Comm 2302 Spring 20

Reading Summary:

This podcast highlighted a group of transgender men and the difficulty that they faced upon making the gender switch. The vast differences in how men and women go about dating and pursuing dates makes it very difficult for both trans men and trans women. As a result, transgender individuals often have trouble with their love life and being open about their trans identity to partners. Amongst the variety of different stories that are told in the podcast, one thing always remained the same: Society’s behavior towards these individuals changed dramatically as these individuals shifted their gender.

Outside Example:

This podcast reminded me of James Charles, a famous American youtuber and makeup artist. Charles is the first ambassador for cover girl that is male. Charles is openly gay and has been through a lot of controversies in the past over his sexuality and the accusations that he manipulated his sexuality in order to gain fame.

Reading Connection:

The story of James Charles details a different struggle that relates to the struggle that transgender individuals deal with when switching genders. Charles dealt with a lot of misconceptions over what his gender identity is. He says that many people thought that he is transgender. However, Charles says that he is comfortable being a boy and says that many see him as transgender because they are not used to men wearing makeup. Similar to transgender people having a tough time explaining their gender identity to their family and friends, Charles says that it took awhile for him to explain his sexuality to his family as well. However, in the end, Charles says that his family was very supportive in response. At the same time, Charles has dealt with the same differences in how he is treated by society nowadays compared to when he was younger.

Reading Summary

Abel’s article explained the creative process in developing a story based on interviews with storytellers. This process differs based on every author but overall strategy is similar. Stories are usually thought of in pieces and not all at once. The order in which the story is told is based on how the author puts it together and not always by how it occurred or rather the order it was thought of in. Taste is important for both the author and the receiver. Abel emphasizes the importance of having interesting taste so that the story can connect with another person and be understood. A lot of authors use “brain dump” to get their ideas out and see if it attracts the attention of another person. It’s important to create a scene that’s visual and captivating. Ultimately it is important to understand that there isn’t really any rules when it comes creating a story which makes them unique and different.

Outside Connection

This idea of personal creativity without boundaries reminded me of Tarantino’s films. Tarantino is an American filmmaker famous for his nonlinear narratives. When I first watched one of his films I had no idea what I was getting myself into. This past summer I agreed to watch “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” unaware that it was a Tarantino film or what a Tarantino film encompassed. I remember watching the movie trailer and thinking it was an old western rom com type film and although it included these ideas it was not at all the main focus of the film. Additionally, I remember watching the movie thinking that I had no idea what was going on or what the plot was. The amount of plot twists and strangely unique scenes were all unexpected and a complete surprise. Even when the film was over I knew I could not have summarized what I had just watched and explain it to someone. But the movie left an impression on me; I was captivated by the unanticipated plot and action. I came to the conclusion that I enjoyed what I had watched and after a while had a grasp on the summary.

Connection to Reading

I think the way Tarantino creatively writes his films and the effect it had on me is what Abel was trying to explain in the article. Every author has a different strategy and way about writing. There is not always a concise beginning, middle, or end to a story and nor does there need to be. Scenes is just a word; there should be no rules to how a story is formed. The important thing is how it effects the individual receiving the message. In my case it left a lasting impression and captivated me. It made me curious and want to experience more of his films. This movie was unlike anything I had seen before and it didn’t matter that I felt confused by what was happening. The important thing was it left me reminiscing and enjoying the content.

SUMMARY

This podcast in summary was about loops. We first hear about comedians who do a bit where they repeat the same phrase over and over again, sometimes for even up to 10 minutes straight. This is an opener for the main part of the podcast, the story of Mary Sue’s amnesia. We learn about a mother who gets trapped in a temporary loop of amnesia for hours on end that only lasts for 90 seconds at a time and then resets.

EXAMPLE

This reminded me of an episode of Spongebob Squarepants called “Missing Identity”. Spongebob loses his name tag, and for the entire episode he retraces his steps, making the entire 15 minutes one big, repetitive loop. At first it’s funny but after a while you start to become frustrated with the episode.

CONNECTION

What I realized from this is that in media, loops/repetition can have multiple different effects. It can be quite comedic and get a big laugh from an audience, but can eventually start to become frustrating/annoying. The satisfaction though by the end of the episode/song/video when the loop finally ends is huge from the viewer. Although it got quite annoying, this is still one of my favorite Spongebob episodes to this day.

Summary

The audio we listened to discussed the difficulties trans men face when having to relearn how to date and fall in love. As women, they were socialized a certain way when it came to approaching people they were interested in. However, after transitioning, they had to rediscover how to approach people they were interested in. Many of them found it difficult to find someone they wanted to go out with and the group of people who would be interested in them. They also had to worry about finally coming out to the person they’re interested and whether or not they would be disgusted or upset.

