Review
Jennifer did a great job last week explaining the evolution of African American representations in film. Minstrel shows in Vaudeville with white actors in black face were incorporated into some early films (that, remember, relied heavily on theatrical traditions). African American actors gradually appeared more often in films, but mostly in supporting roles (that were, without exception, based on racial stereotypes). Black filmmakers were unheard of at this time. However, performers like Louis Armstrong and Nat King Cole and actors like Sidney Poitier gained popularity and found a more prominent place in American cinema. Van Peeble's Sweet Sweetback... introduced the blaxploitation movement, giving blacks an even more prominent role in films, but introducing even greater controversy to their representation. While blaxploitation films demonstrated to the film industry the potential popularity of films with African American characters, the cinematic representation of blacks is still far from equitable. And while more black filmmakers are seeing success in the film industry, the African American perspective is still fairly unrepresented in today's industry.
A Preview of What's to Come
So, as you may have noticed, we've changed track a little in this course. We've been discussing the representation of race, class, gender, and sexuality in specific, historical genres. These genres provide the foundations of American cinema, in many ways determining the characters, narratives and themes of today's films.
So, now we are going to switch gears and focus our attention on the representation of these issues in today's films. But rather than focus on a specific genre, we want to emphasize the representation of specific issues across genres. So for example, this week's discussion of class should be informed by our previous discussions of class in the screwball comedy, film noir, and the western.
Film and Class Assignment
So, rather than simply walking you through different cinematic representations of social and economic class division and struggle, I think I'll mix it up a little. I've included two lists: the first of websites that address different issues that relate to our discussion of class. The second list is of pop culture texts that in some way or another intersect with the issues of class. Your job is to choose an item from each list (preferably a pop culture text with which you're familiar) and discuss how they correspond with one another. Please take your time and familiarize yourself with the website and the concepts it discusses. Then, rather than summarize the information, demonstrate your understanding of the info in your discussion of how the pop culture text corresponds with it. Remember, that a pop culture text will most likely not exemplify a concept. Texts are far more complex to be exact illustrations of theoretical ideas. So, be sure to point out how the text and idea play off of each other. Acknowledge the complexity of this correlation between text and idea. So, be thoughtful, and please avoid repeating each other's responses. This assignment will hopefully help you prepare for your next Film Analysis paper.
Concepts
Marx and the alienation of the laborer
Marx and Engel's communist manifesto
Gramsci's hegemony
Smith's capitalism
neoliberalism
egalitarianism
Pop Culture Texts
Sicko
Get Rich or Die Tryin'
Fun with Dick and Jane
Office Space
My Super Sweet 16
MTV Cribs
The Cosby Show
My Name is Earl
The Hills
Extreme Makeover Home Edition
"Glamorous" by Fergie
"Good Life" by Kanye West
"Diamonds from Sierra Leone" by Kanye West
Quiz
What does Marx mean when he writes that money is “the universal confusion and transposition of all things”?
Student "Presentations"
For the next four weeks, students will have the opportunity to present some information on individuals who use the humanities to address issues of class, race, gender and sexuality. Rather than post the usual assignment, students will research ONE artist, filmmaker, author, musician, performer, etc who uses their medium to address issues of social inequality. Students should include a link to a relevant website about the individual. Students should also post a summary of some basic biographical info on the individual and an explanation of some of the major contributions the individual has made to the social discourse.
So, take a look at the next four weeks. Pick an issue (class, race, gender, or sexuality) that interests you. The individual you choose to focus on must address the issue that corresponds with that particular week of class. (So, I could discuss Spike Lee on the week of race--but you cannot, because that would be stealing my idea). That week, rather than submitting the normal assignment, you will post your "presentation." (That week, you will still be responsible for completing the quiz though).
***REMEMBER THAT ALL ASSIGNMENTS (QUIZZES, ASSIGNMENTS, AND PRESENTATIONS ARE DUE BY FRIDAY AT 11:59PM)***
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
19 comments:
"Marx and the Alienation of the Laborer" shares many of the same ideas as the film, Office Space. On the Marx website, it discusses the formation of the Communist league, designed to take down capitalism as a whole. Much like this website, Office Space does something along these lines. The characters in this film come together to take down the corporate giants that are downsizing the company. Together, they plan to embezzle large amounts of money in an attempt to finally show the head of the company that they will no longer stand to be treated like dirt. These men became the equivalent to Marx's Communist Leage, which was focused mainly on the most "politically advanced" members of the working class. These were the men that did not want to work hard and see the majority of the benefits go to the people that did not deserve it, but simply had the resources to own the company. Just as in Office Space, these men did not want to see their hard work go to waste when they were laid off, after working for almost nothing to begin with. For them, going to work was an awful form of punishment and they wanted to be able to enjoy what they did for a living. The men in the Communist League wanted to take over and do things their own way, just as the men in Office Space did.
