The musings of a college girl living in the middle of a corn field.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
#ReinstallTheBall
Warning: the below video is slightly graphic, but blurred out as necessary.
Miley Cyrus has caused quite a stir in the news in the last month. From her twerking incident during the VMAs to her recent separation with her fiance of over one year, Liam Hemsworth, Miss Cyrus can't stop being in the limelight. Her newest single, "Wrecking Ball", has gained 120 million views on YouTube at the time of this blog, with more views almost guaranteed. The video, which features Cyrus licking a sledgehammer and riding a wrecking ball wearing nothing but a strange expression and boots, has gained attention as another of her many attempts at self-expression. As much as people love to see what Cyrus will do next, the biggest response to the video has been the Vine videos people have created in parody. Vine, the fledgling video app that allows user to create short videos, has been bombarded by responses to the video.
The most extreme response has been from students at Grand Valley State University. GVSU, a college in Allendale, Mich., has a pendulum sculpture on the campus that resembles a wrecking ball. Once students caught wind of the video, the parodies of the music video began. Students made Vines of themselves riding the sculpture, took photos and even created a Twitter account called @GVSUWreckingBal.
While many students on campus have rode the ball as a sort of tradition in the past, the administration of the school found out about the amount of people riding the sculpture and removed it. This has caused massive outcry from the student body at GVSU, who have started using the Twitter hashtag #ReinstallTheBall and a protest where GVSU students sang "Wrecking Ball" at the former side of the pendulum. The videos and the removal of the ball have received national attention from traditional and digital news media, as well as other students around the country. Before social media, an event like this would have been mentioned briefly on the news and forgotten. Now, social media lets students continue talking about the issue. Just like a select few ONU students appearing on Jerry Springer last year and the removal of ONU Confessions, students will voice their opinions online and they will be heard.
What do you think of the Wrecking Ball parody? Do you think that social media has changed how students protest issues?
I think the parody was actually pretty funny, stupid, but funny. I see it as college students enjoying their time in college or people just enjoying life. We, college students, cannot be serious all the time and we're are going to do things that those older than us see as unintelligent. I'm not saying it's right, but it happens from time to time.
Social Media has changed more than just how students protest. However, as far as protesting I feel like social media allows protesting to become a little more "in your face" to administration, which makes them a little more frustrated. I think if school administrations have issues with how we use social media then they should speak to us about it rather than taking or shutting down how we express ourselves.
Honestly, as much as this may be an unpopular opinion, I think the school did the right thing. Yes, the videos were funny. Most videos making sensible fun of something popular are. However, if a student, possibly intoxicated, were to ride the wrecking ball on campus and be hurt, what do you think the insurance company will do? They'll sue the crap out of the university. Even if students swung on the ball in the past, not as many videos were posted about it. Of course, that's an assumption, but with nothing happening until the giant amount of uploaded videos, I think it's a pretty safe bet.
Students right now are upset because those planning to do it one day will never have the opportunity to do so. This hashtag on Twitter is making it easier for them to make their opinions heard. However, I don't think even the largest student outcry will #ReinstallTheBall because the university would probably rather put money towards their students, not an insurance company.
I think the parody was actually pretty funny, stupid, but funny. I see it as college students enjoying their time in college or people just enjoying life. We, college students, cannot be serious all the time and we're are going to do things that those older than us see as unintelligent. I'm not saying it's right, but it happens from time to time.
ReplyDeleteSocial Media has changed more than just how students protest. However, as far as protesting I feel like social media allows protesting to become a little more "in your face" to administration, which makes them a little more frustrated. I think if school administrations have issues with how we use social media then they should speak to us about it rather than taking or shutting down how we express ourselves.
Honestly, as much as this may be an unpopular opinion, I think the school did the right thing. Yes, the videos were funny. Most videos making sensible fun of something popular are. However, if a student, possibly intoxicated, were to ride the wrecking ball on campus and be hurt, what do you think the insurance company will do? They'll sue the crap out of the university. Even if students swung on the ball in the past, not as many videos were posted about it. Of course, that's an assumption, but with nothing happening until the giant amount of uploaded videos, I think it's a pretty safe bet.
ReplyDeleteStudents right now are upset because those planning to do it one day will never have the opportunity to do so. This hashtag on Twitter is making it easier for them to make their opinions heard. However, I don't think even the largest student outcry will #ReinstallTheBall because the university would probably rather put money towards their students, not an insurance company.