Example

While listening to this podcast, I was reminded of when I came out in high school. I was very careful about who knew because I didn’t want it to affect other people’s opinions of me. However, I also looked at dating differently, because I was raised in a hetero-centralized society so I had to learn on my own how to date a girl, as a girl. I was very cautious of how it would affect my standing in the different clubs I was in while also feeling confused due to the lack of visibility of people I could look up to.

Connection

I had a very different experience than the men in the podcast, firstly because I am not trans, and secondly because they weren’t even really sure which demographic would be most likely to date them whereas it was pretty straight forward for me. However, there were similarities in that when we both came out there was a kind of confusion in how to go about dating. We had both been socialized to pursue the people we were supposed to like in a specific way, but after coming out we had to relearn how to show interest. There was also a part where he talks about how they were all friends, but were probably only friends because they were all trans. In high school, many of my friends were also gay and the main reason we got to know each other is because of that. We weren’t involved in the same activities, but once we identified each other then we naturally gravitated toward one another.

Summary:

View from the Other Half is a podcast episode by Griffin Hansbury. He describes his group of friends, which consists of men who were born in female bodies, transgender people. He goes further into depth on how each person navigates romance, which significantly changes after transitioning. Both Griffin and Ray were considered lesbians in college, and Ray describes how he had no trouble getting women back in those days. The difference between how men and women go about finding partners and flirting is drastically different, so Ray had trouble understanding how to pick up women after he officially transitioned to a man. Ray explains a story about him and some of his transsexual friends driving to Atlantic City and meeting some pretty girls along the way. The girls asked them to go skinny dipping and the guys all realized that it wasn’t going to work out. This was a defining moment for Ray because this was his new reality. Not everyone accepts trans people in society, unfortunately. Griffin adds onto this with his own story of a blind date where a woman did not accept his trans identity. However, their friend Ethan seems to have no trouble securing a woman, even after disclosing his background. He is a very confident guy. However, women seem to have different expectations for him. Nate’s story is a little different. He always knew he was male, but he was also attracted to other men. He struggled greatly with defining who he was. He tried to be a lesbian, because he felt like a boy, but that wasn’t him. Even after finding who he truly was, as a gay man, he still struggles to find a partner who accepts his unique identity. Griffin then asks Amy, Ray’s girlfriend of one year, about their sex life. The most common and frustrating question that trans people receive. Amy says she misses the simplicity of sex before she met Ray.

Outside Example:

This reminds me of a very famous youtuber who is known for her makeup artistry. Nikkie de Jager has been on youtube since 2008 making makeup tutorials for people to recreate. She just recently was forced to come out online as transgender because she was being blackmailed by someone who knew her secret. She had a boyfriend who she had not come out to yet either, which forced her to have a very difficult conversation with him.

Connection to reading:

Nikkie made a long video explaining her own reasoning for keeping her trans identity a secret. She explained how she didn’t want to be seen any differently or have the label “transgender” be the most important thing about her. Her youtube channel is her passion and the focus should not be on her gender. She also had to come out to her boyfriend, who did not yet know that she was born male. Fortunately, he accepted her. It is sad that being transgender makes it difficult to find a life partner because many people today still can’t be accepting. Although she transitioned from male to female, I’m sure she experienced many of the same things mentioned by Hansbury in View from the Other Half.

Reading Summary

In this podcast, they discuss the notion of repetition and how it affects people in different ways. They begin the podcast by playing a skit performed by Kurt Braunohler and Kristen Shaal and in the skit we hear Braunohler singing an obnoxious and rather irritating song as Shaal danced around in a horse costume. The comedians explained that the audience was confused at first and did not laugh until they repeated the dance five more times. The audience then continued laughing but then the laughter slowly died out as they continued to sing. Then, nine to eleven times later, the audience began to laugh once more. The audience assumed that this skit would be funny and would eventually change or transition into something else. They were wrong, however, and the skit continued and the audience did not find it funny anymore. The second portion of the podcast discusses a rather sad story of a woman named Christine Campbell and her mother, Mary Sue. One day, Christine got a call from her mother expressing her concerns about the date and seeing things that were not physically there. Christine then called the paramedics because she instantly thought her mother had a stroke but we later find out that the doctors diagnosed her with transient global amnesia. This type of amnesia is a memory loss that is inconsistent and can leave Mary Sue up to twenty four hours without creating new memories. What was really interesting was that within those twenty four hours, Christine would have the same conversation with her mother which always started with Mary Sue asking what the date was. Christine would respond with the appropriate date and Mary Sue responded with “I missed my birthday!” and always said “darn!” in the same expression every time. This was a constant cycle, a broken record that Christine had to endure with her mother for the twenty hour span. The notion of repetition here is evident in that Mary Sue’s brain is constantly starting over and forgetting a conversation that had lasted two minutes prior. 

