"Television is at the heart of image production, and the circulation of a collage of stitched-together images that is core to postmodern culture style." - Chris Barker: Cultural Studies: Theory and practice
When you look at these characters displayed to the right what shows can you associate these characters with? George Lopez, a Mexican factory worker, Karen Smith, a dumb blonde, Neal Caffery, an average white collar male, and Cookie Lyons, a ghetto black woman. How do we quickly conclude to these assumptions? How we perceive one's culture has a lot to do with how they are perceived in the media. In this case, how television views one's culture can give a generalized view on a culture whether negative or positive. Viewers assign those negative connotations by observing what they watch. What TV decides to display is the only view many will see giving a false idea of how one culture can be perceived. For instance, when you look at Goerge Lopez, the show identifies him as a manager at a factory. If the viewer has not come in contact with another person of the Mexican culture one may perceive the entire culture as people who primarily work in factories. Television assigns a meaning or idea to a culture. According to Chris Barker, author of Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice, these stereotypes serve as vivid representations "that reduce persons to set of exaggerated, usually negative, characteristics" (271).
One of the most stereotyped shows on daytime television are shows such as Family Guy and South Park. To the left is a video clip addressing some of the stereotypes displayed within the show. These depictions assign negative ideas to a culture generalizing each culture to act in that way. However, this is not entirely true. This clip shows the idea that all Asians cannot drive, Japenese girls tend to have small items as well as breast, black women tend to talk very fast and ratchet when explaining a story, Spanish women as maids, Italian men are viewed as confident, and many more. These are examples of what Barker calls the "Post Modern Culture". Though these identifiers do not represent the full modern culture, it represents a period of change through its cultural patterns (203).
Will these stereotypes ever change? in this day and age I personally believe they won't. Cultures have been stereotyped since the beginning of the television beginning with the African American culture. One of the firsts shows African American's were featured in was called Amos 'n' Andy. according to Barker, this show became a developed comedy that "became a symbol for the degradation of black people through since of humor" (275). Television has been using negative stereotypes as a comedy for years and they'll continue to use it til this day. As long as these negative stereotypes sell and gain ratings, the constant exploitation of culture will continue to be displayed for the liking of viewers.
I learned this last week from my fourteen-year-old sister that the majority of teenagers in middle school and high school believe that "Facebook is for old people." Having only left my teen years a few short months ago, I was shocked, as well as terrified. I would never consider Facebook a hobby of mine, but I am a fairly updated user. I will post for life events and add pictures of trips. However, just a short time ago I was too young for my Facebook account, and now I am being written off as outdated.
The hard truth for people like Peter Pan and myself is that more than eleven million high school and college aged users abandoned Facebook between 2011 and 2014. Middle schoolers and many high schoolers never felt the need to create an account in the first place. My fourteen-year-old insider tells me that her classmates use social media all the time; they are glued to their phones in the cafeteria. However, they are all using more recent platforms such as Twitter and Instagram. Although social media is expanding and becoming more popular among the youth, their interest in Facebook has dramatically declined. TIME magazine published an article by Christopher Matthews in 2014 which included the following statistics.
Now the question remains: Is Facebook doomed due to its decline in young users? Many would say yes. It is believed that people between the ages of 13 and 25 have defined popular culture in the United States and what is considered outdated. This is not entirely false; anyone can see this through basic usage of the media. Main characters in television and films are typically within that age range, and popular music often reflects life as a young person. However, according to these statistics, Facebook's popularity is greatly inclining amongst users above their thirties, and especially users above their fifties. Facebook is by no means doomed. From a marketing standpoint, ads and links on Facebook have been and should be shifted toward the generation whose populating the platform.
Glee, a popular TV
show where kids in high school sing about their life problems, is no stranger to
controversial topics like sexuality and gender among youth. This show has seen
much praise for its take on homosexuality, with people commenting on how the
homo and hetero couples were seen as equals in the show. For instance, viewer
Heather Hogan comments that until recently, gay men were less sexualized than
gay women, but that two characters “Kurt and Blaine blew up that double standard.
