Media Rituals- Scary Mommy

-

 Scary Mommy- Snapchat Publisher

Founded by Jill Smokler in 2008, Scary Mommy is an online community for "...millions of women, supporting each other through acceptance, empowerment, and the shared experience of motherhood." (Scarymommy.com 2020) Alongside their website, Youtube channel, and other social media pages, Scary Mommy was the first parenting-related feature in Snapchat's Discovery. With 3. 27 million subscribers, the mom-themed publisher posts daily Stories featuring famous mothers, pop culture updates, and parenting tips and trends. 

Smokler initially created Scary Mommy as a blog to discuss motherhood with "Confessions", allowing mothers to anonymously share their stories. After gaining traction in the parenting community, Scary Mommy has since been acquired by Some Spider inc., a media entertainment company which owns various online audience-specific "identity brands." (Somespider.com 2020) 

By Nick Couldry's standards outlined in his 2003 "Media Rituals- A critical approach" Scary Mommy's Snapchat Story is a modern example of a media ritual. The company specifically aims content toward the interests of the millennial mother, connecting thousands upon thousands of mothers through a their shared experiences. As their Snapchat Discovery stories are posted almost every single day, Scary Mommy appeals to many through "liveness." (Couldry 2003) By using the most popular and recent Instagrasm posts from the most famous moms in the world (i.e. Beyonce, Kim Kardahsian, Chrissy Teigen, Cardi B, and more) there is always new content to be highlighted. This "liveness" gives young mothers the sense that they are "in the loop" without actually featuring stories as they develop in real time in the way a news source would. 

By using famous mothers' Instagram posts, viewers are given a sense of reality as social media posts can be used by celebrities to "break the fourth wall." For example, a celebrity may show a side of themselves that is different and perhaps more personal than their usual model/television/artistic persona. Though these are often contrived or "mediated realit[ies]", they still provide a sense of closeness on the viewing end. (Chouldry 2003) 

These famous moms are praised for being dedicated and loving mothers despite living in the spotlight. Recently, Meghan Markle and Chrissy Teigan have both come forward about their respective traumas after experiencing miscarriages. Losing an unborn child is often not talked about in public, making these stories especially remarkable. By talking about common personal experiences, these moms are becoming "mothers" of worship, praised by the average mother. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Analysis of “Distracted Boyfriend” meme - Bruna Oliveira

-
Image
The meme that I chose to analyse is called “distracted boyfriend” and I believe most people that have twitter have probably seen it. The meme is a man looking at another woman while walking with his girlfriend, who looks shocked about it. It was a picture taken by the spanish Antom Guillem for a campaign (Hindustan Times, 2017). So while there are some misconceptions about the picture being about a real situation, it is nothing but models. The meaning of the picture itself is already explicit despite the many memes that were created with it. The meme first emerged on a turkish Facebook group but it did not become famous until it came to instagram and twitter. An instagram account posted the picture with the caption “Tag your friend/ who falls in love every month”, which overpassed 28.500 likes. Then a twitter account posted it with the girlfriend being “capitalism” and the distracted boyfriend being “youth” looking at “socialism”. So the meme went viral and was adapted to various issue...
Read more

Lauren's 5 Step Critical Analysis to Sophie's Article

-
  Lauren Mitchell: This is a critical analysis of Sophie’s post of the USA Today article about Trump’s polarizing statement surrounding the inaction and ineffectiveness of “blue states” in response to COVID-19. I agree with Sophie’s argument that although the language is eye-catching, the article uses direct quotes and contextualizes these statements to inform the reader, regardless of their political standing.  Description: COVID-19 has highlighted the political intricacies of countries around the world, in a federalist system in the U.S. it highlights the different emergency management systems and healthcare access that vary from state to state. The USA Today article explores the validity of Trump’s recent statements that insinuate states that are run by a democrat, or are historically more democratic, are the reason for the high death rates from the virus.  Analysis: A prominent trend in the article is the use of more theatrical quotes by politicians, and a focus on th...
Read more

Media Rituals - Araí Yegros C.

-
Image
 In ancient Rome, the poet Ovid stated that the true goal of public speech (or the media in today's world) is to entertain us while instructing us. He was ver pessimistic about the human reluctance to be taught things, as he believed human beings still have much to learn. On the other hand, he looked without too much dread at our strong natural inclination to entertainment, as he dreamed of combining the two. With immense effort and wit of  media directors and producers, this could become a reality, as I believe there is always a lesson to be learned even in the most vacuous of reality TV shows.  Even though I don't fully agree that all media can potentially elevate human character, it does indeed create a very strong sense of community and unity even between people who would not have a shared culture otherwise. One could make the argument that fandoms create their own ritual categories as fans go on pilgrimages to filming sites (GoT, LOTR) and demand millions of dollars ...
Read more