Although women have come far from the stereotypical and sexist days of the 1950’s, the modern times of the 21st Century have created a new war against misogynistic people on the internet who continue to degrade women. Misogyny is the ‘Dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women’ (Misogyny, 2014). I am witness to women being targeted in media more than men, whether they are well known or not. Women who speak their mind and stand up for themselves are being called feminist in a negative connotation; and women in less fortunate countries fighting for their rights are being belittled. Now, because I am a woman myself, does not mean that I am feminist or misandrist as I discuss this growing concern for online misogyny. However, I do empathise for the women that are fighting this battle as I have been a direct target of a misogynist person online before as I play in online gaming communities, however, this wasn’t to the highest degree that it was capable of becoming. In a vague sense, I was playing an online first person shooter game that is played mostly by men where I was the last alive in my team for each of the three rounds we played. I won the game for my team and some particular men on the opposing team weren’t happy about it. When I spoke into the headset and they found out I was a women, they had nothing to say but sexist remarks.

Trolling is not new, it has been around for quite some time; it has however increased through the anonymity of the internet. I have seen this myself through different social networking sites, most commonly it is seen towards celebrities where ‘haters’ state unnecessarily rude comments and insults. What ever happened to “if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all”? I see that women in particular are targeted more than men on social media platforms and I believe that there is a difference between voicing your opinion and being ignorant of other people.

References:
Misogyny. (2014). In: Oxford Dictionaries, 1st ed. [online] Oxford University Press. Available at: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/misogyny [Accessed 16 May. 2014].

When asked if I am involved with a particular political or social group online or elsewhere, I realised something; my answer was no. However, I am not alone. Although there is minimal evidence through statistics in Australia to confirm this, it is an easy assumption. Based on American statistics, I am one of the 79 per cent of young adults (Rainie et al., 2012) that do not belong to a political group and do not participate in political activities. Although it does buckle down to my personality and my political indifferences, I do have a similar compassion with people who stand for quality of life causes and campaigns. I’m not a member of any particular group but this doesn’t mean that I don’t have an opinion; rather I’m less politically bias.

The majority of youth today are not as engaged with politics but get involved by using technologies and social media to create a collective identity. Campaigns and causes for quality of life are popular amongst young generations and by using social media as a tool to share the support, campaigns like ‘No Make-Up Selfie’ for the Breast Cancer Foundation can go viral. This is great for the quality of life campaigns but could this aspect of clicktivism shift to politics aswell? After the Coalition budget cuts were released recently there was an uproar as many people are being cut from benefits for a proposed better future for Australia. This also opened up memes on social networking sites against the coalition like this one below of former Prime Minister Julia Gillard:

“Miss me yet?”
A meme of former Prime Minister Julia Gillard after the budget cuts were revealed recently.

This raised political awareness but has it captivated interest? Could the digital age raise a more prominent clicktivist future in politics?

References:
Rainie, L., Smith, A., Schlozman, K., Brady, H. and Verba, S. (2012). Social Media and Political Engagement. [online] Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. Available at: http://www.pewinternet.org/2012/10/19/social-media-and-political-engagement/ [Accessed 11 Apr. 2014].

Chen, D. and Vromen, D. (2013). Social Media, Youth Participation and Australian Elections. [online] Australian Electoral Commission. Available at: http://www.aec.gov.au/About_AEC/research/caber/1b.htm [Accessed 10 May. 2014].

Remix culture is increasingly growing in this digital age, most commonly recognised through music remixing where anyone can create new types of music simply by using two (or more) different songs and putting them together. Anyone with a computer can become their own DJ. A prime example comes from the movie Pitch Perfect. This movie is about a young college student named Becca, who loves music but is forced by her father to go to college before chasing her dream. Throughout the movie Becca shows examples of songs she’s mashed-up together to make a new more modern version. She ends up joining a social group called the Bellas where they compete against other schools and take Beccas understanding of remix culture to their advantage in the competition. Here’s a clip of Pitch Perfect below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qt0saMrE3I

Far from the days where motion pictures captured musicals, this is a unique film adaptation on remix culture and it has definitely interested the evolving audience. Already set for a release to the sequel, Pitch Perfect 2 comes to cinemas in May 14, 2015.

Aside from music remixing there are also movie mash-ups, lip sync and voiceover parodies that popular YouTube channels Screen Junkies and Bad Lip Reading exemplify; as well as satirical memes that circulate the web. Similar to music remixing where audio is collaborated, movie mash-ups are visual as well as audio from various sources to make one whole clip. Fan made trailers are commonly seen on YouTube where fans of an upcoming movie create their own trailer. An example of this can be seen through a Batman vs Superman fan made trailer in the additional content below. Also included in the additional content are the links to the YouTube channels of Screen Junkies and Bad Lip Reading.

Examples of satircal memes in pop culture:

Additional Content:
The opening scene of Pitch Perfect is also an example of remix culture where Becca is using her laptop to remix songs. See it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6A6lc-0KaA

Batman vs Superman fan made trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITeqkw-lXHk&list=PL9eGPX4CGSKK1sswOIKoKgcGGeJ-yFoml&index=27

Screen Junkies’ YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/screenjunkies

Bad Lip Reading’s Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/BadLipReading

Other examples of mash-ups:

Batman and Robin the Musical: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pNY2Krf3Rw

Music mash-up of Pop songs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KhW9t-omdA

Best Picture – Oscar Nominee mash-up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtDAs5JDZYw

Jack Black Sesame St remix – Rock My Octagon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRPo671GHxI&list=PLHdWDhbMh-e5LICvTaBcQHgtbbHbnKiEz&index=2

‘Literal’ Assassin’s Creed Trailer – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfsRxTjNGvo

Military Call Me Maybe Parody – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G24V7gfLtHQ

‘I Don’t Care I’m Aussie’ Icona Pop parody – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5gGdPSpZpI