live the normal life and enjoy it. Pictures above shows the albino who is now a successful DJ and even has his own studio where he records his own songs. Of course, positive representation of albinos in media and social networks will allow them to lose that "negative" label, which is attached to them by some people.

Here is a good example, of Sir Maejor's video. He is an albino model. Here he gives some kind of announcement. Please watch it.

Along with the external influences of society, every person has a vital and essential emotional response to their personal experiences with albinism. These personal responses shape who we are and how we adapt to albinism. A strong emotional response is a normal part of living, growing, and intellectual development. Suppressed emotions often turn inward and cause stress, depression and physical maladies. (Source: NOAH)

A very basic human need is to be "seen" "by another person-to be known and to be accepted. This is poignantly true for the person with albinism who may be immediately "noticed" by many, but truly "seen" by few. This explains why it feels like a hidden condition despite its obviousness.

It is very important for participatory culture and society as a whole to try to see only positive things about representation of albinos in media and press!

The cassetteboy - Cameron's conference rap

A brilliant remix of David Cameron’s Conservative party conference speech

‘Cameron’s Conference Rap’, edited by master mash-up artist Cassetteboy, has been called ‘sheer genius’ and ‘the only version of Cameron’s speech worth watching’ by commentators on social media!

Here is a good example of a parody, which is completely different from the previous ("albino code") one. This is an really an amazing idea by cassetteboy, to combine political figure, such as David Cameron, and rap. This video has almost 4 million views in YouTube, suggesting the idea that audience respond to this video and want to watch it. 

"But now the law has changed, legalising the use of copyrighted works for the creation of parodies. Our methods won’t change, but we won’t be stealing any more." says the Cassetteboy.

In comparison, with "albino code", which undermines the idea with albinos, Cameron's conference rap contrasts, as I already said, two completely different things; politics and rap. The cassetteboy used real words said by Cameron, which makes the video more entertaining and realistic.

The Eminem's soundtrack, which was released in 2002, "Loose yourself" make the video much more recognisable and interesting to watch. The idea with the mash-up is just amazing. I am quite sure, that in the nearest future, there is going to be much more mash-ups with some more celebrities (particularly with politicians)

Here is another video by Cassetteboy

"The Albino Code" 

As participatory culture develop through out the world, people are creating their own ideas through media. For example, the "Albino Code" is a parody on a famous movie "Code da Vinci". The representation of Albinos in that parody could be seen as negative or positive. From the director's point of view, Dennis Hurley, this parody holds a positive image in representation of Albinos in the media, however, some audience could argue that Albinos in that video are represented negatively, and I am one of these people who think so!

There are negative aspects in this parody, which represent albinos not in a very good way. For example, there is a scene in this parody, where the albino guy was covered in a pink paint and then beaten up by little girl. All this scenes, make the albino guy an underdog. However, it is hard to judge, whether it is positive or negative. Of course, the jokes are fun and they are also humiliating the racists (where they say go back to Albania), but it also represents him as an underdog.

Furthermore, the implication of a new parody copyright law, which came into an effect on 1st October, allows owners of the copyrighted works to be able to sue if the parody conveys a discriminatory message. If, however, the rules of copyright are not broken, the new European Copyright Directive will allow the use of the material so long as it is fair and does not compete with the original version. "If a parody conveys a discriminatory message (for example, by replacing the original characters with people wearing veils and people of colour), the holders of the rights to the work parodied have, in principle, a legitimate interest in ensuring that their work is not associated with such a message."

After this law went into an effect, the amount of parodies, serving negative image will decline. People, however, do not usually care about such laws, thinking that others hold the same point of view. As participatory culture develop, there would always be some discriminatory parodies!