I think that the takeaway from this week’s readings is that although social media can amplify voices that otherwise would not be heard, those voices can often be capitalized on by more powerful people. For example, in the case of Aziah Wells, her twitter story about her experience with sex work drew a large audience and raised a lot of awareness to the dangers involved with sex work. However, a male writer for Rolling Stone Magazine wrote about the story and now the story is being recognized as his and not Aziah’s. Additionally, a production company is turning the story into a movie, but white male actors and producers are completely taking over the story and passing it off as their own. In this case, the entertainment industry took over a story that was important and educational and turned it into a story that the powerful could profit from. Hearing about this story has really made me think about what other media could potentially be ripping off someone else’s work. In the future, I will make sure to research media before I consume it and not support media that rips off stories from the original author.
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I think you’re right that this story raises fundamental questions about the media/Hollywood. Ultimately, the movie was actually directed by Janizca Bravo, a Black woman director, and certainly the fact that Wells’s story is now available as a movie will allow her fate to be encountered by many more people. In other words, what is tricky is that although the powerful are profiting very literally off Wells’s work (and off her experience), Hollywood still contributes to amplifying Wells’s reach.
Hey Virginia. I definitely agree. I thought that the story with Zola was definitely an interesting and exciting read, and I couldn’t wait to discover what had happened to everyone in her story at the end. Zola’s voice is one that should be heard. It’s definitely concerning that others are trying to steal her story and pass it off as their own and essentially whitewash everything. I think it’s hard not to steal other people’s content from social media. Most of it isn’t copyrighted, and it would be so easy to claim that someone else’s work/tweets/posts/stories are mine. Also, I was confused as to why a male writer for Rolling Stones would try (and possibly succeed) to say that Zola’s story was his own. Fame? He didn’t get any.
Well, you raise a lot of interesting points, Leigh. But I think the matter may be even more nuanced! The white writer of the RS article (can we even “know” that he is white? he appears white, but what does that exactly mean?) isn’t calling Wells’s story his own, but he is certainly fact-checking Wells, as if the story depended for its “value” on whether it’s true or not.