Media and Cultural Differences FINAL

[Racial stereotypes in Rush Hour 2] How this film/genre naturalizes the racial ideology/Normality of Whiteness in the U.S.?

-Successfully promotes a sense of normality of Whiteness among viewers while encouraging them to see non whites as racially marked and different -Naturalize specific knowledge about racial minorities without resistance -Skeptical of the disruptive potential of race-based comedy because minority participants' pleasure did not transcend but occurred within the discursive confines of the racial ideology. => participants' active viewing pleasure were based on the self-validation of racial characteristics rather than on the subversion of stereotypes.

[Unthinking Eurocentrism by Shohat and Stam (1994)] Post-structuralism/poststructuralist theory and its explanation of meaning making from mediated texts.

"Post-structuralists reject the idea of an underlying structure upon which meaning can rest secure and guaranteed." E.g.) Structuralist Saussure: language as signifier and signified => "Post-structuralists suggest that the situation is more complex than this: signifiers do not produce signifieds, they produce more signifiers. Meaning as a result is a very unstable thing." "Meaning is always in process. What we call the 'meaning' of a text is only ever a momentary stop in a continuing flow of interpretations following interpretations." Poststructuralist theory : 1) We live and dwell within language and representation 2) We have no direct access to the "real."

([Race & Gender: Reception] The color purple) Definition and relations: "the subject"; "text"; "interpellation"; "inter-discourse"; "cultural competencies"; "articulation"

"The subject": a social and theoretical construction that is used to designate individuals as they become significant in a political or theoretical sense "Text" as a cultural product: the subject is defined as the political being who is affected by the ideological construction of the text. "Interpellation" is the way in which the subject is hailed by the text; it is the method by which ideological discourse constitute subjects and draw them into the text/subject relationship. "Inter-discourse":The space, the specific moment when subjects bring their histories to bear on meaning production in a text. "cultural competencies": some boundaries to meaning construction "Articulation" (Stuart Hall): the form of connection which establish a unity among different elements (race, economics, sexuality, language, etc.) within a culture, under certain conditions.

[Intersectionality by Rigoni (2012)] Understanding theories of intersectionality; Relative theoretical traditions

-'axes of differences' can be symmetrical or one can predominate, and they may find themselves in situations of hierarchy, interbreed or they may represent each other. -Two or more social categories should be analyzed in relation to power and subordination -gender and class, gender and race, class and sexual preferences, etc. -Rooted in several traditions e.g.) postmodern feminist theory, post-colonial theory, black feminism and queer theory

[The representation of Islam and Muslims in the media by Saeed (2007)] How the Western media's representation of Islam and Muslims was changed

-After the first Gulf War and 9/11: Western media's negative hostile representation of Islam/Muslims increased

[Visual pleasure and narrative cinema (1975) by Laura Mulvey] Cinematic codes and their relationship to formative external structure.

-Controlling the dimension of time (editing, narrative) -Controlling the dimension of space (changes in distance, editing) -Cinematic codes create a gaze, a world, and an object, thereby producing an illusion cut to the measure of desire

[Rethinking sex and gender by Delphy (1993)] Discussion about the division of labor and hierarchical relations between sex and gender

-Delphy (1993) stated that feminists (in 90s) do not want to abolish difference itself and masculine and feminine values must each be maintained in their original group. -Yet, masculinity and femininity are the cultural creations of a society based on a gender hierarchy.

[Visual pleasure and narrative cinema (1975) by Laura Mulvey] Our discussion about highly sexualized media representations and empowerment; the documentary Dreamworld3

-Do you agree that music videos resemble pornography? Why or why not? Are there other aspects of our culture that also resemble pornography? -Do you think that pornography can now be considered mainstream? If so, what does this tell us about our culture? -Do you agree that music videos represent heterosexual adolescent male fantasies? If so, why do you think it's the case that male fantasies appear so much more frequently than female fantasies? Are there places in the culture where female fantasies are dominant? -What effects do the stories told again and again in music videos have on the ways we conceive of romance and sexuality in contemporary American culture? -How can we distinguish between harmful and benign portrayals of sexuality? -What kinds of camera and editing techniques are used in music videos, and how might these techniques affect the way you see and react to what you are watching?

[Intersectionality by Rigoni (2012)] Why and how the ethnic media have limitations/potentiality in women's progress (according to Rigoni's research)?

