Second Take: When fans don’t distinguish actors from characters, they start swooning over criminals

A dozen roses used to be a romantic gesture. But they no longer seem to be the way to a girl’s heart.

Instead, recent trends in television and film suggest that menacing stalkers, and even killers, might constitute modern romance. Some young fans are fueling such notions, swooning online over the conventionally attractive men portraying horrific characters – Zac Efron as mass murderer Ted Bundy in “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile,” and Penn Badgley as fictional stalker Joe Goldberg in “You.” The desirability of such characters is dangerous in terms of how audiences approach relationships and the act of wooing someone.

The media itself doesn’t glorify criminals; it simply tells their stories. But when fans call such characters attractive, they may be causing a paradigm shift toward a more predatory and abusive version of the “ideal man.” There’s good reason to believe that certain men, if overly influenced, may normalize such actions themselves. As such, the fetishization of such characters by fans may be perpetuating a harmful relationship culture.

After playing the quiet, lonely stalker in “Gossip Girl,” Badgley reprised his role as an even more extreme predator on Netflix’s “You.” His character, Joe, a local bookstore manager, seems like the trustworthy “guy next door” up until he goes to extreme lengths to woo his love interest, Beck – including identity theft, kidnapping and murder. The show accurately points out some dangers that women face, even in seemingly safe situations, but some viewers have not interpreted Joe’s actions as such. Instead, some have latched onto the character’s better traits, such as his kindness toward his neighbor’s young son and his love for literature.

A poll by Cosmopolitan asked readers whether or not they’re attracted to Joe; a whopping 69% responded saying they were. These fans, under the influence of “You,” might develop unhealthy definitions of love and relationships.

One thing we can find comfort in, however, is the actor’s take on the issue. A fan recently tagged Badgley in a tweet saying, “kidnap me pls.” His response? “No thx.” Badgley has been consistently shutting down such opinions, letting enamored viewers know definitively that Joe should not be applauded, despite his redeeming characteristics.

A similar phenomenon has already begun to occur with Efron’s role in the upcoming Bundy biopic “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile.” The name should say it all and yet, after the trailer release, fans are drooling over Efron’s charisma and handsome physique acting as one of America’s most notorious serial killers.

Sure, Efron’s case is a little different than Badgley’s. Bundy was known to be a charming, intelligent and handsome man, as evidenced by the recent Netflix documentary series on his life. Those who interacted with him had trouble accepting he was a killer, and therefore the allure behind Efron’s Bundy, at least on a superficial level, makes sense. But the average viewer is well aware of Bundy’s crimes – or at least have the means to learn about them – making their swooning responses questionable at best and problematic at worst.

Fans must separate their love for the actor from their perception of the character. Efron himself was hesitant to take on the role because he did not want his image as an actor to be associated with a person like Bundy. Efron has since made it clear that his role is not meant to praise the serial killer, but rather to unpack his psychology for viewers.

“I feel a responsibility to make sure that this movie is not a celebration of Ted Bundy. Or a glorification of him. But, definitely, a psychological study of who this person was,” Efron told Variety.

While fans may positively reinforce such toxic figures, it is a relief that actors like Badgley and Efron consider it their duty to warn fans against their deplorable characters. As celebrities working on controversial subject matters, it is important for them to use their platform well, molding public opinion righteously.

Of course, the trend of stalkers in media is not confined solely to men. A recent surge of such films, including Netflix’s “You Get Me” and “Cam,” gives audiences their fair share of dangerous women. But the Twitterverse remains largely skewed toward male offenders, since “You” and Bundy have gained significantly more popularity.

Regardless of what gender the perpetrator is, there should be no tolerance of their unhealthy and potentially criminal behavior. Secret admirers, take note: Let’s just stick to flowers and chocolates instead.

Favianna Rodriguez’s ‘Butterfly Effect’ to advocate for free, boundless art

Favianna Rodriguez originally created an artwork of monarch butterflies to advocate for freedom of migration back in 2012.

Seven years later, her butterflies are the namesake for an on-campus panel discussion.

“The Butterfly Effect: Activism & Transformation through the Arts” will be hosted by the Visual and Performing Arts Education Program in Kaufman Hall on Wednesday, with Rodriguez, an artist and cultural creator, as the featured guest. Drawing on the goal of bringing diverse backgrounds into the conversation surrounding the arts, the event features panelists, ranging from a mother who doubles as an artist to a principal at an arts-focused public school, who encourage expression in various ways.

