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0ceanoflight · 3 years

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My thoughts on Gaya Sa Pelikula now that I've watched all 8 eps.

Cause I need to write down my thoughts and Twitter's character limit just isn't enough so thank you tumblr. This is gonna be a rant

Also, just wanna say this is from the point of view of a gay trans masc enby, aka me.

First impression

Gaya Sa Pelikula is just.... Wow. It's hard to describe. I originally watched it cause some moots on Twitter kept talking about it and they recommended it to me. It doesn't take much for me to watch a gay show, so of course I checked it out. At the time I think maybe 2-3 eps were out.

I knew nothing about the plot. I had no expectations for it. Just hoping it didn't have any problematic stuff in it, hopefully some cute stuff, same as any other gay show. It was just some show to watch to pass the time. I was wrong. It's so much more than just a good show. It's rare for me to get THIS emotionally invested into a show.

From the first ep I thought "Oh, this is pretty realistic lol. I've said stuff like this", referring to Vlad's lines. That continued as I watched the remaining available eps. Later my moots mentioned that it was written by a gay man and I understood right away. GSP is a gay show with the intention of being very realistic. It wasn't just gay for entertainment's sake. It was gay for the sake for real gay people.

Characters

The characters are so well written. They are flawed. They're not perfect. They all have their own struggles that you wouldn't know until you sat down and talked to them. Their lines and personalities are real. They feel real. I've met people like that. I have friends like that. I see myself in them. Also the acting is incredible. Really brought it to the next level.

The Music

A golden sound track. Every song just fit. It felt like the songs were made for that scene. The lyrics, the vibe. There were so many times when I thought that lyrics perfectly fit the scene in a way that would make me connect even more to what was happening. Really couldn't have been better. 10/10.

The visuals and plot devices

The way everything seems to have a purpose. Everything seems to be interconnected. There were so many things that were mentioned earlier in the episode, or I'm previous episodes that you originally didn't fully understand, then they would come back and suddenly *mindblown*.

The lines in the first prom dancing scene in the first ep. The ghost stories (still blows my mind). Vlad not liking his hair being touch which wasn't explained till later. The keychain. The theme song test. The movie they were watching about the imaginary beach (I forgot the name). The reason behind Judit's seemingly fake/weird ally speeches. The reason why Karl always seemed so stiff and awkward. The closet. The orca. The remote. Ect.

All of that came back later in the show and added so much depth. The metaphors used seemed to almost add extra explainations. Like... they didn't just give more layers of complexity, but it gave us a stronger understanding of what was going on. Or at least it made it more emotional. Idk. I was just one of he people who read posts of others dissecting the show cause I'm not as good. Lol.

Also there were beautiful scenes visually. Karl's dance scene. Beautiful. The film scenes outside, looked gorgeous. The use of mirrors and the TV. Great. Awesome

Connections

There were a lot of things I connected to.

Vlad's lines like I mentioned above were among the first. I've personally said or thought very similar things. Or even those exact things. I was actually shocked at first. By how real that felt for me.

Vlad being lonely, but faking it. Aha. I'm an introvert, and people know it. As much as I need space, I get lonely very easily as well. And friends online sometimes aren't enough. It's not the same as having someone there. With covid, and the fact that all of my friends live far away or are normally too busy to meet up, I very rarely am actually with friends. It almost hurts tbh. Especially since I'm a very affectionate person. Also the gay yearning hours are real and powerful.

Karl's dance scene, letting out the inner femininity. So I'm a bit different. I never came out as gay. I'm a gay trans guy. People already knew, or assumed, I liked men. However I did have the struggle of inner femininity. I hated fem things up until I was maybe 15-16, maybe almost 17. I didn't know why I hated it, I just did. Clearly now I know why. However my evolution to being a fem guy from hating fem things happened around the same time as discovering I'm not actually a girl. It was confusing 3 years (yes it took me about 3 years to piece everything together, a bit longer to settle). My point is, once I opened up to fem things, it was beautiful. It really really was. I felt more comfortable. I felt freer. I went from "ew makeup, skirts, leggings, pink. I hate it". To wearing makeup, wearing leggings, liking pink, often painting my nails. I've worn pretty short shorts with a loose t-shirt and a cardigan. Peak fem. Felt great. I want to wear a skirt, but I'm too afraid to do that. I may feel better with being fem, but society is still society and I might get looks cause "wtf, a man wearing a skirt?". Maybe one day. Uhhh anyways. The times I've grown to become more fem felt like how watching Karl dance felt like. Just like that.