-Gender remains an obscured and an obscuring element in women's progress in ethnic media -Representation of women in ethnic media remains widely stereotyped

[Unthinking Eurocentrism by Shohat and Stam (1994)] Representing the West and the non-West/its influences on constructing identities (Hall)

-Identities are constructed through difference. -The constitution of a social identity is an act of power. -An identity's constitution is always based on excluding something and establishing a violent hierarchy between the two resultant poles. -Man v. women; White v. Black

[The representation of Islam and Muslims in the media by Saeed (2007)] The operation of cultural racism/Islamophobia, and the ideology of white supremacy & Western centered globalization

-Islam's refusal to comply with the West and their way of life, or having the same shared values or the same common sense of beliefs has on a certain level resulted in a fear of an assumed Islamic threat. -A new type of racism has emerged based on culture and religion rather than color -Brought by a desire by Western powers to prolong the ideology of white supremacy

[Unthinking Eurocentrism by Shohat and Stam (1994)] The contexts of films from Third World; how the Third World filmmakers have reacted against the Eurocentric hegemony

-Many Third World filmmakers are asked to worship an unreachable standard of cinematic "civility" -Many Third World countries reinforce hegemony by discriminating against their own cultural productions.

[The representation of Islam and Muslims in the media by Saeed (2007)] The systematic problem of the representation of Islam culture/Muslims by dominant media

-Marginalizes minority voices; ignore or invisible Construed in negative discourses -To audiences who have little social contact with the group, the role of the media as sole provider (primary definer)

[Unthinking Eurocentrism by Shohat and Stam (1994)] Eurocentrism influences on our worldview

-The "East" is divided into "New" "Middle," and "Far," -Greenwich Mean Time: England as the regulating center of temporal measurement -The "West and the Rest" -The global north-south -First, Second, Third world

[Visual pleasure and narrative cinema (1975) by Laura Mulvey] psychoanalysis of the pleasure by the image of women in traditional narrative films

-The image of women in this system: 1) object of a male desire: scopophilic instinct 2) The signifier of the threat of castration (ego libido act as formations, mechanisms; forming identification processes) -The image of women as passive raw material for the active male gaze => the structure of representation, the ideology of the patriarchal order -Voyeuristic or fetishistic mechanisms to circumvent her threat.

[Rethinking sex and gender by Delphy (1993)] development of the notion of gender (Margaret Mead; Ann Oakley; Delphy)

-The notion of gender developed from the notion of sex roles by Margaret Mead (1935) -Most societies divide the universe of human characteristics into two, and attribute one half to men and the other to women. -Arbitrary; but overall having many advantages for society, culture, and civilization. -Some 'maladjustments' in particular to homosexuality The division of labor is natural 1) reproductive roles of males and females 2) differences in physical strength between the sexes -Mead does not question the hierarchy between the sexes; does not discuss the prescribed differences between the sexes except within the very limited domain of 'temperament' -Masculine and feminine traits constitute and exhaust the whole of human possibilities.

[Unthinking Eurocentrism by Shohat and Stam (1994)] The context of the racial politics of casting

-The people of color have historically been limited to racially designated role -Whites are ideologically seen as "beyond" ethnicity => the "realistic " casting is hardly sufficient if narrative structure and cinematic strategies remain Eurocentric. -What's wrong with non-originary casting? Casting has to be seen in contingent terms, in relation to the role, the political and esthetic intention, and to the historical moment. E.g.) Orson Welles (1936) Voodoo Macbeth

[Unthinking Eurocentrism by Shohat and Stam (1994)] Media imperialism/the role of the media studies

-The uni-directional nature of international media flow E.g.) media products from the U.S. To Asian countries (e.g. TV, film, broadcasting, satellites, advertising and press) -Multiculturalize and transnationalize media studies -Media consumers can construct identity and alterative affiliations

[Visual pleasure and narrative cinema (1975) by Laura Mulvey] suggestions by Mulvey...

-Three different looks associated with cinema: 1) The camera as it records the pro-filmic event 2) The looks of the audience as it watches the final products 3) The look of the characters at each other within the screen illusion -1) & 2) are obsessively subordinated to the neurotic needs of the male ego. => free the look of camera into its materiality in time and space and the look of the audience into dialectics.