Zach Scray
Neoliberalism is basically the idea that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. People such as Bill Gates take full advantage of this situation and he knows if it was not for the government the poor would take his money away. I felt in some aspects that this topic was similar to Kanye West’s “Good Life”. Most people that are middle class or poor absolutely hate the idea of the rich getting richer. Some of Kanye’s lyrics really portrayed this. For example Kanye says, “50 told me go head switch the style up, and if they hate then let 'em hate, and watch the money pile up, the good life.” I took this as basically translating to Kanye saying hate me because I keep getting money for what I do but I don’t care I just watch my income keep growing. Kanye is the rich getting richer and he is basically saying throughout his whole song that you (society) can keep hating me for what I am doing but I am just going to keep getting richer and richer. Neoliberalism is the whole society taking part not just one person. Kanye is taking everything for himself and does not care about what other people think or say because he knows no one can take his money away.
Egalitarianism and the film "Sicko" correspond to me. Egalitarianism deals with the notion that all people should be treated equal. The thought says that no matter what everyone should be treated the same no matter what the human condition. "Sicko" is a film that talks about the U.S. health care system and how it is very unequal and how the film's maker Michael Moore wants it to change. If a member of the government that the people elect has health care and some of the people that elected that person do not then that is unequal. Michael Moore is trying to fight for citizens rights just as John Locke did in 1690 when summarizing the thought of a basic morality. When people go without health care in the richest country in the world then there is a huge problem.
Well the two that stood out to me where neoliberalism and the Kanye west video diamonds are forever. First off neoliberalism basically means the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The Kanye videp diamonds shows a good depiction of how big time money can exploit poor people and their resources. The whole blood diamond situation is basically rich people coming in and enslaving locals and natives and making them mine the diamond fields and diamond mines for nothing but the chance to live because they will be killed if they do it.
Quiz :
To me Marx meant that you could spend your whole life chasing money and wealth but not enjoy your life but instead hate because somewhere along the line your going to throw some type of relationship with a friend, relative, or a girlfriend out the window just to make more money. For example: you can spend your whole life working for money believing it will make you happy while another person that lives pay check to pay check and feel like the richest man in the world.
Gramsci's ideological hegemony has many ideas that are closely related to the popular MTV show, The Hills. The Hills is based on a young girl's (Lauren Conrad) life and her experience living in Los Angeles. She attends fashion school and interns for the prestigious Teen Vogue. This notion of ideological hegemony entails numerous ideas of how the ruling class actually rules society and how it has become the normal way of running society. In Los Angeles, life is tough and it is basically a make it or break it city. It is sad to say that most people have to have a lot of money, a lot of talent or ambition, and know how to get yourself known, to live in this city. It is a competitive city and it has become known for its fabulous life. People there have to keep up with the fast pace and luxurious life. It has become such a social norm that people have adapted to this style of living. This could be correlated to the ruling class idea because the social status of most people that live here is extremely high and they live an insanely good life. This ruling class has set the norm and standard of living for everyone who comes to Los Angeles. In fact, Los Angeles' population has made such a name for this city, that it is people's dreams to be a part of this society. Lauren was very lucky to have gotten this internship from Teen Vogue because it is a major fashion headquarters in this country. She comes from a wealthy family so she has no problem adapting to this type of lifestyle. This just shows how every place has its own social norm depending on the businesses, people, and standard of living that is set by the dominant class.
Neo-liberalism is a take on capitalism that encourages complete economic freedom, allowing private business to grow with minimal or no government involvement. Many have been critical of neo-liberalism because its’ policies seem to give advantage to the wealthy to increase their business and capitol without restraint and leave those in the lower income range low wages and little help. I would argue that My Super Sweet 16 could be an example of the effects of neo-liberalism in America today. The premise of My Super Sweet is a television crew following around a wealthy upper class girl or boy as they prepare for their sixteenth birthday party. The parties cost a large amount of money and are normally extremely extravagant. The fact that these family can afford to give their daughters and sons birthday parties costing thousands of dollars can be used as and example of economic disparity. Examples like these of extreme extravagance could suggest that there is not the tradition majority middle class, but rather a disappearance of the middle class and a growing divide between the rich and the poor. This possible growing gap in wealth distribution could then be argued to be the product of ongoing economic policies based on neo-liberalism.
