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Fond childhood memories
Childhood Memories
Fond childhood memories
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One of my favorite childhood stories was the Three Billy Goats Gruff. To quickly summarize the story, for those who cannot recall childhood fables, three brother goats set out to find food on the other side of the hill. In order to get to the other side of the hill, they had to cross a bridge over the river. Under the bridge, lived an evil and hideous troll, who would eat anyone who crosses the bridge. First, the smallest goat tried to cross the bridge; but the troll stopped him and threatened to “gobble him up.” However, the smallest goat convinced the troll to wait for his big brother to come across because he is larger and more filling than the smallest goat. The troll allowed the smallest goat to cross. Then, the second, medium size …show more content…
They think “If they can do it, I can do it too.” Stories motivate people to make change in the world. “I don’t like what I saw; I want to do something about it.” Therefore, how can we create meaningful change in our society, if we are perpetually fixed to view life from the point of view of one type of person? The white male moviegoer gets broad experience that transcends genres. A white person could watch a comedy, sci-fi, horror, drama, biopic, historical drama, time-travel or space film, and find someone that looks like him. However, minority moviegoers have a limited selection to choose from and we are force fed the same stories, over and over again. For black people, we are given slave films (see 12 years of a slave and Birth of A Nation), biopic (Ray, the Hurricane, Ali, Malcolm X), over-coming segregation films (Glory, The Help, Driving Miss Daisy, Selma), or romantic/black comedies (anything Kevin Hart), and the occasional thriller. Hispanic and Asian representation in films and television is abysmal and practically non-existent. Yes, there are women in films and multiracial casts, but they mostly all serve to aid the white male protagonist in his journey. And yes, there are movies with female and minority leads, but it makes up only small percentage of the movies produced in
The storyteller told the story of the Goatman from Beltsville story to me. On a summer night in 2005, she and her friend were driving back from a mall. Her friend took a shortcut home to Beltsville, Maryland by way of Callington Road Bridge. While on this shortcut home, her friend stopped the car on the side of road and turned off the headlights. She proceeded to tell the interviewee the story of the Goatman, emphasizing its truthfulness the entire time. After she heard the story, the interviewee never drove across Callington Road Bridge again.
Media such as movies, video games and television, in general, are all created to support some form of social context. This helps with generating popularity because people are able to relate to the form of media. In Greg Smith’s book What Media Classes Really Want to Discuss, he describes 6 different representational strategies that justifies people’s way of thinking. The trope that I will be amplifying is the white savior tactic. In addition, I will connect this strategy to the movie The Blind Side. There are clear examples throughout the film where racism and low-income cultures exist in which the white family is there to help. The Tuohy family from the movie “The Blind Side” serves as the white savior for the progression of Michael
Todd Jesdale, the experienced soul of our coaching squad, is an adroit man in seemingly all aspects of life, especially of those pertaining to rowing. He crushed me.
Latino portrayals in the media of theatre and movies have had negative affects for the Latino community but there are roles that are slowly becoming positive for their community. Not only have Latinos been portrayed negatively through stereotypes but they have also been ignored from American Media. When Latinos are actually present in different forms of media a very consistent type of Latino is portrayed. The words Hispanic and Latino already come with an image of that specific person who has dark features and an accent. When it comes to stereotyping Latinos in the media whether it be Hollywood or Broadway they tend to translate everything negatively through the roles they play. The audiences’ lack of understanding different Latino cultures allows the media to manipulate and reinforce myths on Latino communities. Rita Moreno from the film West Side Story had to overcome many stereotypes in order to achieve her fame. "Before 'West Side Story,' I was always offered the stereotypical Latina roles. The Conchitas and Lolita’s in westerns. I was always barefoot. It was humiliating, embarrassing stuff. But I did it because there was nothing else. After 'West Side Story,' it was pretty much the same thing. A lot of gang stories”
The White Savior Complex is a damaging subconscious underlay of the Hollywood system, and more broadly all of western society. It is used to further separate the notions of “us” and “other” by creating a firm separation fueled by self-righteousness, and a sense of entitlement. Hollywood attempts to address race relations, but fails because of this trope. Kingsle, from the article “Does My Hero Look White In This?” described that both racism and colonialism are acknowledged, but not without reassuring that not only were white people against the system of racist power dynamics, but also were actively fighting against it in leadership roles (2013).
