Self Introduction Post- Christopher Cruz

     Hello, everyone. I'm Christopher Cruz. I love anime and manga, and I draw pixel art. My ambition for this class is to further my understanding of the public space and develop my application of the topics I will learn. Artwork below is a creative project I did regarding women's sexual autonomy. I wanted to reveal to the viewer how powerful women can be in a intimate and vulnerable situation. I wanted to focus on the fact that women have control over the bodies and men have no control over that.

Quotes

"Of these systems the one that we all learn the most about growing up is the system of patriarchy, even if we never know the word, because patriarchy gender roles are assigned to us as children and we are given continual guidance about the ways we can best fulfill these roles." -bell hooks 

To this day patriarchy is still taught, though in the current era, families are beginning to break away from the patriarchal mindset and are accepting more nonbinary roles and restrictions. This challenges the patriarchy dismantles who's in charge,

"Clearly we cannot dismantle a system as long as engage in collective denial about its impact on our lives." - bell hooks

This is so true especially in the current world. We cannot end injustice, racism, poverty, homelessness, and various other issues by collectively denying the consequences of those continuing problems. There needs to be more recognition and action taken than being a bystander to these problems. 

"Through humor, memes incite a collective reaction to everyday life as well as reveling in it, in a format no less playful than it is political, decoding the murky structural screw-ups, paradoxes, and hypocrisies of our current political climate." - Alice Bucknell

Memes can be so interconnected and relatable to anyone who come across it. Memes are like comedians, both critique and criticize the hypocrisies and paradoxes the plague our world. Both bring awareness to underlying problems people either deny or ignorant about. 

"It isn't so much about visuals, but instead digs deep into the cultural architecture of memes and their political power as a networked critical resistance, where their abilities to incite and inspire, to problematize and be problematic in equal turn, offer a mirror image of our volatile present as much as their avant-grade heritage." - Alice Bucknell

I agree with Bucknell that memes can critique and bring awareness to common a problem though at the same time, I argue memes are like a double-edged sword. The problems that may be addressed are diluted to viral jokes and loose some its initial and overall impact.

"The media [of protest art] have changed somewhat, but the purpose are similar: the blaming of villains, the identification of victims, as well as outrage at the villains and compassion for those victims," Jasper told VICE.

I disagree that the purpose is the same. The execution or method of that purpose, I believe, isn't to blame villains, but more akin to calling out a person or group for what it is and wanting accountability, responsibility, and equal treatment to be held.

"Memes can spread far more quickly than the songs or art projects of previous generations, there's such a low barrier to entry that anyone can make them; they can go viral in a matter of minutes." - VICE

I believe that is one meme's strong attributes. The fact that it requires little to no learning curve and accessible to everyone really does highlight how power memes are.