Complete the following tasks using Media Factsheet 142: Identity and Film. You'll find it in our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets 1) Classify answers into the categories listed on the Factsheet: Social groups, ideological beliefs, interests etc. ▪ Social groups and classifications (“I am a student”, “I am female”) ▪ Ideological beliefs (“I am a Christian”, “I am a Labour voter”) ▪ Interests (“I am a Queens of the Stone-Age Fan fan”, “I am a cricketer”) ▪ Ambitions (“I am going to be a doctor”, “I am going to visit China”) ▪ Self-evaluations. (“I am pretty”, “I am bad at Maths”)
2) Go back to your favourite film. What does this choice of film say about your identity? Are there any identities within the film (e.g. certain characters) that particularly resonated with your values and beliefs?
A Clockwork Orange - Mr Halsey says this makes me a violent person¿
4) Watch the trailers for the five films highlighted as examples of gay/lesbian representation in mainstream film:
How are LGBT identities constructed in the trailers and how are audiences encouraged to respond to these representations?
Wilde (1997, dir. Brian Gilbert)
Wilde is a 1997 British biographical film about Oscar Wilde. We can argue that the LGBT identity constructed highlights Wilde's intelligence and success, as well as popularity - suggesting that homosexual people can be just as successful as anyone else. However, it does portray Wilde as deceptive, a negative attribute but then again this is a result of the restrictive attitudes towards homosexuality. Overall, I feel that this is a positive representation of homosexuality.
Philadelphia (1993, dir. Jonathan Demme)
Philadelphia is a 1993 American drama film and one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to acknowledge HIV/AIDS, homosexuality, and homophobia. A negative representation of homosexual men is created in the film. This is because their main identifying factor is the fact that they are diseased. However, the film does bring light to social prejudice the homosexual men are experiencing such as in the work place - i.e being fired for having AIDS.
The Wedding Banquet (1993, dir. Ang Lee)
The Wedding Banquet is a 1993 romantic comedy film about a gay Taiwanese immigrant man who marries a mainland Chinese woman to placate his parents and get her a green card. His plan backfires when his parents arrive in the United States to plan his wedding banquet and he has to hide the truth of his partner. A negative representation is created as the man deceives his parents, a woman and is essentially living a double life. This creates the idea that homosexual men are deceptive and manipulative. Moreover, his act is illegal in that he is getting someone into the country as a result of false marriage - creating a sense of unlawfulness and deviancy in his character also. However, the fact that he feels he needs to undergo a false marriage and create a facade just to please his parents and avoid being an outcast, draws attention to the concerning attitudes towards homosexuals, representing the main character as a victim also.
The Kids are Alright (2010, dir. Lisa Cholodenko)
The Kids Are All Right is a 2010 American comedy-drama film directed by Lisa Cholodenko. It is among the first mainstream movies to show a married lesbian and bisexual couple raising two teenagers. This film presents the family and the children as normal - suggesting how LGBT parents are now accepted in society, and that they can raise perfectly healthy children.
Pride (2014, dir. Matthew Warchus)
Pride is a 2014 British LGBT-related historical comedy-drama film directed by Matthew Warchus. The film shows LGBT identities as a targeted group, in their restrictive Catholic community, and therefore they make communal effort to try and fight the discrimination they face. This creates a representation of homosexuals as victims and strong-willed.
5) How have representations of LGBT issues changed in recent years? It is very clear to me that our attitudes towards LGBT issues have changed significantly over the years. This is apparent through how gay characters are the most frequently depicted consistently across a variety of mediums.
Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet #86: Applying Feminism. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets - you'll need to save the factsheet to USB or email it to yourself in order to complete this at home. Read the factsheet and answer the following questions: 1) Briefly list or describe the different waves of feminism.
First wave: early 20th century, suffragette movement (right to vote).
Second wave: 1960s – 1990s, reproductive rights (pill), abortion, equal pay.
Third wave: 1990s – present, empowerment, reclaiming of femininity (high heels, sexuality etc. See Angela McRobbie's work on women's magazines).
