Farzan's Languages of Media

A Semiotic Analysis: Why did Kanye West Interrupt Taylor Swift at the 2009 VMA's?  By: Farzan Farnaghi Time Code + Caption 0:00-0:09: Taylor : I always dreamed about what it would be like to win one of these someday but I never thought it would happen 0:10-0:14: Taylor : I sing country music so thank you for so much for giving me a chance to win a VMA award 0:16-0:31: Kanye : Yo Taylor. I'm really happy for you I'm a let you finish. But Beyonce had one of the best music videos of all time. One of the best videos of all time.  0:32-0:50: Peoples reactions being shown, clapping, booing List Description - Taylor accepts her award for best female video for "You Belong With Me". This is written at the bottom of the screen and at the top it says "MTV Video Music Awards 2009".  - Taylor is wearing a silver dress with tons of lustre. Fans are cheering. There are people who work for MTV standing behind her.  - Taylor doesn't move her gaze from the award much,...

In this TED Talk, Harris explains the relationship between the traumas people experience when they are young, to the adverse health conditions experienced later in life. She explains her research in this field as, "If you're a doctor, and you see 100 kids that all drink from the same well and 98 of them develop diarrhea, you can go ahead and write that prescription, for dose after dose after dose of antibiotics, or you can walk over and say, what the hell is in this well (Harris 2014)?"  Harris explains that the  "Adverse Childhood Experiences Study" is what grounded most of her research, which examined the adverse childhood experiences or ACEs of more than 17 thousand adults. For things such as physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, physical or emotional neglect, parental mental illness, substance dependence, incarceration, divorce, or domestic violence the study would add a point to one's ACE score (Harris 2014). The ACE scores were then correlated against...

Campaign Zero is a campaign that's goal is to live in a world where the police don't kill people. Their plan to do this is by limiting police intervention, improving community interaction, and ensuring accountability. The ten categories or focuses of their plan are:  End Broken Windows Policing Community Oversight Limit Use of Force Independently Investigate & Prosecute Community Representation Body Cams / Film the Police Training End for Profit Policing Demilitarization Fair Police Union Contracts The campaign's main goal is to encourage policymakers to focus on reducing police violence and hope to put pressure on elected officials to enact legislation to address police violence. There is also a tool on the site to demand action from your representative which I believe is an effective tool in getting people across America involved in an important cause. Further analysis will now be done on Campaign Zeros' policies they wish to enact.  Campaign Zero states that only...

The two pieces of writing by Audre Lorde and Rachel Cargle, both targeted the perspective of black women against their own perceived allies. In Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining Difference , Audre Lorde speaks about the current state of black women in the world. She touches on how the perspective of a black woman is very different from others such as men, women, and even other feminists. She addresses points about how the current state of the world is directly related to a capitalist structure that leaves minorities, poor, or disadvantaged as a "surplus". Similarly in Cargle's article When Feminism Is White Supremacy in Heels , she touches on how black women seem to be alone in their battle because even their supposed allies are more concerned about their image rather than truly hearing out black women of all stretches of life.  In both pieces of writing, the perspective is from someone who feels trapped, in the system, in their beliefs, and their lives. They are...

Dear Vice-Principal Harumi, Thank you for reaching out to me! As you know I am courageously outspoken when it comes to anti-racism and promoting BLACK LIVES MATTER so I am more than happy to share my thoughts on the matter.  My initial thought is to NOT proceed with making this dance or performance with the current cheerleading squad. However, there is a lot of potential here to create a meaningful performance that can appeal to the audience and possibly more. I think this is a great opportunity to get students around the school involved in this performance. I would try and get different ethnicities to join the actual performance and instead have the cheerleaders teach and lead choreography. For example, in minute 0:18 you see a black man come in and start playing the guitar, who later gets executed. For this performer, it would be good to get a member of the school choir or band who is also black. I think it can come off as phony and lose the videos deep-rooted meaning if anyone b...

In Canada, we have the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which protects the rights of all Canadians, as well as women. In the Charter, two sections specifically apply to equality ,which are sections 15 and 28. Section 15 makes sure that the law upholds equal protection without discriminating against sex, race, or ethnicity. Section 28 guarantees that all rights are applied equally to men and women. As blanket rights for equality, these are essential to ensuring that men and women are protected equally under the Charter. In addition to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is the Canadian Human Rights Act of 1977 that allows for all Canadians to have the right to equality and to avoid discrimination based on sex. This act protects men and women from discrimination when they are employed by government run organization. However, this leaves a gap when it comes to all privately owned businesses. To accommodate for this, the Government of Canada created the Canadian Human Right...