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Happy National Positive Media Day! (Yes, this is a thing, we checked.) In light of recent events, we want to showcase the things that have made us happy during both the quarantine, pandemic, and political events. The media we consume has a way of making our day, minute, hour, or second brighter, and today, we bring you the team of The Daily Fandom talking about their favorite piece of media from the past few months. What has made them happy amidst it all?
What Does Positive Media Day Mean To The Daily Fandom?
We want to appreciate media in all forms, that being said, we will be talking about what has made a positive impression on all of us during the quarantine, whether it be a television series, a movie, a hobby — anything and everything!
Emily Bartlett — Lie To Me (( TV Series 2009-2011 ))
We all like to think we know when someone else is lying when we really don’t know as much as we think we do. But the characters from the TV show Lie to Me argue that people can learn to read the lies written all over other people’s faces with science. The show features the character Cal Lightman and his team from The Lightman Group who can tell if other people are lying by reading their microexpressions. (( The show defines microexpressions as the automatic facial expressions that people unknowingly make in response to the environment around them. ))
Lie to Me has been my go-to series for the past couple of weeks in quarantine because it keeps me occupied, especially because I have to actually pay attention to the show to be able to see what the Lightman Group sees. The combination of the show’s familiar crime show formula combined with the compelling cast of human lie detectors has created my perfect remedy for quarantine craziness.
I really enjoy the show because the real fun and mystery of each episode is not figuring out whether or not people are lying but figuring out the reason why they’re lying in the first place. Whether the criminals lie to cover up a juvenile detention center’s murderous crime ring or to keep themselves off of death row, the reason behind their deception is always dramatic.
I find Lie to Me to be more interesting than other crime shows I’ve watched before because Cal and his group are not cops or detectives, but scientists who were able to learn to see what others cannot. It indulges the fantasy that someone can learn to read faces — to see what people try to hide with lies. Personally, I’m glad that I don’t always know when someone is lying to me because I don’t need to know everything. But it’s still fun to practice learning how to read faces with The Lightman Group… just in case.
Shawntae Teague — Becoming (( Netflix ))
Becoming a Netflix documentary following Michelle Obama on her 2018-19 book tour has been one of the few shining lights of the past few months for me. Her memoir of the same name offers an intimate, candid view into her feelings and opinions of herself as a woman, as well as her place in America’s history as our former First Lady. While the documentary follows her along with the stops of her book tour, it also includes insight into her experience in the all-consuming spotlight that being First Lady brings.
Mrs. Obama, ever the picture of intelligence and grace, expresses the stifling difficulties of having to filter her speech so that it wouldn’t be purposely misconstrued, being exposed to ruthless criticism for simply existing, and maintaining her sense of individuality beyond her husband. The documentary is a perfect supplement to the memoir itself, as it highlights moments written about her life and translates them into the form of packed-stadium, intimate chats.
Michelle Obama’s Diversity In Becoming
On the tour, we see Obama not only chatting with her diverse hosts — including Gayle King, Stephen Colbert, Reese Witherspoon, and more — but also managing to draw an entire arena of people into her sphere of warmth and care with every word. Watching the moments from the stadium tour, I could feel the palpable love that so many people maintain for this incredible woman, even through the screen. In Becoming, Obama expresses her relief at being freed from the constraints and scrutiny of First Lady duties, and her readiness to begin her next chapter. Reading the memoir and watching the documentary, it was impossible for me not to empathize deeply with the many facets of her life over the past decade. Seeing her thriving and carefree is reassuring, in a sense.
However you may feel about politics, there’s no question that things have seemingly back-slid in terms of decorum. Hearing the acknowledgment from Mrs. Obama herself was validating, and seeing her continue to put positivity into the world however she can is inspirational. Few political figures have matched the consistent grace and class of the Obamas, and listening to Michelle talk about her experiences along with viewing her post-First Family work was a balm on my ever-frazzled nerves. As a young black woman in this dizzying age, peace is a commodity that I am all too eager to come by and maintain. Becoming is a rich morsel of soul food in a rot buffet that is 2020.
Katie Liggera — Family Matters (( Hulu ))
Since quarantine began months ago, spending most days inside with endless modes of entertainment has kept most of us from chaotic behavior. Although I’ve watched more movies and shows in this quarantine than I care to admit, the 90s sitcom Family Matters somehow established itself as my go-to binge-watching show. The 90s seem like an era where people could take life less seriously. Smooth rhythms of R&B music thrived in shows like Family Matters that aired every Friday on ABC for the TGIF lineup. Although slightly before my time, I’ve always appreciated 90s movies and television programming.