Fourth wave? 2010 – ongoing, use of new technology and digital media (e.g. Twitter) for activism. Many commentators argue that the internet itself has enabled a shift from ‘third-wave’ to ‘fourth-wave’ feminism. What is certain is that the internet has created a ‘call-out’ culture, in which sexism or misogyny can be ‘called out’ and challenged. This culture is indicative of the continuing influence of the third wave, with its focus on challenging sexism and misogyny in advertising, film, television and the media.
3) List the five different types of feminism with a one-sentence definition for each.
Radical Feminism - cause of women's oppression as men; men deliberately exploit women in order to benefit them. Main aims of this theory is to address concerns over violence against women (sexual relationships).
Liberal Feminism - mainly concerned with gender socialisation in order to show that gender roles are not biologically determined. The main aim of this type of feminism is to change the ways children are socialised into stereotypical gender roles and to attempt to change social policy to improve the position of women within the family.
Marxist-Feminism - looks at women’s oppression in relation to capitalism and the class system. One of the aims of this type of feminism is to look at the role of domestic labour within capitalism, namely that women work in the home for ‘free’, and the role women play in producing the next generation of the labour force.
Black Feminism - primarily concerned with black and Asian women’s experiences of oppression and exploitation. It combines ideas about capitalism, patriarchy and anti-racism.
Postmodern Feminism - associated with third wave feminists. It acknowledges the diversity amongst women and encourages individual women to find feminist ideas that combine with their own experiences of life to create a brand of feminism suitable for them.
4) Summarise Laura Mulvey's analysis of Hollywood film: Laura Mulvey wrote Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema in 1975 and it is probably the most well-known and most often used piece of feminist writing for Media Studies students. Mulvey posited that the cinematography of classic Hollywood films objectifies women; the camera ‘looks’ at women as if were a male and the woman is a desirable sexual object. She called this the male gaze and suggested that women are either viewed in a ‘voyeuristic’ way, which makes them ‘whores’, or in a ‘fetishistic’ way, making them ‘madonnas’ or virgins. Mulvey thought the only way to alter the representations of women in film was to completely change the cinematography of films by creating a new avant-garde style of feminist film-making. 5) What does Jean Kilbourne argue regarding advertising and the impact on women? Jean Kilbourne started analysing the representations of women in advertising in 1979 with the documentary Killing Us Softly: Advertising’s Image of Women. Much of what Kilbourne discusses in the Killing Us Softly documentaries is the notion that advertising is selling more than products; it is also selling ideas of what it is to be ‘normal’ in our society. She claims that the advertising industry makes a women’s appearance the most important thing about her. 6) Summarise Naomi Wolf's theory of 'The Beauty Myth'. Wolf’s ideas in The Beauty Myth (1991) follow on from Kilbourne’s analysis of representations of women in advertising. Wolf claims that the notion of ‘beauty’ is entirely socially constructed and patriarchal. By this she means that men in a given society create rules of what is considered beautiful in women but this alters from culture to culture. For example, for Western women, blond hair, a slim figure and flawless skin are considered beautiful but in Mauritania, West Africa, women are seen as beautiful if they are obese and have stretch marks. Wolf believes that, even though women have achieved more equality in terms of voting rights and regulations in the work place, male dominated society continues to oppress women by making them focus to such a great extent on how they look and whether they are ‘beautiful'. 7) List the texts discussed in the section 'feminism and music videos'. Do you believe that the representation of women in music videos can have an impact on how people behave in real life? The representation of women in R&B and hip-hop videos has been an area of contentious debate for feminists in recent years. Many feminists have looked at the lyrics and images used in these musical genres and there has been disagreement about whether the women portrayed are victims of patriarchal oppression or empowered female role models. Some examples include Nelly’s video for Tip-Drill, Beyonce’s Who Runs the World (Girls), NineteenPercent’s feminist response Who Runs the World (Lies). I feel that derogatory music videos are not just content, they inadvertently reinforce stereotypes in viewers - causing changes in real life behaviour as a result. Feminist theory: Factsheet research Media Factsheet #125: Gender for A2 - Focus on Judith Butler This Factsheet offers much more depth on Judith Butler and her work in Gender Trouble (1990) - the argument that gender is a process or performance and not biologically set. It explores how Butler fits into wider media theoretical perspectives (e.g. Structuralism and Post-Structuralism) and also criticisms of her approach. One key criticism is the difficulty in applying Butler's ideas to feminist campaigns in the real world - relevant to our recent work on the possibility of a fourth wave of feminism. Media Factsheet #125: Gender: Beyond Butler This Factsheet explores a wider interpretation of the representation of women in media and society. It offers a historical perspective, looking particularly at the 1970s and British television. It also builds on Factsheet #89 and Jean Kilbourne's work on advertising and the representation of women. Finally, the Factsheet addresses masculinity and the changing representations of men in the media over the last 30 years.