Rodriguez aims to create more conversations around art that address topics of social importance through universal means like social media; the diverse communal backgrounds of the other panelists add to this inclusive discussion, she said. The conversations intend to show how art can aid in personal self-expression and community activism simultaneously, said Kevin Kane, director of VAPAE.

“Pushing on all of our radical imaginations, how can we imagine a safer, more beautiful future for all of us and our communities?” Kane said. “By starting a conversation with folks from different disciplines, there is an opportunity to engage deeply.”

Rodriguez’s involvement with VAPAE began years ago when Kane heard of her through a former student of his that saw her community-level impact in Oakland. Kane followed up through Rodriguez’s Rod social media – specifically her Instagram, he said. Her art was not just vibrant but also worked toward inciting change, including by holding workshops that drew attention to topics such as immigration and climate change. Ben and Jerry’s even featured her artwork on a special ice cream flavor called Pecan Resist – a take on “we can resist,” which drew Kane’s attention, he said.

Rodriguez also is the executive director of CultureStrike, a national arts organization centered around advocating for migrant rights with art, written word and performances. She has a history of using social media and hosting events to spark conversations around societal change. Rodriguez said as a result of growing up in a working-class environment, she became a self-taught artist and worked hard to find ways to express and share her artwork with the community around her. Social media is a key way to involve women of color and other groups of artists who often don’t have access to the art world, she said. She also said she uses social media to alert her community about current social issues by posting about them to her followers.

“The reality is, in the arts sector, it’s still predominately white men. It requires for myself, as a woman-of-color artist, to figure out how to close that gap,” Rodriguez said. “Social media is the primary strategy for that.”

Lindsey Kunisaki, the public events and special projects coordinator at VAPAE, said Wednesday’s event adds a spin to VAPAE’s usual art programs because Rodriguez will talk about socially relevant topics and help people think about them, all through different pathways of art.

“(What) really sets her apart from other artists and activists is that she’s thinking about the role of the arts in a very different way … she speaks to what artistic, creative and cultural work can do in changing not just policies, but in changing minds,” Kunisaki said.

“Migration is Beautiful,” Rodriguez’s piece involving monarch butterflies, makes an activist statement through nature-based art. The large butterflies have the faces of indigenous people drawn prominently into the wings. She said the imagery relates to her belief that migration is a right for every living being – from insects to humans. Kane said the monarch butterfly and its symbolization of immigration shows how art naturally transcends man-made limits.

“Art doesn’t respect arbitrary borders,” Kane said. “I’ve been interested in the way a butterfly brings something from one area and brings it to another area without checkpoints and scrutiny.”

In addition to Rodriguez, there will be four other panelists at the event who come from different backgrounds and will discuss art accessibility in different communities. One is Alyssa Garcia, the programs manager for Las Fotos Project – a community-based nonprofit that promotes teenage girls finding their artistic voice through photography. The wide breadth of speakers adds to Rodriguez’s interest of creating change within communities through accessible and diverse art, Kunisaki said.

Rodriguez also said she believes in the inclusion of as many voices as possible, since the beauty of art is found in its many possible manifestations. Though the panelists all come from different backgrounds from motherhood to museums, the event will be held together by what Rodriguez said are the core uniting themes of art: expressing topics and creating dialogues.

“People understand the world through art,” Rodriguez said. “Expression is innovation.”

Award-winning authors to speak about unique experiences’ influence on their work

Young people think they must have everything figured out right after college to achieve success, said Jesmyn Ward.

But the author hopes that by sharing the stories of her experience with fellow writer Mitchell Jackson, they can help dispel the myth of what is possible for students’ futures, she said.

Ward and Mitchell will speak Thursday at an event hosted by the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA in Royce Hall. They will talk about their work, their writing processes and the impact of their respective experiences on their writing, seeking to find the common ground that underscores their divergent backgrounds – particularly how they both grew up in black and in poverty in America.

“Even though we come from completely different parts of the United States … when I was reading (Jackson’s book), there was a lot about what he survived and what he lived through when he was younger that I could definitely relate to,” Ward said. “I just think that at the least, we’ll find some commonality as we talk about our (writing).”

Ward and Jackson came from different circumstances in their personal lives and literary careers. Ward grew up in Mississippi and has written three novels and one memoir – in 2017, she became the first woman and person of color to win two National Book Awards for Fiction. Jackson, on the other hand, was raised in Oregon and has written a novel and a memoir told in essays, which will be published this spring. He said he is still developing a definitive writing process, something he is eager to discuss with Ward.

