Race, Gender, Media

Blogs in my opinion can help if they are done in a proper manner. With that being said, I definitely enjoyed the online assignments that we to do for this class but I do not necessarily think that they were blogs per se. Blogs are basically a free write on any given topic without guidelines but of course, under university policies as college students, all of our assignments must be guided in a specific manner. The blogs we had in our Race, Gender, and Media course allowed each individual student to show their own personality and use the internet as a media palette to broadcast the results found while doing research for certain assignments. I remember in high school doing blogs but they were far different from anything we ever did in this class. Regardless, I am pretty sure I am going to be on the lookout for blogs pertaining to some of the topics we discussed in class. Who knows, I may even attempt to keep mine going. Only time will tell.

Granted I am in the process of getting my degree in Film and Video Studies, I am taking classes that place an emphasis on mass media so I will have a better understanding of how to target my audience without disrespecting anyone regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race and/or ethnicity. As we mentioned throughout the semester, my generation is different in regards to being able and willing to talk about racism, sexism and so much more and I want to be able to portray that through my work. Whether it is through film, television, blogs…I personally feel that we have to shine some sort of positive light on media and media usage. Otherwise, generations to come are going to be doomed and issues like anorexia, bulimia, depression and things of that nature will only continue to rise and turn the United States into a self-hating underweight group of citizens who will eventually fall of the map due to self mutilation. I know that sounds extreme, and maybe even funny, but sadly enough it may very well be true if people in our soon-to-be positions do not do something.

Being a minority, race has always been an ongoing issue that I have personally had to experience. However just as there is the coined term “white privilege“, I do believe that this can also be turned around within other races and ethnicities. With Caucasians being the majority or superior race, white privilege is something everyone can say exist and that people may have even experience on a day to day basis if they are a minority. It may be a hard concept to grasps if you are not a minority and have never had to look at it from the outside in, rather than inside out. I have heard arguments on both sides and quite frankly respect both opinions. I think what people forget is that everyone has a mind of their own and even if you can not persuade someone to think exactly like you (honestly why would you?), learn to deal with the difference and find ways to make it benefit all parties involved rather than constantly focusing on the negative. You truly will never get anywhere staying in that state of mind. Depending on the angle you look at any kind of privilege, there is always going to be someone who disagrees…It just goes to prove that you simply can not make everyone happy.


All in all I liked this class and truly feel that I gained something from it not only as a college student, but as a media professional prospect as well. I look forward to more classes like this in the future.

Hip hop is a culture. It is a way of life. It is interesting, because when I first read the question I thought about the movie Brown Sugar when Sanaa Lathan character Sidney Shaw would ask “When did you first fall in love with hip hop”? Hip hop is a form of expression, spoken word, a mindset, a lifestyle, a state of being and has been for generations and will continue to be for generations to come. Listed below are the 10 artist we were asked to look at for this assignment:

Five hip hop artists:
MC Sniper (Korean Artist)
Ms. Dynamite (U.K. Artist)
K. Maro (Lebanese Artist)
Chutzpah (Jewish Rap Group)
Doom (U.S. Artist)

Five hip hop videos:
Eminem -We Made You
Kanye West feauring Young Jeezy - Amazing
Methman/Redman featuring Saukrates - A-yo
Rick Ross featuring John Legen - Magnificent
Busta Rhymes featuring T-Pain - Hustler’s Anythem 09



Corporations that have utilized hip hop to advertise their products are Allstate and Gap

Allstate Commercial

Cool Allstate Commercial With Hip-Hop Music - The most amazing videos are a click away

Gap Commercial:


Where else can you find the influence of hip hop in the media?
The is a significant hip hop influence in the media. You can see this is magazine advertisement, movies, commercials, in all honesty, you can see it in everything. The real question is, is it always a positive influence. You see the hip hop influence in the beer advertisements, the cigarette advertisements and things of that nature. You really do not see too many positive ads that feature hip hop or anything with an urban impact.

What things if any have come from hip-hop and become part of mainstream culture?
Of course the use of slang has and will always be a part of the mainstream culture. There is even an ebonic dictionary that translates the common terminology people use on a day to day basis.

What music did your parents listen to when they were young?
This is an interesting question because my parents have a very diverse taste in music. Growing up, my mother would listen to anything from Barry Manilow, Jackson 5, Luther Vandross, to Teddy Pendergrass. My father on the other hand grew up listening to Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Guy, and N.W.A.


State of hip hop in reference to representation and images?
Hip hop in 2009 is a bittersweet thing. There are some artist who have a positive message and constantly enforce that in there songs. Unfortunately, artist like Common, Mos Def, and Lupe Fiasco do not get the airplay that other artist like 50 cent, Young Jeezy and Soulja Boy, who do not have a positive message in there music. Artist like 50 cent and Soulja Boy rap about the materialistic things in life or how to get and belittle women. Women use to be represent by artist like Queen Latifah and Sista Souljah in a positive and enlightening way however when women like Little Kim and Foxy came around, all of that change. Now, you see women more so as a decoration with little no clothes on in the back of some music video.