Outside Example

This unfortunate story instantly reminded me of the famous movie, 50 First Dates, that starred Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. In this movie, Drew Barrymore’s character, Lucy, was in a terrible car accident that caused her to have severe memory loss. Adam Sandler’s character, Henry, is in love with Lucy but eventually finds out that she forgets him every day. Lucy’s short-term memory only lasts a day and as soon as she falls asleep, her brain “reboots” back to the day the amnesia began. As a result, Lucy’s father and brother repeat the day Lucy lost her memory so that Lucy never has to endure the pain of finding out what happened to her. The father and brother have copies of the old newspaper, make her the same breakfast every morning, and celebrate her dad’s birthday all on the same day that the accident occurred. The idea of repetition is evident here as Henry and Lucy’s family help give Lucy a happy life by having the same events occur everyday. 

Reading Connection

The podcast’s purpose was to discuss the notion of repetition and how much control we initially have over our actions. Mary Sue had to repeat the same dialogue within twenty four hours because she is constantly forgetting the day and her location. This is similar to the movie 50 First Dates because Lucy has short-term memory loss and forgets everything that happened the day before. These two examples highlight the importance of how our brain is so powerful and how we still have so much to learn from it. Overall, the idea that our brains are such an impactful part of our bodies and lives in that it controls and reminds us of things that have happened in the past and that we are the only ones who have control over our own thoughts.

Reading Summary

The first part of this podcast talks about two comedians Kristen Schaal and Kurt Braunohler who did a skit in front of an audience. At first, the audience finds it funny but the comedians keep doing the same thing over and over again and the audience begins to get tired of it and stops laughing. Then, the audience finds it funny again after a while. The people doing the podcast talk about how its weird that the audience finds the skit funny and wonder why this repetition is so amusing and why it exists.

The second part of the podcast is about the story of how a daughter discovers that her mother has transient global amnesia. This is a condition that makes the individual forget things extremely fast but only last for 1 to 24 hours. Christine Campbell records a video of herself talking with her mother where she explains what is happening and a few seconds later she has to repeat the conversation again because her mother had already forgotten. This happens over and over again.

Outside Example

This podcast reminded me of the movie The Theory of Everything that tells the life of Stephen Hawking. The movie shows how Stephen Hawking meets Jane at the university of Cambridge. Soon after, he finds out that he has an illness and is expected to live for a few years. Stephen Hawking decides to keep Jane out of his life but she insists that they stay together. They fall in love and after he graduates with a doctorate they end up getting married. As the illness progresses, Jane begins to take more time out of her day to help Stephen with everyday activities he can no longer do by himself. the illness begins to damage their relationship and Jane begins distance herself from Stephen. Jane meets a guy named Jonathan from church and he begins to get closer to the couple and helps out Stephen be able to go out and do family activities. Jane hires a a woman named Elaine to help Stephen and Jane begins to slip away from him. They end up getting a divorce and Jane later ends up marrying Jonathan. Stephen decides to dedicate his whole life to his research pursuing the equation to explain the “Theory of Everything.”

Reading Connection

Although the movie and the story told in the second part of the podcast are very different conditions and situations, they both share an illness that affects the brain and makes the brain work against the body. In both stories we learn how the people affected by these illnesses are ordinary people and at some point in their lives, they are faced with a unexpected horrifying situation. When I first saw this movie I was shocked at how fast his life changed from having everything, a bright future with a loving wife and kids and a great career he faced an illness that would limit him in many ways and ending his life short. It made me realize that the way the mind works is amazing and horrifying at the same time. In the podcast they mention how the brain works similar to a machine and that it just reads code and there isn’t a way we could fix it ourselves. Both situations show exactly that, the brain created this “bad code” and didn’t try to correct it even if it meant harming the rest of the body because it was just following these orders.

Host Jessie Thorn explains a comedy skit where two comedians perform a duo skit involving a song and dance where Kristen Shaal dances like a horse and Kurt Braunohler sings a song. On first performance the audience laughs, but then they repeat it again and again. The audience doesn’t laugh. They duo keeps doing the same act over and over again, and eventually, the audience begins to laugh again, even though they have seen the same act so many times already. The next story is about Christine Campbell, whose mom, Mary Sue, is in a loop in her own mind that is very strange and confusing. Mary Sue had Transient Global Amnesia and it is defined as “a sudden, temporary episode of memory loss that can’t be attributed to a more common neurological condition, such as epilepsy or stroke.” And during an “episode of transient global amnesia, your recall of recent events simply vanishes, so you can’t remember where you are or how you got there.” Doctors began to think that our brain takes away control from our actions and we’re left prisoners to our own brain.