Feminist theory: key notes Judith Butler: gender roles Butler believes traditional feminists are wrong to divide society into ‘men’ and ‘women’ and says gender is not biologically fixed. By dividing men and women, feminists accidentally reinforced the idea of differences between the two genders. Butler believes gender roles are ‘a performance’ and that male and female behaviour is socially constructed rather than the result of biology. Butler and the media If gender is a ‘performance’ rather than biological, we then need to think about what is influencing that ‘performance’. And that’s where the media comes in. How might the media influence our behaviour in terms of gender roles? Angela McRobbie: empowering women McRobbie is a British cultural theorist known for her work analysing magazines aimed at women and teenage girls in the 80s and 90s. McRobbie highlights the empowering nature of magazines such as Cosmopolitan and Glamour, taking a different perspective to traditional feminists. This idea of ‘popular feminism’ fits into the idea of post-feminism and challenges the radical feminism of the 1970s.
Gauntlett: feminism & masculinity
David Gauntlett wrote extensively on gender representation and the importance of role models in the media in the late 1990s – early 2000s. He looked particularly at theorists such as Butler and McRobbie: “Although the popular remix of feminism is accepted by young women, it remains the case that most women and men remain somewhat constricted within particular gender roles.” Gauntlett looked at men’s lifestyle magazines in the same way McRobbie looked at women’s magazines. He found a new, quite different representation of masculinity – reflecting changes in women’s magazines. Importantly, he disagrees that masculinity is in crisis – a popular view in the media in the last 15 years.
Feminist and gender theory: blog tasks
Read Playing With The Past: Post-feminism and the Media (MM40, page 64 - our Media Magazine archive is here). 1) What are the two texts the article focuses on? The new series, Pan Am which is an American period drama television series created by writer Jack Orman. Named for the iconicPan American World Airways, the series features the pilots and stewardesses of the airline as it operated in the early 1960s at the beginning of the commercial Jet Age. Also, the article looks at Beyonce's retro, satirical music video 'Why Don't you Love Me?' which parodies gender stereotypes. 2) What examples are provided from the two texts of the 'male gaze' (Mulvey)? The male gaze is the act of depicting the world and women in the visual arts and literature from a masculine and heterosexual point of view, presenting women as objects of male pleasure. In Pan Am, the show In the pilot episode of Pan Am we first meet the stars of the show – the stewardesses – through an image of Laura, one of the main characters, on the front of a magazine cover. It is interesting to note that this first image of the Pan Am stewardesses is one which is highly constructed and mediated, an image whose purpose is to be admired and aspired to by women, and visually enjoyed by men. In Beyonce's music video, she is heavily objectified throughout the video such as the revealing clothes, makeup, posture etc. This all serves as presenting her as an object of male pleasure visually, therefore the entire video is an instance of where the male gaze can be applied.
3) Do texts such as these show there is no longer a need for feminism or are they simply sexism in a different form? I feel that these videos undeniably show that there has been huge developments in society, most likely a result of feminism but then again, these videos clearly show light to an issue. Women are still heavily objectified and seen as existing only in the shadow of men, serving as only visual pleasure to them. 4) Choose three words/phrases from the glossary of the article and write their definitions on your blog.
Male Gaze – The gaze referring to Laura Mulvey’s seminal article ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ which argues that main stream Hollywood films subject female characters to the ‘male gaze’ of the camera, fragmenting and objectifying their bodies.