Going into this assignment I knew there would not be a lot of diversity shown when looking through magazine ads, but when I actually had to places numbers on what was actually portrayed in the magazines I have to admit that I was upset. I took four well known magazines (Instyle, Glamour, Self and Vibe), and two local magazines (Boydstreet and On the Oval) and counted the number of ads in the magazine and the number of ads that featured diversity and this is what I found:


Magazine: (Number of Ads feat. Diversity to Number of Ads in Magazine)
Glamour: (9:54)
Self: (4:32)
Vibe: (11:11)
Instyle: (18:105)
Boydstreet: (2:7)
On the Oval:(1:5)


The only magazine that featured a great number of ads featuring diversity was Vibe magazine which, is an urban magazine so I had already assumed that this would be the case. Granted I only counted the ads that had people in them, the numbers still speak for themselves. Even the ads that had minorities in them portrayed them minorities, especially women, in a sexually manner. Another thing I noticed was the people used in these ads were either well known musicians or actors and not just models in general. In fact, the three top minority faces I saw in these magazines were Rihanna, Halle Berry and Eva Longoria. Rarely did I see a new and up coming model who just happened to be a pretty face. A couple of days ago I was watching House on USA and realized that I had this assignment halfway through the show and decided that I would count and compare the number of commercials that aired and the commercials that featured diversity in some way. During the last half hour of House sixteen commercials aired and out of that sixteen, only three featured some form of diversity. That it is only 19% and even if the number was double it would still not even be close to showing a significant difference in how minorities are represented in commercials. When I noticed that there were more commercials showing diversity I was sadly interrupted with realization that I was on a “urban” channel that placed more of an emphasis on showing minorities in all aspects of advertisement. I am not saying that we should not appreciate these channels but if we set limits on where we can actually see more colorful ads and commercials then we are only setting ourselves up for failure. It is set up so that people who initially have an interest in a certain area will be the only ones to gain more knowledge about that particular area. We use to have this discussion all the time in my African American studies course. The fact that the only people who learn about “black history” are the people who sign up for the classes. It is not taught to the American children the way European history is taught in classrooms.

At the beginning of the semester we saw a film that showed a study about African American children and how they viewed things based on the concept of what was considered beautiful or intelligent. It hurt to see the little girl say that the black doll was ugly because it looked like her but when all you see on television is the complete opposite of what you see when you look in the mirror it is obvious to see how you develop a complex about your appearance, especially at a young age like that. Regardless of race and/or gender, it is up to those of us who will be going into the media business to find ways to change this. Stereotypes were created by the media and I think it is fair to say that the media is the only one who can turn it around.

1.Who determines the news or sets the agenda?-The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is the government body that sets the rules for media. This, as stated in the video, is not necessarily the best representation of what America looks like or stands for.

2.Why do we need a media that specifically represents difference interests of people of color? Aren’t those interests everyone’s interests? What can be done to increase the mainstream media’s interest in other topics and concerns? Aren’t those interests everyone’s interests?
-As with anything, in order to represent a diverse group of people you need exactly that, a diverse group of people. You can not expect people to understand how all people, regardless of race and gender, truly feel or live or even portray those emotions through the media. How can explain something you do not know? To argue that the interest of people of color is the same as the “majority” is hard to say because like I’ve said before, how can you truly have an interest in something you know absolutely nothing about. Most people do not walk around wondering how they can fix other people’s problems. In order to change this, you need diversity everywhere. In the newsrooms, on the radio, on the television, there needs to be an effort on everyone’s part (mainly minorities) to take initiative and say that this has to change.

3.How did the media initially report the war?-“If there was a war on terrorism it started with an attack on the world trade centers”. This statement makes it sound like the United States was obligated to fight this war even though we initially went to war with a country that did not attack us. The idea that if you are not for the war simply meant that you were not patriotic which may very well not be the case at all. However, when you have millions of people who have lost loved ones and the media, who in turn can manipulate the actions of the September 11th event, patriotism is the key role in decision making. People felt the need, after seeing images in the media, to prove their patriotism.

4.How has the media covered recent social protests? Jenna Six – Proposition Eight
-The story first got a lot of attention from Louisiana's media, and from bloggers around the area. From there, it became a national issue that involved people from all over the world to go to Jena, Louisiana and protest what was going on at Jena High School.

5.Was the media beneficial for the Civil Rights Movement? -I would have to say that the media was beneficial for the Civil Rights Movement. However, with everything, there is always a downfall some where. Without the media, I really do not think that people would have truly understood what was going or how severe racism really was. Just look at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas and the Little Rock Nine. Without the media, do you really think the President Eisenhower would have sent out the members of the 101st US-Airbone Division of the United States Army to protect those students against the students, citizens, Governor Faubus or the Arkansas National Guard? Do you think during the late 1950s people really understood, or cared for that matter, about another African American child being killed for using inappropriate language or whistling at a white woman? No, it was not until the magazines started to publish pictures of Emmett Till’s body after he had been brutally murdered that sparked an uproar and just so happens to be one of the many events that led up to the Civil Rights Movement.

