Tags: class, inequality, intersectionality, race/ethnicity, comedy, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2004 Length: 3:36 Access: YouTube Summary: (Trigger warning: there is cursing in this clip.) In this segment (clip begins at 30-second time mark) from his show "Never Scared," comedian Chris Rock explains the difference between being rich and being wealthy. I like to use this clip when I discuss the racial wealth gap (generally in conjunction with The Hidden Cost of Being African American) and how wealth is racialized in the United States. Instructors and students can go on to critically assess Rock's claims about why black and brown people do not have wealth compared to whites. This clip contributes to The Sociological Cinema's growing collection of comedy clips that are useful for illustrating or beginning a discussion about sociological concepts. Submitted by: Kendra Barber
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Tags: class, inequality, global poverty, income inequality, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2008 Length: 1:14 Access: YouTube Summary: This video offers a simplified and visually appealing way to think about global poverty. It does this by reducing the world's population (6.26 billion people) to 626 people. Out of that 626 people, it shows that 231 live in "Povertyville" (avg yearly income = $440), 265 live in "Slumtown" (avg yearly income = $1,490), 33 live in "Low Income City" (avg yearly income = $5,440), 92 live in "Pleasanttown" (avg yearly income = $28,600), and the remaining 5 people (<1% of the world's population) earn an average of $60,000 per year. This is a similar method to looking at other global demographics depicted in this video. Submitted By: Paul Dean Tags: consumption/consumerism, gender, marketing/brands, organizations/occupations/work, housework, representation, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2010 Length: 0:29 Access: iSpot.tv Summary: Unlike other advertisements for cleaning and household products that might at least attempt to covertly embed sexist messages about women and domesticity (here and here), this advertisement for Quilted Northern toilet paper makes no qualms about explicitly linking women to the domestic sphere. One of the primary ads for Quilted Northern's new Soft & Strong brand toilet paper originally opened with a male voiceover explaining that, “We went around the country asking women to speak frankly about something no one wants to talk about.” The unspoken phenomenon mentioned in the ad referred to that taboo topic of toilet paper. While the male voiceover implicated himself in the story as part of the “research team” that interviews women across the country, women in the ad are positioned as experts of the domestic domain, able to speak knowledgeably and credibly about toilet paper. This ad appears to have been removed from YouTube and in its place are two shorter clips, and much like the original, each features a woman describing what she needs from toilet paper. The new advertisements, like the original, deploy the persuasive technique of ethos, or an appeal to credibility or character. Instructors can point out that what’s significant here (and in thousands of other commercials for household products) is that, unlike appeals to ethos that involve, for example, Michael Jordan endorsing Nike or “9 out of 10 dentists” endorsing toothpaste, the credibility of the Quilted Northern experts lies solely in the fact that they are women. They are not avid toilet paper enthusiasts or physicists that can speak to the durability of the toilet tissue fibers. The message is that being a woman, and specifically a woman with a family, enables one to speak credibly about matters involving the domestic sphere. As consumers, we are told to trust and purchase this household product because an “extremely reliable source”—i.e., women—told us to. Submitted By: Valerie Chepp The Girls on Film Tags: gender, media, feminism, gender binary, gender trouble, representation, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2011 Length: 3:16 Access: YouTube Summary: The Girls on Film (TGOF) describe their film blog as "a commentary with the objective of stimulating thought around the art of storytelling through film." The creators of the blog seek to challenge the audience through their "exploration of archetypal energies that are typically portrayed by men." To this end, the blog posts scenes from mainstream blockbuster films that were performed by men and recreates them with women actors. In this clip, Ashleigh Harrington and Katerina Taxia (directed by Jeff Hammond) reenact the recruiting scene from J.J. Abrams' Star Trek (2009). I would argue that Harrington and Taxia were able to compellingly recreate the scene, thereby effectively challenging us to reconsider the plausibility of a female masculinity. Others I have talked to are equally convinced that despite excellent performances from the actors the masculine language sounds too much like an affectation when spoken by women. Irrespective of whether the reenacted scene works as well as the original, the