Endometriosis is a chronic disease that affects 176 million women around the world. As we have learned through Velvet’s story, this disease is unforgiving and makes living a comfortable life extremely difficult.

Endometriosis causes the lining of the uterus to grows in places it is not supposed to, including the lungs, the ovaries, the kidneys and the fallopian tubes. This usually involves constant pain, infertility, bloating, breathing difficulties, fatigue, internal bleeding and mental health issues.

Not only does endometriosis prevent women from performing physical activities to their best of their ability, it also creates many mental challenges and can prevent some from feeling confident and content within their bodies and the life that they life.

Aaron, Velvet’s boyfriend, touched on how it took a while for her to open up to him about her illnesses, “she finally told me about 3 months into our relationship. But I totally understand why. She has had trouble with friends, teachers and doctors not taking her seriously in the past and I think that has caused her to feel like she will not be accepted.”

Because of endometriosis, many aspects of Velvet’s life have been taken away. Her pain makes it difficult to get up in the morning. Her pain makes it difficult to show up to her shifts at work and maintain good results at university. Her pain makes it difficult to be open and trusting in a relationship and maintain good friendships. Her pain makes it difficult to be happy and feel worthy of a normal life.

Endometriosis is a hidden disease. When I hang out with Velvet, I forget she is suffering from multiple chronic illnesses. You would never be able to tell just by looking at her or even by spending time in her presence. Because it is such an invisible but debilitating illness, life can become extra challenging.

But, just like many other women living with this disease, Velvet keeps her head held high. Everyday, she tries hard to do her best and raise awareness for the unpreventable and incurable disease that affect so many. It is imperative that doctors, and the rest of the society, become better informed on the complications of this disease so that women like Velvet can find the treatment and acceptance they deserve. She states that endometriosis is what has allowed her to become the strong person she is today.

The V Word

‘The V Word’ is a series of blog posts and YouTube Videos and is focused on vegan food, products, experiences and resources. My DA aims to adopt a carefree approach to veganism in order to help individuals learn more about the diet and where to start if they are interested in trying it out! My goal is to make content that is helpful for those who are struggling to understand or successfully maintain the lifestyle. 

During the prototyping stage, I have focused on turning my ideas into tangible content and learning from the feedback I have received and the mistakes I have made.

So far I have created:

• a blog post on the best vegan/cruelty free beauty products
• my first blog post in my ‘the vegan experience series’
• a youtube video taste testing/recommending the best vegan junk food
• a youtube video reviewing a vegan burger alternative
• the second blog post in my ‘the vegan experience’ series

I have received minimal, but positive feedback on these posts. This feedback has been through Twitter, WordPress and Youtube, and has mainly been recommendations on what I could include in my posts and also resources that I would find helpful. I have also received words of encouragement and interest in my upcoming posts.

Through the prototyping stage I have realised the importance of content curation. In order for my content to do well, I must look to other vegan content and analyse their level of engagement and success. By basing my work off the feedback of others, I will be able to create posts that include elements that these audiences are looking for.

Also, through this process, I have made the mistake of solely having BCM114 students as my audience. I have been focused on their feedback and have yet to promote my content to other members of the general public. I have restricted myself from gaining a wider audience by only focusing on the interests of my fellow students.

Similarly, the content I have prototyped has been mainly targeted to those who are already vegan, Although my content aims to educated and help those who aren’t vegan, audience members would not be able to tell from the way I title and promote it. I have had feedback from some non-vegans saying that my DA has been of interest to them. However, I still need to find a way to make my content more obviously inclusive of both vegans and non-vegans.

Through testing and then observing my content and audience interaction, I was able to acknowledge that engaging with my audience through Twitter replies and polls was a great way to increase interaction and create content that my audience is actually interested in.

By prototyping my ideas I have found that Youtube videos and blog posts are the most effective platforms to post my content on. Although I have received little feedback, it has been enough to help me establish the basis of my content. Most of my audience seems to enjoy the food and real life experiences of veganism and I will therefore continue to base my posts around these elements.

part two

india-female-nineteen-vegan

How long have you been vegan for?

11 months

What is your reasoning behind going vegan ?

To sustain the planet we live on and of course because I couldn’t stand knowing that I’m contributing to suffering of animals. 

