The Complexity of Texting

So I have this unproven theory, amongst others, that the way you text is indicative of your personality. What I mean by that is that you can tell a lot about someone given the content of their texts. Texting is something we do on a day to day basis and it’s something we rarely think too deeply about, but there is more to it than what you might think.

I did an assignment about this in University and did very well – yes that was a shameless plug on how smart I am – but I wanted to do this in blog form because I still feel like it is still a relevant point. I could’ve posted the assignment here but it’s far too academic and dull so I’ll surmise the most badass points.

The assignment required me to look at the personal use of mobile media applications, and what that suggests about the role of cell phone messages in relation to youth culture communicate; which was a fancy way of saying “analyse your messages between your friends”. Basically I was given subheadings that I had to use as I was discussing this and because I had to hit a certain amount of words, my point became so dynamic (read: convoluted) in some sections that it even confused me – again, I’m really smart.

Since this is my blog and I get to type to my heart’s content, I get to present you with a highlights package:

Language and Discourse

• Basically the 12 years of high school English (and for some of us that still went onto university and majored in English) was all for nought because when it comes to texting you make up your own rules. We communicate in an idiosyncratic way - sure we all say the same things but text can be about as individualised as people’s speech patterns. Sometimes when someone sends a message and then you say “I heard that in your voice”, is basically how the language used in texting can be personalized. You’re pretty much extending the characteristics of your personality into your messaging habits.
• You can speak in another language, mix languages or create your own language. You can use punctuation or you can use none at all... Anything Goes. Sure sometimes you might want to text in a formal manner but it depends on who you’re speaking to but again, anything goes...
• The use of emoticons further establishes an individualistic way of texting. We all have emoticons that we like using, sometimes we overuse them or sometimes we don’t use emoticons at all. The emoticons you use are in some ways a reflection of who you are.
• Mobile messaging allows us to talk about multiple issues simultaneously or about one issue at a time. Basically three topics of conversation can be occurring at the same time when texting. This often occurs when you’re younger, or a wordy person like me, but sometimes you could be speaking about a party you attended, a funny story you heard and a movie you watched, all in one go. 

Practical/Social Arrangements

• Looking at my messages with my friends there are instances where parts of our conversations appear fragmented and random, but in actuality they are continuing a chat we started in person. Speaking of an event you’re all going to or reflecting on something that happened when you were together. These social interactions all continue from face-to-face to text or vice-versa.

 Media- (Entertainment Media consumption vs. News Media Consumption)

• Media sharing has become such a prominent feature when texting people. A large majority of my conversations deal with entertainment media in some shape of form - music, pictures, TV shows, movies or even fictional couples and actors.
• Entertainment news culture still continues to flouring in an economy where News media is on the decline. South Africa is interesting in noticing how tabloid newspapers are still going strong while the readership for broadsheet newspapers are in decline. In the case of the Cape Argus, the newspaper ended up adopting a tabloid look while still delivering its broadsheet style news.
• In other parts of the world entertainment media is still managing to keep viewers engaged.  Especially among the youth there is a greater knowledge about the latest phone, game, movie or book that has recently been released and less about the state of our current affairs. If you had to ask a teenager or a young student to name 2 cabinet ministers, majority of them would not be able to name two. There is a greater interest in entertainment media as opposed to that of current affairs news.
• Sure all of this comes down to your personal taste but when texting there is a greater (and easier) preference for Entertainment Media than Current Affairs.

Friendship Maintenance

• Texting, it could be argued, may be one of the factors, in aiding the continuation of friendships. Distance or conflicting schedules sometimes prevent us from seeing our friends and texting can help maintain those friendships. Sometimes it can even be the start of friendships. Other people who I don’t see often, I get to interact with via mobile messaging, and it’s because of texting that I get to stay in touch with them.