Their first time having sex was as important as Rachel and Finn’s first
time having sex.” She goes on to say that Kurt and Blaine’s relationship
changed things for broadcast networks.
After introducing
a handful of gay and lesbian characters, Glee took on a whole new challenge (and
hit the diversity jackpot while doing it): bringing in a plus sized trans girl
of color. Officially named Wade Adams, this character preferred to be called
Unique. Although Wade Adams was born as a male, she only truly feels like herself
when she is wearing female clothes and living as her alter-ego, Unique.
As is stated in Cultural Studies; Theory and Practice, gender
is a cultural context and is open to change (245). Similarly stated, “the body
is held to be a rack upon which cultural meanings are thrown” (245). This
gender identity change can be seen within Unique’s character. Before coming to
William McKinley High School, (where most of the main characters of Glee
attend) Unique was the lead vocalist of her old a cappella group where she was
afraid to perform in front of a crowd, but found a way to do so if singing as a
female.
After transferring to William McKinley, Unique’s character appeared to
be more confident about who she is, although she still struggles at times. Cultural Studies; Theory and Practice states
that acceptance of the idea that sex is a cultural construct leads to the
blurring of the male-female distinction. Although Unique’s character suffers
emotionally and physically for being different, (to the point of being unable
to use the bathroom at school for fear of being picked on by the girls or
beaten by the boys) she shows us that this cultural construct stands true.
Through the past several decades, there has been a constant debate of racial tensions that have existed within the hip hop community. The common foundation for this premise is based on the idea that it is believed that it has been created mainly by the African American community. In many hip hop songs, there are lyrics placed that expletive, including use of racial words such as the n word. There are two sides to this discussion: one states that the African American community has caused a sense of segregation through music and African American individuals believe that the disregard for this type of music is a sign of racism from the white community.
According to the text, "The idea of racialization or race formation is founded on the argument that race is a social construction and not a universal or essential category of biology (Barker, 253)." Through the creation of hip hop lyrics, there is a belief that a form of segregation has been created. Constantly, there is an exposure to the fact that hip hop is meant for individuals who have had a tough upbringing in an impoverished community and has a comeback story. However, I do not believe this was the original meaning for the creation of hip hop. The true meaning of hip hop is meant for individuals to tell a narrative and allow for people outside in to their personal lives. This notion of segregation is something that has risen due to the creation of personal opinions in society. These three hip hop artists, Lupe Fiasco, Nas, and Talib Kweli took to social media and talk shows to open up about racial tensions that exist in the United States and the hip hop community. There is a desire for collaboration of people of all races and ethnicities. Through hip hop, these artists seek to create lyrics that display the problems that exist within our country and provide a call to action to fix these problems. This aids in transitioning to my second point about this topic. Racial tensions exist between members of the white and black community.
Why do these problems exist? Due to the magnification of issues that exist in America through the media, certain things are heightened and are made into larger problems than they actually are. Hip hop has been written off due to tasteless lyrics and questionable statements. I agree, the majority of modern hip hop can have quite suggestive lyrics. However, there are artists that exist that seek to promote positive action and call for social change. We, the United States of America, are supposed to be the greatest country on the planet. It is the 21st century and these problems of race have existed since the time of our ancestors. Measures have been taken to make our society a better place for all races and have equal opportunity. However, more needs to be done. Hip hop has turned into a form of racial tension due to social construction. It is seen more as a place to be able to tell their story and a place to vent. People from the white community, like Eminem and G-Eazy are popular in the hip hop community so it blows my mind when statements are made that African Americans are at the forefont of racial problems that exist within America. This needs to stop. Let's not worry about race but rather about collaboration of people of all races to make this society a better place to live!
