Tags: bodies, children/youth, consumption/consumerism, discourse/language, gender, inequality, marketing/brands, media, political economy, sex/sexuality, social construction, violence, feminism, media literacy, representation, self-objectification, sexism, sexual objectification, stereotypes, symbolic annihilation, 06 to 10 mins, 61+ mins Year: 2011 Length: 90:00, 8:52 Access: no online access, Vimeo preview Summary: Jennifer Siebel Newsom directs this documentary, and following in the steps of the Killing Us Softly films, it draws attention to the very problematic ways women and girls are represented in contemporary media. To tell the story, Newsom weaves together a number of interviews from an array of experts and activists, including Erika Falk, Jennifer Pozner, Jean Kilbourne, Condoleezza Rice, Nancy Pelosi, Cory Booker, Katie Couric, Rachel Maddow, Margaret Cho, Rosario Dawson and Gloria Steinem. The dominant themes of Miss Representation can be described as the consequences of living in a world where one is virtually swimming in representations which consistently emphasize an unattainable beauty standard for women, and in a separate vein, encourage routine violence against women. In this environment, women increasingly self-objectify, they suffer from increased levels of anxiety and depression, a lack of political efficacy, and men increasingly perpetrate violence against women. Despite similarities, Newsom takes her film further than Jean Kilbourne's documentary, Killing Us Softly 4, by exploring more of the political economy behind these harmful representations. Specifically, she explores the large scale entrance of American women into the paid labor force during World War II as a watershed event (see also The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter). In Newsom's retelling of this story, once men returned to from fighting abroad, the media played a central role in encouraging women to surrender their high-paying jobs back to men in order to become domestic consumers in the brave new post-war economy. Today the marketing of corporations are regulated even less by Congress, and their ads continue to target women; they objectify them as part of a strategy aimed at creating ever more insatiable consumers. Submitted By: Lester Andrist
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Tags: discourse/language, gender, media, social mvmts/social change/resistance, culture, cultural trope, feminism, media literacy, subtitles/CC, 06 to 10 mins Year: 2011 Length: 10:20 Access: YouTube Summary: In this video from Feminist Frequency, the trope of the "Straw Feminist" is discussed and deconstructed using examples from a variety of films and TV shows. The video explains the Straw Feminist by pointing out the recurring introduction of a character who is identified as a "feminist" but which exists primarily to propagate and reinforce broad and frequently offensive stereotypes of feminists/feminism, and thereby to undermine the issues that feminism seeks to address. The video also discusses how the explicit separation of otherwise strong, well-realized female characters from "feminist" characters serves to encourage viewers to identify themselves as supporters of women's rights and equality--while at the same time to insist that they are not feminists. This is a good way to open or augment a classroom discussion of common popular (mis)conceptions of feminism and women's rights activists, including where the conceptions themselves come from, and what the consequences of their spread might be. Click here for additional resources from Feminist Frequency on the Straw Feminist. Two additional clips from The Sociological Cinema that would pair well with a class discussion on the Straw Feminist include posts on the Powerpuff Girls and Lady Gaga's disavowal of feminism. Submitted By: Sarah Wanenchak Tags: knowledge, race/ethnicity, common sense, culture, stereotypes, 06 to 10 mins Year: 2011 Length: 8:54 Access: BlackFolkDont.com Summary: "Black Folk Dont..." is a website that analyzes stereotypes of black people. As the creators ask about tipping, "Do black people tip any less than others? Or do black folk just tip for a different set of services?" Producer Angela Tucker "explores this questions with regular folk on the street, and a range of black folk from cultural critics, to bloggers, comedians, actors, and more." This episode shows black people both agreeing and disagreeing with the stereotype that black people do not tip. Several African-American commentators note that they (as former servers) tip well because they know how serving is a low wage job, while others (as black people) over-tip "to make up for the stigma ... for the stereotype," and others note black folk just tip differently (not tipping much in restaurants but do so for hairdressers or barbers). As the clip continues, the commentators raise issues of culture, history, and economics in how people choose to tip (e.g. "I think tipping is a class question and not a race question"). While the clip only offers anecdotal views, it might serve as "research stimulators" by challenging at least some students in the class to locate data or studies that would support or refute relevant speculation. Students can be encouraged to think about where these beliefs come from, how they are reproduced, and the consequences of stereotypes about different groups of people. Thank you to Michael Miller for suggesting this clip and ideas for how to use it in the classroom! Submitted By: Paul Dean Tags: capitalism, class, government/the state, inequality, media, political economy, austerity, 06 to 10 mins Year: 2011 Length: 6:34 Access: YouTube Summary: In this clip from The Daily Show, John Stewart offers commentary on the proposal by President Obama to increase taxes on the top two percent of income earners in order to raise $700 billion over 10 years, a measure intended to help pay down the federal government's deficit. Revenue can be generated through tax increases just as readily as it can be generated through spending cuts on public services; yet the discussion has remained largely transfixed on spending cuts. As discussed in an earlier post, while taxing is a mechanism capable of compelling the richest Americans to contribute to paying down the national debt, cuts to public spending disproportionately affect people at the lower end of the income distribution, thus making the debate centrally about class politics. As Stewart shows with his inimitable wit, when conservative commentators finally take up the discussion of taxation, they tend to emphasize the need to increase taxes on the poor because, as one commentator put it, "they are absolutely on a free ride." Here Stewart points to published data in a Business Insider article, which shows that the bottom 50 percent of Americans own only 2.5 percent of the nation's wealth. This small sliver of wealth amounts to $1.45 trillion. Half of this amount is of course $700 billion, leading him to the laughable conclusion that the bottom 50% of Americans could only pay off the $700 billion by giving away half of everything they own. The clip works nicely as a way to demonstrate the way class politics are a central feature of the current wrangling about how to pay down the government budget deficit. Submitted By: Lester Andrist Jacqueline Novogratz discusses poverty in a Nairobi slum Tags: class, economic sociology, inequality, development, microcredit, poverty, public policy, 06 to 10 mins Year: 2009 Length: 7:33 Access: TEDTalks Summary: In this TED Talks clip, Jacqueline Novogratz discusses issues of poverty, mobility, and public policy. She begins by arguing that poverty cannot be defined in purely economic terms, but that poverty is really about "choice and the lack of freedom." Novogratz tells about her visit to a Nairobi slum, and describes the experience of extreme poverty (tiny shacks, crowding, raw sewage, etc), and the people there who have strong aspirations for a better life. She tells the story of one such person, Jane, who had dreams of a better life. Through access to an organization that loaned money to poor individuals under lenient conditions, and with her small amount of savings (from prostitution), she was able to save money for a sewing machine and started selling jewelry and clothing that she made. Despite the fact that she increased her income to $4/day, which by local standards brought her out of poverty, she was still unable to afford to move out of slums. Her life remained very insecure, and was even driven out of her home from local ethnic riots. Later, she was able to obtain low-cost housing that had been designed to match mortgage costs to income and required savings, and allows the poor to build capital. It gave her new opportunities to escape the Nairobi slums and build longer term financial security for her family. The clip raises several important issues for interesting class discussion, including how do we define poverty? What factors shaped Jane's experience of poverty and quality of life when not in poverty? Was her ability to escape poverty based on her individual effort, or were structural factors involved? What types of public policies and programs were involved? Submitted By: Paul Dean Tags: art/music, media, race/ethnicity, comedy, representation, stereotyping, 06 to 10 mins Year: 2006 Length: 6:58 Access: Dailymotion Summary: Danny Hoch tells his story of almost appearing on the hit sitcom, Seinfeld, which ran successfully for nine seasons until finally ending in 1998. In the clip, Hoch explains that he was cast as Ramone, "the pool guy," a character who awkwardly attempts to befriend Jerry Seinfeld, gets rejected, and eventually exacts his revenge by stuffing dirty towels in Jerry's locker. On the set, Hoch was unexpectedly asked to play his character as a stereotypical Latino with a heavy Spanish accent. Much to the chagrin of his agent, Hoch ultimately denied the request and never appeared on the show. Still his story serves to illustrate the way stereotypes continue to find their way into popular comedies. Upon refusing to act the stereotype, Hoch recalls Jerry Seinfeld's exasperated response, "Why? Is it derogatory?" While Hoch leaves this question unanswered, instructors can usefully press students for their answers. As I have argued in other posts, racialized stereotypes have a particularly troubling history in American cinema (e.g., here, here, here, here, and here), making it worthwhile to investigate why they are so persistent. Hoch's backstage account of his experience on the set of Seinfeld is a rare look at how racist stereotypes are reproduced in popular sitcoms. Among other things, the clip illustrates a form of institutional racism. Although Hoch ultimately walked away from the project, one can see how well meaning individuals often reproduce such stereotypes because they are pressured to conform to the demands of institutional patterns. Submitted By: Lester Andrist Tags: inequality, intersectionality, prejudice/discrimination, race/ethnicity, social construction, shadeism, skin tone, 06 to 10 mins Year: 2008 Length: 8:54 Access: CNN Summary: This CNN video focuses on the differential treatment of African Americans based on the skin tone (i.e. comparing lighter and darker skinned African-Americas). It uses Dr. Michael