In particular, I’ve discovered my unadulterated enjoyment of watching Steve Urkel (Jaleel White) wreak havoc on the lives of the Winslow family in Family Matters during the quarantine. Who can’t smile every time Steve waltzes into the Winslow home unannounced, suspenders pulling up his jeans to his waist with a high spirited greeting? Although most of Family Matters takes place inside the home of the Winslows, the show created lively characters and scenarios.
The Characters Are Memorable In Family Matters
The delightfully evolving character dynamics between Steve Urkel and the Winslows, the Winslows with one another, and the talented recurring supporting cast engage viewers. Carl Winslow (( Reginald VelJohnson )) and Urkel’s performances should have at least been nominated for some award. The two characters give the audience moments to laugh, scream, and cry over.
The show promotes charming positivity in most episodes. During the episodes that touch on serious subjects such as sexual assault and racial profiling, Family Matters mends the tension in the falling action while still managing to throw in a few more unexpected comedic moments. Later seasons show the plot straying toward pure absurdity. Regardless, the hilarity of Carl’s facial expressions, Waldo Faldo’s (( Shawn Harrison )) endearing cluelessness, and Steve Urkel’s infamous crow of, “Did I do that?” grounds the show with lovable characters.
Needless to say, the character of Steve Urkel attributed a large portion of the success of Family Matters. The show aired nine delightful seasons, and I can’t stop laughing at Urkel! Originally, I skipped around to some of the most insane episodes in later seasons just to see what the Urkel hype was all about.
From the episodes where Steve created a robot version of himself called Urkel-Bot, to time traveling with Carl onto a pirate ship during the 1700s, Family Matters morphed into something creatively experimental, far beyond its original premise. After those episodes, I delved straight into every episode of the series. Sadly, the rather painful first season involves too many Urkel-less episodes. As I binge my way through every episode in this never-ending quarantine, Family Matters brings me much needed laughter during these solemn times.
Cass Steptoe — Dungeons And Daddies
Dungeons and Daddies began in 2018 and features four dads flung into the forgotten realms in search of their children. Created by Matt Arnold, Anthony Burch, Will Campos, Beth May, and Freddie Wong, the show won several Audio Verse Awards in 2019 (( New Improvised Production, and Player Direction of a New Production )). Dungeons and Daddies comes out every other Thursday and boasts quality sound design, a fascinating narrative, and complex cast.
An actual play Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition podcast, the show can be enjoyed by more than just role-playing game lovers. Filled with heart, love, and tons of dad jokes, the show captures the struggles of dads and family relationships everywhere. The creators are humorous and witty, while still staying true to their dad characters.
Though Beth May is the only female in the cast, the players create relatable and funny characters without resorting to toxic masculinity. While the situations the dads face might be far-flung, the lessons learned and bonds they form apply to listeners everywhere. The separation they go through transporting from our world to another reminds me in some small way of the separation we are going through as a world of social distancing.
The growth that each character goes through throughout the adventure reminds us that we often grow the most during trying times. Apart from that, the ludicrous and sometimes risqué humor brings joy to the listener. I love a good podcast and can be quite picky about what I listen to. So a show that can make me laugh hysterically and choke up the next is a win for me. The back catalog is only about 30 episodes long so it is easy to get caught up.
I love the audio medium because I can listen and enjoy a complex narrative while driving, working with my hands, or otherwise doing mundane chores. If you’re looking for a positive, fantasy adventure with a delightful amount of depth, look no further than Dungeons and Daddies.
Ariella Whisenhunt — Inner Engineering
Yogi, Mystic, and Visionary Sadhguru take a deep dive into the makeup and inner workings of personal growth with their bestselling book, Inner Engineering.
Inner Engineering seeks to extend your ideas beyond what constitutes the physical, physiological, and energetic for the reader to explore different and higher dimensions of life. Accordingly, the book is broken up into sections of Body, Mind, Energy, and Joy. He breaks down the physicality of the human body, the psychology our modern-day society embraces and breaks barriers to the cliche realm of simple positive thinking. Sadhguru explains the process of discovering a way out of suffering. The Guru writes of using specific techniques of self-analysis and of new depths in yogi psychology.