Karl's struggle with his sexuality. Ok again I can't relate on the gay part, cause my coming out was coming out at trans. However yea. That was an adventure. I remember being so confused in 8th grade & 9th grade. God that was.... something. At first I thought I just wanted to be more tomboyish, more androgynous. So I found androgynous girls with short hair and said "I want this". Everyone was confused. My friends said "is there a reason you cut your hair so short?". I was afraid of that question. At the time I didn't know why I was so afraid. I don't remember exactly what I said, but tbh I was pretty defensive. Of course I later realized why I felt that way. I remember finally figuring things out after I settled into knowing I was trans, I didn't know how to come out. I couldn't say it directly. In fact, I never did. To my friends I just said "he/him, they/them pronouns" when asked at events, and of course they knew, but didn't ask more. In fact one friend found out cause I wrote "agender" on a form cause he looked over my shoulder. For my family... I just dropped a big hint, and they understood something was up. I wasn't able to explain it well then either. It took another 2-3 months till I couldn't take it anymore and did my best to explain it better so they would take it seriously. I was afraid. I couldn't say it directly. I actually didn't come out to my my high school. I was too afraid. I had friends who were out and I was jealous. I was jealous of their bravery. Same as Karl to Vlad. I was out to friends, but couldn't be open in the real world, much like Karl. I was only out within the space of the GSA, and of the local lgbt center. That was my "apartment". It was only until after i graduated where I promised myself I would live my real self.

The prom dance scene. I missed my high school's prom too. I wasn't brave enough to wear a suit. That would be like coming out and I wasn't ready. So I missed that. I wouldn't have been able to be open of course. I went to the senior dinner. I guess that was the start of me trying to be open. I went in a suit. Tailored men's dress pants too. I went with friends.

Wanting to write my own stories. That's a big one isn't it? I never really do see myself in films or tv. An autistic mentally ill gay trans masc enby? Yea, not a thing. Not a popular role in hollywood, will never be. I'm not a writer, I wanted to be as a kid, I was going to go to uni for writing, but I'm not really good enough for that. I really really do want to see more of myself in media. I wish I could be able to create such things for other people as well. Cause things like Gaya Sa Pelikula are truly magical. It literally made me cry whenever something I related to happened.

#gaya sa pelikula #like in the movies #yea its long #i am emotionally attached to this show

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ettadunham · 5 years

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A Buffy rewatch 4x22 Restless

aka a trip to the show’s psyche

Welcome to this dailyish text post series where I will rewatch an episode of Buffy and go on an impromptu rant about it for an hour. Is it about one hyperspecific thing or twenty observations? 10 or 3k words? You don’t know! I don’t know!!! In this house we don’t know things.

And today’s episode is a challenge to talk about. Not because there isn’t stuff, but because there’s so much stuff that you just know that everyone already dissected each and every beat of this episode. All we have left is to enjoy it.

First of all, I’m just gonna leave this video here for you in case you haven’t watched it yet. It does a wonderful job of dissecting a lot of the core details of the episode that you might miss without further research (like the Sappho poem Willow’s writing on Tara’s back or even who the band members are during Giles’ musical exposition scene).

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As an addition to that, I must say that I’ve also been guilty of listening and re-listening to the Once More With Feeling soundtrack even before I started this rewatch. And that album has a Restless track (as well as a Hush one), so I already had those haunting melodies stuck in my head.

So… I was very much in the head space for Restless, and as a result, I don’t have much fresh thoughts to share about it now. But I’ll try.

Because even if this is an episode that everyone already took apart to pieces a million and ten times, it’s still one that we go back to again and again. For instance, when I, personally, try to dive into Xander’s or Willow’s characters, this is one of my first go-to episodes.