Privacy

• People expect that the chat you have with them would not be displayed for other people to see.  Due to this belief, people are more willing to reveal certain parts of themselves, and speak about topics that for some may be seen as being too racy or taboo. Jokes made in private chats may be offensive to some people if they were exposed beyond the parameters of that private chats. Sometimes people still feel the need to explicitly ask the other person to not reveal something being discussed. If you do share something from a personal chat with someone, there is an understanding that it is nothing harmful or too personal that will be reveal; if it is, then asking the person’s permission is the appropriate way before revealing something from your personal chats.

Basically when it comes to texting, just do you. Most of these points are very basic (I’m not reinventing the wheel here) but we sometimes take for granted how nuanced and layered the simple act of texting someone is. I just wanted to show that sometimes simple things are more intricate than what we think they are....

Let me know your thoughts in the If you have any thoughts you want to share then do so in the comments section below.

Theo :) 

The Vanishing Love

“Hi Joe,” James said to his partner over the phone, “I’m unfortunately running late, just leaving the office now.”

“Okay love,” Joe replied, “don’t take too long. We are having your mom over for dinner.”

“Will try my best,” James responded. “Bye, I love you.”

“I love you too,” Joe said ending the conversation.

Joe thought that he had ended another typical conversation with his partner over the phone, but what Joe had yet to discover was that nothing would be typical again.

James had gotten into a car crash on the way home and had to be rushed to the hospital. James’ mother, Mary, had already been at the couple’s home when they got the call about his accident. Joe and Mary had to rush to the hospital as quickly as they could, calling brothers, sisters, friends and parents along the way to let them know what had happened. Everyone was rushing to the hospital in hope that the news that awaited them was nothing horrific.

When Joe and Mary arrived at the hospital they had no idea where to go and were trying their best to remain calm- not letting their minds wander to negative thoughts. The twenty minutes it took for a doctor to find them in the waiting room, had felt like hours. James’ brother Edwin, along with Joe’s sister Ashley, their best friend Matthew and his wife Kimberly were all waiting alongside Joe and Mary when a doctor finally showed up to inform them that James had sustained a head injury. She said that they would be unable to know how extensive the damage was until he regained consciousness.

They eventually got the opportunity to see James and to their surprise they found him awake in the room. Dr Martin had been under the impression that James was unconscious when she informed them about his condition, so she was just as surprised to discover him awake.

She was ready to send them back to the waiting room, so that she could properly make her prognosis but James insisted for a few minutes with his friends and family. They reached a compromise and soon enough, she was ready to inform them about her prognosis.

“James had sustained a head injury and usually these cases have an unpleasant outcome but he was very fortunate. From what I have seen he remembers all the relevant things like who he is, where we are and who’s president. I just have to perform one last memory test then once that’s completed we’ll know where we stand.”

Dr Martin went around pointing to each person and asking James who they were and random additional information about them. It appeared that everything had turned out alright until she had asked James if he knew who the man next to his bed was.

“Do you know who he is?” Dr Martin asked indicating to Joe.

“He’s Joseph,” James replied. Joe couldn’t help but smile broadly at hearing his partner utter his full name since he’d always just called him Joe.

“We met 3 years ago,” James continued.

It was ultimately that sentence which caused everyone in the room to that notice something was off.

“James we’ve known each other for 6 years,” Joe corrected.

Dr Martin sensed that she had made a mistake by not asking James what year it was, and swiftly tried to rectify it immediately.

“James,” she started, “what year is it?”

“2012,” he said.

Joe’s heart broke instantly.

That was the year that everything had changed; James broke off his engagement with Monique, and came out of the closet and had their first kiss in June.

It was that very kiss that led to the start of their relationship.

“Where’s Monique?” he asked, looking around his bed, “I hope this doesn’t delay the wedding.”

As if every word was another nail in the coffin of their relationship, James continued speaking without an inkling that he was deeply hurting someone who loved him with their whole heart.

“But James honey,” his mother Mary started, “you’ve been with Joe for the past three years? Surely you must remember that?”

“What do mean been me and him?” James said.

“Together,” Edwin said, “you are the most in love couple I know. It gets annoying sometimes actually.”