Yoga and meditation are major parts of this experience. Sadhguru holds daily morning meditations and open discussions across social media platforms online, but goes deeper throughout Inner Engineering. With yoga, the distinction of ‘within and without’ has vanished and we are allowed to simply “be”. We, as humans, have physical bodies. As long as we use our machines to cultivate the ability of our mechanisms, we can be successful. Yoga, according to Guru, is aimed at enhancing your experience beyond the 5 senses. He states
“Yoga is also the science of aligning these three dimensions, of ‘Body, Mind and Energy’ so that you reach the ultimate state of ecstatic union with life itself.”
(( Jagadish, Vasudev, Inner Engineering: New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2016, 79. ))
The deepest dimension of the mind that our modern society has disregarded is awareness. This is intelligence that is completely untainted by memory. It is a deep dimension of the mind as it has the potential to connect you with the actual basis of creation. When we are in touch with this state, or dimension, we are in a state of a heightened sense of awareness, allowing us to be fully conscious and intoxicated at the same time, without external stimuli. This is bliss; entirely natural. Achieving this blissful state can change your entire reality.
What does this mean to Sadhguru?
Guru says that once we distance ourselves from the compulsiveness of our own genetic and karmic knowledge or information, life becomes unburdened. It is now flexible, incredibly effortless, beyond intellect and identification, memory, judgment, karma, divisions of every kind. Yoga and meditation, and refocusing your attention, allow you to connect with the life around you. Guru says we need not be intellectual or emotional about this, but that we need to listen to life and pay attention to it experimentally, moment by moment.
Jamie Vassar — “Drawing”
I have always loved to tell stories; I have also always been an extremely antsy individual. When quarantine began, I told myself that it was an opportunity to write uninterrupted. However, as the days passed, I became increasingly frustrated with myself and the mental block of stress that left me feeling stagnant. As a simple means of distraction, I began to draw furiously using the iPad my very kind boyfriend had gifted me months earlier.
The new hobby completely engulfed me. When the meandering of sketching wasn’t enough, I turned to Skillshare, an online learning community consisting of short video classes taught my people in the field (( similar to and much more practical than Masterclass — in my opinion )). I found myself waking up early, motivated, and energetic. I’ve easily spent hours in Procreate classes discussing how to use light sources and create proper shading (a small detail that has become an obsession). The most wonderful thing about diving into the world of digital art, for me, has been that it is difficult enough to challenge me while being fun enough to remain cathartic.
It’s become a ritualistic habit in which I drink peppermint tea and let my mind wander through lines. If something comes out of it, fantastic, if it doesn’t, that’s fine. I have physical evidence of effort, proof of practice. Or, in the past few weeks, many pages full of eyes and mouths that are getting slightly less horrific. You’d be surprised how hard it is to draw faces. Additionally, while I’m grateful for a new creative outlet, I’m even more appreciative of the new, beautiful community drawing has introduced me to. The online community of artists is an incredibly nourishing one regardless of skill level.
The Twitter presence alone is full of people trying to get everyone’s names out into the universe, which is heartwarming to see. I find new artists every day who inspire me. Although I wish it hadn’t taken a global pandemic to push me into diligently sitting at a desk every day, I’m thrilled to have this new space to play in as I forge my way into future goals of creating animated shorts.
Cass Steptoe — Project Runway
Project Runway came up on my Hulu queue just as the quarantine restrictions started. Though I’m not a huge fan of reality television and phony drama, the design elements and creativity of the show enticed me. Created by Heidi Klum, the show brings budding fashion designers head-to-head designing outfits for the runway. Even as someone with zero to none fashion sense, I enjoyed watching the process of making new fashion from conception to execution to runway. Watching designers create innovative, striking designs inspired me to use my free time to make beautiful things. Though I’m no fashionista, I did manage to make a few masks, finish a painting, and start crocheting again.
The show celebrates new ideas and risk-taking in a way that pushes creators to look at problems in a new light. Even the show’s motto, “Make It Work” is a great mantra to live by while navigating a pandemic. Life throws unexpected challenges at us every day, just like the Project Runway twists. The designers demonstrate how to adapt under stress while still letting our true selves shine. Watching these creative designers get critiqued and judged on their looks educates us on how to take constructive criticism. Some of the best looks come from harsh critiques that designers used to elevate their creations.
When we receive feedback that is not what we want to hear, we can take it as a personal attack or use it to grow. Project Runway has aired for almost sixteen years for good reason. Though there is drama, the show focuses on positive creativity and developing designer’s talents. Celebrating creativity and classy competition, Project Runway is a show that delivers positive vibes while educating viewers on the highs and lows of a fashion designer’s world.