[American media representations of female-female sexuality by Lisa Diamond] Three ways of media representations of female-female sexuality

1) specifically attract young male viewers; reassuring males that the participants remain sexually available in the conventional heterosexual market place. 2) always portrayed as occurring between white, middle-class women (unencumbered by the realities of race or class oppression) 3) Female celebrities' claim to have the option to pursue same-sex relationships but the political context of such decisions is not explicitly mentioned.

[Gender, race, and media representation] Six ways of constructing gender stereotypes (with examples) in the English language

1. In terms of grammatical and semantic structure, women do not have a fully autonomous independent existence: they are part of man. man, when used as an indefinite pronoun, grammatically refers to both men and women. E.g.) "one small step for man" 2. In actual practice, our pronoun usage perpetuates different personality attributes and career aspirations for men and women. 3. Linguistic practice defines females as immature, incompetence, and incapable and males as mature, complete, and competent 4. In practice, women are defined in terms of their sexual desirability (to men); men are defined in terms of their sexual prowess (over women) 5. women are defined in terms of their relation to men; men are defined in terms of their relations to the world at large. 6. A Historical pattern can be seen in the meanings that come to be attached to words that originally were neutral

([Disability] by Rosenblum and Travis) social and historical context of disability/impairment

500 million impaired people, one in ten of the population (1983) are not random but culturally produced. To stem from infectious diseases, poverty, ignorance, and the failure to ensure that existing medical treatments reach the population at risk in the developing countries. An intrinsic link between poverty and impairment The significance of impairment are only ever apparent in a real social and historical context.

[Rethinking sex and gender by Delphy (1993)] Why the binary view of femininity and masculinity is problematic?

A division of labor by sex is universal but the content of the tasks considered to be feminine or masculine varies considerably according to the society.

[American media representations of female-female sexuality by Lisa Diamond] Why they are reinforcing the dominant social order?

A liberal-humanistic view of lesbians and gay men as 'just like' heterosexuals was not positive and progressive but reinforced the dominant social order by presenting same-sex sexuality as a matter of private lifestyle, neutralizing its political challenge to heterosexuality.

[Unthinking Eurocentrism by Shohat and Stam (1994)] The role of the critical community (critical spectators/viewers/audiences)

Critical spectators can exert pressure on distribution and exhibition, and even affect subsequent productions.

[The representation of Islam and Muslims in the media by Saeed (2007)] Hall (1992)'s explanation of the dichotomy view of the West/the rest

European contact with populations elsewhere involved a process of representations and with European expansion, a construction of the West's sense of itself through its sense of difference from others; developed a simple dichotomy the West/the Rest

([Race & Gender: Reception] The color purple) Understanding encoding and decoding by different viewers

Examine the way in which a specific audience creates meaning from a mainstream text and uses the reconstructed meaning to empower themselves and their social group The whole Black women have discovered something progressive and useful in the film. It is crucial o understand how this is possible when viewing a work made according to the encoding of dominant ideology.

[Gender, race, and media representation] Differences and similarities within the feminist movement

Feminism Critique: Rooted in the struggle to end sexist oppression. Feminism: A multidisciplinary approach to social analysis that emphasizes gender as a major structuring component of power relations in society. Black feminism is a set of ideas that come from the historical and contemporary experience of black women.

([Race & gender] Race, media production, and reception by Erigha) Numerical of representation: definition, examples, and impacts.

Film Actors: White actors: 75% of all roles African Americans occupied 14% Latinos: 5% (comprising 16% of the 2010 population) Asian Americans: less than 3 % Lead roles in films and Tv: 36.3 % of the U.S population BUT, 10.5% in lead roles in films 5 % of lead acting roles in broadcast comedies and drama 14% of lead roles in cable comedies and dramas. TV Creators: Shonda Rhimes was the only creator from a racial/ethnic minority group whose TV shows aired on a major broadcast network during the 2011-2012. EX: Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Scandal

([Race & gender] Race, media production, and reception by Erigha) Problems of Hollywood film production system.

Almost exclusively created by White men Women and race/ethnic minorities have occupied far less ¾ of film actors were White in 2014

[Unthinking Eurocentrism by Shohat and Stam (1994)] "surplus symbolic value" of representing minority groups

Any negative behavior by any member of the oppressed community is instantly generalized as typical; representations thus become allegorical; within hegemonic discourse every subaltern performer is seen as summing up a homogenous community.