For Ward, her writing originates from the places she comes from, the people in her community and the desire to merge the two in her stories. Ward grew up in Mississippi, one of the poorest states in the country, where her family had been living in poverty for generations. Her novels are all set in Mississippi and follow characters as they deal with the impact of natural disasters, poverty and crime, while also focusing on family and community dynamics; sharing those stories made her writing feel necessary as a way to bring readers into that world, she said.

“Essentially, I write because it’s something that I must do. It’s a part of me to tell stories. Storytelling is a part of me,” Ward said. “Language – love of language – is a part of me.”

One element of both Jackson’s and Ward’s writing that has changed over time is the relationship between their lived experience and the stories they tell. For Jackson, the change in political administration in 2016 recontextualized his book “Survival Math: Notes on an All-American Family.” The book details his life growing up, exploring the way in which the marginalized survive oppression and whiteness as an institution – elements he said took on additional relevance after the 2016 election.

“It was really … the evidence of some of the ideas that I had about whiteness and the ways that whiteness asserts itself,” Jackson said. “It also made me feel that (it was) much more necessary to critique (whiteness) in the ways that I could.”

In “Survival Math,” Jackson shares what it was like to grow up in a small black community in Portland, one of the country’s whitest cities. The title refers to the mental calculations he had to make in order to survive in an environment that marginalized and disenfranchised him as a black man.

The biggest change for Ward has been her understanding of the role her writing could play. Initially, she was focused on humanizing her community, she said, by helping readers who didn’t have the same experiences to see her characters as human beings – characters that represented her family and community. But her ideas about the impact of her work have evolved as she has grown older.

“As I’ve traveled the world and the United States and met different readers who have nothing in common with the kind of people that I grew up with and that I lived with … I feel like it’s made me realize that I can reach readers like that too,” Ward said. “Any reader can look at my work, read my work and find something that resonates with them.”

Bineh Ndefru, a doctoral student in materials science and engineering who plans to attend the talk, said Ward’s work resonates in this way with her. Ndefru did not grow up in the American South and did not know much about that perspective firsthand, but hopes to learn more about Ward’s experience.

“I was really moved in the opening of ‘The Fire This Time,’ when (Ward) reminded me of the power of words to assert our humanity and foster community,” Ndefru said. “I am a black woman and a lot of the entries in it felt like affirmations, both some of the somber and happier truths of black life.”

Ward and Jackson both hope that students attending the event are able to take away lessons about writing. Ward said she hopes to remind students that she once stood in similar shoes herself, seeking success with the odds stacked against her. Jackson said he recommends students develop a voice by listening to the language and vocabulary that originates from their own homes and communities.

“(Author) Grace Paley says two ears are very useful in a writer – an ear for academic language and an ear for home,” Jackson said. “And I don’t think one has a great opportunity to create a unique voice unless they can hear home … Always talk to people that are from home so you don’t lose it if you move away.”

The Quad: Origins of Lunar New Year, how history has affected traditions

February usually comes right at the height of midterm season.

But for some, the month rings in one of the most culturally significant holidays: the Lunar New Year.

Lunar New Year marks the calendrical beginning of the moon cycle and is observed in various east, southeast and south Asian countries. There are a number of stereotypes that can be associated with the celebrations — like red envelopes — but the holiday has a more historically and culturally nuanced background.

UCLA lecturer in Vietnamese in the department of Asian languages and cultures, Chúc Bùi said Lunar New Year has somewhat misunderstood and nonlinear origins.

“There’s a common misconception that China was the first to celebrate Lunar New Year when Vietnam had already begun observing the holiday over 4,000 years ago,” Bùi said, speaking in Vietnamese. “In the next 4,000 years, Vietnam and China would influence each other in their traditions and customs.”

In Vietnam, Lunar New Year — commonly referred to as “Tet” — is the most celebrated holiday of the year. People have had the tradition of decorating their homes, lighting fireworks and performing “cung giao thua,” a ritual offering to say goodbye to the old year and welcome the new year. The 20-year-long Vietnam War would come to shape the nature of the festivities.

The height of the Vietnam War called for the simplicity of Tet festivities, though major traditions were still kept. Postwar, fireworks were no longer lit during the festivities due to the fear of it being mistaken for gunshots. The Tet traditions of the diaspora were incomparable to the once-abuzz celebrations of the motherland, Bùi said.