Kyle Scher — The Spectre (( John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake ))
In the world of mainstream superhero comics, the status quo is king. Batman will always be a depressed millionaire who goes out at night to fight a war he cannot win, and Spider-Man will always be an intelligent yet awkward person struggling to balance his normal life with his life of adventure.
Very rarely does a comic come around that really breaks the status quo or even analyses it, but even when there is, the characters are always reset by the end to make way for a new creative team. The Spectre by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake bucks this trend by giving both The Spectre Force and its human host, Jim Corrigan, meaningful arcs that have a definitive ending. Ostrander and Mandrake even take the time within the 63 issues to analyze the status quo of the character and try and make sense of it.
The Spectre is the wrath of the unavenged dead, the spirit of vengeance sent by God to bring punishment to the wicked. There is a lot to unpack there from how you define wickedness, the difference between justice and vengeance, as well as the inherent religious connotations of the character. John Ostrander, a man well versed in theology having once studied to become a Catholic priest, does not shy away from the questions that lie at the center of The Spectre.
He takes a deep look into each of these aspects of the character while also redefining the character at the same time. From The Spectre Force being revealed to be the one that slaughtered the firstborns of the Egyptians during the events of The Bible to even having to deal with the grief of being a fallen angel.
Jim is not lost on the moral greyness of the physical embodiment of the wrath of God. Jim is very much at the center of the narrative as he must come to terms with his own morality and views. He was a cop in the 1930s, he has been dead for over sixty years, is he even truly human anymore?
And does his views match the way the world is going? Determining right and wrong and passing judgment is never simple, but when you have two inherently biased individuals passing the judgment of God makes things even more complicated. Using the differing personalities of Jim and The Spectre, despite being one entity, John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake explore the human condition.
Positive Media Day: Why The Spectre Is Revolutionary
Heavy political and social topics are handled with great care, given some excellent analysis, and used to shine a light on the immorality of the real world. Few mainstream superhero comics have managed to do what The Spectre vol. 3 did so during its six-year run. From Tom Mandrake’s horror infused artwork that really shows the power and might of The Spectre in all its terrifying glory, to John Ostrander’s relevant, biting, and socially conscious scripts, this series never pulls its punches.
The Spectre by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake is a comic run for the industry’s history books. It takes a character so powerful he even dwarfs Superman, gives him a religious and human angle to explore, and provides a definitive end to its characters. If you want a story that will stick with you, horrify you, make you think, and really make you question your own beliefs, then The Spectre is for you.
Richelle Powell — Insecure
Back in March, I was furloughed from my full-time job due to COVID-19. I went from constantly being on my feet five times a week to staying at home most days.
Occasionally I go on a walk outside near my home or go to the grocery store but when I’m inside of my house, I usually read books, write, watch videos on Youtube, movies, and tv shows. One show that I have been watching that makes me happy and kept me sane during this unprecedented time is season 4 of one of my favorite shows, Insecure. Insecure is a show about two 30 something-year-old women named Issa and Molly, who have been friends since their days at Stanford University, going through the usual trials and tribulations of life.
Issa, the main character, works at a non-profit organization called We Got Y’all that caters to young people of color and Molly works at a law firm and has a successful career as a corporate attorney but has an unsuccessful love life and struggles with getting along with others and maintaining a relationship. Insecure is one of my favorite shows because a lot of the characters are relatable.
A Relatable Female-Driven Show
Some of them struggle with their mental health, some struggle with their romantic relationships and friendships, some of them struggle with their jobs and getting along with their coworkers, and some of them feel like they don’t know what they want in life. In the season, which ended June 14th, Issa is working on hosting a block party, which turned out to be a success, and Molly is trying to maintain a relationship with a man named Andrew.
Later on, in the season, Issa reconnects with her ex, Lawrence, who she cheated on in the first season, but in the last episode of season 4, she decides to let him go after hearing the devastating news that Lawrence’s ex, Condola, is pregnant. Condola also helped Issa put together her block party.
Issa also has issues with Molly and they are seen constantly fighting. At one point they stop speaking to each other and go their separate ways but in the end, they end up being friends again after Issa separates from Lawrence and Molly separates from Andrew. If you’re a 20 something or 30 something-year-old, I would highly recommend watching this show. There are a lot of valuable lessons to be learned and on top of that, it’s very entertaining. You won’t regret it.