Goals Fulfilled:
COMM 380, LGBTQ+ and the Media, which I satisfactorily completed during the Spring 2021 semester, fulfilled my Civitae course requirement for Global Citizenship/Aesthetic Perspectives as well as a major course requirement.
Reflection:
As a dual History and Communication Studies major as well as an openly gay American, I knew that participating in a course covering LGBTQ+ media representation throughout the past century of American history would be invaluable to me, both personally and professionally.
Dr. Waggoner’s course was one of the most interesting courses in which I have ever participated, not merely as a Lancer but as a student. The course was divided into several sections, and though we seldom met over Zoom, I learned so much about LGBTQ+ history which I had never been previously taught. I was exposed to a multitude of resources I did not even know existed; I was exposed to a number of tests which can be applied to any screenplay to determine whether they are accurately and equitably depicting LGBTQ+ characters; and perhaps the most remarkable part of the entire course was the fact that we produced our own LGBTQ+ representations onscreen for a short film competition.
Much like beginning the study of a foreign language, learning online programming and video editing was a daunting task, though Dr. Waggoner eased us into production rather smoothly. We dedicated much time to compiling reports on LGBTQ+ representation to see what we wished to include in our films and also what appeared unfair to us in other onscreen LGBTQ+ depictions. I watched documentaries ranging from the origins of Pride at Stonewall to modern “conversion” therapy, taking especial note of the harm inflicted upon LGBTQ+ Americans for decades. The institutionalized discrimination of gay, trans*, and gender non-conforming individuals is and was indeed staggering to learn, but I am and was privileged to be granted an opportunity to explore this history in an academic setting. I feel that systemic injustices have been too often whitewashed by both our culture and our educational system in America; at my private school in Southside Virginia and as a former dual-enrollment student at Liberty University, not once was I exposed to such topics, and that was an educational failure.
This course taught me more and allowed me to grow more as an individual than I ever could have imagined. I learned to collaborate with others as a video editor, my original screenplay was selected and produced by the class, and I had the opportunity to create a mini-documentary with some of my best CHC friends. This course did not simply fulfill a major requirement for me: It helped me see myself onscreen in really beautiful films, documentaries, and positive LGBTQ+ portrayals that I lacked growing up. I am genuinely lucky to attend a university where we do not shy away from topics such as this, and I hope that in viewing the two videos I have linked below, you will see just how much I learned in COMM 380.
The first of my two artifacts is a documentary produced by my friends, Sydney Thompson, Sydney Milstead, Morgan Lent, and myself; the second artifact below is the final cut of my group’s short film, Narcissa, which follows the story of a young woman coming to grips with her sexuality and her dissociative identity as she is placed in isolation after contracting COVID-19. My original screenplay for Narcissa is listed in PDF form below as well.