“Stop talking shit, Joseph and I aren’t fucking faggots,” James laughed as everyone else winced at the slur. “It would be like saying Ed here was married. That’s never going to happen...”

“But I am married,” Edwin replied, showing him the wedding band around his hand.

All Joseph could do was stand and watch as the last three years of his relationship had vanished into thin air. The James he had fallen in love with had yet to materialise and making peace with that fact was especially hard for him considering the main reason for tonight’s dinner was so that he could propose. He had already asked Mary for her permission to marry her son and she had given it eagerly saying, “It was long overdue.”

She had been at their place to help him recreate their first date, but that was all pointless now.

“I’m going to get some air,” Joseph choked out, holding back the tears. “Give you all some time to yourself.”

Joseph felt like he could not breathe. The walls were closing in and it all was all overwhelming for him.

He never thought this would happen to him but now that it did, it changed his world. In the course of a day the life he envisioned, the love he had shared- all gone. He did not know what would happen but with all the thoughts banging around his head, he needed to get outside.

When Mary came to check on Joseph, she wasn’t surprised to see the young man leaning against the wall; the moon illuminating his tear soaked face as he clutched onto a small black box in his hands. Joseph never knew that such a small box could weigh so much.

He kept staring at the box; the love it was meant to represent now null and void.

He suddenly felt arms wrap around him, pulling him into a tight hug. He recognised who it was by the smell of her rose scented perfume. He couldn’t help but further break underneath her grasp, involuntarily releasing sobs of pain as he now had to put together a life without the man he loved. Joe loved James with every fibre of his being and James loved Joe just as equally too... or at least had loved him. Their relationship had its challenges but they always got past them. This time Joseph wasn’t so sure they would make it at all... 

Review: Into The Woods

Plot:

Based off the 1987 musical of the same name, INTO THE WOODS brings several fairy tales – Including Rapunzel, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and Jack and the Beanstalk – to life in an ambitious musical.

Review:

Not every fairy tale has a happy ending... and in the case of Into the Woods, that is pretty much what the message of the film is. Into the Woods is a very interesting musical, which manages to mix the tales of well known fairy tales in a fun and unpredictable way.

The way that the intertwining stories play out in the film is not what we’ve become familiar with when it comes to fairy tales, and that fact is what makes Into the Woods exciting. It delivers a refreshing take on the fairy tale trope by turning the stories on its head. I can’t speak to the authenticity of the adaption from the Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine stage musical but as a first timer watching the story, the film does deliver an engaging story.

Director Rob Marshall, of Chicago fame, does a great job at directing the movie. He puts his expertise at handling musicals to great use as he never lets the story get bogged down by the musical sequences. The movie does however have issues with the tone, as the director struggles to strike a balance between the comedic and dramatic moments.

I noticed that a few humorous bits landed awkwardly and could have been executed better. The director does succeed at some points but then loses it again. One of the moments that the film achieves this balance perfectly is in the musical sequence Agony sung by Chris Pine and Billy Magnussen.

The two men really excel and deliver a super vocal performance in the song with each playing their roles to perfection throughout the musical sequence. Chris Pine really delivers in the role of Prince Charming, and you can’t help but fall for his character’s charm. He thrived at playing the cheesiness and melodramatic nature of the role, and the performance in the song is proof of that. Billy Magnussen doesn’t allow Pine to steal all the glory, also getting his chance to shine in the sequence.

The rest of the cast was absolutely lovely. Emily Blunt, who I had no clue possessed such a lovely voice, was stunning in the role of Baker’s Wife. I fell in love with James Corden as the Baker who shoulders most of the movie. He carried the role in such an endearing way that it is difficult not to empathise with the journey of these two characters.

It’s not needed to say but Meryl Streep is Queen, no matter the role, and in her role as The Witch she doesn’t disappoint. She shows off the different layers to her character never really settling in one stereotype or another Anna Kendrick who has immense Broadway credentials really shows off her vocal talents in the role of Cinderella. John Depp’s role is short lived in the movie but he really does an impressive job too. The two young actors playing Red Riding Hood and Jack (from Jack and the Beanstalk) manage to impressively hold their own against the older cast members.