Buffy’s arc is evident throughout the series, and what we get of Giles isn’t necessarily all that defined in this episode, but Willow and Xander? Restless is a neat corner piece of the puzzle that’s their character motivation.

Willow’s dream is also an interesting one because it’s perhaps the most disrupted out of all. The video above already mentions Xander’s masturbation joke (where the show takes a hit at its own metaphor), and how that’s a scene where we leave Willow’s perspective - but the scenes from the play are also weirdly out of PoV.

Tara and Willow are talking between the curtains as we cut to dream Riley, Buffy and Harmony acting out their absurd play. Twice. So if we consider that we’re in Willow’s dream, it’s almost like she’s disassociating, or getting detached from her own sense of self. Which doesn’t necessarily have to translate to reality, dreams are dreams after all; but it does work with the theme of her dream, which is identity.

I will also say that I don’t view the implication that Tara’s talking about Willow’s sexuality with those lines about how ‘they’re going to find out’ as a red herring. It’s merely that there’s also another, deeper layer to Willow’s insecurities when it comes to her identity. And how the two are connected, since… well, I’ll probably have a separate rant about that later on, in which I’ll be undoubtedly citing Restless too.

Meanwhile we’ve got Xander’s dream. And one of the best and worst parts of Xander’s subconscious is the inappropriate sexualization of some of his friends.

I think my favorite two details about how Xander pictures Joyce and then Willow and Tara is how in some scenes, their mouths aren’t even moving as they’re talking. It heightens the fantasy nature of these scenes and highlights the way Xander’s dream objectifies these women.

The other is the fact that after each of these scenes Xander almost immediately finds himself back in his basement.

It shows how Xander’s always reaching for the unattainable, but it never ends up being what he actually needs. Or even wants. What Xander wants is love, but the shadow of his upbringing will always loom over him. He doesn’t know what he’s searching for, because he didn’t grow up experiencing it.

When the show makes it clear that the monster Xander’s been running from at the top of the stairs leading from his basement is his father, it’s one of the most lowkey chilling moments of the show. It’s not surprising, given all that we’ve already learned, but it’s still shocking, seeing it on full display.

As for Giles’ dream, I guess the one thing I will challenge the above video review on is Willow’s use of “Rupert”. Since this is Giles’ dream, my reading is that it says much more about how he sees Willow as a peer, rather than Willow’s own perception of him (which is still valid though, because she did have a crush on him, bless her heart).

This will of course have much more significance in season 6…

And then there’s Buffy.

One thing that I want to point out right off the bat, is how Buffy’s dream is about isolation, and the whole point of it is that she can’t find her friends. The people that are most important to her.

So consider then the characters who do appear in Buffy’s dream: Anya and Tara, or course, the two love interests of her friends who she hasn’t had a chance to establish her own relationships with yet. Her mom, who she’s been distant from throughout the season, and is unable or unwilling to bring back into her life.

…And Riley.

The fact that Riley appears in two forms also seems to underline that he’s someone that Buffy feels distant from in some ways. When dream Riley is with Adam, he is representing something that’s perhaps beyond his character. But then he also appears in street clothes, calling Buffy a “killer” (the same thing Forrest called Faith when she was inhabiting Buffy’s body).

It perhaps foreshadows that Buffy could never fully share the Slayer parts of herself with Riley. Or at least that that’s how she feels on a subconscious level.

I also read somewhere that they wanted to have David Boreanaz as Buffy’s guide and to be the one giving voice to the First Slayer. Which I found odd, because I thought Eliza Dushku would’ve been a more natural first choice for that… But I just did a quick wiki fact check, and apparently the plan was to have her for the scene in Buffy’s bedroom, and him in the desert.

Instead, out of necessity both of these parts have been given to Tara. Which then makes it interesting that the script only calls out her desert appearance as her not being part of Buffy’s dream, and being “borrowed”.

The implication here is that while she may not have been the production’s first choice, her earlier appearance in Buffy’s dream is intentional in-universe. Which plays well with what I earlier mentioned about Buffy choosing characters she felt a distance from at this point for her dream, especially since we transition to this after Anya’s brief appearance as dream Buffy’s college roommate. And Tara being the intuitive magic muffin she is makes her the perfect prophetic conduit.

