April 22, 2014

Alejandro Hincapie Rutgers-University Newark

1
Professor Goncalves Imagery & Culture Fall 2014

Tumblr: A Platform For Self-Representation and Engagement With Social Realities

April 22, 2014

Screen capture of http://fuckyeahdavidagbodji.tumblr.com/. 1

Fuck Yeah, David Agbodji. Tumblr. http://fuckyeahdavidagbodji.tumblr.com/ (Accessed throughout March April 2014).

April 22, 2014

Screen capture of http://dancesexxxartpop.tumblr.com/. 2

Dance, Sex, Art, Pop. Tumblr. http://dancesexxxartpop.tumblr.com/. (Accessed throughout March April 2014).

April 22, 2014

Screen capture of http://iamselectric.tumblr.com/. 3

I Am Selectric. Tumblr. http://iamselectric.tumblr.com/ (Accessed throughout March April 2014).

April 22, 2014

Tumblr, the curiously spelled micro-blogging site, has grown increasingly popular since its creation in 2007 by 20-year David Karp.4 While online blogging platforms date back to the late 1990s, Tumblr was the first to provide a simplified means of posting a variety of different types of media. 5 The site currently attracts 20 billion pages views per month and houses one hundred and eighty-one million tumblelogs that feature eighty-three billion poststext, images, videos, audio, and links expressing a remarkable range of user interest.6 The diversity of media supported encourages users to use the platform casually; tumblelogs have been described as akin to streams of consciousness and scrapbooks in the way their content is added slowly by users without much aplombrarely are Tumblr posts coupled with heavy amounts of textual or formal commentary as in most weblogs.7 The 85% of users who are enthralled enough by the site to continue using it after signing up have carved out vastly differently focuses for their profiles.8 Users use their tumblogs to post daily photos and brief descriptions of their outfits, to create entire pages dedicated to photos of a specific celebrity, to create online spaces where appealing media is aggregated and kept, and many different combinations in between.9 The sheer volume and diversity of activity on Tumblr prompted media giant Yahoo to purchase the blogging platform in 2013 for a reported $1.1 billion dollars.10 Yahoo now owns a social network as intricate and complex as any other with all the familiar functions: text, photos, videos, music, and links can be reblogged onto other users profiles or marked with likes of approval and individual Tumblr blogs can be followed.11 This capacity to distribute media and connect individual profiles on Tumblr has caused the formation of communities of like-minded individuals who share similar interests and are curious about the content their peers have posted or are aggregating.12 Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Tumblr is the relative social looseness and anonymity allowed on the platform. The site doesnt require a real name or any trace of a real world identity to make a profile, only an email address. 13 This affordance of relative online ambiguity combined with the interactive tools built into the site appears to have caused a marked freedom of expression on many a Tumblr profilemany have become arenas for their users self-expression and self-representation, for exemplifying and responding to the realities of media influence and ownership, and for exploring pertinent of social issues.
4

Meltzer, Marisa. 2010. The Curated Web. American Prospect 21, no. 3: 43-45. OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson), EBSCOhost . 5 G.F. What is Tumblr? The Economist. Online Edition. May 20, 2013. 6 Ibid.; About. Tumblr.com. http://www.tumblr.com/about (Accessed April 20, 2014)
7

Meltzer, Marisa. 2010. The Curated Web. American Prospect 21, no. 3: 43-45. OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson), EBSCOhost . 8 Ibid. 9 Ibid. 10 G.F. What is Tumblr? The Economist. Online Edition. May 20, 2013. 11 Ibid. 12 Meltzer, Marisa. 2010. The Curated Web. American Prospect 21, no. 3: 43-45. OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson), EBSCOhost . 13 G.F. What is Tumblr? The Economist. Online Edition. May 20, 2013.