Egalitarianism is a trend of thought that favors equality. Extreme Makeover Home Edition plays off this concept in some ways. The show fixes up a run down house of a family that deserves it. They give new hope to the family and improve their quality of life. This doesn’t make them equal to everyone else since most people don’t get this opportunity, but it does show that some people deserve to be given a break when they can’t afford it. The families on this show don’t have the means to fix their house with their own money, so the show is giving them an equal opportunity to have the house of their dreams. Money often determines the equality of our lives, and separates us at the same time from other people. This show allows the family to benefit from the fact that ABC can make money off the TV show. In a way they are bringing lower class families into a more comfortable environment equal to that of so many other people. If every deserving family could benefit from this, it would truly demonstrate the idea of egalitarianism.
The song Glamorous, by Fergie, shows an example of Egalitarianism. The Stanford Encyclopedia describes Egalitarianism as referring to a society with no distinct break up of classes. In Fergie's song, she tells how she lives the 'Glamorous' life. Although she lives this life, she still remembers where she came from. Fergie follows along with Egalitarianism because she says that the material things she has does not change who she really is. Unlike the the quiz, concerning Karl Marx and how money transposes people, Fergie still enjoys events like going to Taco Bell and doing things with her family. Egalitarianism shows equality between all people and that there is no distinct break up into the class system. Although the song alludes to the Glamorous life, but although her fame has inadvertently given this life to her, she still wants to be the same.
Office Space corresponds pretty well to the concept of Gramsci’s hegemony. More specifically it has several aspects of ideological hegemony as well as some hints at organic intellectuals. In the movie, Peter Gibbons, after being hypnotized, comes to realize that the hegemony, or ‘common sense’, of today’s culture had come to make people go along with whatever they were told. People felt the only way of running society was to work long work weeks in small, cramped cubicles and to never question why. Peter began to question why and came to the conclusion that maybe this wasn’t the best way to achieve happiness for everyone. However, as illustrated by the organic intellectual argument, he wasn’t in a place of enough power and regarded high enough in society to lead to any serious reforms. As Gramsci said, just because a man sews up a tear in his suit, it doesn’t make him a tailor. Peter may be an intellectual, but he’s not in the right position to make much of an impact outside of his own life. This really shows the ideals that are placed upon us in society today that the way to happiness and long term prosperity is going along with all of the common conventions in our culture. Although it doesn’t perfectly match, and nothing really does, Office Space is a representation of hegemony.
Neoliberalism is basically the idea of rich people becoming richer and poor people becoming poorer. It is the idea of a type of system which promotes the growth and expansion of larger markets and corporations. The show MTV cribs exemplifies the effects of neoliberalism. The show portreys extremely wealthy peoples' houses and possesions. These people live lavishly and spend money on meaningless things. They have cars worth more money then some peoples' houses. While some people are staving on the streets, they are sipping on crystal and hiring cooks to make their meals. What good does this show do to those in need? All MTV Cribs does is make the MTV corporation tons of money and helps them to expand even more.
Neoliberalism is clearly on display in Kanye West's song "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" and it's music video. The issue of conflict diamonds itself is a perfect example of this issue, and is the central theme of the video. Images of young African children mining diamonds, as well as an opening monologue relating to the struggle and violence cause by conflict diamonds, shows the poor steadily growing poorer, financially and in regards to their state of life. The affluent young people, who look clean and well-kept by comparison, progressively get richer throughout the video, which begins with a man cleaning diamonds comfortably in a dingy room, then later on, a couple with a diamond ring which spreads it's suffering, and even later on stores full of diamonds with the rich and materialistic browsing. The poor get poorer, their lives plunging into poverty and violence, and the rich get richer, cruising in fancy cars and wearing diamond jewelry without a care in the world.
After watching Kanye West’s Diamond’s video, and actually deciphering his lyrics, (which, might I add, are ingenious) I came to the conclusion that the two have no direct correlation. I struggled to find a way in which one of the websites listed related to the text. It turns out I was trying too hard. Kanye’s Diamond’s record is just a recollection of his attempt as an artist to gain respect in the music industry, and the recurring chorus “Diamonds are forever” refers to the diamond shaped hand symbol used by Roc-A-Fella artists to rep their label. The symbol is most notably connected with rapper Jay-Z, whom tabloids have reported as having a certain beef with Kanye. Kanye sample’s Shirley Bassey’s chorus to make known that there is no issue, and that their relationship remains strong.(A remix to the original track was made with Jay-Z which does actually tackle the issue of Conflict Diamonds, though this wasn’t the text posted.)