Many Lunar New Year traditions did, however, stand the test of time. Vietnamese customs such as making traditional rice cakes called “banh chung” and “banh day” to honor the gods, going to temples and cleaning the house are still practiced to this day. In China, the self-protection practices of placing red “duilian” on doorframes and lighting fireworks became holiday staples, in addition to housecleaning.

The history behind Lunar New Year in China has a more folkloric undertone. Chinese legend has it that the holiday began with a vicious ox-lion hybrid called the “Year” who attacked animals, people and property on the eve of every New Year. Over time, it became a tradition to hang red “duilian,” which are Chinese couplets written on red paper, in front of homes and light fireworks as protection against the mythical beast.

In Mongolia, Lunar New Year is referred to as “Tsagaan Sar” and is the most important and widely-celebrated holiday. It became customary to celebrate the new year according to the lunar and solar calendar in 1206, as declared by Genghis Khan, the first Great Khan of the Mongol empire.

Despite the differences in historical origin, many Lunar New Year traditions are ubiquitous from country to country. Third-year economics student Anu Chinzorig, who is from Mongolia, notes the many similarities between her country’s new year practices and that of Vietnam and China.

On “Bituun,” the eve of Tsagaan Sar, Mongolian families clean their houses to usher in a fresh start to the new year and prepare extravagant feasts during the night — similar to Vietnamese and Chinese traditions. As a family-oriented holiday, it is also customary to visit the homes of every elder on the first day and be visited by the elders on the second day, Chinzorig said.

To encapsulate and share the Lunar New Year spirit with fellow Bruins, many professors and on-campus organizations have also taken the initiative in orchestrating festivals for the holiday.

For the past 10 years, Bùi has collaborated with Thu-Ba Nguyen Hoai, an instructor in Vietnamese language and culture, and hundreds of students from Vietnamese language classes in hosting annual Lunar New Year celebrations. The festivities’ preparations begin a month in advance and have since become a tradition among the Vietnamese student body.

In addition to those festivities, Vietnamese Language and Culture at UCLA and the Association of Chinese Americans traditionally hold annual Lunar New Year festivals open to all students.

As the high school outreach director of Vietnamese Language and Culture at UCLA, fourth-year biochemistry student Tiffany Nguyen is heavily involved in the planning and execution of the organization’s 25th annual Tet Festival. The festival is a night of traditional Vietnamese foods such as banh chnng and cultural performances such as the lion dance.

“A lot of people associate the Vietnamese culture with family, so it’s important for those who are away from home to be part of a celebration that only comes once a year,” Nguyen said.

Second-year psychology student Skylar Weiyi Zhao is the cultural chair of American Chinese Association and planning the organization’s Lunar New Year festival. The event features traditional Chinese games and performances commonly associated with the new year and is a way of showing both Chinese and non-Chinese Bruins different aspects of the culture.

“Back in Singapore, the entire extended family would get together on the eve of Lunar New Year. We’d begin preparing food during the afternoon and have a huge feast around 8 p.m.,” Zhao said. “At midnight, all the adults give the kids red envelopes.”

Being an international student from Singapore, events such as ACA’s Lunar New Year festival are her opportunity to celebrate the holiday’s traditions away from home, Zhao said.

Aside from events put on by professors and on-campus organizations, celebrating Lunar New Year with friends is an opportunity to create traditions abroad. For Chinzorig, spending the holiday with a friend’s family who lives close to UCLA has became a customary way of ringing in the new year.

In the case of students who live nearby, coming home for the new year is a chance to touch base with their family and culture.

Third-year international developmental studies and Vietnamese Student Union president Ngoc Nguyen typically goes home the weekend before the holiday. It’s a family tradition to attend family gatherings when back at home, she said.

“We always eat hot pot and banh chung on Tet, but my personal favorite tradition is the red envelopes,” Ngoc Nguyen said. “All the kids in the family stand in a line and receive them.”

Because Tiffany Nguyen’s family lives relatively close – and because it’s difficult to leave campus in the midst of midterms season – her parents generally pick her up on the day of the new year and visit nearby temples with her.

Indeed, the history and customs of Lunar New Year vary country by country, but one thing remains constant: the importance of the cultural identity in the holiday’s celebrations. It is important for many students to carry, in whatever way possible, their new year practices into their life on campus.

“College life is busy by nature, but Lunar New Year is part of a tradition,” Ngoc Nguyen said. “It’s part of who you are.”