If anything is clear from the movie, it is that Marshall really demands that the actors put their all into the role. Into the Woods is not your typical musical where songs play out like a track heard on the radio. Sometimes the musical sequences are interrupted by dialogue and the actors really get to perform the songs, not just sing them. Marshall gives the actors the ability to pick their moments. Anna Kendrick revealed that there was a mixture of live-sung and studio recorded performances used in the movie. You can really tell that it makes a difference as the movie allows the musical sequences to some plot points forward. Songs are not just sung to interrupt the flow of the movie, but instead to progress the plot along.

Overall Into the Woods is quite the enjoyable film and if you love your movie musicals then this one is a definite must see.

Rating: 7/10

Race Representation within Sci-fi Movies

Tales of white characters who have to fight against a particular evil or endure hardships because they are different is a story that nearly every science fiction movie is based on.

Their narrative is often one of angst and hardship that has to be overcome. You are meant to sympathise with these characters and root for them as they go on a journey of self-discovery, accepting their uniqueness and going onto killing the bad guy. Science fiction movies have always been known for their inclusion of the other, or that which is different, and while that may be true, the question still remains: Where are all the black characters though?

 I doubt this is the first time that someone asked this question, or the last time it will be asked because this is a issue that not only science fiction films struggle with, but many mainstream movies too. The reason why I singled out science fiction movies in its struggle for diverse racial representation is because the genre is one that is set in a futuristic, often utopia like, world where everyone is accepting of others and that the colour of your skin should not matter. 

When researching race in science-fiction films, it was one of the first times that I found Google to have an inadequate answer. It gave me a constant repetition of sources that spoke about this issue, giving their opinion, but no evidence of a concerted effort being made. It seems like we’ve become accustomed to having predominantly white people as the lead of science-fiction films that we don’t really question it.

Often when watching a sci-fi movie you never really notice such things because you get so absorbed into the story. It is only later upon further reflection that you will notice if there was a person of colour in the film. Just to clarify, I am aware that those of other races are also underrepresented, but I am primarily focusing on black and brown people because there is such a large number of us in the world but still so few of them appear on screen.

In recent years however, people of colour have at least been making appearances in the genre but they are still grossly underrepresented in general. There have been a plethora of science-fiction films that has given us great stories to engage with and but yet somehow characters of colour are still lacking majorly; In Time, Total Recall, Cloud Atlas, and most recently Interstellar are a few of the movies that I can recall where we clearly see one or two people of colour within the films. The recent release of Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar which was a great movie even had more robotic characters than it did have characters of colour. Previous Nolan efforts such as Inception and the Dark Knight Trilogy had also at least one token diverse cast member, which is commendable for the director to have done but overall there needs to be more than one person of colour in movies. In In Time with Justin Timberlake we only see black people within the working class sector where one black character is the girlfriend to the protagonist’s best friend, or within the police force keeping order; when Timberlake’s character enters the upper class sector there is no black character that can be seen.  This is another issue in itself that when black people are represented they are still shown to be within the lower classes and slums but I digress.

Science-fiction is supposed to be the genre where everyone is accepted and race doesn’t matter but more often than not, these films fail to promote true inclusivity. They deliver the subliminal message that those who do not fit the mould of a white character will be unable to realise their full potential or have the same success of white characters. This creates a problem as it leaves children of colour with the impression that there are certain things they will be unable to accomplish just because they are not white; this is a frightening idea to pass on to younger generations.

