Generation of Consolidation

"Generation of Consolidation" is a film by Brooke Noel and Sami Muilenburg released in 2008.  The film was created as part of the youth program, Reel Grrls (http://www.reelgrrls.org/).  Reel Grrls is a non-for-profit that provides media literacy for young girls ages 13-19 based in Seattle.  The program empowers women with media tools in a world in which much of the media is controlled by men.
"Generation of Consolidation" is one of the films created by teenagers through the Reel Grrls program.  It begins by outlining the basic problems of media consolidation and how the FCC regulates the media.  It then turns to a specific event that occurred in which the FCC board traveled to Seattle to hear the public's concern about a new change in media regulation.  Much of the film documents the perspectives of the public that attended this hearing.  Despite being given too short of a notice to organize (only one week), the event was packed with people who wished to express their discontent with the potential changes.  The filmmaker's speech and personal experiences are highlighted in the film.  She talks about how disturbing it was seeing the event misrepresented on her own local media.  The film also includes captivating interviews with teenagers of different races, sexes, and religions and how they feel their identities are skewed by the media.  The film concludes with various people's ideas on how to fix the problems with media, including a desire for more accurate reporting, broader view points, better local media, media empowerment programs such as the Reel Grrls, and more practical news.
"Generation of Consolidation" and Reel Grrls are extremely interesting in regards to the problem of media consolidation.  They highlight how media consolidation leads to less opportunities for minorities and women as well as poorer content for these groups. Reel Grrls takes practical action to help rectify the sexism of the media industry by providing young women with the tools they need to generate their own media.  The impressive professionalism of the film proves that young people are able to generate their own content in a world that generally ignores their ability to do so, creating an interesting argument against ageism.  Although, "Generation of Consolidation" exists on the internet as an independent project it asks us to rectify the problems with for-profit media by providing opportunities for women and minorities rather than relying entirely on internet media to provide these alternative outlets.

 Noel, Brooke and Muilenburg, Sami
2008 Generation of Consolidation. 11 min. Reel Grrls. Seattle.