(Also, Buffy/Tara is real, there, I said it, you can quote me on that.)

I can of course see the same scene playing out with Faith too. It would’ve once again established the shared dream universe of the slayers, given that Buffy talks about the bed they made in Faith’s dream earlier in the season. This scene is a callback to their shared dream in Graduation Part 2 too, with the direct reference to the clock as well.

The drawback of Buffy’s dream and perhaps the entire episode is the portrayal of the First Slayer herself. A “primitive” African girl that we’ve “evolved” from who couldn’t even form her own words, and whose hair Buffy makes fun of.

So… that’s not good.

Otherwise Restless is still my most favorite presentation of dreams in media. This is largely true for the entire show of course, but Restless puts those previous dream sequences on steroids, and just goes off.

The combination of what the episode reveals about the characters, the fun easter eggs and massive foreshadowing, and the absurdity that makes it all truly dreamlike… We could be here all night, all day, write essays and perhaps dissertations, and there’d be still stuff to talk about.

I just love this weirdo season finale a lot.

#buffy rewatch 2k19 #btvs talk #btvs

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weshallneverrevolt · 6 years

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[Guest] Why is Pitbull Good?

Today I am pleased to publish the blog’s first guest entry. It comes from Daniel Dockery, an editor for Cracked, writer for SyFy Wire, comedian, and the world’s leading scholar on Pitbull (that’s only kind of a joke.)

My wife recently got me into the Who? Weekly podcast, a show discussing reality show stars, one hit wonders, and other almost-celebrities on the fringes of fame. These people are called whos, whereas people like Tom Hanks are called “thems.”

Rapper Pitbull exists at the precise intersection between a who and a them, a pop star everyone knows but also seems to know nothing about. His music, though shallow, is a reflection of that personality...and Daniel has thought a lot about it. Without further ado...

One of the most curious times in college is the Freshman year pop culture purge. Your taste in movies, TV, music, video games, and books, a taste that you’ve been developing for the first eighteen years of your life, is suddenly judged and dissected by your new university peers.

Your favorite rap song was 50 Cent’s “Disco Inferno?”

“IT DOES NOT PASS” says the gods of Olympus aka the Dudes in your Dorm. “YOUR PENANCE SHALL BE 50 REPLAYS OF THIS SAME GODDAMN AESOP ROCK ALBUM, AND ALSO A QUICK SCANNING OF THE JEDI MIND TRICK’S WIKIPEDIA PAGE.”

Your favorite film was Pulp Fiction?

“NO LONGER,” says the gods. “THOUGH YOU SHALL STILL BEAR THE PULP FICTION POSTER ON YOUR WALL AS YOUR SCARLET LETTER. INSTEAD, YOU WILL NOW WATCH THERE WILL BE BLOOD AND HAVE LIGHT DISCUSSIONS ABOUT ITS THEMES WITH THE OTHER DUDES IN THAT ONE FILM STUDIES COURSE YOU WILL TAKE.”

Your favorite book was Of Mice and Men?

“SO IT SHALL STAY,” says the gods. “BUT BE WARNED. ONE DAY, SOMEONE WILL HAND YOU A COPY OF INFINITE JEST, AND WHEN THAT DAY COMES, YOU MUST BE PREPARED TO ACCEPT SUCH A HALLOWED GIFT.”

And so, shedding your childish things, you enter the rest of college renewed. You’re now a person with “good taste in things,” which is the third greatest thing that you can have in college (The first is an ID, and the second is an uncle that owns a cabin.) And you take this “good taste” out of college and into the world. Though you may not discover as many “good things” due to having a more busy adult life, at least you will now be equipped to better judge between what is a “good thing” and what is a “bad thing.”

It was during this time that Pitbull hit me.

