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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.