Serena's Super Awesome English Portfolio

Dear Readers,

My recent projects stem from my most current obsession: Monica Lewinsky. I’m attracted to the way media has portrayed her and the social stigma that has continued to surround her being even two decades after the Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal.

At first, I was unsure about this assignment because it seemed so technical, and while I had been a visual arts major in high school (I went to Fiorello H. LaGuardia, the high school for music and arts), I was never involved in a project as technical as this remediation project. I struggled at first because I wasn’t sure how to work iMovie and when I tried to work on my project, I was a deer in headlights because I just didn’t realize how ambitious my initial vision was–at least, for a first time video maker like myself.

Either way, I’m happy I was able to challenge myself and broaden my horizons in terms of skill and coming out of my comfort zone. I had a lot of fun with making this video in the end and am proud of the results–though do be warned that the quality and sound editing is a bit rusty because of time-oriented issues and my lack of skill. I hope you will enjoy watching this as much as I enjoyed making it!

Bon appétit!

  Sincerely,

Serena Law

[Click the title of this post!!]

Cast, Mold, and Brand: Monica Lewinsky

      Monica Lewinsky: scandal, affair, promiscuity, and immaturity. These are the words and adjectives that are most associated with her name after her affair with President Bill Clinton was exposed in the late 1990s. Even now, the stigma still surrounds her being each time she attempts to interact with or return to common society. Her affair with Clinton has lead to a spread of sensational news stories and caricatures of her personality in the late 20th century. Her presence permeates through American culture. Her appearances and descriptions in news papers, media outlets, and scathing editorials has lead to the crystallization of her image as a promiscuous and overly ambitious “girl.” This image provides fresh, undying material for the average on-screen comedian and music rapper. Her interviews are looked upon with scorn by the older American majority, and her attitude seems facetious despite the amount of tears she has shed on them. It has been nearly two decades after the affair, and Lewinsky’s presence still permeates through American popular culture like the undying flicker of a firefly: I’m here! I’m not. I’m here! I’m not. As a result, I have decided to produce a Youtube video by the name of “Cast, Mold, and Brand: Monica Lewinsky.” Through the visual and aural affordances of my video, I hope to showcase how invasive and effective the media is when it came to stabilizing and crystallizing Monica Lewinsky’s image. My previous essay, “Monica Lewinsky: Culture of Shame,” and Lewinsky’s experience in the media is what inspired the theme of my video: Monica Lewinsky lived in a society that punished women for expressing the same sexual freedoms that men did, and as members of a generation that champion sexual liberation and gender equality, we should try to overcome the image the media has stereotyped her as and realize that she too, is just a human being.

Unlike an essay, a video allows for a sound component. This is great and can be skillfully utilized because of Monica Lewinsky’s presence in various rap songs. Being able to  showcase her presence in our ears is something that visual essays cannot afford. Unlike listening, we reinterpret the words that we read and match a feeling to what we see as opposed to just listening to the interpretation of an artist. The emergence of my video can solve that problem and involve my audience with the catchy beats and seemingly harmless lyrics they hear. Once someone actually experiences and listens to the music, I think that they would have a better understanding of how invasive Lewinsky’s presence really is. The music I used came from the internet, and I have taken allowances to do some small remixing and sound edits to avoid copyright issues. The beginning of video starts with G-Eazy rap song, “Monica Lewinsky,” which also coincidentally starts with Bill Clinton’s infamous denial of his relationship. When the beat begins to change, an instrumental version of Beyoncé’s “Partition” will emerge so that the beat can continue even after the video starts to show clips from Lewinsky-focused parodies, news, sightings, interviews, and discussions. The ongoing beat is supposed to be in tune with the changes of the visuals my viewers will see. For example, the beat of the background music will change and drop to a slower, more intimate beat once Lewinsky’s image is shown for the second time and Bill Clinton appears with his commentary on Lewinsky. The beat is symbolic of how Lewinsky’s presence is always in our lives and culture–passive or not, and whether we like it or dislike it.

Another affordance allowed by my video is the visuals I am able to show my viewers in the span of two and a half minutes. Essays can describe what my perception of an object or person is, but if I want my viewers to experience what I did, the best method would be to show them instead of telling them. I tried to find as many media clips of Monica Lewinsky and her commentators, but the task was harder that I initially thought. Many of the clips were old and streaked with VHS lines, and some websites such as ABC charged money for the usage of their clips. As a result, I decided to take the clips I found in one of Lewinsky’s interviews–“Monica Lewinsky in Black and White,” and edit them in different orders and ways. I increased the speeds of the clips to show how chaotic and fast-paced such widespread recognition can be, and I made sure to show slivers of Monica Lewinsky’s image in between the clips as a show of her ongoing presence. These clips may be blurry and have unequal sounds, but they are better than a lot of the ones I found elsewhere on the internet. The clips I used included interviews, jokes made by television personalities, talk show commentary, news commentary, and clips from the “Monica Lewinsky in Black and White” documentary.

