About

I’m Meghan, a senior at Dickinson College, double majoring in English Lit and American Studies (read: It’s nearly impossible for me to read a book for watch a TV show without looking for those underlying power structures). When I declared as an American Studies major, my advisor warned me that no one would ever want to watch a movie with me, and he was sort of right; while I’m always excited about analyzing gender constructions, my movie companions don’t always feel the same way. For classes, I’m constantly reading and analyzing texts, which means I can’t exactly break the habit when I’m watching a movie with friends, or reading a book for fun. With graduation looming in a few months, I’m looking for a way to take conversations about popular culture and social commentary outside of the classroom. There is so much more to what we read and watch, and I’d like to open up a conversation about it.

Here’s me, looking overwhelmed because there is just too much to analyze:

In this blog I will be reviewing books, movies, TV shows, and social media – both old and new – with a critical lens. I’m particularly interested in constructions of identity of young women in popular culture. Though this isn’t exactly a feminist blog, I am interested in looking at what roles women are playing in popular culture; I’m looking at what kinds of messages young women are receiving through texts and images about these roles, and what that suggests about what it means to be a female today. I’m exploring these topics with humor and a little bit of sarcasm, because analyzing and interpreting texts doesn’t always have to be such a serious thing. In the end, I’m hoping to get other people interested and excited about being more conscious about the ways in which we receive and interpret cultural messages.