Upon first hearing about Mary Sue, I thought about the movie The Notebook. Everyone always talks about how it’s a great movie and it’s a “must see”. Eventually I told my mom I had never seen it and I wanted to watch it with her when it was just us and the rest of my big family was busy. I didn’t expect much because it is just another rom-com. I bawled my eyes out. The movie is so freaking sad. *SPOILERS**** Below is the scene where Noah visits his aging wife Allie in the house he built for her which is now an elderly home, and he reads her the story of how they fell in love. At the end of the movie, Allie finally remembers that the story this man is reading her is her husband Noah, and it’s about her. One of the saddest moments is Allie says “how long do we have” and Noah tells her that last time it was only “about five minutes” meaning he’s done this multiple times. The look on his face when she forgets who he is and he loses the love of his life once more is heartbreaking, and the harsh reality for family of people with Alzheimer’s, how they forget their family and can’t do anything about it.

When I first heard about Mary Sue, I thought it might be Alzheimer’s, a disease that progressively makes your memory worse over time, which is what Allie from the Notebook has. Doctors still can’t do much about Alzheimer’s, and you pretty much just have to suffer through it. Our brains are very strong, and even though they are our own consciousnesses, we still can’t quite control them. When repeating information over and over, there have been multiple studies showing how our brain skips over information and we don’t quite work correctly.

Summary

This segment from This American Life shares the stories of a group of transsexual men and their experiences after making the transition from female to male. The purpose of the segment is to highlight the struggle associated with adjustments that must be made after the physical transition, including learning what exactly is needed to love and how to have a healthy, successful relationship as the opposite gender. The accounts that are shared in the segment vary widely, from individuals who have been successful in meeting and engaging romantically with others to those who have not, and those who have had the briefest relationships to those who are pursuing long term ones

Outside Connection

This segment did not spark any immediate outside connection for me, but as I thought harder on it, I was able to make a somewhat obscure connection between the reading and a scene from the third season of Stranger Things. When Steve and Robin are sitting in the bathroom after having escaped being tortured, they reminisce about their time in high school together. Robin reveals how during that time she had feelings for another girl in that class, and hated Steve because of the way that the other girl looked at him rather than at her.

Reading Connection

This scene is very similar to one of the accounts that is given by one of the transsexual men that is interviewed in the story, as the individual shared the emotions they felt when they were still female. The individual described a period of time when he hated men, for no particular reason greater than the fact that at that point, he was still female. Specifically, he highlighted times on the subway when he would look at other men and feel hatred, disgust and jealousy, sparked by nothing more than the way they carried themselves, or even because they just stood there, taking their gender for granted.

Audio Summary

The View from the Other Half narrates a few stories from transgender men on finding love and the adjustments they had to make following their transition. Prior to their procedure, most of these men were gay females. They describe how society’s upbringing of women affected how they socialized as men today. For example, one man stated he often felt uneasy going into bars and trying to flirt with women because “being raised as females-we were never taught how to pick somebody up.” This shows how the gender you were socialized as and raised as affects you psychologically and behaviorally down the line as well. Another man’s statement about such a topic was: “before I was a man I could talk about how I like going to strip clubs and that made me cool and edgy-now (as a man) it just makes me a jerk.” When these transgender individuals decided to transition, society’s treatment of them transitioned with them as well.

Outside Example

This podcast reminds me of a youtube video, “Gender Critical” by a binary transgender woman, Natalie Wynn, known by her youtube persona Contrapoints. In this video Natalie addresses radical feminists who oppose transgender women because they believe them not to be “actual women” for not having gone through the same oppression since birth. However, Natalie counters that argument by stating that she has in fact encountered oppression on a similar level. She states “you don’t know what it’s like to occupy an identity so stigmatized that most of the people who are attracted to you in private are too ashamed to admit it in public. You don’t know what it’s like to have a body so non-normative that you’re shut out of whole areas of society.” https://youtu.be/1pTPuoGjQsI?t=1179

Connection

This segment of Contrapoints’ video correlates with the podcast because it describes the struggle transpeople may have in finding love on the other side of the gender line and the adjustments necessary in battling society’s conception of you vs your own perceived identity. In the podcast the men express their concerns of “who is our target audience” for dating? The trans body is so stigmatized against in our society because it is non-conforming to gender ideals, so many transpeople have trouble finding lifetime partners. Contrapoints expresses this exact concern as well.