Ever since when the Nazi's in Germany used
Anti-Semitic media propaganda, to persuade the people to hate the Jewish people
before and during World War II. White supremacist and Neo-Nazi media messages
are still being circulated today. Neo-Nazi groups are groups of people or
individuals who follows the ideology of the National Socialist Movement in
Germany. One example of a Neo-Nazi group in the U.S. is the American Nazi
Party. White supremacists are people who believe that the white race is
superior compared to other races. Both of these political ideologies are
radical right wing. White Supremacists believe that the white race is declining
because they see the population of minority groups is a threat to their race.
They also believe that Israel controls America. One notable book that promote
these ideas is called The Turner Diaries,by William Luther
Pierce or also known as Andrew Macdonald, as listed on the book cover. The book
was published in the 70s. Although most countries in Europe such as Germany,
France, and Austria had outlawed pro Nazi speech, White Supremacist speech is
still legal in the United States. This is due to the First Amendment of the
U.S. Constitution allows hate speech. Although there are no Neo-Nazi propaganda
based Television channels in the U.S., even if there was a launch of Neo-Nazi
television. It would have been a PR disaster for the station. However there are
many White Supremacist websites. One well-known example of a White Supremacy
site is Stormfront. This site is an Internet discussion forum site that
discusses White supremacist topics such as Anti-Semitic and racist viewpoints.
Here is a screen cap of the site that I took.
The slogan of the site claims that they
are "promoting" their heritage because they believe that they are
preserving their race. However Caucasian people in this country is still the
majority race and the race is not in any danger in my opinion. Not only that
there are white supremacist propaganda exists on the internet, there are a few
Neo-Nazi themed video games. One example of a Neo Nazi first person
shooter game, Ethnic
Cleansing. Ethnic Cleansing. The player only has one weapon
and there are 2 stages in the game. The enemies of the game are Black, Mexican,
and Jewish people. When I looked up video gameplay of the game on YouTube, I
thought that the game is awful because the graphics and
animations are bad, and the gameplay is glitchy.
In any kind of character development, one of the defining characteristics that builds who an individual is and what they represent is the level of agency they hold. Chris Wendig, on his blog “terribleminds” defines agency as, “a demonstration of the character’s ability to make decisions and affect the story. This character has motivations all her own. She is active more than she is reactive. She pushes on the plot more than the plot pushes on her. Even better, the plot exists as a direct result of the character’s actions.” Chris Barker, author of “Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice” expands this definition by also stating this concept has also been associated with “free will, action, creativity, originality, and very possibility of change through the actions of free agents” (240). This concept centers on a character’s ability to CHOOSE, and the freedom to then enable that action. The presence or absence of this agency within a character is an essential component of their identity construction and the way viewers understand their influence in a story.
I specifically want to evaluate how we see agency within strong female leads. Writing women with power is hardly a new concept, however, over the past couple decades this has become a new norm within the media that unfortunately has proved to be hardly progressive. Writing strong women who’ve been “granted agency” and tenacity should have been huge for women’s representation and image within the media. Finally, we see women who are more than beautiful, but who are also brave, intelligent, and competitive. Right? Within her article “I Hate Strong Female Characters,” Sophia McDougall argues, “female character portrayals have gone from one kind of flat to another. They’ve gone from being flat damsels who are placed in fiction to perpetuate the male narrative to ‘strong’ women who are flat because they’re not allowed to be anything except strong.” More often than not, these days writing “strong” female characters related to physical vigor rather than agency or any greater sense of power. The next issue we find to be present across the board is that the majority, if not all, of their agency if they have any is centered around a man. If you were to eliminate the men from the story lines, these women would be left without much purpose. Very rarely do we see female protagonists whose central plot line is void of a romantic relationship or the obtainment of a male counterpart. The question then follows, how much agency does this actually grant these women?