Pitbull, for those without radios or access to sports bars, is an American rapper born to Cuban parents. His hits, like “Give Me Everything,” “Don’t Stop The Party,” and “Fireball,” have become enormously popular, though he is probably just as well known for featuring on other people’s songs, signifying his inclusion in them with a “Mr. Worldwide!” and a “YEEEEEAAAAHHHHOOOOOOOOO.” To his detractors, these probably sound like the two trumpets of the musical apocalypse.

But I adore him.

Now, admittedly, Pitbull isn’t the best lyricist. He can spit a very, very competent verse from time to time, like in “Triumph”…

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But most of his songs are in the typical “Let’s get hammered and have some fun!” genre. And while his beats and production techniques have become more varied since around 2014…

…a lot of his tracks still follow that David Guetta pattern of “woop woop, woop WOOP woop, woop WOOP WOOP, WOOP WOOP WOOP” synth and noise lasers.

Also, his onstage persona of rapper/motivational speaker/geographer can be a turn off for some. I’ve seen him live twice (once at Madison Square Garden, and once at a music festival in south Florida) and between nearly every infectious, dance-ready song, he enters into a segment where he vaguely implores us to be better people and to also love the 305 (or whatever area code that you’re from.) It’s like a vodka-soaked inauguration speech, and in the middle of it, I’ve seen people in the audience go from “Yeah! This is different!” to “Can we get back to the grinding now?”

I obviously love Pitbull for all of these things, but they’re not what makes Pitbull good. No, what makes Pitbull good is his many, many quirks. Because while most consider him to be the Nickelback of rap music (with Flo Rida serving as the Creed of rap music, though that comparison is much more accurate), the world presented in Pitbull’s music is an insane one. For example, Pitbull’s tendency to constantly go by his alias, the secret agent “Armando Bond”, in various music videos about getting laid in hotels (He also goes by “Agent A” in his song “Back In Time,” a song created to promote Men in Black III. He works himself into the film in the video, nodding at Will Smith in a restaurant for no reason at all, and then leaving with his lady friend to go stand around in the MIB headquarters.)

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Or maybe one of his catchphrases “But forget about that,” which he employs whenever the verse that he’s just spit is not in line with the chorus in the slightest. If the song is called “LET’S SEX IN THE POOL,” Pitbull would spend an entire verse talking about how kids shouldn’t use drugs, and then quip “BUT FORGET ABOUT THAT. YOU KNOW THE RULES/LET’S SEX IN THE POOL. DALE’.”

Or Pitbull’s bizarre relationship with jokes, a thing that he’s still trying to master the basics of. In “Come and Go,” he croons “Now you heard about me/And I aint gotta say much/I aint talking about cars/It’s automatic, I’ll pop yo’ clutch.” Normally, you’d say that thing about the clutch, and THEN reveal that you aren’t talking about cars. But Pitbull states that he’s not talking about cars, apropos of nothing, and then goes into his sexual metaphor.

Or his penchant for referencing the most miniscule aspects of famous pieces of pop culture. During his verse in “Can’t Believe It,” a song about huge asses and there is no second subject, Pitbull says “Call me Michael Jackson (HEEE HEEEEEE,) ‘cause I love to play with monkeys.” He’s like an encyclopedia in that way, reminding you that “Oh yeah, Michael Jackson did go through a long ‘I have a pet monkey’ phase.” Or in “Better On Me,” where he states “My name aint Max, but I always got headroom/ G-g-g-get it, g-g-g-g-g-get it?” First of all, who in Pitbull’s primary fanbases remembers Max Headroom, much less the fact that he stuttered?

Or the fact that, despite being very prolific on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, Pitbull HATES social media. I’m serious. He says so in multiple songs. That dude LOATHES apps of any kind.

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She Instagram? I’m off that. Communism? I’m off that.

Pitbull is good because Pitbull is rewarding. He’s like an auteur filmmaker that keeps using the same cast and the same themes. He is hardly deep, but for those willing to pause the song and say “Wait, what did he just say?”, his discography is a journey. His stage shows are filled with scantily clad dancing girls, but it also opens with Tony Robbins listing what is basically Pitbull’s resume over a Powerpoint presentation. He’ll sing a dirty song about getting to third base with strangers, and then the next song will be an anthem to single moms around the world.