LAFD reports now-cleared chemical explosion at Boyer Hall, 1 minor injury

A chemical explosion in a South Campus laboratory that injured a UCLA employee was reported by the Los Angeles Fire Department this afternoon.

LAFD reported an acetone explosion in a laboratory fume hood in Boyer Hall at 2:18 p.m. Ricardo Vazquez, a UCLA spokesperson, said a chemical spill was prevented because the incident occurred under a fume hood.

One employee suffered superficial burn injuries to his hand and has been treated at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, said Administrative Vice Chancellor Michael Beck.

Beck added that UCPD and LAFD cleared the incident this afternoon, and UCLA Environmental Health and Safety is now cleaning up the area.

Activist-in-residence to teach new generation skills to enact social change

This post was updated Feb. 7 at 3:17 p.m.

One of UCLA’s activists-in-residence has been campaigning for change since he was 13 years old. Now, he said he hopes to teach students about activism.

Micah White, a 2019 Activist-in-Residence best known for co-creating the Occupy Wall Street movement, is teaching a graduate-level course on housing justice activism at UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs’ Institute on Inequality and Democracy alongside Ananya Roy, inaugural director of the institute and professor of urban planning, social welfare and geography. The seminar, which began this quarter, is recorded and uploaded online.

The Activist-in-Residence program at the Luskin School’s Institute on Inequality and Democracy was created alongside the institute in 2016 to advance research on social change and inequality. Established activists from across Los Angeles can apply to the program and receive access to UCLA’s resources to further causes that match their interests.

White said his journey as an activist started in middle school when he protested the pledge of allegiance for its inclusion of the phrase “liberty and justice for all,” which he said he did not think was true.

“At 13, I refused to stand for the pledge of allegiance. … And then I got kicked off a field trip,” White said.

White was active in various causes throughout high school, including suing his school for drug-testing athletes, starting an atheism club at his socially conservative high school and going to Palestine at age 19 to direct nonviolent protests.

White co-founded Occupy Wall Street, a 2011 social movement that aimed to fight socio-economic inequality, corruption and corporate influence on the government. White helped launch the movement while he was a senior editor at the Adbusters Media Foundation, a Canadian magazine, and it eventually spread to 82 countries.

However, in the years since, White said his focus has shifted from activism to the pedagogy behind it.

“After Occupy, there was this question of “can activism be taught?’” White said. “Some people are born with an instinct for music. … Is that what activism is, (an instinct)?”

White said he thinks there is very little information available on how to engage in activism, which prompted him to investigate activism as a discipline that could be taught in a classroom.

“One thing that really struck me is that if you Google ‘How to be a better activist,’ the level of information and quality of information that you get is terrible – it’s horrible!” White said. “There are no real resources.”

White’s goal of finding a way to teach activism led him to become one of three activists-in-residence at UCLA this year.

Roy said the Activist-In-Residence program’s primary purpose is to promote discussions of social and community-based change at the university.

“The program is very much in keeping our commitment to bringing to the university voices and experiences of community-based and social movement-based scholars,” Roy said.

During their residency, activists pursue projects relevant to their areas of interest. Graduate students have the opportunity to interact with and learn from the activists-in-residence, Roy said.

White’s main project has been the co-creation of the course “Housing Justice Activism and Protest: Past, Present, and Future.”

Roy said White is more interested in practical tactics and strategies of housing justice activism, whereas she is more interested in theory and research. However, she is interested in how White views activism in their teaching.

“Our common meeting ground is the ways in which (White) wants us to think about history, theory and strategy. … (White) is incredibly generous and thoughtful about all of this, and it’s been wonderful to be in this teaching partnership with him,” Roy said.

The class is taught in partnership with Activist Graduate School, an online school for activists. White is the co-founder and program director of the school.

The purpose of the school is to envision, develop and eventually implement an effective form of activism pedagogy, White said.

“Like activism, the only way you can do that is through experimentation. … If you want to create another Martin Luther King (Jr.), there is no answer of how to do that, other than to try.” White said.

Chiara Ricciardone, provost of Activist Graduate School and White’s wife, said the school hopes to teach future activists not to make the same mistakes as activists in the past.

“There was missing of a space where activists could critically reflect on practices together. … Activists can often be very critical of the status quo and the way the world is now, but also of one another,” Ricciardone said.

Ricciardone said that White is always searching for ways to grow as an activist.

“He is intensely focused on the goal of revolution. … He is constantly looking for ways to better the practice of activism,” Ricciardone said.