clip is useful for engaging students in a discussion about our assumptions regarding the natural affinity between men and masculinity. Students can also be encouraged to discuss the TGOF scenes and the blog as a means of talking back to a film industry, which produces far more movies featuring men as protagonists than women. Feminist cultural critic, Anita Sarkeesian offers an insightful five-minute video post about the male centered movie industry, which would work well as a companion to the Girls on Film clip. Submitted By: Lester Andrist Multi-racial and multi-ethnic identities are on the rise Tags: children/youth, community, demography/population, immigration/citizenship, marriage/family, multiculturalism, nationalism, race/ethnicity, social construction, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2011 Length: 5:16 Access: New York Times Summary: This video accompanies a New York Times article about mixed race students on college campuses in America. Profiling students at the University of Maryland, young adults speak out about multi-racial and multi-ethnic identities, relationships, and "racial distinctions of behavior" (as one student puts it). Driven by increasing immigration and interracial marriages, young people today represent a significant and unprecedented demographic shift in the United States. Students respond to this changing environment by raising awareness about multi-racial and multi-ethnic issues and creating a safe space for a multi-cultural community on college campuses. This clip would be useful for initiating class discussions around racial and ethnic identities, social constructions of race, as well as a critical conversation around racial and ethnic behaviors, interactions and performances (stemming from the student's remark about "racial distinctions of behavior"). Finally, students can use the clip to contemplate the future of race and ethnicity in America, and the potential for change. Do students think racism will disappear as America becomes increasingly multi-racial and multi-ethnic? Submitted By: Valerie Chepp Tags: gender, theory, feminist theory, judith butler, performativity theory, queer theory, 00 to 05 mins Year: 1963 Length: 1:22; 3:12 Access: YouTube (clip 1; clip 2) Summary: Key concepts in Judith Butler's "gender as performance" theory are illustrated by a simple close reading of these two mainstream Hollywood films from 1963, (the very same year, incidentally, that Betty Friedan published The Feminist Mystique). The first shows the tom boyish Nancy (Hayley Mills) and Nancy's girly cousin Julia (Deborah Walley) teaching the dowdy Una (played by Mariah Popham) that being a socially successful woman is simply a matter of walking, talking and smiling in a feminine way, as well as dressing in equally feminine clothes. As Butler suggests, gender is something we "make" and "make-up." The next clip takes this idea a little further, with popular and newly pinned Kim (Ann Margaret) singing about the virtues of growing from a girl into a woman. However, importantly, although Kim's lyrics remind us that being a woman is all about "wearing mascara" and "smiling a woman's smile" she is, at the same time, pulling a sweet, vaguely flirtatious switcheroo by almost completely disrobing, taking off her dress and pulling on an oversized sweater, socks, jeans and a baseball cap. As Butler might describe it, she is "subverting" her gender through "parody" or "drag," for the perfectly socialized Kim, as distracted by love as she may seem, is herself still very well aware that defying gender norms are as easy as following them, especially when the naked body is only hinted at and never fully exposed or seen. Submitted By: Audrey Sprenger Tags: multiculturalism, psychology/social psychology, race/ethnicity, stereotypes, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2009 Length: 0:55 Access: Vimeo Summary: In this clip from Up in the Air, George Clooney rattles off several stereotypes of people in an airport (including Asians, people with infants, and the elderly). When his co-star (Anna Kendrick) replies "That's racist," Clooney responds with "I'm like my mother. I stereotype. It's faster." This short clip demonstrates stereotyping, which begins in the physical world, and is used to simplify and control judgments about everyday situations. Students can be encouraged to think about how individuals belong to a wide range of group memberships, ethnic and cultural groups, large-scale social categories (sex, gender, race, age, social class, religion, etc.), occupational and other groups, but as shown by this video, stereotyped groups are reduced to a single physically-apparent status. This can then be linked to the broader social structure, noting that when there is a history of conflict or social inequality between two groups, people tend to rationalize discriminatory behavior through stereotypes; people then use stereotypes to change or maintain the status quo. Suggested readings to pair with video: (1) Taylor, D. and McKirnan, D. 1984. "A Five-Stage Model of Intergroup Relations ." British Journal of Social Psychology. 