April 22, 2014

Through this paper, I hope to gain a direct understanding of the experiences of different Tumblr users as they pertain to topics and issues addressed in course readings throughout the semester. I interviewed three Tumblr users and prompted them with questions about their motivations for posting and aggregating media on the site. These questions were to some extent directly informed by specific course readings. One Tumblr page, www.fuckyeahdavidagbodji.tumblr.com (Fuck Yeah, David Ahbodji) is solely dedicated black male-model David Agbodji.14 Advertising images are interspersed with editorial photography, runway show stills, street-style images, and backstage captures, all with Agbodji as the focus.15 Another tumblelog, www.dancesexxxartpop.tumblr.com (Dance, Sex, Art, Pop), has a much more vague concentration. Images, videos, and audio posts of pop star Lady Gaga, her music, her videos, and live performances dominate the blog, but are also accompanied by a random assortment of humorous online memes, gif images, and videos, as well as homoerotic and pornographic images of men and other media about figures in contemporary popular music and culture.16 Finally, www.iamselectric.com (I Am Selectric), has an equally vague yet apparent focus running through its pages: various types of media depict people of color, 90s cartoons and other programming, hip-hop and R&B, and non-Western art, as well as link users to information about relevant social issues.17 In the case of the latter two blogs, Tumblr has provided the blogs users with a platform for selfrepresentation. When asked about what motivates them to run their blogs, both I Am Selectric and Dance, Sex, Art, Pop described the way that aggregating media in their Tumblr profiles is a means for them to self-affirm themselves through their interests.18 I Am Selectric in particular discussed the way their blog is both reflective of who they are and aspirational about who they want to be. They stated: Tumblr gives me an opportunity to compile images that I think represent me, my beliefs, and my emotions... It gives me an opportunity to delve into what I like and what I know Im interested in, and push past the bullshit and get down to what I like to see and read and engage in The images that I reblog are really specific to me. I identify with every piece of text, audio, and media to a certain extent. And so the combination of all these things sort of say, Im a reflection of all these pieces. And here they are together to create a true reflection of who I am. The media on my blog reflects me because I find it appealing and I chose it, but it also informs me. It informs my fashion choices, the music I continue to listen to it. It dictates these things; it helps me develop my taste in things I already know I like. For example, a .gif [image] from Smart Guy reflects my childhood and it expresses the type of humor that I have, while a picture of a cardigan found its way into my blog because I realized thats sort of the way I want to start dressing soon. So my profile both reflects me and project on me.19
14 15 16 17 18 19

Fuck Yeah, David Agbodji. Tumblr. http://fuckyeahdavidagbodji.tumblr.com/ (Accessed throughout March April 2014). Ibid. Dance, Sex, Art, Pop. Tumblr. http://dancesexxxartpop.tumblr.com/. (Accessed throughout March April 2014). I Am Selectric. Tumblr. http://iamselectric.tumblr.com/ (Accessed throughout March April 2014). Personal Interviews with Select Tumblr Users. Rutgers University, conducted March through April 2014. Personal Interviews with Select Tumblr Users. Rutgers University, conducted March through April 2014.

April 22, 2014

Dance, Sex, Art, Pop largely paralleled these sentiments, with particular emphasis on the way their tumblelog speaks to a greater online community. They stated: I think my Tumblr is my way of being part of this really specific online world that I identify with. Its this world of gay guys and girls who stan for or really obsess over and support specific popstars over others and argue about the merits these singers have over one another. Its like an entire culture... People talk to each other both ironically and non-ironically in drag queen slang and throw shade at each other There are a lot of blogs like this. That glorify one popstar and are obviously run by a gay guy who is really into pop culture and post all of this ridiculous stuff and is part of this greater stan culture. For me, I think the enjoyment and entertainment I get from everything in my blog sort of defines me indirectly. Its the music I listen to, its the things that I find funny its the tings I get a kick out of. When I see it al together in my archive, it makes sense for me to say yeah, this is me. At least to an extent.20 These statements outlining the way these bloggers respective pages and the media within them are vehicles through which they can affirm their identity speaks to ideas about representation through imagery discussed in our course. In Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture, authors Marita Sturken and Lisa Cartwright define representation as the creation of meaning about the world around us.21 Imagery can come to represent reality when it is imbued with symbolism, associations, and implied relationships about the subject it depicts.22 Self-representation can thus take the form of crafting meaning about ones self and identity through the various imagery one puts forward. The combined symbolism, associations, and implied relationships of the media on Tumblr blogs coalesce together to create a larger, collective whole, bigger than the sum of its disparate parts. It is through these amalgamations of meaning behind media that self-representational is affirmed by Tumbler users in their profiles. Because Tumblr blogs are capable of acting as platforms for users self-representation through aggregated media, they are also arenas that exemplify the influence media at large can have on these users, as well as mediums through which such influences can be challenged. For Dance, Sex, Art, Pop, an important aspect of their blog can be conceded as being heavily influenced by narratives created in mainstream media.23 They stated: There is the very obvious example of media influence in my blog in the fact that I reblog so much stuff about one of the biggest mainstream musical acts in the world, Lady Gaga. But the truth is that I dont really subscribe to a lot of the mainstream sort of narrative about her. Like, I dont really like her for what you usually hear about her in the news. I think the real mainstream influence in my blog is more hidden . Its in the way so many people on my Tumblr feed pin these female popstars against each other. Album sales and chart positions and number of sold out arena shows, all these numbers, are used to prove that one is
20 21

Ibid. Sturken, Marita and Lisa Cartwright. Viewers Make Meaning, in Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture . (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), 45-71. 22 Ibid. 23 Personal Interviews with Select Tumblr Users. Rutgers University, conducted March through April 2014.