Third wave feminism – Was a movement that redefined and encouraged women to be dominant and sexually assertive.
Post-feminism – An ideology in culture and society that society is somehow past needing feminism and that the attitudes and arguments of feminism are no longer needed.
1) How might this video contribute to Butler’s idea that gender roles are a ‘performance’? By Butler claiming that gender roles are a 'performance', she is suggesting they are entirely socially constructed. Beyonce's video revolves around her intentionally showing how scripted, constructed and false her overly exaggerated femininity is. Moreover, the music video itself is a parody, with highly satirical undertones - again making the idea of gender roles seem like a 'joke' - as if they are all a 'performance.' 2) Does this video reinforce or challenge the view that women should perform certain roles in society? The answer to this questions depends on the viewers reading of the video. It is clear that this music video is a parody on gender roles and therefore, she is challenging the idea that each gender should conform to their gender role. However, personally I feel that perhaps this is overshadowed by how she is perpetuating gender stereotypes and arguably inadvertently reinforcing them. we see that the character is pining over a man and could highlight that at the base of everything a female does, it is done to impress a man and to appeal to the male gaze. Regardless of whether this is ironic or not, this still happens in the video.Moreover, there is a chance many viewers do not realise this is a parody at all, making this video's representations even worse.
3) Would McRobbie view Beyonce as an empowering role model for women? Why? McRobbie is a British cultural theorist known for her work analysing magazines aimed at women and teenage girls in the 80s and 90s. McRobbie highlights the empowering nature of magazines such as Cosmopolitan and Glamour, taking a different perspective to traditional feminists. I feel that she would find this video empowering as Beyonce is represented in a very powerful way due to the strong emphasis placed on her sexuality and femininity.
4) What are your OWN views on this debate – does Beyonce empower women or reinforce the traditional ‘male gaze’ (Mulvey)? I feel that she does both. The parody style music video brings attention to how ridiculous the way gender roles are so restrictive are and how women are expected to satisfy the notion of the male gaze. However, this video does arguable and inadvertently reinforce gender roles because of the content presented.
1) How does the video suggest representations of masculinity have changed in recent years? This music video subverts a lot of typical, traditional male stereotypes and attributes associated with masculinity. It shows the main actor/dancer/singer engaging in a variety of movement and engaging with a variety of props, some of which subvert typically masculine behaviour. This video alone suggests how much our society has developed and progressed in its attitudes and expectations. We no longer place so much importance on restrictive gender roles and behaviour - as expressed by Will Jay who demonstrates no constraits in his behaviour because of his gender.
2) What does David Gauntlett suggest about representations of men in the media over the last 20 years? Gauntlett is a British sociologist and media theorist who looked at men’s lifestyle magazines, analysing the representation of the men within them. He found a new, quite different representation of masculinity – reflecting changes in women’s magazines. Importantly, he disagrees that masculinity is in crisis – a popular view in the media in the last 15 years. 3) What is YOUR view on representations of men and masculinity? Are young men still under pressure from the media to act or behave in a certain way? I feel that to me it is very clear that men are under pressure by the media and this issue is underrepresented and dismissed often. The media puts a strong emphasis on men needing to conform to a breadwinner role. They are commonly presented as strong, big, domineering - which presents as daunting to men struggling to live up to these idealised representations.
Key notes Waves of feminism First wave: early 20th century, suffragette movement (right to vote). Second wave: 1960s – 1990s, reproductive rights (pill), abortion, equal pay. Third wave: 1990s – present, empowerment, reclaiming of femininity (high heels, sexuality etc. See Angela McRobbie's work on women's magazines). Fourth wave? 2010 – ongoing, use of new technology and digital media (e.g. Twitter) for activism. Many commentators argue that the internet itself has enabled a shift from ‘third-wave’ to ‘fourth-wave’ feminism. What is certain is that the internet has created a ‘call-out’ culture, in which sexism or misogyny can be ‘called out’ and challenged. This culture is indicative of the continuing influence of the third wave, with its focus on challenging sexism and misogyny in advertising, film, television and the media.
