media critique

Anyone who spends time on the web has seen the words FAIL splashed across pictures of cats with their heads stuck in empty cans or dogs dressed by their humans as Oompa Loompas. Don't get us wrong, those can be pretty funny. But you know what's even better? Making the digital bombast of FAIL less associated with the minor humiliations of pets, and more so with the project of media reform -- which just may involve a more pointed, and meaningful, kind of humilation. 

An interesting question was raised in the comments section of my recent Model Behavior column and one that I'm no stranger to contemplating: Where is all of the research on and dialogue around the non-white, non-middle class Gen Y experience? Why do we only ever hear about student debt load and the plight of college grads who are moving back to the safe haven of Mom and Dad's suburban oasis? What about those who never made it to college in the first place? Who don't have the option to lean on their families, because these families are every bit as financially strapped (if not more so) than they are? What about young adults who, by virtue of culture, religion or upbringing, have different values or a different relationship to technology than those which defines the Millennial archetype?


Photo by Art Pets Photography