Assignment #1
Natasha Kennedy

Recently I read an article on readwriteweb.com, which had to do with Wikipedia shutting down for a day to raise awareness of the SOPA bill that has now been scrapped. In particular, what the authors point was to say that there will always be bills lobbying for things, much like the SOPA bill and we need to step up as citizens and make the effort to stay informed in order to keep a close eye on our government. Granted, the SOPA bill was in the US but I found the point no less pertinent to Canadians.

I do know a lot of people who are politically informed but even more people who aren’t. To sort of narrow it down to one specific group, I see a lot of youth who are apathetic to politics and the government. I remember when I was younger (than I am now) and impartial myself to what was going on in Canada, I had this idea that with age I would just become politically aware and it was just a matter of time, not a matter of effort. That’s the attitude I see frequently from a lot of young people I talk to about politics and Canada.

So what I'm driving at here is I would like my project to have a specific objective to raise awareness to today’s youth. I would like to create something that would encourage young people to get involved with political process in Canada. I would like them to realize that there are things they can do to make Canada the way they want it. I want to tell them their thoughts, opinions, needs, and wants matter and that they can take part in shaping the future of Canada.

How I’d like to do this is through youtube and potentially spreading to other online social networks like twitter, facebook and the like. This is where a bit of performance is required. I would like to create a personality to go a long with a “vlog” (video-blog) where I would express ideas like the ones mentioned above. The personality I would like to present with my character is one of a ditsy, stereotypical “dumb” girl in the way that she acts. I would express my ideas in very simplified, dumbed down terms while saying the work “like” or “totally” more than a lot.

With the passing of the 2011 Canadian Federal and provincial elections and the negligence of a lot of young people to vote a thought became apparent to me. I think a lot of youth see themselves as naïve and unaware and therefore unable to make decisions for the future of Canada and think it best to leave the decision making to the older and assumed “wiser” Canadian citizens. With this made up persona I will invent, I want to mimic a projection of a type of youth that is naïve and unaware which would serve as an exaggeration of the attitude I see from a lot of Canadian youth.

However, I am still considering the qualities of this fictitious character I will create for this project as I want to consider what sort of qualities younger people should respond to while still sticking with productive ideas to encourage youth to take an active role in learning about Canada and the decisions Canadian government is making for its citizens and what they can do to affect these decisions. I do admit, this does leave me open to vulnerability. With the use of youtube, I’ll be viewed (hopefully) by large number of people and though the character I represent isn’t necessarily me, the ideas are mine. With that, I am aware that I’m leaving these ideas open to much criticism which is a challenge I have been reluctant to take on in the past but I think is necessary as an artist.

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