[Gender, race, and media representation] critiques on the representation of African American women rappers in media.

Hill Collins (2004): many African American women rappers "identify female sexuality as part of women's freedom and independence" (p. 127), maintaining that being sexually open does not make a woman a tramp. Perry (2003): any power granted to female rappers based upon their being labeled attractive in conventional ways limits the feminist potential of their music.

([Race & gender] Race, media production, and reception by Erigha) Numerical/quality/Centrality of representation: definition, examples, and impacts.

Behind the scenes- inequality of representation. On screen- Appeared less frequently, Controlling images. Creation of a societal culture- Stereotypical images, limited creative visions. -social norms -Myths -Cultural imperialism -Social behavior/attitudes/thoughts

[The representation of Islam and Muslims in the media by Saeed (2007)] British media representation of people of color and British Muslims; why does this matter?

British Muslims: 1) Many different ethnic backgrounds; political, cultural, socioeconomic factors 2) Easily classified as visible minorities; the subject of public anxiety 3) A form of "cultural racism" (Modood, 1997): represented as 'un-British' (non-white minority groups in the UK) What we know of society depend on how things are represented to us and that knowledge in turn informs what we do and what policies we are prepared to accept.

[Racial stereotypes in Rush Hour 2] The reason why we need to take the stereotypes of comedy genre seriously

Comedy genre: help to establish instantly recognizable character types; character traits and stereotype-based jokes as a source of humor Comedy as a genre -a comedic format => generic convention discourage viewers' critical engagement with the racial discourse -Naturalize the dominant ideologies expressed in the text The potential of comedy to subvert racial stereotypes -Humorously naturalizing or possibly disrupt the beliefs of racial differences?

([Disability] by Rosenblum and Travis) Discussions over defining disability

Constructing social interaction and policies -Tragedy? : individual victims of circumstances => compensating individuals. -Oppression? : the collective victims of an uncaring society => alleviating oppression Need to identify and classify, considering growing numbers of urban poor -Unable to work v. unwilling to work -Clinical criterial/functional limitation Politics of minority groups to foster a group consciousness and identity -Since 1950s, people challenged the prevailing definitions of what constituted these problems by attacking the sexist and racist bases in the language used to underpin these dominant definitions. -Offensive (cripple, spastic, mongol etc.) depersonalizing (the handicapped, the blind, the deaf) disablist language

[Intersectionality by Rigoni (2012)] Horizontal/Vertical segregation to women journalists in media industry

Horizontal Segregation -observe a gender-typing inside newsrooms in terms of tasks functions, assignment of post and positions, the production of collective meanings of gender through gendered symbolism works in the newsroom -Women as freelancers, assistants, etc. -Women associated with private sphere and caring -Men associated with political and public issues Vertical -Inclusion in and exclusion from positions of power in the newsroom -The under-representation of women in senior management positions -Women could not manage reconcile a high position in the media and private life with children -Avoiding sexual harassment: maintaining away from centers of decision making -The dominating gender conversation norm -Masculine patterns of sociability

[Racial stereotypes in Rush Hour 2] The way of stereotyping through narrative/characters and its impacts on audiences' perception

How characters are discursively constructed and embodying ideological positions and values -Lee: Respectful but culturally ignorant and asexual Asian man who excels at Kung Fu -The Asian Dragon lady who is desirable but dangerous and Carter as childish Black man -Oriental dolls Narrative orients viewers' understanding of stories and naturalizes meanings and events -Binary opposition of powerful White and subordinate minorities: The team of Chinese gangsters v. the American embassy in Hong Kong -The violence of Asian gangsters does not constitute a threat of White masculinity and domination but helps maintain the racial status quo.

[The representation of Islam and Muslims in the media by Saeed (2007)] Where do Muslims live?

Middle East

[Unthinking Eurocentrism by Shohat and Stam (1994)] Eurocentrism relations to the colonialism/imperialism

Normalizes the hierarchical power relations generated by colonialism and imperialism.