Key quote: “power users of social media” The internet has facilitated the creation of a global community of feminists who use the internet both for discussion and activism. According to #FemFuture: Online Feminism, a report recently published by Columbia University’s Barnard Center for Research on Women, females aged between 18 and 29 are the ‘power users of social networking’. (Source: Political Studies Association. Read more about this:http://www.psa.ac.uk/insight-plus/feminism-fourth-wave) Critics of online feminism Critics of online feminist movements suggest that petitions and pressure from Twitter campaigns is simply a witchhunt orchestrated by privileged middle-class white women. They ask: are ‘trolls’ the danger they are portrayed to be? Advertising: creating a culture of objectifying women Activist and cultural theorist Jean Kilbourne has been studying the image of women in advertising for over 40 years. Her series ‘Killing us softly’ highlighted the negative representation of women in advertising. She went on to make further documentaries studying this issue and whether it was changing over time.
Case study: Everyday Sexism Watch this TEDx talk by Everyday Sexism founder Laura Bates: 1) Why did Laura Bates start the Everyday Sexism project? Laura Bates began this project because of the inequality between the two genders she has experienced and observed in daily life. Particularly, she describes a week whereby she experienced three incidents. Firstly, two of the incidents involving some men catcalling her, then another man groping her leg, when she made a call for help, she was ignored. This confused her as she felt unsure as to why this was considered normal and was so frequent in our society. Her experiences pushed her to do something about the issue, so she decided to begin a campaign in hopes of it bringing awareness and change to this prominent issue. 2) How does the Everyday Sexism project link to the concept of post-feminism? Is feminism still required in western societies? Post feminism is the belief that society has progressed to a point where there is no longer a need for feminism. Laura Bates touches upon this very notion, as she describes how after trying to address the pressing issue, she was told by many people that men and women are more or less equal and sexism is no longer an issue. Laura Bates believes feminism is still essential in society. After these comments were made, she researched post feminism and found contradictory statistics and facts such 1 in 5 members in parliament in the world are women and how out of 23 men, only 4 are women or how parliament men outnumber women 4 to 1. In terms of the law, only 4 out of 35 lord justices are female and only 18 out of 108 high court judges are female. In the arts, there are 2300 works but only 10 female artists and at the royal opera house, it has been 15 years since there was a female choreographer. In scientific fields, there are fewer than 1 in 10 female UK engineers and the royal society has never had a female president and only 5% of their fellows are women. In the media, women have only directed 5% of 250 major films and 84% of front page articles are dominated by male experts. Violence figures are even more concerning, as over 2 women a week are killed by a partner, there's a phone call to the police every minute about domestic violence, every 6-8 minutes a women is raped, 1 of 4 chance of becoming a victim of domestic violence, worldwide 1 in 3 women will be raped or beaten in her lifetime. From these concerning figures, it appears that men hold the hegemony in society and are in control, therefore feminism is still clearly needed. 3) Why was new technology essential to the success of the Everyday Sexism project? It appears to be the main driving factor of the campaign - Laura Bates goes on to explain how she began by creating a website containing stories of abuse and incidents whereby sexism was expressed. Anybody was able to contribute to her site anonymously. The website became very popular, and her project took off because of it. 4) Will there be a point in the future when the Everyday Sexism project is not required? What is YOUR view on the future of feminism? I think that it more than likely that feminism will no longer be required at some point in the future. Seeing the rapid nature of new and digital media, I feel that society is able to progress in any way it wishes, just with some time. However, currently, we still have a lot of progress to make. Media Magazine: The fourth wave? Read the article: The Fourth Wave? Feminism in the Digital Age in MM55 (p64). You'll find the article in our Media Magazine archive here. 1) Summarise the questions in the first two sub-headings: What is networked feminism? Why is it a problem? The new fourth wave of feminism is also known as ‘networked feminism’. it aims to tackle social equality issues found both on, and using, modern technology. 2) What are the four waves of feminism? Do you agree that we are in a fourth wave ‘networked feminism’? There are three traditionally recognised waves of feminism focused respectively on politics, culture and academia. There is also an emerging fourth wave of feminism that is less universally recognised and focused on technology. The first wave of feminism began in the mid-19th century, primarily in Britain and the United States, and was centered around women’s suffrage — the right to vote. Eventually, first wave feminism in America culminated in securing women’s right to vote. However, the vast majority of women in this movement were white, which accounts for their racist rhetoric and unwillingness to include women of colour in the vote. By the 1960’s, the women’s movement began to split into two groups: equal rights feminists and radical feminists. The former wanted equality in the workplace and home, while the latter was dedicated toa more radical shift in patriarchal society. Equal rights feminists sought policies like anti-discrimination laws in the job market, whereas radical feminists looked past policies and sought to deconstruct gender roles and start a literal feminist revolution. . A few important wins were the job opportunities created through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the increase in divorce rights, the growing number of women running for political office, the passage of Title IX, and legalised abortion. Additionally, second wave feminism led to a change in attitudes about the role of women in society, so they were able to work outside the home and subvert their gender roles.
