fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2239 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2239 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

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02.

[Elementary]

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03.

[Pokemon]

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04.

[Noah, Power Rangers MegaForce]

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05.

[Mass Effect]

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06.

[Resident Evil]

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07.

[Medaka Box]

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08.

[Shameless]

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09.

[Star Trek 2009]

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10.

[Dreamwork's Sinbad, Avengers, American Gods, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Batman, Gunnerkrigg Court, Grim Adventures, Trickster's Choice/Queen]

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11.

[American Dad]

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12.

[Laurell K. Hamilton]

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13.

[my neighbour totoro]

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14.

[Medaka Box]

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15.

[Downton Abbey]

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16.

[The Red Panda, Black Jack Justice]

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 080 secrets from Secret Submission Post #320.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

So I have a question to ask you guys: do you think that learning abut social/cultural patterns through media representations is a problematic way to understand them?

I suppose that this can apply to just about anything, and I recognize that usually there's a great deal of demystification that goes into understanding the real thing.

Here, let me give you my conundrum: I believe myself to be a very tough person. Because the social community that I identify with doesn't do verbal discussion of what constitutes "tough" (you either are or you aren't, and speculating gets you nowhere, it just makes you sound stupid), I find myself comparing my experiences to more widely available, widely discussed representations.

These tend to be movies, video games, books, etc. I can find what a larger populace thinks about the types of experiences I have gone through, and what they think of the type of community I belong to. In this larger, more heterogenous community, I am considered tough, if I go by what they think about media representations.

So what is the social reality? Am I "tough" (according to the larger populace), or "normal" (according to my social community's more vague norms)? Are there multiple social realities, all co-existing?

You've already answered your question. You've identified the reality within your specific group, and the reality within a broader social context. Neither is the one true social reality because they both undeniably exist.

Yes.

Identity, and self-identification, are not fixed and unchanging. What you consider to be one thing is not going to be same at another point in time or in another culture/country. To some extent, everything is relative, and the representations in the media tend to magnify definitions of what being tough is, or what being a woman, a man, a cop... etc is (i.e: you can be tough without being in Die Hard).

So yes, there are multiples definitions and realities. Define yourself as you want to define yourself, what you think applies to you, knowing that it doesn't define you forever if you don't want it to.

I take the representations with a grain of salt. Nothing in media can reflect the absolute truth of people because we're all different. I read and watch the things I do for entertainment.

It's obvious when writers and producers make representation their primary goal and I don't find it remotely entertaining. I want a good story with good characters. I don't care about the color, religion, gender, or sexual identity of those characters. I just want to read or see someone believable in situations that compel me to learn the resolution.

Problematic in a social justice sense? I wouldn't think so. Problematic as in unreliable? Yeah.

Fiction can be very informative about broader social norms and standards, but it can also lead you off in totally the wrong direction, so be careful.

The entire reason I am a maladjusted social reject is because I learned all of my socialization skills through books and movies.

Take from that what you will.

Are there multiple social realities, all co-existing?

yes. although "co-existing" is a much more optimistic choice of words than what i would've picked

[ SECRET POST #2239 ]

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