...ent from the silent era of film, overt racism of ethnic minorities was blatantly apparent within the film medium. However, presently this overt racism however has shifted into a more subtle segregation of casting and racial politics within the film medium. It seems that both the problem and the solution lies in the Eurocentric domination within the Hollywood film industry – and it seems that it still remains challenged to this day.
Pop culture is a backdrop of day-to-day life from television to film to Facebook to music. It has the power to influence us on how we think and what we think. So why does it still lack equal and fair racial representation?
Hollywood’s diversity problem is well-known; however, the extent might be surprising to most Americans. According to a 2014 report by the Center for the Study of Women in Television, Film & New Media, found that females comprised only 30% of all speaking characters among the top grossing films of 2013. (Lauzen, 2014) However, minority women faired far worse than their Caucasian counterparts. As a matter of fact, if one looks at the numbers even female characters from other world’s were as better represented in film than some minority women; the numbers are as follow for women: Caucasian (73%), African American (14%), Latina (5%), Asian and other world tied (3%). (Lauzen, 2014) If the lack of representation were not enough consider a 2009 study which found that when minority groups are portrayed on television the portrayal tends to be negative. (Alexandrin, 2009) A study by Busselle and Crandall (2009) found that the manner in which African-Americans are portrayed, often as unemployed criminals, tends to have an influence on the way the public perceives African-American’s lack of economic success. Furthermore, the news media does an equally poor job in the ways that African-American’s are presented; according to the same study while 27% of Americans were considered “poor” in 1996 the images of America’s “poor” being presented by news media was heavily Black (63%). (Busselle & Crandall, 2002) Today, this can be seen in the way that African-American victims of police brutality are depicted in the media. Even when African-Americans are murdered at the hands of police for minor and non-violent offenses (e.g. Mike Brown, Eric Gardner, and Tamir Rice) they are often portrayed as thugs, criminals, and vandals. What’s more, seve...
Often racial injustice goes unnoticed. Television tries to influence the mind of their viewers that blacks and whites get along by putting them on the screen to act as if interracial relationships has been accepted or existent. “At the movies these days, questions about racial injustice have been amicably resolved (Harper,1995). Demott stresses that the entertainment industry put forth much effort to persuade their audience that African Americans and Caucasians are interacting and forming friendships with one another that is ideal enough for them to die for one another. In the text, Demott states “A moment later he charges the black with being a racist--with not liking whites as much as the white man likes blacks--and the two talk frankly about their racial prejudices. Near the end of the film, the men have grown so close that each volunteer to die for the other” (Harper,1995). Film after film exposes a deeper connection amongst different races. In the text, Demott states “Day after day the nation 's corporate ministries of culture churn out images of racial harmony” (Harper, 1995). Time and time again movies and television shows bring forth characters to prove to the world that racial injustice has passed on and justice is now received. Though on-screen moments are noticed by many people in the world it does not mean that a writer/ director has done their
In Hollywood there is also a lack of representation with executives because the most of the power resides in people that are ethnically white. Brent Lang and Dave McNary believe that black films are usually not picked up by studios because very few people in powerful positions are black. Therefore, most studios don’t understand what would appeal to black audiences. This causes analysts to undervalue the potential profit of black films, turning executives away from being interested in pursuing black film projects. Examples of black movie profits far exceeding predictions are found in this quote from their article , How Tracking Fails Diverse Movies: “"Straight Outta Compton 's" $60.2 million debut was roughly $20 million more than most trade publications had predicted. "War Room," a faith-based drama about the power of prayer, more than doubled predictions with its $11.3 million launch. And last weekend 's champ, Sony 's "Perfect Guy," exceeded expectations by nearly $15 million when it kicked off with $29.4 million” (Lang and McNary). The history between black and whites in America come into play with the existence of a phenomenon called the “Hollywood plantation arrangement” which alludes to the relationship of black slaves and white slaveowners pre-civil war. This idea describes how “the relationship between African Americans and White Americans is rooted in a tradition of ownership, guidance, and responsibility” which “directly influences African Americans’ ability to access economic power and ownership, thereby limiting creative control and cultural protection (Ndoubou 7). The ruling class, which in Hollywood is the whites, use their power to maintain control by creating these images in media that make the blacks seem lesser...