However, the successes of the second wave did not account for all women, and daughters of second-wavers realised that this “women’s rights movement” did not acknowledge non-white, lower class women. Thus, the third wave of feminism began:
In the mid-1990s the third wave feminism was influenced by academic criticism such as postmodernism and queer theory. This meant that third wave feminists were more aware of their use of language and compliance with gender constructs, leading to a centralizing of queer and other identities outside of the cisgender, heterosexual norm. For example, third wave feminism empowered trans individuals who were ignored by most feminists up until this point. Secondly, third wave feminism aims to be intersectional. Intersectionality examines the interconnected structure of society that includes race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and other defining characteristics. It critiques the different experiences of intersecting identities like being a Black woman versus a white woman, acknowledging that the former faces a more complicated form of oppression than the latter. Intersectional feminism is key to the third wave
Lastly, there is the fourth wave. Some believe the most defining aspect of the fourth wave is how it utilises the internet and social media, creating a “call out” culture where feminists concentrate on micropoliticsand everyday rhetoric online. An example of this would be the the #metoo campaign, which employs hashtag activism to spread awareness of feminist issues.
3) Focus on the examples in the article. Write a 100-word summary of EACH of the following: Everyday Sexism, HeForShe, FCKH8 campaign, This Girl Can.
Everyday Sexism:The Everyday Sexism Project is a website founded on 16 April 2012 by Laura Bates, a British feminist writer. The aim of the site is to document examples of sexism from around the world. Entries may be submitted directly to the site, or by email or tweet. The accounts of abuse are collated by a small group of volunteers who can post about their experiences or incidents anonymously. At the time of the 2012 foundation of Everyday Sexism website, Bates had "hoped to gather 100 women's stories", but a year after the launch she wrote in The Guardian that it had grown very rapidly "as more and more women began to add their experiences – women of all ages and backgrounds, from all over the world", and was then "about to spread to 15 countries".
HeForShe: HeForSheis a campaign for the advancement of women, initiated by UN Women. It is grounded in the belief that equality between men and women is an issue that affects everyone whether that be socially, economically, politically etc. Its main goal is to achieve equality by encouraging men and boys as agents of change and take action against negative inequalities faced by women and girls. It seeks to actively involve men and boys in a movement that was originally conceived as "a struggle for women by women".
FCKH8: This is a for-profit company that was founded in 2010, selling merchandise such as t-shirts and accessories that features slogans with a social justice theme. For example, FCKH8 has had several campaigns and products that center upon LGBT issues. The company has released several media marketing campaigns to accompany sales of their products, some of which have been the focus of criticism. Most respondents criticizing the videos as a way to sell t-shirts claiming that they betray a social media marketing perspective devoid of ethics. The video’s ethos is so steeped in a “Generation Like” mindset that having the video widely “liked” and “shared” is clearly what matters most. FCKH8 has responded to this criticism by stating that their t-shirts could help spread awareness and spark conversations of the causes.
This Girl Can: This Girl Can is a celebration of active women who are doing their thing no matter how well they do it, how they look or even how red their face gets. Funded by The National Lottery and developed by Sport England, we want to help women overcome the fear of judgement that is stopping too many women and girls from joining in.