The ever lovely Alison Bechdel popularized the “Bechdel test” which has been used to look at the way female characters are developed within a work of fiction. To pass this assessment, the work must have at least one scene that possesses “(1) at least two women in it, who (2) who talk to each other, about (3) something besides a man.” While this may seem to be a simple test, an unbelievable number of works of fiction (especially our blockbuster films) fail it on a regular basis (Check out this list!). While the Bechdel test is not without its flaws, it does illuminate just how prevalent this issue is.
It’s easy to say, “Well sure, a woman can pursue a relationship and still be granted agency and make decisions for herself outside of how it pertains to a counterpart.” Sure. It happens all the time…right? Take a second to think about your favorite empowered female leads; is the conclusion of their narrative centered on something other than a man? Or , at the very least, do they pass the Bechdel test? Strong female characters, in movies particularly, are often either portrayed as deeply sexualized violent accessories to the men in the story, or as witchy and independent yet never fully complete until they’ve obtained a paramour.
Katniss Everdeen within the popularized series The Hunger Games is arguably one of our more well written female leads. Within the books, Suzanne Collins paints in broad strokes to make Katniss deeply impacting, fierce, and full of agency—all while leaving her fully woman (as we socially construct it). This means she is both physically tough and thoroughly nurturing and empathetic. Her relationships with the two male leads of the story, Peeta and Gale, are very much a part of who she is and her relation to the story, however, if you were to eliminate them from the plot, Katniss would still have a higher purpose. When Collin’s work was adapted to the big screen, many would argue our beloved protagonist’s focus shifted. The love triangle between our main characters became the biggest hook. The fact that she was singlehandedly leading a massive political revolution remained the bottom line, but the rhetoric that surrounded the fandom became “Team Peeta or Gale?” While Katniss remains an authentic empowered female protagonist, this disfiguration of priorities and representation is a clear display of how the media attempts to morph even truly strong independent women into distilled accessories.
Unfortunately, “strong” female leads often does not translate to women with agency. What does this then do to the way we understand the identity of women within the media? Barker states, “Identities are understood to be a question both of agency (the individual constructs a project) and of social determination (our projects are socially constructed and social identities ascribed to us)” (239). The majority of our empowered female leads are doing little for the progression of women’s place within the media. This is highly discouraging, to say the very least. The only way we can move beyond this is to write more characters like “The Girl on Fire,” Miss Katniss Everdeen, and to not allow other media sources to distort their ambitions. Chris Wendig within his article quoted Kirsten Thompson saying, “A female character who kicks ass, but does nothing else has little more agency than the one who exists to be rescued by a man.” It’s important to remember that toughness and physical ability relates little to matters of choice. Through granting our female characters comparable agency as we do to our males, we can help develop women’s identity within the media and take yet another progressive step towards equality.
Listening to bell hook dissect the media’s role,
especially Hollywood, in recreating racial stereotype identity was quite
fascinating and heart wrenching. Director Wayne Wang’s depiction of a black
character as a thief in a movie that didn’t have racial identification in its
original script was just disturbing. Concocting a flimsy excuse for casting a
black actor in an unacceptable role that demonizes a group of people, simply
because the director believed it would make the movie more profitable,
marketable, and stimulating was just ridiculous.
The points I’m wrestling with in the conversation
are the idea of nobody wanting to lay claim to the white supremacy method of
perpetuating itself in power, and the refusal of university students to accept
that someone is consciously creating a bias or misguided representation of
their race. It seems like the media has a constant control of our imagination
that is far from reality. The very fact that media experts are consciously and
knowingly producing images they expect would produce certain impact they desire
is troubling.
The notion of white supremacist capitalist which is
embedded in racism, gender, colonization, decolonization, and whiteness is a
challenging concept to understand. However, Ms. hook’s explanation for the
coining of the terms white supremacist and capitalist are self-explanatory. She
believes that the term racism keeps white people at the center of discussion.
On the other hand, white supremacy evokes a political world that we all frame
in relationship to. Finally, she argues that the ideology of white supremacy
allows the collusion of black people with the forces of racism.