6.Please list your thoughts and reflections on setting the news agenda, minority media and the media and reporting the war.
-I wish that we heard more about things like this. Unfortunately, shows like this do not receive the air play they deserve. While I was around family and friends I was watching the blogs and a lot of them stopped and asked what I was watching. Some even asked me to forward them the videos. I think society believes that some people do not care about educating themselves on these topics but I also believe that they also find it easier just to “push it under the rug” and act as if it never existed.

20 Years:
In twenty years I will be 41 which is crazy to even imagine! By this time, I will have become a successful film and television producer. I will have worked on various projects including: my own sitcom, a couple of featured films, doing voice over’s for animated films and will have received at least two Grammy awards for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media (yes that is the actual long drawn out title). Also by this time, I will be in the middle of creating my own publishing company. I love to travel so I will have at least one place to call home out of the country and at least two others in the United States.

10 Years:
Ten years from now I will have started to work on my own projects instead of working for someone else. I will have became well-known in the entertainment industry and people will contact me to make there ideas come to life on the big screen. Hopefully, I will have started a family but I can wait until the fifteen mark if I have to. Working with a music label is something I have always wanted to do. I am not sure how this will come into play, but hopefully around this time I know something!

5 Years:
Five years from now I will be a rising star. Successfully, I will have received my Bachelor’s degree in Film and Video Studies with an emphasis in Mass Media and a minor in History, and my Master’s degree in Mass Communication. More than likely I will live on the east coast but will be doing a lot of traveling in order to work on several projects.

6 Months:
Six months from now will be the beginning of my Senior year at the University of Oklahoma which will be one of my biggest accomplishments considering I never thought I would make it this far. It is amazing what you can do when you put your mind to something. I will have added on to my resume since I plan on doing some film work, photography, and what ever else I can get my hands on.

FVS 1013, 02-25-09
OU Union Meacham Hall 6:00 W
Classroom experience Professor Boyd
Film Screening: Singing in the Rain
Gender stereotype

AFAM 4233, 02-25-09
Bizzell Library 102
Classroom experience Professor Butler-King
Film screening: Boyz In The Hood
The whole movie
Racial stereotype

02-23-09, 10:00PM
Personal conversation with Zak B.
University Greens
Conversation about the characteristics of minority women
Racial & Gender stereotype

02-24-09, 5:05PM
Magazine Ad
Men’s Fitness Magazine, March 2009
Men’s fitness magazine with a picture of a very fit, well-known actor next to the words “Great Sex: How to Make Her Want More”.
Gender Stereotype

02-24-09, 5:13PM
Magazine Cover
Sports Illustrated
Picture of a woman with a bikini resembling a globe painted on her body with the caption, “Brooklyn Decker shows you the world”.
Gender stereotype


02-26-09 VH1 Network, 10:17PM
Television
I Love Money Commercial
Both men and woman half dressed doing inappropriate things in order to win a completion
Racial and gender stereotypes


02-26-09, 11:45PM
Personal conversation with Shar C.
Via Phone
Conversation about how some people justify not being racist because they have friend(s) of different ethnicities

02-27-09 10:00AM
Bumper Sticker
Obama Biden campaign sticker had been changed to Osama Bin Ladin
Racial stereotype

Reflection:
Honestly, I was not surprised with the amount of stereotyping that exists. I was more so surprised with the location of where I could find the location of the material. There were a lot of things that I saw in Seventeen magazine that really shocked me. The idea of seeing a 15 or 16 year old girl in her underwear riding a bicycle suggesting that girls should do their suggested workouts on the following page to get legs like the model was appalling. During my freshman year of college, I took a Philosophy class and we had an assignment similar to this one. There were a few ads we looked at that really disturb me as well. One the ads featured three middle school aged kids at a science fair. Each one was representing first, second and, third place. All three consequently, were of three different ethnicity groups: first place going to the Caucasian female, second place to the Asian female and third place to the African-American girl. Another ad was of an African-American male barbecuing in his backyard with no shoes on and an apron that read “Kiss the Chef” with a monkey logo on it. I am sure that you can see the “hidden” meaning behind both of these ads. As a minority, dealing with stereotypes in personal and/or social experiences is something that I have learned to deal with. However with that said, it is not something you get use to. It’s annoying to constantly be viewed as the “loud, ghetto, and obnoxious” woman just because that is what the media portrays of the women who look like me. Or my favorite saying when you don’t fit the stereotype of a black person, “they aren’t black enough”. Unfortunately, the media plays an important role in everyday life. What is on the television, magazines, billboards, internet, radio, et cetera is what we, the American people, pay attention to the most. Although it is not always accurate, it is a teaching mechanism. It will be up to a new generation of people who are willing to not only change the type of television shows, and other forms of mass media, and educate there viewers on all aspects of culture. Not just the defaming characters that help create these stereotypes we place on other people. We need to place images on the big screen that not only instill positivity, but educate people and make them more aware of what a person can be rather then how they are limited by the color of their skin.