When looking at the websites, I took particular interest in Gramsci’s ideological hegemony. Kanye reveals in his lyrics a struggle to be respected, that is, to overcome the predefined , and often boring, ideal of “rappers.” Kanye makes it his mission to rebel against the common stereotypical images of rappers imposed on society by the dominant members of the music industry. He builds up a “counter hegemony” through his own unique mix of rhythms and rhymes. Kanye writes, “You gotta love it though, somebody still speaks from his soul/ And wouldn't change by the change, or the game, or the fame,/ When he came, in the game, he made his own lane.”
After reading teh given material I found that there is a strong connection between the doctrine of Egalitarianism and Glamorous by Fergie. In Glamorous, Fergie sings about her glamorous lifestyle filled wiht countless luxuries and what not but how she still keeps to her lowerclass roots. I feel as though this ties in strongly with Egalitarianism. It shows how she lives her life with equality.
"Get Rich or Die Trying" and Neoliberalism
The concept of Neoliberalism and the film, Get Rich or Die Trying portray some very similar ideas. Neoliberalism deals with ideas, such as capitalism and free trade policies, and while these do not necessarily tie into this film, the overall concept of neoliberalism does. The result of neoliberalism is that of the rich grow richer, while the poor continue to become poorer. In addition the situation of the poor worsens as well. In the film, Get Rich or Die Tryin', Marcus Jackson (50 Cent) grows up poor and is unable to escape from it. He gets tied up in drugs and his life progressively grows worse and worse. He becomes poorer and poorer. Eventually Marcus escapes these streets of violence and poverty through rap stardom. Marcus is now on the other side where the rich get richer. With this aside, you can still see that the place where he came from continues to grow poorer and poorer. This correlation is complex in the way that someone who was poor escaped to be on the other side, but the overall concept still applies that due to the poor becoming poorer, the rich become richer.
Sicko – Gramsci's hegemony
In Sicko we have a system, private medical health care, which is made up of many different companies using similar practices in their businesses. This sharing of practices and the privatized nature of this system has led to a condition of decreased service for many people. In comparing the ideas of Sicko to Gramsci's hegemony we can see the factors of control being used. The highest among these is the act of consent by the American public. What we see is a well developed sense that privatized health care is, the most obvious and correct of choices. It has become an interlocked power largely by the consent of Americans. The degrading functionality of this privatized health care has been riding on the coat tails of this consent and relative indifference toward change. Acts of capitalism inherently support business growth and have also added to the rise of this damaged health care situation. Like the early Film Industry which shared similar business practices in order to encourage growth and higher profits, we see the same actions in private medical care.
~Matthew Neal
The two concepts and texts that I choose to talk about are neolibralism and 50 Cents song Get Rich or Dye trying. These two topics correlate together because neolibralism is about the economic situations that are taking place in a nation and can be summed up in the phrase; the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. 50 Cents phrase basically speaks for itself, as you will do anything to get wealthy. In many instances this is the case for many of the poor people in undeveloped countries because if they don’t get rich they will end up dying from malnutrition or dieses that could be prevent if they had a little bit of money.
Gramsci's Hegemony juxtaposed with the Cosby Show.
This is a bit of a stretch, but throughout the course of the show as the children grow up and eventually move out to start their own lives living as their parents wanted. This is where the hegemony comes in because, as the parents (ruling class) have dictated, the children go out into the world following their parents culture and morality and generally fitting into society. The break comes however when the two eldest sisters Sondra and Denise and the eldest son, Theodore somehow keep coming back to live at home to the chagrin of Heathcliff.
The pop culture text that I was most familiar with was Fergie's "Glamorous." After reading the concepts, I thought that egalitirianism was the one that fit best. Egalitarianism is someone who favors equality. They think everyone should be treated the same. I think Fergie's song, "Glamorous," is a good example of egalitarianism. The song is about her living the glamorous life. Even though she lives this nice live, she doesn't forget where she comes from. She still wants to be treated the same as everyone else.
I felt that there was a great connection between egalitarianism and The Cosby Show. Egalitarianism is the thought that all people are created equally and have equal rights and deserve equal benefits. This is a theme that was promoted through out the long running TV series of The Cosby Show. In almost every episode there was a situation with one of Cosby's children or his wife got into, and Cosby would usually have to council or advise whichever member of the family was in trouble. All of the advice and ideas proposed by Bill Cosby were also very egalitarian. He would always tell his children to treat people correctly, with respect, to treat them as they would wish to be treated. HE always said that everyone was created equal and deserved equal chances and rights. All of these ideas and advice he gave falls right in line with egalitarian beliefs and ideas.
Post a Comment