In addition to my video clips and excerpts, I have also taken an image of Monica Lewinsky’s photo during her WhiteHouse internship and made it more mobile. As my viewers may see, my video starts with a closeup of her smile and zooms out so that the picture becomes more clear and apparent. The reappearances of this photo is used to designate changes in the beat and clips of my video and is also utilized to show that despite what Monica Lewinsky may appear to us, we will never see the whole entire picture. Our conjectures and opinions are produced by the media, and I think using mosaic and fading transitions between the clips can show this best.

While the end product of my video is different what I had initially planned, I feel proud of this project. I can try to inject with as much symbolism and attention-grabbing turns as I want in the video, but the best part would come from the way my audience interpret and sees those aspects coming into play. My video would end with they way it started: by Bill Clinton’s declaration to symbolize the recurring references to Lewinsky in popular culture. In the case my viewers do not read my essay,  I added slides at the end of my video; on them are the themes that I am trying to communicate to my viewers and encourage them to understand Lewinsky not as a mere product of the media and political maelstrom, but also as an individual and sexually liberated woman that symbolizes America’s need and ongoing struggle for gender equality.

Uploading “Monica Lewinsky” to the Public Domain

      While I have already uploaded my video, “Cast, Mold, and Brand: Monica Lewinsky” to YouTube, my product is not listed because it seems slightly amateurish to me. I am proud of the work and effort I put into producing this video, and I am especially pleased with the end-product, but it is within my personal opinion that the standards for school is very different from the standards of an online public domain. In these domains, commentators are oftentimes harsh, critical, and make split decisions without considering minor details; rather than looking for meaning and following the guidelines for academic prowess or insights, the biggest factor of how much a stranger would like a video would be the amount of entertainment and amusement they would garner from my product.

In addition, the images and clips of my video is fuzzy and less than ideal due to the quality of the videos I have taken them from. If the sound editing and quality of the images and clips I used can be improved, I would be more interested in uploading “Cast, Mold, and Brand: Monica Lewinsky” for strangers and commentators to see and critique–but only after I edit the video for more popular uses. In the case that I am able to accomplish that, I would also have to write a disclaimer’s note on the theme and argument of the video (ex: “I am not arguing that what Monica Lewinsky did was right, but rather, I argue that we try to understand her more and look past the fabrications and caricatures of the media.”)

Despite the reasons I have for not wanting to share my video, I do think that the amount and importance of the feedback I get–no matter how small or incremental, would be beneficial to me. It would allow me to see what works, what does not work as well, and understand a bit more on the way people think or perceive certain objects and people.

Cast, Mold, and Brand: Monica Lewinsky A Digital Collage or Quick Video My research-based argument paper focuses on the media’s portrayal of Monica Lewinsky and the consequences following the Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal. The Scandal is a testament to America’s culture of victim shaming, scapegoatism, and gender inequality. It also shows how powerful and influential the media can be. The project’s title–“Cast, Mold, and Brand,” refers to the similar processes celebrities and products go under. Once a cast or image is found, raw materials are shaped into the desired image, and when there is enough of the printed product in circulation, the name starts to transcend the original product and become a brand with its own meaning. Barbie is no longer just a name; it is representative of perfection, plasticity, and obsession the same way Monica Lewinsky’s name is synonymous with scandal, affair, and promiscuity. In Lewinsky’s case, not only was she a product manufactured and packaged by the media, she was also “casted” for the role and the media molded her image to fit their agenda. The media had such a huge part in the way Lewinsky was portrayed after her relationship with Clinton was exposed, so I have decided to make a collage or video of her using the articles, videos, and pictures I can find on the internet. I have two ideas: a collage within a video or just a video. The collage would start with a closeup of Monica Lewinsky’s mouth, but the picture I will start with would be from her high school years. As the video zooms away from her smile, other pictures surrounding the first one will appear. As the video starts to progress, the audio taken from Lewinsky’s media appearances would turn into a muddled cacophony of criticisms . The pictures will keep appearing in chronological order until all the media appearances and references come together and become so small that the picture of her days as a White House intern will appear. When her picture finally appears, the audio stops and a comment from one of her critics would play (or should it be Clinton’s famous denial?). My second idea is a just a video. The video will also start with a close up of Monica Lewinsky’s smile from the days during her internship. I will use a series of flashbacks taken from Lewinsky’s media appearances, interviews, and references, and with every five seconds, a different close up of her face will reappear (ex: a part of her eyes or nose) until the last image that appears is the entire image. The audio would be the same as the one from the first choice. I will try to see which of the choices looks the clearest, and if both of them is doable, perhaps I will combine both my choices. My statement is that Monica Lewinsky has become a brand–dehumanized and mutated into something imagined by the internet, television, and numerous new outlets. I hope to successfully convey that statement to the viewer in two minutes.