Representation for people of colour has always been lacking in such a way that people are unaware of the fact that they keep seeing the same type of character lead a science-fiction film or even just have the character have a homogenised look. If we use Suzanne Collin’s The Hunger Games as an example we can see that this also applies. Recently within the adaption of the first book there was an online disagreement that erupted with some of the readers because a character called Rue, who heroically died in the movies, was black. More than a few people were on the social media platform Twitter sharing their disdain at the news that the character in the book that they had formed an emotional connection too was portrayed by a black actor in the movie. While online platforms like Twitter does allow for those of an ignorant nature to cause a louder raucous, it does not dismiss the fact that people have become so comfortable to characters within science-fiction movies being white, that they are surprised when a character turns out to be non-white. Clearly this shows that somewhere there is an issue with the lack of appropriate representation of non-white characters.

Star Trek movies are based on the TV show has a corporation that is meant to include various type of species in the film but still the film has Uhura, Zoe Zaldana, and John Cho’s Sulu, along with a Tyler Perry’s cameo, as the only diverse cast members in the film. Within the Star Trek Universe, Khan Noonien Singh is known to be one of the show’s most iconic villains. Whenever a discussion about the series is spoken about, his name is bound to come up. His character is part of a genetically engineered super-human group, bred to be advance in every way; they are free of the usual human mental and physical limitations. What the series did was represent him as a person of colour which, particular for a series in the 1960’s was still a major coup, and they were giving the suggestion that the ultimate form of being a human could perhaps be a person of colour with superhuman abilities. In the 2013 film reboot “Star Trek: Into Darkness” whitewashed the character as he was portrayed by Caucasian British actor Benedict Cumberbatch. There has been a criticism for the film because they took a character that was known to be of colour and transformed him into another white character. Already people of colour are underrepresented but to then still whitewash them, it is highly problematic. The film’s co-producer and co-screenwriter did address this issue however by stating:

“Basically, as we went through the casting process and we began honing in on the themes of the movie, it became uncomfortable for me to support demonizing anyone of color, particularly any one of Middle Eastern descent or anyone evoking that.”

The film does have the female character of colour Uhura, who plays a love interest to the character of Spock, which does show a positive representation and having another character of colour playing the role of the villain, would have in actuality be stating that people of colour fall into different types of categories where some are good and some are bad. Unfortunately they still chose not to have the character portrayed as black.

One of the most notable science-fiction films to get the portrayal of people of colour correctly was The Matrix Trilogy. In the start, we are presented with Morpheus, Lawrence Fishburne, who it could be argued is actually calling the shots; he was the one who was coaching the protagonist, Neo, through it. He trained him and he was the one who took Neo to visit the Oracle, who also happened to be black, to find out if he was “The One” just like he had done with the people before whom he hoped would be the one to save their people. Naomi, a fellow ship commander, and Link the computer technician of Morpheus’ ship are examples of a few other characters of colour were portrayed in the films. The films’ representation of people of colour has to my knowledge not been matched by any other science-fiction film since.

Representation of minority racial groups and people of colour have been greatly underrepresented within the science-fiction film genre and it is problematic that a genre which sets out to be inclusive is not as inclusive as it should be. In the movie business money talks, it will take the use of paying moviegoers drawing more attention to this issue for the movie executives to take notice. Who knows maybe in 10 years time this will be a non-issue and opinion articles like this will fade from memory? If so, then that will be a day I gladly look forward to.

Don’t let your neurotic tendencies stop you...

I wring my hands thinking, “Should I? What if I make a mistake? It might end well but I’m not sure? Why do I keep doing this to myself?” and every other thought I overanalyse whenever something significant happens or there is a decision looms over my head.

Such are the perks of having neurotic tendencies.

Having a certain level of contemplation and being occasionally neurotic is a totally acceptable part of being human, but often the problem arises once that level of contemplation or neuroticism becomes excessive and even affects our daily lives.

Once I had a conversation with my friend about is the fact that we’re both over-thinkers:

Her: “Do you ever wonder what your life would be like if you were never at war with your mind? I think about it all the time... How I'd be such a different person if I wasn't so involved in my own mind."

Me: “All the time! I think life would be so much more engaging and effortless without the emotionally taxing baggage that comes with battling with my own mind! Like decisions would never be analysed to the nth degree.”