While watching movies, have you ever noticed that the villains in almost every single Hollywood film are of Middle Eastern or European descent? In a reoccurring theme of Hollywood, the villains in these films are almost always foreigners or people of color. This is a stereotype. On the other side of the spectrum, we often see that the heroes of these films are most often than not white males. This is another stereotype. Within the last few years, we’ve seen actors such as Will Smith, Morgan Freeman, and Zoe Saldana take the lead roles, so it can’t be said that there are no non-white heroes, but there certainly isn’t many. Hollywood action movies, moreover than other genres, are typically loaded with an abundance of stereotypes. The way these movies are composed and structured can tell us a great deal about the views held within the American psyche and who holds the social power. The harsh reality is that the media ultimately sets the tone for societal standards, moralities, and images of our culture. Many consumers of media have never encountered some of the minorities or people of color shown on screen, so they subsequently depend on the media and wholeheartedly believe that the degrading stereotypes represented on the big screen are based on fact and not fiction. Mary Beltran said it best when she stated in her “Fast and Bilingual: Fast & Furious and the Latinization of Racelessness” article, “ultimately, Fast & Furious mobilizes notions of race in contradictory ways. It reinforces Hollywood traditions of white centrism, reinforcing notions of white male master while also dramatizing the figurative borders crossed daily by culturally competent global youth – both Latino and non-Latino” (77). This paper will specifically look...
The Hurst book discusses in Chapter 8, that “whiteness is invisible to most whites,” this could be a reason that there is not a lot of diversity in Hollywood, but it could also be racism, and discrimination toward people of different ethnicities as well (Hurst, 183). According, to Hurst racism is “embedded in the structure and institutions, and defining racism individualistically rather than in structural terms, has allowed our attention to be defected from White privilege” (Hurst, 184). White privilege is present in Hollywood, everything is ran by white people, and it is the white writers and directors, they decided who they will cast in the show or movie. Racial and ethnic diversity in TV programming should not be a problem in the 21st century, this is a problem of the past and should not still be going on. The NPR article discusses the shift of more series with “non-white actors, and a more non-white cast, but that still is on 30% of all TV shows” that is a major improvement but there still needs to be more
Seitz argues that M.Ns are happy to help their masters at any time. African-Americans are serving whites to succeed in their life and these mentors willingly serve whites. Seitz states, “Magical Negro”: a saintly African-American who acts as a mentor to a white hero… [their] relationship is that of a master and servant… one that truly lives to serve, has no life to speak beyond his service” (Seitz 357). Years after the end of slavery, blacks are still considered as servants of whites in America. Even though social reforms have ended slavery and the exclusion of blacks from society, whites still consider blacks as their slaves and this has been portrayed ambiguously in many movies. In pro-white popular culture, African-American actors and actresses have not received fair treatment to perform at the highest of their abilities. In today’s modern world, there are roots of racism; popular culture and mass media production are very important key factors in promoting the racial distinction in our society. In this modern world, media and television are a part of everyday life. People have easy access to movies and TV shows; viewers of these shows tend to believe what is being shown. Films and TV shows have played a significant role in reestablishing racism and discrimination in popular culture. Many of the mass media production industries have characterized racial stereotypes. Omi reveals racial stereotypes, “[in
It is within the hands of producers to represent minorities in the news and film, because the source of the under-representation lies at the root with them, the ones casting and producing the product being screened and printed. The people producing and creating these shows and films are the ones who are not casting or misrepresenting minorities, causing the amount of female protagonists globally to be as low as 23% (stated by the New York Film Academy). So if the solution is for parents to show films that broadcast diversity, the question is: where can that content be found? With little to no representation of minorities in the media, there is nearly no content to show. In order to give a voice to smaller groups, eliminate harmful stereotypes, and give everybody an equal chance in professions, media containing correct representation needs to be created first, in all
There was a girl named Kandy, she was 15 years old. Her life was extremely boring, all she ever did was go to school, go on her computer, eat and sleep. She spent all summer on her computer. She was really good with HTML and spent her free time making web sites. Kandy didn't have many friends and rarely talked to guys because she was shy and unconfident about her looks. That's why she went into chat rooms. She made a web site with pictures of herself on it and told people in chat rooms to go there. A lot of people would tell her how pretty she was and some would say she was ugly. That made her feel awful. When anyone would say anything nice to her, she wouldn't believe them and think that they were just making fun of her. She only had one real friend that she could talk to, her name was Ang.