Do you remember the exact day you were going to be vegan ? If so, describe it ?

Yes, well I had been transitioning for about 3 months and I never actually made the official call until on the 1st of November 2018 when it was World Vegan Day! My vegan friend said “I wish I went vegan today, that would be so cool” and I replied “oh! Maybe I should go vegan today!” And she agreed and that was it! I was officially vegan. 

What are some things you are tired of being told/asked as a vegan ?

I’m actually very very lucky and I don’t get tormented as much as other vegans do, I have a very supportive group of people around me! But it’s usually just older people saying “why in the world would you want to do that?!”

What is the food you miss most ?

Probably cheese, I’m still on the search for an epic vegan cheese! But I can survive obviously. 

Best vegan food ?

Best vegan food would have to be my granola I have for breakfast every day or fruit!

Have you ever had doubts/stopped being vegan ?

No doubts at all. I love being vegan!

Biggest challenge ?

Biggest challenge would be eating out, but again, the world is changing so quickly and almost everywhere has vegan options. 

Do you think you will be vegan for the rest of your life ? 

I will definitely be vegan for the rest of my life!

The V Word

My DA is based on veganism and consists of a series of blog posts and YouTube Videos that are focused on vegan food, products, experiences and resources. My DA aims to help individuals learn more about the diet and where to start if they are interested in trying it out! My goal is to make content that is helpful for those who are struggling to understand or successfully maintain the lifestyle. 

I decided that posting on a blog and Youtube channel would be the most effective and relevant. Making blog posts allows me to go into greater detail on topics that platforms such as Tik Tok or Instagram would not. Youtube also allows me more freedom and creates a greater level of personalisation with the audience.

Throughout the prototyping and making processes I have created:

• a blog post on the best vegan/cruelty free beauty products

• a blog post on an interview i did with my friend and her experience being vegan

• a youtube video taste testing/recommending the best vegan junk food

The feedback I have received has mainly been recommendations on what I could include in my posts and also resources that I would find helpful. I have also received words of encouragement and interest in my upcoming posts. All feedback has come from WordPress or Twitter.

I realised that once I started to become more active on Twitter and actually engaging with others, I started to gain a few more likes and follows on Twitter. However, my blog and channel themselves have not grown much. This indicates that individuals are quickly checking it out but not properly engaging. 

Based on the feedback and my observations, I recognise that some iterations have to be made. I have started promoting my content more. I have started posting Twitter polls so that I gain an understanding of what my audience actually wants to see, which I am hoping will boost my engagement. I have also incorporated the recommendations I have been given into my work. I plan to create a schedule so that my audience can expect a post. Overall, my ideas have been encouraged and thus my original concept remains the same. 

Thanks for reading!

part one

hannah – female – eighteen – vegan

How long have you been vegan for ?

I have been vegan since February 18th 2018, approx. 1 year and 7 months.

What is your reasoning behind going vegan ?

Preventing the exploitation of animals, to lower my carbon footprint to help the environment, & for the health benefits. Adopting a vegan diet/lifestyle is one of the most efficient ways to do so ! 

Do you remember the exact day you were going to be vegan ? If so, describe it ?

One day, after a few months of being surrounded by friends who were thriving on a vegan diet, I decided to research further into why so many people choose to be vegan – and watched numerous documentaries, such as ‘Cowspiracy’, & ‘What the health’. I was astounded after watching these films, and decided immediately that veganism was a lifestyle I needed to adopt.

What are some things you are tired of being told/asked as a vegan ?

I would say I get most tired of ‘silly’ arguments that people use to aggravate/shut down the good intentions of vegans – for example: ‘Plants have feelings too’. Unlike animals, plants do not have central nervous systems which transmit pain signals to the brain, which they also don’t have.

What is the food you miss most ?

I personally don’t miss any non vegan foods, as the thought of consuming animal products beats any cravings for me. 

Best vegan food ?

Grocery/health food stores have been constantly releasing an abundance of amazing items & sweets over the past year or two, so there are so many great things to choose from – but one of my favourite meals to have would be a ‘nourish bowl’, full of salad, numerous veggies, hummus, avocado, chickpeas, tofu, dressings etc. Super healthy, easy to prepare, satiating, and nutritious. 