The biggest problem with dividing things between “good” or “bad” taste is that it rids us of our curiosity. The good things become worthy of your obsession and your understanding while the bad things are just bad. And when something, whether it be a movie or a musician or an Arby’s roast beef sandwich, becomes known as an objectively bad, all discussion ceases about it. Because no matter how much you try to convince people to check it out and dig deeper and maybe get curly fries to compliment it, they refuse. Because it’s “bad.” And they have “good” taste.

Pitbull is good because he proves that having “good taste” in everything isn’t that fun. Sometimes, you just have to drink some tequila and jam to some Pitbull, and the people that find him uninteresting just haven’t been paying attention.

Further Reading

You can read more of Daniel’s pop culture takes on his Twitter.

You can hear Daniel and his collaborator Jason Edwards’ account of their first Pitbull concert on their podcast here.

#pitbull #rap #hip hop #miami #mr. 305 #mr. worldwide #kesha #pop music #criticism #pop culture #music #cuban american

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makingscipub · 5 years

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Epi-pins: Epigenetics on Pinterest

This post has been co-authored with Cath Ennis, University of British Colombia, Vancouver (author of Epigenetics: A Graphic Guide).

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Cath and I are interested in how epigenetics is made public, for example through visual aids, such as drawings, photos, diagrams, infographics and so on. We thought one way to access such visuals would be by looking at Pinterest, an image-based social media network; but, as you’ll see below, looking at Pinterest actually brought us back to words rather than images.

Epigenetics has a long history and is still evolving, but it is safe to say that “[r]esearch in epigenetics today is primarily concerned with the investigation of changes in gene expression, where the mechanism for this is something other than a change to the underlying DNA. The focus of research is on the dynamics of chemical modification upon the DNA, which enhance, decrease, initiate or silence gene expression.” (Pickersgill et al., 2013)

Epigenetics in its current form, as part of molecular biology, began to flourish in the scientific literature after 2003 (the end of the Human Genome Project) and has been popularised through at least four main channels of communication:

Through the work of celebrity scientists or epigenetic champions who give TED talks, appear on YouTube videos, write comment and opinion pieces, and become go-to experts for journalists and film-makers.

Through the dissemination of epigenetic stories by journalists and science writers.

Through targeted campaigns by advertisers promoting (mostly unproven) alternative health and well-being products using traditional and social media.

Through the labour of academic bloggers, podcasters and tweeters (some them prominent scientists), almost all of whom are quite sceptical of some of the claims being made about epigenetics in the popular sphere.

Some of these efforts leave traces on Pinterest if they include images.

We searched Pinterest using the term “epigenetics” (on 18 August 2019 at 15.30 GMT [when we looked an hour later, things had changed]). (There are also ‘boards‘ or collections where individuals choose and collect pins dealing with epigenetics, which would deserve a separate analysis).

There was not only a wealth of images on display, but also a banner above the images showing the main themes, presumably found by an algorithm. We could have jumped straight to epigenetics-related content on the theme of, say, stress or trauma or diet or even art.

Screenshot taken on 22 August 2019

We decided to look more closely at the first 20 ‘pins’ (more about pinning and pins here). What surprised us was that many of them didn’t contain visuals but rather words.

The following ‘analysis’ is just a rough sketch. This is not a systematic study of epigenetics on Pinterest, using, for example, visual content analysis (see Conclusion below for some examples). We selected the first twenty pins (which now have changed substantially, so make of that what you will) and sorted them into three categories: university outreach, science/news communication, and alternative health promotion and pseudoscience.

We have a hunch that a very similar pattern of dissemination can be found on Twitter, but we haven’t looked at this closely yet.

University outreach

The first pin we saw (on 18 August) displayed an educational poster on “What is Epigenetics?” with relation to child development, produced by the University of Harvard’s Centre for the Developing Child. Another poster “adapted from” this one was displayed in another pin using similar words but ‘cuter’ pictures of children, not the more abstract representations used by the Harvard original.