[The representation of Islam and Muslims in the media by Saeed (2007)] Said's explanation of Orientalism

Orientalism, whose structure promoted the difference between the familiar (Europe, the West, 'us') and the strange (the Orient, The East, 'them' or 'the other')

[Gender, race, and media representation] representations of women of color (black, Asian, Latina, native American women) in media. ideologies behind these representations

Postcolonial theory/ Orientalist discourse -Paired with the West as its binary companion -The global other; "Otherness" as strange or different and itself as the norm Asian women -Exotic, sexualized -Asian women: Lotus blossom v. dragon ladies; childlike, submissive, silent, eager for sex v. demonized, deceitful, sexual provocateurs -The number of Asian females in the media are sparse Latina (Most research focuses on Latin men) -Exotic seductresses; Tacky and overly emotional; Hypersexualized "spitfire" -E.g.) Jennifer Lopez: stereotypes of Latinas as domestic workers; paired with a white male love interest -Color-blind racism, especially for women -Ignoring differences between Dominicans, Mexicans, Cubans, and Puerto Ricans -Sex appeal in their music videos/ "tropicalism" Native American -"Pocahontas paradox" -Strong, powerful Or beautiful, exotic and lustful -Recasting the native American woman in a Western, capitalist frame; a sexualized Native American Barbie -Historical figure exoticized, emphasize her relationship with her white lover

([Race & gender] Race, media production, and reception by Erigha) Quality of representation: definition, examples, and impacts.

Racial minorities were typically associated with ethnic genres and performances of race and ethnicity. Roles: E.g.) African Americans: exhibited ghetto behavior Asian/Asian Americans: martial arts gurus/superhuman/victims/Chinese accents Film makers: mainly directing music themed movies/performance-oriented genre TV writers: ethnic niche shows Minority-themed programs aired on networks like UPN, WB, FOX, excluded from traditional networks like ABC, CBS, NBC Three talent agencies dominated the markets but ethnic minorities are underrepresented in these institutions.

[Rethinking sex and gender by Delphy (1993)] Why we need to rethink the sex roles?

Rethink the division of labor and hierarchical relations between sex and gender.

[The representation of Islam and Muslims in the media by Saeed (2007)] How Saeed explained the misuse of Islam culture as a political cover, not religious one.

Speaking of Islam and Islamic as the terms have been misused in Muslim and Western societies as a 'political cover' for much that is not religious (Said 1981, 54-56) ; homogeneously as the opposite of the West

([Race & Gender: Reception] The color purple) Different perspectives on this film by black women audiences: what and why?

Statements from members of the group focused on how moved they were by the fact that Celie eventually triumphs in the film Black women's response to the Color Purple appear as an extreme contrast to those of many other viewers. => A complex process of negotiation based on viewers' various histories and experiences. The subject: a social and theoretical construction that is used to designate individuals as they become significant in a political or theoretical sense Text as a cultural product: the subject is defined as the political being who is affected by the ideological construction of the text.

[Racial stereotypes in Rush Hour 2] Why stereotyping of racial minorities is problematic for audiences/actors/society?

The absence of a major White character: prevented provoking feelings of discomfort in White viewers ...

([Disability] by Rosenblum and Travis) definition issues & suggested words/the criticism on the representation of Glee.

The disabled or the handicapped was replaced in the mid-70s by people with disabilities -Disabled v. nondisabled -Physically challenged -Able disabled -Handicapable -Special people/children Glee "Woodlee regards the chair as separate from the body, rather than an extension of it, and suggests that celebrating equality involves the erasure of difference rather than the integration of it." "Woodlee is faking dance choreography informed by disability culture, and badly. Clearly, the creators don't believe the lines they wrote, because they reinforce those social barriers for actors with mobility impairments and erase disability culture while pretending to celebrate it."

[Unthinking Eurocentrism by Shohat and Stam (1994)] Why the stereotype is problematic? What was the suggestions by Shohat and Stam?

The stereotype-centered approach has contributed 1) revealing oppressive patterns of prejudice 2) highlighting the psychic devastation inflicted by systematically negative portrayals on these groups assaulted by them 3) signaling the social functionality of stereotypes; a form of social control; "prisons of image" -Call for "positive images" of marginalized groups -Undermining Eurocentric narcissistic heroes and heroines

[Rethinking sex and gender by Delphy (1993)] Definitions and relation of sex & gender

appeared in the early 1970s "Sex": biological differences between male and female "Gender": a matter of culture; it refers to the social classification into 'masculine' and 'feminine'. Gender = the content Sex = container