The idea that Mass media is cunningly reversing the
gains of the feminist movement just as it did at the close of the Second World
War: removing women from the factories back to the homes is really
interesting. It also fascinating to note
that in the present time the media is still employing the same method to lure
women with the quest to cast them in white supremacist capitalist patriarchal
roles.
Additionally I think the way the media manipulates
information and present fallacies as reality is quite illuminating. How it
creates external identities that influence our self-esteem in fashion and other
facets of our daily existence cannot be underestimated. The reason why it’s
relevant to define the external factors that influence our identity is
evaluating their effects upon our lives. Are they just some social constructs
that could be eliminated without any adverse consequences? Or are they very
influential in our lives that we can’t do without them shading dark shadows on
our identity?
Frankly speaking, since my arrival in America my
identity has been intersected with white supremacist capitalist patriarchy. I
have been instructed by bosses on the job to be mean to subordinates in order
to be respected, and I have also been warned to be very assertive as a means of
perpetuating power. Even though I don’t like football because of the violence,
I’m forced to pretend that I am a fan for acceptance of my male American
counterparts at work.
Distortions of
Race, Class, and Gender in Advertisements and Commercials
Distorted depictions of
race, class, and gender have been portrayed for plenty of years in
advertisements. In Cultural Studies:
Theory and Practice representation is meant to “raise questions of
inclusion and exclusion” (271). In the 1960s, the media industry was deciding
how race, class, and gender would be presented in advertisements. During the
late 1960s representations of minority groups in the media was frowned upon in
American society (Hollifield and Kimbro, 2010).
Since the majority culture was mainly advertised during that time,
television networks wanted media to align with the social reality. A report from
the National Advisory Committee on Civil Disorders in 1968 found that the media
industry did not have a diversified staff in the 1960s. Therefore, Caucasian
males were the leaders of the media industry and a part of the dominant culture,
so they mainly endorsed their views in advertisements. Likewise, advertisements
that showcased African-Americans, Asian-Americans, or Latin Americans were not
publicly acceptable because Caucasians males did not deem these races as equal.
Separation of gender also
existed in advertisements during 1960s. For instance, most advertisements
featured women as a mother or a sexy vixen. Similarly, women were seen as the
subordinates in heterosexual relationships. The image with a woman and three male
children display that women’s role mainly involved being a mother who raised
her children. This is suggested with the woman’s position in the advertisement where
she mirrors a mother nurturing her children. Next, the picture of a man blowing
smoke in a woman’s face has a sexual suggestive line, which reads “blow in her
face and she'll follow you anywhere.” In this advertisement, it could be
perceived that men who smoke could easily attract women for their pleasure.
Also, the advertisement pinpoints the dominance men had over women with them being
showcased as sex symbols during the 1960s.
Then, in today’s society there are diversified depictions
of race, class, and gender in commercials. It seems that companies are striving
to target multiple races, classes, and genders, instead focusing on the
majority group. For example, commercials will feature African-Americans, Latin
Americans, Asian Americans, same-sex couples, women in power positions, and stay-at-home
fathers. During the 1960s, this range of race, class, and gender was not
present in advertisements. However, the depictions that are being showcased in commercials
today are still misconstrued. For instance, I will watch a commercial about an
African-American family eating a KFC dinner, and this commercial is misconstrued
because it promotes the stereotype that most African-Americans prefer fast food
over preparing the meal their selves. This example is misleading because it
assumes that all African-Americans cannot afford to buy enough groceries for
every meal, so purchasing bargain meals is more ideal for this culture. However,
in reality not all African-Americans are middle-class or living
paycheck-to-paycheck and some can afford to shop at Whole Foods every week.