Both posters talk about how “Epigenetics explains how early experiences can have lifelong impact” (both positive and negative ones) and that “[y]oung brains are particularly sensitive to epigenetic changes”. They point out that through epigenetics the environment affects gene expression, which means that “the old idea that genes are ‘set in stone’ has been disproven” (they don’t point to a source for this ‘old idea’ though). Experiences can, they say, “leave a unique epigenetic ‘signature’ on genes”… These changes can, the posters claim, be reversed, but the best thing is to reduce stress ”from the beginning” and bring up children in a nurturing environment.

Science/news communication

One pin links back to a neuroscience news item on daytime sleepiness. Another pin refers to a popular science book on epigenetics, showing its cover. This is The Epigenetic Revolution (2011) by Nessa Carey.

A pinned YouTube video tries to provide an answer to the question “What is epigenetics?”. It’s by Carlos Guerrero-Bosagna and has gathered almost a million views. Carlos is a researcher at Linköping University looking at links between epigenetics and society, including autism. The video should be analysed together with other popular videos about epigenetics.

Another pin displays a sciencey-looking diagram entitled “Genetics vs Epigenetics” which was used in a popular article published in 2013 in Discover Magazine and entitled “Grandma’s Experiences Leave a Mark on Your Genes”. The article begins by saying: “Your ancestors’ lousy childhoods or excellent adventures might change your personality, bequeathing anxiety or resilience by altering the epigenetic expressions of genes in the brain”. This was one of several articles dissected and found wanting by Kevin Mitchell in his 2018 blog post on Wiring the Brain entitled: “Grandma’s trauma – a critical appraisal of the evidence for transgenerational epigenetic inheritance in humans”. We’ll come back to this topic in the next section/category.

Alternative health and pseudoscience

The rest of the twenty pins link to rather less reputable sources, mainly websites (two from Instagram) selling ways to enhance body and mind through changes in nutrition and lifestyle, through meditation, detoxification and so on. As an aside: If you follow the pins recommended underneath these pins you get into quantum physics, quantum consciousness, astrology and, we kid you not, ‘star shit’, an image saved to a board titled “Brainiac facts” along with the note “Human body ingredients. Everything, every element that exists, everything we are composed of was created in the death of a star. We are literally made of star stuff”.

Many of the pins in our alternative health and pseudoscience category display stock visuals of the double helix, mostly in blue, but many more depict what one may call inspirational texts, such as:

“Epigenetics: Science is proving that our bodies (sic) ability to heal and repair itself is greatly effected (sic) by our beliefs thoughts emotions and intentions for they have a profound vibrational effect upon our continually evolving genetic code We’re the programmers of the code DNA activation is our software upgrade.” [no punctuation] These words appear against a dark background and underneath readers can see a hand touching and lighting up a piece of a double helix.

Another pin from the Mindful Design Feng Shui School says: “90% of what happens to you – including how your genes get expressed – is determined by your environment. This is the science of epigenetics. And the most important part of that environment is created by your beliefs, most of which you are not consciously aware.”

One pin is a combination of words and visuals, in this case drawings of a bicycle, a man and a woman, healthy fruit and veg, etc. The words say: “Your gene expression can change based on what you eat, how you move, your thoughts, feelings and social connections.” (After reading things like this, it’s always good to go back and read Kevin Mitchell’s blog post)

If you want to be more ‘out there’, you can look at a pin saying “Epigenetics is catching up to what Yogis have always known”, illustrated again with a double helix. The article itself talks about the Holy Grail, the Da Vinci Code etc. and says: “The Holy Grail, or the sacred chalice, is blood that holds high vibrational DNA.” And: “Science is now proving that DNA can be altered and programmed through a field called behavioral epigenetics. We are no longer victims of the past, but creators of our destiny. Epigenetics has proven what Yogis have always known: that your thoughts, beliefs, emotions, environment, and diet can change your life.”

A pin showing an image of a woman’s head and the words “How your mind can reprogramme your genes” leads to an article saying: “You are the ‘driver’ of your genetic roadmap. And not only your roadmap, but the thoughts and emotions you feel, the foods you eat, and how well you detoxify also pass down 3 generations!” An interesting verbal image or metaphor.