Dyson (a successful, light skinned black male sociology professor) and his younger brother (an incarcerated, dark skinned black male) as a case study of two people raised in the same disadvantaged circumstances but end up with very different outcomes. The commentator asks how they end up in such different places? Both men emphasize that their lives were guided by individual choices but Michael insists that he was allowed and encouraged to make better choices and was given the vocabulary to express them. The differential treatment that Michael Dyson received because he was a "curly top, yellow Negro" was evident, and the video discusses the role of skin tone in shaping their paths through life. It can be used not only to initiate discussions of how race is socially constructed but how racial distinctions (and discrimination) exist within the Black community. See also this documentary on shadeism, and this documentary on the social construction of race. Submitted By: Angela Johns and Brittany Goldsboro Murderball Tags: bodies, disability, intersectionality, sports, masculinity, master status, stereotypes, subtitles/CC, 06 to 10 mins, 61+ mins Year: 2005 Length: 85:00 (or first 10 min) Access: no online access (trailer here) Summary: This documentary explores the world of quad rugby (i.e., murderball), which is a full-contact sport for quadriplegics, who compete with wheelchair specially designed to take the hard knocks of the sport. The film follows the U.S. quad rugby team through their competition in the 2002 World Championships and the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens. Recently, I have used the first 10 minutes of the film in a class period on disability, where we are introduced to the people on the team, and also to the sport. Watching these men physically compete in a competitive sport (and manage the activities of their daily lives) is great for breaking stereotypes about people in wheelchairs. It would also be a good way to explore master statuses (like being in a wheelchair); this film is a nice starting point to discuss both masculinity and how people maintain complex and multi-faceted identities despite disability. Submitted By: Molly Dingel Tags: du bois, immigration/citizenship, inequality, prejudice/discrimination, race/ethnicity, theory, double consciousness, jim crow, white supremacy, 06 to 10 mins Year: 2011 Length: 7:05 Access: YouTube Summary: In this YouTube video, Baratunde Thurston vehemently declares the release of President Obama’s birth certificate an outrage and indicative of the continued existence of a white supremacy in the United States. He discusses the implications and meaning behind the release of the birth certificate, and briefly discusses the messages conveyed to the American public through the wealthy White man who took credit for stirring up the Birther controversy, Donald Trump. He argues that the demand that President Obama release his birth certificate in order to prove he is eligible to run for the Presidential office is racially motivated. One could liken the request for Obama to produce a birth certificate to similar demands on Black Americans to pass literacy tests in order to vote during the Jim Crow era. This video could be used to introduce students to Du Bois's concept of a double consciousness. In The Souls of Black Folk, Du Bois wrote, "One ever feels his two-ness—an American, a Negro; two warring souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder" Du Bois was articulating the experience of African Americans as being both insiders and perpetual outsiders to the nation; as being American but the wrong type of American. Thus, even after being elected to the highest, most respected American office, Barack Obama was still asked to prove that he belongs to the American nation. Submitted By: Beatrice Sorce Tags: discourse/language, media, race/ethnicity, violence, comedy, culture, orientalism, othering, representation, stereotyping, terrorism, subtitles/CC, 06 to 10 mins Year: 2008 Length: 10:47 Access: YouTube Summary: Comedians have an uncanny ability to peddle controversial conclusions and uncomfortable insights because they can claim it's "all in good fun" (see, for example, this clip and this clip). Uninhibited by those troublesome defenses, the audience can accept unsavory criticisms about the society in which they live. However, not all comedians use the stage as a venue for delivering social criticism, and in fact it is just as easy to reinforce a stereotypes or a prejudice as it is to criticize one. In this clip, Jeff Dunham draws upon a number of stereotypes about Arabs and Muslims in his ventriloquial act with "Achmed the Dead Terrorist." Here, Dunham is not deploying social criticism for humor, but is instead uncritically drawing on racist representations of Arabs or Muslims for laughs. In line with the observations detailed in an earlier post (here), the Achmed character displays an irrational anger, and in very short order, the audience learns he foolishly follows the dictates of a fundamentalist Islamic faith. The set closely tracks the format of a classic comedic duo, whereby Dunham plays the straight man and triggers Achmed's many buffoonish responses to a series of seemingly rational questions. Instructors can use the clip to encourage a discussion with students about how readily stereotypes are promoted in popular media, even when they are billed as "all in good fun." For a more detailed analysis of the comedian's role in challenging or reinforcing stereotypes, check out our post on the comedy that kills us. Submitted By: Lester Andrist |
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