Have you ever had doubts/stopped being vegan ?

I can happily say I have never had doubts about choosing to be vegan – as I have educated myself on the extensive list of benefits of veganism, environmental/health/reduction of cruelty etc – therefore I do not question myself as I am confident I am doing the right thing.

Biggest challenge ?

I would say the biggest challenge I experience being vegan, is dining out at restaurants when I am with a group of people who aren’t vegan, and trying not to feel guilty if they cannot go to a place they would like to go in order to accomodate for me. 

Do you think you will be vegan for the rest of your life ? 

Yes, I plan to be vegan for the rest of my life !

The V Word

I was instantly overwhelmed by the idea of doing a DA. The assignment just seemed beyond my personality and capabilities and I went into instant panic mode. I assumed it would be impossible to come up with a worthy idea and felt more and more nervous as those around me started to come up with some great ideas! I know, I sound like the biggest drama queen ever! But, I had never done anything like this before and I was scared!

Although I do believe my personality is pretty out going, the thought of publicly posting blogs or YouTube videos about myself made me cringe.

However, once I actually sat down and began ideating, I realised coming up with an interesting concept wasn’t going to be that hard. I realised I am actually interested in quite a lot of things; movies, music, fashion, animals, current affairs! I tried brainstorming ways I could turn these concepts into something tangible and engaging, but I didn’t seem to be getting anywhere. I don’t really have any credible experience in any of those areas and thus could not figure out a way to base a whole project around them.

And then one day as I sat down to eat my vegan lunch, it came to me! Veganism! I have been vegan for three years and therefore decided that doing my DA on veganism would make the most sense, as food is obviously one of the most important things in our lives! I was a bit concerned about doing a topic so ‘controversial’ as I am scared of what people say about me, and so I usually keep the fact that I am vegan to myself for as long as I can. But then I realised no one actually cares that much, and if anything, people are only becoming more open to the idea! Veganism is only becoming more relevant and prominent in today’s climate and so I decided that it would be an appropriate, personal and interesting topic to base my DA on as it something I am knowledgeable of and am able to help educate other about. I then started to brain storm specific ideas relating to veganism

For my DA I plan to post Youtube videos and blog posts – but apart from my pitch video, I haven’t done either. 

Because of my lack of content and promotion, I have had no engagement with an online audience. I really need to step it up and start producing posts and videos in order to actually obtain feedback and analyse how well they are received by others. I have now realised that in order for my DA to be successful, I need to “choose a routine and be consistent” with my posting. I have also realised I need to engage with the first step of the design process: empathy. If I want to create an engaging audience, I have to consider what they want to see. I plan on using twitter polls in order to obtain opinions and suggestions for my content.

However, I did pitch my idea to a few ‘naive listeners’. I explained my DA to some friends and family members and they were all interested and supportive of me idea. I have quite a few friends who are vegan and they were especially interested, and claimed that they would definitely find my content useful and entertaining. 

To help me start ideating, i took inspiration from various vegan and lifestyle content creators such as Lindsey Rem, Wear I Live, Haley Raines and Hitomi Mochizuki. Being able to consider how other people are doing the same thing I plan on doing has been really helpful and has provided me with some guidance on how I should go about my DA.

Now that the ideating process is over, I can focus on prototyping and making! 

Many genres of music, especially rap, lend themselves to hybridisation and can therefore become glocalised to a new specific culture, or become appropriated.

Cultural appropriation can be defined as the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing that you understand or respect this culture. Comparatively, cultural hybridisation can be defined as the blending of elements from different culture (Burke, 2014).

The common themes that tend to be glocalised are the universal concepts of language, political beliefs, traditions, cultural clothing, and the values of a particular group or nation. These concepts are considered by a different group and then transformed to become relevant to their culture. An example of this can be found in grime music. Grime is a genre of electronic dance music that emerged in London in the early 2000s. Most grime artist from the UK, such as Stormzy and Wiley, are known for being politically active through their songs, and this is an element of grime music that can be localised to different countries as this theme can be adaptable and relevant to different cultures.