Her: “Right? I get so resentful sometimes because some people have it so easy... And we didn't ask to have overactive brains, they just happened. I wonder how neurotic people get into normal relationships with normal people. It seems sort of impossible. It’s like an evolutionary block put in place to help lower the amount of humans in the world.”

It can be the most frustrating thing to want to do something, but then thinking about it to such a degree that you ended up doing nothing or doing something about it too late.

Having neurotic tendencies often leads to so much time being wasted when thinking about a situation instead of actually making a decision about it; this becomes problematic especially if you allow opportunities to pass you by because you were thinking about the ramifications too much.

We’ve all been there in that situation- either romantic, academic or professional – where we’ve been presented with a opportunity that could have such a vast impact on our lives but instead of making a decision about the opportunity, we choose to obsess over it and think about in every single way through different perspectives for so long that by the time we reach a conclusion, the opportunity is gone.

When you realise that you have feelings for your friend but you spend so much time thinking about how they would react that you may miss your chance to say something allowing them to date someone else, or you are contemplating making a professional change to something you love but scared of the repercussions it might have so you do nothing.

I recently graduated and this fact has been looming largely over me because all I’m thinking about is “I need to get a job” or “what if I get nothing and become a bum, I’d be such a failure” or “Why is everyone else succeeding and I’m wasting my life”; these are just an example of the daily thoughts I experience.

I had to tell myself to stop and that it’s okay to take a moment to reflect on the situation. I told myself that as long as I keep putting in the hard work then everything will work out the way it is supposed to. It’s okay to go through the occasional dry patch.

Don’t let being neurotic stop you from living your life. Try to be present in the moment and take a risk on something that might or might not work out, instead of not doing anything at all. Sometimes making an impromptu decision you haven’t overanalysed could lead to unexpected and great things. 

Online versus Offline

Online platforms like Facebook, Twitter and numerous other online communities have allowed us to communicate with other users in such a way that we have been able to develop a rapport with total strangers. It has afforded us the opportunity of expanding our social circles and establishing new friendships in the process.

Once we have gained enough understanding of a person’s online personality, we are able to engage with them about shared interests or even differences that we are interested in learning more about. We comment, instant message or favourite their posts because we’ve taken an interest in what they are doing and want to get to know them better.

While everything might be going great in the confines of the online world, it is extremely difficult to gauge whether these online interactions are truly worth moving offline until we decide take the chance, which does come with danger of putting those online friendships in jeopardy.

Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for example have become known for bringing strangers together online; it only takes a quick Google search to find numerous articles documenting how relationships which started online as friendships, have flourished once these people took the chance to meet in real life.

Guaranteed that everyone reading this knows or has heard of people who met online and after taking a chance, they have ended up being one of the most in love couples you know.

Unfortunately not everyone can have such successful stories, sometimes online friendships meaning nothing more than just strangers being nice. There are also numerous instances of catfishing taking place because the internet has allowed us anonymity to do such things where you can create your own identity. 

When it comes to the internet there is an inherent difference between our offline and online lives. Depending on which online platform you favourite, there can certainly be total separation between our online and offline lives.

With platforms, especially twitter and Instagram you may only know the person online and this does not require you to engage with them in day-to-day activity. You may have certain aspects of your personality that are more exaggerated online in comparison to how you are in your day-to-day social interactions.

Someone who may be outspoken online could be demure and introverted in their day-to-day lives because of how the internet gives us exposure to their views and thoughts without them feeling the need to keep to themselves.

There is a juxtaposition of identity that is created.

Even if you are not an introvert, there is still a difference between your online personality and that in your daily life. You interact with such a wide variety of people that sometimes it can often lead to unexpected friendships or connection with people who you may never have gotten to know and people you may have never expected to interact with.

The internet is wild and mysterious place.

Sometimes online friends are nothing more than friendly strangers, while other times they could in fact go onto become a good friend or, in some cases, your spouse. Think about that the next time you click your mouse.