4) What is your opinion with regards to feminism and new/digital media? Do you agree with the concept of a 'fourth wave' of feminism post-2010 or are recent developments like the Everyday Sexism project merely an extension of the third wave of feminism from the 1990s? I do agree with the existence of the concept of the fourth wave of feminism that extended as a result of the third wave of feminism from the 1990s. I feel that from the 90s, the rapid growth of new and digital media was so intense that it is inevitable that the feminism movement had to graduate into a new wave. Examples of the fourth wave are the several series of campaigns and the exposure and subsequent downfall of predators, even those in high power.
Media Magazine archive. Go to page 66 and read Social Media and Black Identity. 1) List three theorists discussed in the article and what they believe regarding black identity.
Aisha Harris: social media play a negative role in the construction of black identities. She argues that the rise of social media has created a culture wherein black people are often subject to a process of ‘memeification’, where their likeness becomes a decontextualised internet ‘meme’. An infamous example of this process was of ‘Sweet Brown’, an African-American woman, whose closing line in an interview ‘Ain’t nobody got time for that’ went viral on social media, becoming a catchphrase in the public consciousness, triggering a stream of user-generated content such as parodies and remixes that appropriated Brown’s likeness and her words, for the sake of ‘humour’. Harris believes that this process is an unconscious reflection of a deep-rooted desire to see black people perform and entertain, creating an environment where black identities are fixed, and dominant attitudes towards blackness are reinforced.
Giddens: social media can be an arena for the construction of positive black identities. An example of this would be ‘The Blackout’, a campaign that originated on the social network ‘Tumblr’, and involved a systematic ‘re-imagining’ and celebration of blackness. It involved black people posting pictures of themselves and sharing pictures of others, commenting and attaching positive hashtags, such as ‘#Goddess’, ‘#Queen’, ‘#Melanin’ and ‘#BlackExcellence’. This, seems to suggest that black people have used social media as a tool to inspire, and to construct an image of black identity that is often misrepresented (if represented at all) by the mass media.
Lauren Jackson: social media do afford black people opportunities to construct positive, idealised versions of themselves, it is important to remember that they also afford non-black individuals the same freedom, often to the detriment of black people. She refers to so-called ‘Digital Blackface’, a phenomenon whereby non-black people exploit the anonymity of social media to masquerade as black. One example of this is the Twitter account @ItsLaQueeta, which features an image of an overweight black women, under the name ‘LaQueeta’. Twitter accounts like this one often use excessive (and incorrect) African American Vernacular English (such as the racist trope prefix ‘La-’) and make reference to racist stereotypes. Jackson makes the argument that non-black people exploit social media to create racist caricatures of black identities, and that this act of ‘online minstrelsy’ explicitly dehumanises black people, and reinforces negative representations of black identity, constructed by dominant, white supremacist groups, to subjugate black people.
2) In your opinion, is social media a positive or negative force when it comes to issues of black identity? I feel that it is both negative and positive. I agree with both Giddens and Jackson to some extent. Social media does provide a platform for Black people to empower themselves and take advantage of potential opportunities but often this platform is taken advantage instead. However, ultimately I feel social media is negative due to misinformation and overwhelming content that leads to misinterpretation of representation. 3) How could you apply the post-colonial theories we have learned in class to the issue of social media and black identity? In the media, and according to Aisha Harris, black people are represented in a comical way for our entertainment. Alvarado's key race representations for humorous which is highly applicable in this case. Moreover, in the media we often see an 'idealised' version of black people and often this is as result of putting on a "white mask", as proposed by Fanon. Page 6 - read A Hustle for Life: Refugees in the Media 1) What examples of different representations of refugees in the media are offered in the article? A remarkable example of a more searching and humane approach to the issue is Exodus: Our Journey to Europe, a three-part BBC series broadcast in the summer of 2016. The title ‘Exodus’ refers to the biblical story of Moses leading the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land. In this case, the refugees were not Jewish, but from Syria (fleeing civil war), Afghanistan (fleeing the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban) and Gambia (escaping the