Currently, race in society plays two roles that
contradict each other. The first role involves race as an ideal in society and
the second role includes racism in society. In Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice Barker notes that “race is
held to be a current ‘problem’ and yet racism is regarded as a thing of the
past” (278). This statement is a contradiction because if race is a problem
than racism must also be a problem, since racism stems from race. Commercials
reveal how race and racism are problematic in today’s society. Walmart’s
commercial “Tomorrow Starts Today” is a prime example of how commercials
display depictions of race and racism in society. This commercial shows a Caucasian
male as the manager and African-Americans, Latin Americans, and other Caucasians
as the workers; this is racially problematic because it presents the ideal that
Caucasian males are still in charge while minorities are working effortlessly
to retain their low-level jobs. It could be inferred that Walmart intended for
the commercial to show equality among workers for the future, but the multiple
distorted depictions generated the opposite effect. Next, Target’s Bella Thorne
Chris Noth commercial provides the view that racism is over. In this
commercial, women, men, the young, the elderly, African-Americans, and Caucasians
are seen to have equal status based on their clothing, body language, and
dialogue with each other. Also, the shape of the community in this commercial
is the formation of a circle, which is similar to Target’s logo. The symbolism
between the shape of the community and Target’s logo communicates that everyone
has equal status racially, socially, and gender wise.
The James Bond books and films have been around for decades. Well known actors such as Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig, and Sean Connery have taken on the
Bond role. However, actor Idris Elba has received negative remarks from James
Bond author Anthony Horowtiz, on Elba’s potential role as the new Bond. Horowitz, who created the franchise, opposed Elba’s speculation on the 007 role stating
that the actor was “too street” to play James Bond. This remark has sparked an
immense amount of controversy regarding Horowitz and racism with this role. Horowitz
later apologized stating his “clumsiness” of the words he chose.
Idris Elba responded to Anthony’s comment on Instagram posting,
“Always keep smiling! It takes no energy and it never hurts! Learned that from
the street!”
Although there was reconciliation it cannot dismiss the
controversy of racism noted in this situation. Many people online interpreted
Horowitz’s comment was saying Elba was too black
to play a role that has originally been played by white actors. Horowitz later noted that
what he meant was that Idris Elba was not ‘suave’ enough to play James Bond. In defense to Elba the Huffington Post comments
that, “Idris Elba is an actor. He has
mastered an American accent...and varying kinds of English accents. He’s played
police detectives and single dads’, Norse gods, and soldiers. To dismiss him as
‘too street’ is to have a profound lack of imagination and respect of his skill as a performer.” Although Horowitz’s
comment was not intended to be about race, it is argued that the Bond author
has an inability to look beyond Hollywood racism.
This situation is a great example
of stereotyping in the media. Although Horowtiz’s comment was meant to describe
Elba’s demeanor and not his race, many people assumed that the phrase ‘too
street’ had to do with the actor’s race. The stereotypes that are associated with
his race can limit him from the ability to play James Bond. This is not an
accurate statement, but that is how people have interpreted Horowiz’s comments.
In Barker’s Cultural Studies: Theory and
Practice black men have been associated with “crime and civil disorder”
(275). Television tends to play into stereotypes that have been formed around specific
races and ethnicities, which in turn, reinforces them to audiences in real
life. By Hollywood categorizing races and ethnicities a certain way it makes it
difficult for actors to break free of those racial stereotypes. This could have
contributed to Horowitz’s inability to see Elba in this role.
Idris Elba noted that he would be the first black James
Bond, and if that would become its own identity. In an interview with NPR in 2011 Elba talked about how he did not want
to have his race attached to the role of Bond. “I
just don’t want to be the black James Bond…Sean Connery wan’t the Scottish
James Bond and Daniel Craig wasn’t the blue-eyed James Bond, so if I played
him, I don’t want to be called the black James Bond” (Variety.com). This relates back to Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice, “Consequently, Asians,
Africans, Hispanics and African-Americans are held to be ethnic groups, but the
English or white Anglo-Saxon Americans and Australians are not…whiteness is
seen as a taken-for-granted universal” (256). It is important to note that other
James Bonds were not identified by their own ethnic groups.