April 22, 2014 8 automatically better than the other. I find this imposed competition amusing and entertaining in the way its usually delivered with humor, but I dont really think its always fair, and I do think a lot of the people online
who fuel it arent serious, me included, but I do think its ultimately rooted in the way mainstream media has always pinned female entertainers against each other, as if theyre all interchangeable to a degree. And thats probably rooted in sexism.24 Here, Dance, Sex, Art, Pop acknowledges that the tendencies of the online community that they count themselves intendencies such as discussing the comparative merits of female musicians who, on the whole, are very different from one anotherare probably rooted in a greater hegemony, namely the modern-day patriarchy that effectively dictates that a womans success has to come at the hands of another womans and that women in general can be reduced to objects, interchangeable and endlessly comparable. This idea is particularly elaborated on by Susan J. Douglas in the introduction to Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female in the Mass Media.25 While Douglas argued this notion using pop culture figures of yesteryear, the misrepresentation she describes is still applicable today.26 And while Dance, Sex, Art, Pop acknowledges the continued pervasiveness of such sexism is evident in their own blog, I Am Selectric sees their Tumblr profile as a space to actively contend against certain misrepresentations of other minority groups in the mainstream media.27 They explain: I know what gets appreciated in mainstream society and what doesnt. These things are changing but I will go out of my way to take the imitative and actively look for positive images of dark-skinned people that arent belittling towards them, of black children doing positive things, and of other people of color in a positive light. I have over 500 followers and while I like to think they all have a similar mindsets to me, I ultimately dont know all of their backgrounds and interests. So I want to make sure these positive images of people who arent appreciated by society get out there and are made visible. For example, when I repost things about the fashion movement that is taking place in Sub-Saharan Africa where theyre using traditional prints and Western cuts to craft these new identities for this new generation of continental Africans and the African diaspora thats something I want to showcase because Im not going to see it anywhere else. I use my Tumblr to create and solidify my reality and to create my own sense of media. So I post things that I dont see on television or hear on the radio, but would like to see on those platforms, and share them with other people, affirming myself and my interests and getting other people involved because these are amazing things that are just not heard about.28 For I Am Selectric, Tumblr provides a means of distributing media that favorably presents and informs on minority groups who have long be misrepresented, marginalized, or altogether ignored my mainstream media. 29 Their tumblelog is a space to challenge the reality of contemporary media ownership: the vast majority of meida output is controlled by a limited amount of white, wealthy men who are not representative of marginalized minority

24 25 26 27 28 29

Personal Interviews with Select Tumblr Users. Rutgers University, conducted March through April 2014. Douglas, Susan Jeanne. Introduction, in Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female in with the Mass Media. (New York: Times Books, 1994). Ibid. Personal Interviews with Select Tumblr Users. Rutgers University, conducted March through April 2014. Ibid. Ibid.

April 22, 2014

groups and do not bear in mind these groups interests.30 Thus, blogs such as I Am Selectric can provide a model and set a precedent for media spaces that positively affirm and depict minority groups.

Similarly, Tumblr provides both a source of and a means of presenting information about pertinent social issues. The sites capacity for the easy and quick sharing of media facilities a widespread distributi ng of relevant information on a range of topics, particularly those not always discussed in mainstream media outlets. I Am Selectric describes this as another motivating factor behind their Tumblr usage. 31 They explain: I also turn to Tumblr because it has become this alternative to news media and its a way that I can craft or sot of compile journalism for myself. I can learn about issues in society, about whats going on in the world from other like-minded people who are doing just as good research as journalists in big name media Im posting a lot of stories of people of color in a positive light, Im posting new articles of young black women who have gone missing, Im posting underground hip-hop music Im posting a lot of things that fly under the radar and are not reported on in mainstream media.32 Essentially, for users such as I Am Selectric, Tumblr is a means of both accessing and distributing pertinent information about social issues.33 Whats more, the very existence of blogs such as Fuck Yeah, David Agbodji not only address social disparities, but also offers an example of an ideal solution to such issues. The blogs curator explained their motivation behind the page: The reason I first created [the blog two years ago] was because I thought the space [Agbodji] was starting to take in the fashion world was realty interesting and something to take note of. Hes French, now living in the United States, but of Togolese origin. He was named one of the top 50 male models and he kind of sprung up really quickly. Hes very, very dark-skinned and hes also very, very sexy. Hes very attractive. So I was thinking of all these things: this unique space he was taking up and this identity he was building in the fashion world, and his good looks. So I said, let me showcase this guy. Just from reading stuff, most of which I found on Tumblr, and also simply seeing images, you can see a much greater inclusion of black models in the fashion industry than in years past. But from model testimonies and articles about how things work in the fashion industry, there is always a cap on the number of black models designers hire or there are shows with only black models. So there is a tokenism of them. So lets say you have 20 girls lined up, and youll have a cap of having just 2 black models because thats enough for your show and if not, your entire show is made up of black models. So black models become like the puppet of the fashion world, they become these iconic pieces that are hot at the moment. So I think one of the important things about this blog and because its been around for two years and it spans his career, it shows that black models can be enduring and that they can take on different roles and that they can be beautiful in different types of settings.34 In creating Fuck Yeah, David Agbodji the user identified a disparity in the number of black models employed by the mainstream fashion industry and misrepresentations in they way they were used when they were employed,