Indigenous Australian rapper, Baker Boy, has implemented a strong sense of Indigenous culture within his rap songs. The majority of his songs are rapped in Yolgnu Matha language and backed by a strong beat created by a digeridoo. The regular appearance of digeridoos, the aboriginal flag and traditional face paint within his music vides, in addition to the music itself, can be used as example of how the genre of rap has been localized to suit indigenous culture, issues and concerns (Israel, 2017).

There are many artists in the music industry who have been criticised for their appropriation of other cultures. Artists who have appropriated and profited off the sounds of African American music include Elvis Presley, who has been dubbed the “king of rock and roll”, a genre that he did not found. Similarly, artists such as Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus and Post Malone have adopted significant elements of African American culture by wearing dreadlocks, having grills and twerking. Although the artists may not intend to cause harm and rather believe they are merely following a trend or experimenting with new sound, the issue lies beneath the fact that they fail to speak up about the oppression, both past and present, that people of this culture have had to face.  

References:

Israel, J. (2017, December 30). The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/dec/30/baker-boy-rising-from-arnhem-land-to-sharing-a-stage-with-dizzee-rascal

Burke, P. (2014). Cultural hybridity. Cambridge: Polity.

The movie I will be reviewing for BCM111 is the French-language horror movie ‘Raw.’ This movie has been claimed as a “modern horror masterpiece” by Rolling Stone Magazine and has an impressive 92% on rotten tomatoes.

‘Raw’ follows Justine on her first week of Veterinary school. Among other traditions, all new student’s must eat raw rabbit meat in order to ‘pass’ initiation and become accepted by the older students at the school. Although Justine has been vegetarian her whole life and therefore tries her hardest to resist, she is ultimately convinced by her older sister and her will to fit in and eventually eats the meat. She then develops a craving for flesh and starts to indulge in all sorts of meat… and then human flesh.

Despite the movie being about cannibalism, it also explores themes of love, family, control and self discovery. The beautiful cinematography and the complex characters allow all the twists, turns and shocking scenes to come together to create a clever and unique horror film that everyone should (try) to watch at least once.

‘Raw’ is classified as R18+ and is therefore intended for mature audiences, and for those who are willing to sit through graphic scenes involving sex, drugs and, well, people eating other people. The movie is spoken in French and is therefore more intended for French audiences. However, it has been dubbed with English subtitles and is easily accessible and watchable for most people.

The movie has won awards in France, Toronto, London, Belgium and Australia. Thus, ‘Raw’ has travelled and been accepted well in many countries. However, these awards suggest that it has been best received in Western countries, the Global North. This can be explained by the cultural proximity theory. This theory suggests that audiences tend to prefer media from their own country or culture because the familiar faces, places, customs, issues and ethnic faces are more appealing . French and Belgian audiences appreciate this movie because of the familiar locations, language, humour and college traditions. Similarly, those who liked the movie from London, Toronto and Australia would have appreciated the fact that the characters “looked like them” and would be able to understand the western cultural concepts and the idea of trying to fit in at school or college.

Additionally, ‘Raw’ could be universally accepted (by those who like this these type of movies) as the themes of fantasy, horror, relationships and coming of age stories are universal concepts that many cultures would have an understanding of and interest in (Falzon, 2015). ‘Raw’ is also an example of homogenisation as it is a form of media produced in a powerful country and has travelled well to others (Hornung, 2012).

So, ‘Raw’ is a movie like no other. It is graphic and unsettling but definitely a must-watch, if you don’t mind a bit of cannibalism.

References:

Falzon, C. (2015). Philosophy goes to the movies an introduction to philosophy. New York, NY: Routledge.

Hornung, U. (2012). Homogenization and porous media. Place of publication not identified: Springer.

THE V WORD

..(vegan)

My Digital Artefact will be based on veganism. I will be producing content on the best vegan food spots, simple recipes and sustainability tips. I will be focusing on the stereotypes and controversy surrounding veganism and use the experiences of both past and present vegans, as well as non-vegans, to help viewers gain a greater understanding of the concept and its place in today’s society. I will also do my best to provide viewers with facts and information in the least annoying way possible.

I will develop content for my DA through blog posts and YouTube videos. These posts will take on a more relaxed take on veganism and will focus on considering the struggles, misconceptions and benefits of the diet. My DA will aim to encourage viewers to learn more about the concept and will be a great place to start for those who are considering adopting a vegan lifestyle!