23: 291-300. (2) Turner, J., Hogg, M., Oakes, P., Reicher, S. and Wetherell, M. 1987. Rediscovering the Social Group: A Self-Categorisation Theory. Oxford: Blackwell. Submitted By: Simone Belli Tags: methodology/statistics, digital media, documentary research methods, ethnography, networks, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2011 Length: 3:05 Access: YouTube Summary: This video clip tells the story of a curious Brooklynite who finds an undeveloped roll of film in the snow. After developing the film and in an effort to find its owners, the guy creates this YouTube video, narrating his own story about finding the film, but also speculating about the story behind the film's photographed subjects. This clip would be useful in a methods course, as it depicts the ways in which we often stumble—quite literally—upon our research questions. The video’s storyline is framed as a puzzle to be solved, with “hints” documented in the social landscape (e.g., based on the photographs, the narrator hypothesizes who the people are, where and when they traveled in New York). The video would work particularly well in an ethnographic or qualitative methods course, where instructors can raise interesting questions about the role of the researcher (and how this particular investigator documents himself as an integral part of the research project), as well as questions around the methodological significance of found objects and the information they can tell us about the people who left them behind. Instructors might also lead a discussion around the intersection of digital technology and social scientific methodology, and the way technology can facilitate (and create) social networks. Finally, in the comments below the video, someone suggests the clip is fake, which can invite a conversation around how ethnographers determine whether to believe their sources, and whether "untrue" data is still valuable. For example, what might a fake YouTube video about a lost roll of film and a mission to find its owners reveal about contemporary life in modern society? I would like to thank Audrey Sprenger for suggesting this clip. Submitted By: Valerie Chepp What if the world were a village of 100 people? Tags: community, demography/population, globalization, inequality, methodology/statistics, subtitles/CC, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2010 Length: 3:15 Access: YouTube Summary: Updated for 2010, this short clip paints a portrait of the earth based on if the world were comprised of a 100-person community. Given that large numbers can be difficult to put into perspective (and thus important information about the world runs the risk of becoming meaningless or unremarkable), this video illustrates for students how the global community fares on such indicators as hunger, religious affiliation, literacy, wealth, education, government expenditures, among many others. The clip is not only useful for helping students understand global inequality and differences, but it also reminds students of the enormity of their own social privilege relative to the majority of the world. Submitted By: Valerie Chepp Tags: gender, inequality, organizations/occupations/work, sex/sexuality, sexual harassment, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2008 Length: 1:03 Access: YouTube Summary: Cultural Anthropologist, William M. O'Barr (2010), notes of the popular television show, Mad Men, "[It] is a world of heterosexual, white, male privilege." O'Barr further observes that "Gender displays recur. The social structure of the office—men in professional positions, women as their assistants—rings true of pre-Feminist Movement America in the 1960s. Every woman is either a Jackie or a Marilyn and every man wants them both—or at least most of the men. The admen direct the lives of women, not just those in the agency, but those in the entire society. It is a world in which men are dominant and women are subordinate and sexualized." O'Barr draws on a number of clips to make his argument, but one in particular (Season 1, Episode 12, “Nixon Vs Kennedy”) struck me as a useful supplement to a discussion on sexual harassment. The clip features an adman chasing and wrestling a woman to the ground during an office party. Pinning the woman to the floor, he demands to see the color of her panties. The scene is a relatively unambiguous example of sexual harassment, but students might object that the woman who was tackled seems to be participating and even laughing. Here, it might be helpful to note the two women in the clip who were uncomfortably observing the incident and to encourage students to think about sexual harassment as a form of gender discrimination, which creates an unequal work environment for all women. Irrespective of the tackled woman's outward expression, the incident clearly reinforced for everyone the ideas that women in the ad office are first and foremost valued for their capacity to sexually titillate, and they can be made to submit to the demands of their male colleagues. Submitted By: Lester Andrist |
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