About #BREAKFREE 2.o#BREAKFREE 2.0 was a project aimed to inspire others to "break free" from the stereotypes society has placed on us. By creating a video about a common stereotype in our society today, we hoped that it would become viral encouraging the viewers to "break free" from misconceptions, judgements, and the threats of stereotyping.
Before starting on our project, we participated in an activity to help us understand this topic more. Four posters were placed around the room, each with a one of these words: White, Black, Asian, Mexican. We then had to go around to each one and write stereotypes that we have either used, seen, or heard someone use. This activity helped us get a better understanding of the racism and discrimination that was happening around us, and how big of an issue it has become. When learning more about stereotypes and the history behind it, we looked into a college level reading called Whistling Vivaldi. The reading was about the concept of stereotype threats. Stereotype threats refer to the risk of confirming negative stereotypes about an individual's gender, ethnic or racial group, and how one can change their lifestyle in order to fit in with society's social standards. "Whistling Vivaldi and Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us", was about an African American male who would whistle classical music as he walked on the street in order to convince the people around him that he was not dangerous. He would do so because multiple times people that would cross the street if they saw him walking toward them. |
Writing Process
For the individual part of the project, we were given the choice of producing an art piece, spoken word, Ted Talk, or poem. I chose to create an art piece. I went through countless amounts of drafts as it was very difficult for me to reach a vulnerable part of myself and displaying it for everyone to see. The hardest part of this was painting since I have only drawn with a pencil until now, and coming up with an artist statement that represented the painting.
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At the beginning of the project, we each wrote a "that" card; an anonymous card that contained a moment in our personal life where we experienced discrimination, racism, prejudice, any type of stereotype. This moment can be whether we stereotyped/discriminated against someone or someone placed a stereotype on us. Through this process we learned about one another's lives, what one experienced in the past, and how it affected that person. On one side was our story and on the other was a visual representation.
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Before starting the videos, we had to come up with a plan and ideas. We created a 5-6 page proposal for our video. However, the video had some major changes done in terms of delivery and our message, so our proposal may be different from our video. We also presented our proposal (as a PowerPoint) to the rest of our class to get feedback before we began shooting.
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For the group portion of the project, I teamed up with Stephanie Knutson, Jonathan Abazan, and Daniel Garcia. In our group, we decided to create our video to raise awareness on gender bending. From our social experiment, we have learned that most people will grow up and be influenced by society that guys wearing "girl clothes" is not acceptable, and girls wearing "guy clothes" is considered more acceptable. Part of the project was to create a call to action using a hashtag, so we decided on #CLOTHESDONTHAVEGENDER to remind viewers how you shouldn't put gender on clothing (example: girl clothes).
Narration Script:
What is a normal outfit for a boy to wear?
What is a normal outfit for a girl to wear?
(show photo of people dressed in what you would consider clothing for the opposite sex)
What do you think of this picture/what are your thoughts on it?
Is it okay to dress this way/is it socially acceptable? Why or why not?
Would you wear this?(in public or at home?) Why or why not?
Why do you think this person chose to dress this way?
Why do you think it isn’t considered acceptable (normal) for people to dress in the opposite gender?
Why do you think society doesn’t accept people who dress this way?
How can we fix this issue? (ask following questions according to their answers)
At what age do you start to worry about how you dress?
What would your first reaction/thought be if you saw a person gender bending (dressing the opposite sex)?
Should boys be allowed to dress in girl clothes and vise versa
Questions for Expert Contact:
We tend to judge others on what they wear, why do you think we do?
Does gender have an impact on the way we dress?
What about sexuality?
What do you think helps guide people's decision to dress the way they do, to in a sense , go against the norm?
Is there a psychology behind the way we dress, or is it more so affected by the way we are affected by society
Why is dressing in the opposite gender not socially acceptable?
Pictures used in the video:
What is a normal outfit for a boy to wear?
What is a normal outfit for a girl to wear?
(show photo of people dressed in what you would consider clothing for the opposite sex)
What do you think of this picture/what are your thoughts on it?
Is it okay to dress this way/is it socially acceptable? Why or why not?
Would you wear this?(in public or at home?) Why or why not?
Why do you think this person chose to dress this way?
Why do you think it isn’t considered acceptable (normal) for people to dress in the opposite gender?
Why do you think society doesn’t accept people who dress this way?
How can we fix this issue? (ask following questions according to their answers)
At what age do you start to worry about how you dress?
What would your first reaction/thought be if you saw a person gender bending (dressing the opposite sex)?
Should boys be allowed to dress in girl clothes and vise versa
Questions for Expert Contact:
We tend to judge others on what they wear, why do you think we do?
Does gender have an impact on the way we dress?
What about sexuality?
What do you think helps guide people's decision to dress the way they do, to in a sense , go against the norm?
Is there a psychology behind the way we dress, or is it more so affected by the way we are affected by society
Why is dressing in the opposite gender not socially acceptable?
Pictures used in the video:
Self Refelction
To me, breakfree meant the spreading of awareness on a particular social issue; trying to change how people view stereotypes and breakfree from the negativity that is deeply integrated into our society.
I think the most challenging part of our project was the making the video. When planning, we realized that we were missing a few things like our expert contact and call to action. However, it all turned out to be good at the end. The reactions we got were exactly as we hoped and the call to action was changed according to the final product of our video. There was still a problem though, the expert contact. When we first contacted our expert, he had to decline since he was very busy at the moment. When interviewing the second person, the audio was not working and realized it too late. At the end we had a person who wore "guy clothes" and identified as a girl talk to us about their experience. By modifying our video a little it helped us create a stronger message and breakfree moment.
Throughout this project I learned a lot about stereotypes/stereotyping and how much of a role it plays in today's society. Although it may seem like a normal thing to call someone "nigga" or use stereotypes as a joke, it can really affect someone, and the history and hardships behind those words are not jokes. I hope that our videos will actually make a change.
I think the most challenging part of our project was the making the video. When planning, we realized that we were missing a few things like our expert contact and call to action. However, it all turned out to be good at the end. The reactions we got were exactly as we hoped and the call to action was changed according to the final product of our video. There was still a problem though, the expert contact. When we first contacted our expert, he had to decline since he was very busy at the moment. When interviewing the second person, the audio was not working and realized it too late. At the end we had a person who wore "guy clothes" and identified as a girl talk to us about their experience. By modifying our video a little it helped us create a stronger message and breakfree moment.
Throughout this project I learned a lot about stereotypes/stereotyping and how much of a role it plays in today's society. Although it may seem like a normal thing to call someone "nigga" or use stereotypes as a joke, it can really affect someone, and the history and hardships behind those words are not jokes. I hope that our videos will actually make a change.
ExihibitionOur Break Free exhibition took place at Queen Bee's and Cultural Center in North Park, San Diego.
Here, we showcased all the products of our Breakfree 2.0 project to parents and visitors. A team of designers were formed at school who took charge of the layout of the building. There was a large stage where people read their poems, did their ted talks and spoken words, played in music in their bands, and where we had our Rockestra. The songs that we played were "Stand By Me" and "Same Love". In the next room was a small stage for more spoken words, our art pieces and videos, and the "That" Cards. I think that this is the first exhibition I truly enjoyed. We didn't have to stand at the same spot the whole time. The spoken words were amazing, and overall I had a lot of fun. Our Rockestra: https://drive.google.com/a/hightechhigh.org/file/d/0B7J130g-hYQCS3A2LWVQUC1VLTg/view https://drive.google.com/a/hightechhigh.org/file/d/0B7J130g-hYQCVXBjS0dXeHAyblE/view |