Underneath this article are two intriguing comments. One says: “Epigenetics explains naturopathy, prayers, good intentions, karmic law and even reincarnation of physical self in scientific way.” The other asks: “Hello, can this help with Huntingtins Desease [sic]?” This shows just how dangerous such hype can be!

Some pins link up with the work of Bruce Lipton who wrote a book entitled The Biology of Belief – Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter & Miracles (2005), stressing the power of thoughts and beliefs and the way we can harness them to improve our health.

Many pins include promises about the power of epigenetics to change people’s genes. One pin relating to nutrition, again referencing Lipton, claims that “Genes are equivalent to blueprints; epigenetics is the contractor. They change the assembly, the structure.” Another novel metaphor. Another pin goes further and says: “’It’s in my genes, I can’t do anything about it.’ BULLSHIT. The field of epigenetics, led by Bruce Lipton (sic!), is proving that genes are not the end all be all of your health. What is more affective (sic) on your body is your beliefs, thoughts and feelings.”

Lipton is, according to Wikipedia, “an American developmental biologist who supported the theory that gene expression could be influenced (via epigenetics) by environmental factors i.e. environmental factors have a greater impact on their health than genetic research has previously determined”. The wiki article also stresses that his work remains on the sidelines of mainstream epigenetics – although he is widely cited as an authority on other social media platforms such as Twitter, often in support of pseudoscientific claims about alternative health products and services.

Another pin, related to an article on epigenetics and autism, is a PowerPoint slide with a double helix on the left-hand side and various bullet points, one of which claims “Can be transgenerational”, a rather contested assumption when it comes to humans.

Finally, a pin, linked to what one may call spiritual wellness, talks about epigenetics as “healing generational memory and inherited family trauma”. Another displays the title: “Epigenetics: The weird science behind inherited experience”, referring to “Holocaust survivors passing on certain behavioural traits to their offspring”, tapping into the fascination with transgenerational epigenetic inheritance and trauma, a topic of which scientific bloggers are greatly sceptical.

Conclusion

What can we learn from this quick survey?

We tried to study visuals used to make epigenetics public. What we found was that words seem to trump visuals and that the visuals used were mostly conventional stock images of the double helix. These science-symbolising images were even used in combination with the weirdest claims, perhaps in an attempt to lend scientific authority to unscientific content.

Epigenetics is portrayed as a way to escape the power of genes and (the strawman of) genetic determinism (blueprint, set in stone, blank slate, programme). Epigenetics, we are told, overcomes these barriers through diet and exercise but, more importantly, the power of the mind, thoughts and beliefs.

Epigenetics is linked to trauma and ‘the ghost of generational memory’. An article pinned up on Pinterest refers to a 2016 book by Mark Wolynn entitled It Didn’t Start with You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle. (The cover of this book also features a double helix as part of its design). The article also says that “Slaves in the 1800s and before left a heavy generational footprint in the DNA of their descendants”. Trauma in all is forms resonates with many popularisers of epigenetics.

The majority of pins link to articles or blog posts or book about epigenetics that are steeped in pseudoscience. The pseudoscientific pins we looked at are only the very tip of a large iceberg that has been growing for a decade. In 2015 Adam Rutherford, said (first on Twitter, then in print): “The legion purveyors of flapdoodle love a real but tricky scientific concept that they can bolt their pernicious quackery on to. […] Epigenetics is a real and important part of biology, but due to predictable quackery, it is threatening to become the new quantum.” (The Guardian, 19 July 2015). This is no longer a mere threat it seems!

Some of the researchers who have published Pinterest content analyses have concluded that aspects of the platform’s content related to public health topics can be actively harmful, for instance in the cases of vaccination, electronic cigarette and waterpipe smoking, skin tanning, and weight loss.

While scientifically inaccurate pins about epigenetics seem likely to have less direct and less serious impacts, they do have the potential to spread misinformation and false hope, and may contribute to the rejection of conventional medicine approaches. This first dip into the Pinterest pool highlights the need for a deeper dive, to understand the opportunities for dissemination of accurate scientific information to wider audiences as well as the potential harms of users sharing pseudoscience and other inaccurate content about epigenetics.

Image: Pixabay

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