30 31

Flint, Joe. FCC media ownership survey reveals lacks of diversity. Los Angeles Times. Published November 12, 2014. Web. Personal Interviews with Select Tumblr Users. Rutgers University, conducted March through April 2014. 32 Ibid. 33 Ibid. 34 Ibid.

April 22, 2014

10

despite apparent progress in the matter. By compiling together imagery of a prominent black model at work, over an extended period of time and in various capacities, the blog effectively undermines the greater disparity and misrepresentation of black models by providing an attainable ideal. It is not so much dismissing the racial inequalities of the mainstream fashion industry as much as it is highlighting an otherwise positive example within it and promoting an ideal that should be strived for.

In conclusion, Tumblr is a unique media platform in the opportunity it provides users to engage with both themselves and larger social dialogues around them. Its ability to aggregate all types of media facilitates an intersection between self-representation through compiled media and engagement with the realities of media influence, media ownership, and pertinent social issues. Tumblr blogs are both personal and private spaces where these realities are contended. Depending on how individual users use the site, models and precedents for future media spaces where social disparities and misrepresentations can be alleviated.

April 22, 2014 References About. Tumblr.com. http://www.tumblr.com/about (Accessed April 20, 2014) Blakley, Johanna. Media in Our Image. Womens Studies Quarterly, Vol. 40, No. 1/2, VIRAL (SPRING/SUMMER 2012) , pp. 341-350. The Feminist Press at the City University of New York.http://www.jstor.org/stable/23333465

11

Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corp., 1973. Video. Bergen, John. Chapter 7, in Ways of Seeing. (London: Penguin Books, 1972.) 129-135. Chocano, Carina. Pinterest, Tumblr, and the Trouble With Curation. The New York Times, Magazine edition July 20, 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/22/magazine/pinterest-tumblr-and-the-trouble-withcuration.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 (accessed March 15, 2014). Dance, Sex, Art, Pop. Tumblr. http://dancesexxxartpop.tumblr.com/. (Accessed throughout March April 2014). Davies, Russells. The rise of curation platforms has great potential for brands. Brand Republic. February 16, 2012. http://www.brandrepublic.com/opinion/1117290/ Douglas, Susan Jeanne. Introduction, in Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female in with the Mass Media. (New York: Times Books, 1994). Flint, Joe. FCC media ownership survey reveals lacks of diversity. Los Angeles Times. Published November 12, 2014. Web. http://articles.latimes.com/2012/nov/14/entertainment/la-et-ct-fcc-diversity-20121114. Fuck Yeah, David Agbodji. Tumblr. http://fuckyeahdavidagbodji.tumblr.com/ (Accessed throughout March April 2014). G.F. What is Tumblr? The Economist. Online Edition. May 20, 2013. http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2013/05/economist-explains-what-tumblr-yahoo (Accessed April 16, 2014).

April 22, 2014 I Am Selectric. Tumblr. http://iamselectric.tumblr.com/ (Accessed throughout March April 2014). Meltzer, Marisa. 2010. The Curated Web. American Prospect 21, no. 3: 43-45. OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson), EBSCOhost . https://login.proxy.libraries.rutgers.edu/login?url=

12

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ofm&AN=511007297&site=eds-live(accessed March 15, 2014).

Personal Interviews with Select Tumblr Users. Rutgers University, conducted March through Aprul 2014. Sturken, Marita and Lisa Cartwright. Viewers Make Meaning, in Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), 45-71. Sturken, Marita and Lisa Cartwright. Practices of Looking: Images, Power, and Politics, inPractices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), 10-43.