poverty of sub-Saharan Africa). The makers of the programme, Keo films, wanted to illustrate what is actually involved in these dangerous journeys across thousands of miles, and to help us to relate to refugees as individuals, rather than nameless members of a huge mass. Near the start of their journey, the producers gave smartphones with extra cards to 12 refugees, and asked them to film their experiences. The final film was edited from the video logs of seven of them. In the British press, a great deal of the language and the imagery has been hostile. Refugees are often labelled as migrants, to create the impression that they are travelling by choice, rather than fleeing a genuine disaster. A quick Google Images search of newspaper headlines reveals a shocking montage of misrepresentation, in which refugees are described as a swarm, horde or tide, marauding and invading their way across the world. They are held responsible for their own condition, even – or especially – when the West itself has contributed to it. 2) In your opinion, is the documentary genre more or less biased than the news media? What examples can you provide from the article to support your view? The news is far more screwed in comparison to documentaries. The news editorialises their content and pick stories most likely to evoke compassion and views or hatred and disgust. In contrast, documentaries portray a more realistic depiction. Documentaries will include undesirable and heartfelt aspects of refugees instead of just seeking sympathy from viewers such as violence, riots and looting that goes on in camps as well as coverage of the event people are fleeing from. An example from news media is from Katie Hopkins, who has notoriously compared refugees to ‘cockroaches’, labelled them ‘feral’ and called for gunships to be sent to blow them out of the water. Her perspective on refugees is radically negative - evoking a reaction and the only reason it has become so widespread is due to the bias within it. 3) How could you apply the post-colonial theories we have learned in class to the representation of refugees in the media? Said's idea of "them and us" is relevant to the representation of refugees. They are often represented as uncivil and opportunist rather than victims. However, Alvarado's idea of minority groups being labelled as pitied is also relevant as significant amounts of news coverage represents them as weak and deprived.
Orientalism is another key post-colonial theory - exploring the differences in representation between the western world and the east. These representations have arguably changed significantly since the 9/11 attacks on America in September 2001. Think about the typical Muslim stereotypes in the British media post-9/11 - and the rise in Islamophobia. Edward Said - Orientalism Edward Said (1935-2003) was a Palestinian-American cultural theorist and academic best known for his 1978 book Orientalism. In it, he argued that the west – particularly colonising Europe – constructed a meaning of the east (e.g. The Middle East) that suggested it was different, dangerous and uncivilised. Said was writing in the 1970s but his work is arguably even more relevant in today’s post-9/11 world. 1) Watch the opening of Yasmin (2004) again. Does it offer a positive or negative view of British Muslims? To what extent does it reinforce or challenge Edward Said's theory of Orientalism - that the west is superior to the exotic or uncivilised east? The opening of Yasmin initiates with a grimy estate setting where two Muslims, made clear from their clothing, appear and walk stoically towards the direction of the camera. One of them is wearing very weathered clothing, making him appear impoverished. They walk past degrading graffiti of racial slurs - making them evoke pity (Alvarado). Later, we see him cleaning this graffiti eliciting further sympathy for minority groups. They eventually reach their place of worship and can be seen doing their religious mantra/readings. This could be read in a peaceful way as Muslims practising their religion but could also be seen as intrusive by others. We cut to a woman dressing herself in Western clothing and out of her religious Muslim clothes. After stripping herself of her Muslim identity, she is represented as enjoying herself and being free. Another significant representation is of a Muslim man represented as 'uncivilised' as he has slept in, is untidy and unhygienic and cannot speak English. This reinforces Said's ideas. When Yasmin is at he job, her male, White co-worker is represented in contrast to the male prior. He is represented as helpful, kind, honest and humorous.
2) Summarise the three theorists we have looked at this week: Alvarado - race can be represented in the media only 4 main ways Fanon - 4 main stereotypes; the white mask Said - orientalism; them and us 3) Choose oneclip for eachof the theorists and explain how you could apply that theory to the clip.
Fanon - putting on "the white mask" to fit in with fellow football peers.
Said- Black people are seen as uncivilised and needing to be civilised by Westerners.
Alvarado - Indian culture is 'exotic' to foreigners.
