There's a trend I've noticed in a few shows that I have watched recently and it involves interracial relationships. I haven't had the chance to watch a lot of new TV recently, so I've just been rewatching shows. A few shows that I've revisited have been Happy Endings, Don't Trust the B in Apartment 23 and other similar ABC shows.
In these shows, I've noticed that the way the men of color on this show are written are maybe a bit unique, at least from the limited amount of TV I have seen. The men don't usually follow typical "black stereotypes" as I've mentioned a few times on this blog. The men on these shows speak proper English and very rarely say "yo yo you" or other phrases associated with African Americans. These men, in a sense, are the classic "oreo" example. They are white men in a black body, at least as the media would have us see it.
The TV world and the real world are different, and that is clear just based on what we watch. The fact that I notice that these characters are different from many other African American characters shows that the TV world is not representative of the real world, as there are many non-stereotypical black men in the real world.
The thing about these shows, is that both of these men are in relationships with white women. Now, as I said, I haven't watched a wide variety of shows, but I really have not seen many interracial relationships in shows. But, in the shows that I have seen, it seems that the media wants us to believe that a white woman is only interested in a black man if that black man isn't "really" black. In a way, the media is telling us that black men aren't deserving of a white woman (as they tend to be the Ultimate Prize) unless he conforms to white culture. Again, this is just what I've seen, so please let me know in the comments if I am dead wrong.
However, I feel that this shows that we haven't come very far in terms of acceptance of interracial relationship as a culture. Sure, catalogues and commercials have interracial couples frequently, but we see them much less frequently in long term relationships on TV shows. I find this odd, because again, it is not representative of real life.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Jezebel's Selfie Article
I may be a little late to the game, but I just read this article that Jezebel posted about selfies. The title reads: Selfies Aren't Empowering. They're a Cry For Help.
Two things. One, I think the title may be a little dramatic and doesn't exactly address what the article goes on to talk about. And two, selfies are not a cry for help in most cases.
A quick summary of the article if you don't feel like reading: selfies are bad because they're a reflection of societies pressure on girls to be perfect looking. Girls post selfies to be compliment on their looks. If these girls really had confidence, they wouldn't need to be posting pictures of themselves on the internet.
Or would they? I guess I just don't see what is inherently wrong with a girl saying "Hey, I look better than normal today, let's show everyone!" or "I just got a new shade of lipstick I want people to see." I do see where she is coming from in regards to people posting selfies just for attention and validation, but I think she is overstating and overgeneralizing. I definitely do not think that every single selfie ever posted is a cry for attention. I think that selfies definitely can be empowering and a way to display confidence. Yes, I can see where they reinforce that a girl's worth is her beauty, but isn't just the feeling of beauty that a girl has a reinforcement of this patriarchal standard? Isn't just simply feeling more beautiful one day a representation of a girl's need to be considered beautiful to be worth something?
I'm not sure if I'm articulating myself very well, but I think that selfies are fine and a normal part of modern culture. I'm not so convinced that they represent something deeper, except in special cases. However, this is just my opinion as usual, so let me know what you think in the comments.
Two things. One, I think the title may be a little dramatic and doesn't exactly address what the article goes on to talk about. And two, selfies are not a cry for help in most cases.
A quick summary of the article if you don't feel like reading: selfies are bad because they're a reflection of societies pressure on girls to be perfect looking. Girls post selfies to be compliment on their looks. If these girls really had confidence, they wouldn't need to be posting pictures of themselves on the internet.
Or would they? I guess I just don't see what is inherently wrong with a girl saying "Hey, I look better than normal today, let's show everyone!" or "I just got a new shade of lipstick I want people to see." I do see where she is coming from in regards to people posting selfies just for attention and validation, but I think she is overstating and overgeneralizing. I definitely do not think that every single selfie ever posted is a cry for attention. I think that selfies definitely can be empowering and a way to display confidence. Yes, I can see where they reinforce that a girl's worth is her beauty, but isn't just the feeling of beauty that a girl has a reinforcement of this patriarchal standard? Isn't just simply feeling more beautiful one day a representation of a girl's need to be considered beautiful to be worth something?
I'm not sure if I'm articulating myself very well, but I think that selfies are fine and a normal part of modern culture. I'm not so convinced that they represent something deeper, except in special cases. However, this is just my opinion as usual, so let me know what you think in the comments.
Thursday, November 28, 2013
The Segregation of Stand Up Comedy?
Earlier I talked about sketch comedy and the world of Saturday Night Live. However, the other day, I was looking through the selection of stand up comedy on Netflix and noticed something interesting with the way comedians sort of market themselves.
It seems that whatever race the comedian is, they kind of tend to make the title and content of their shows fit certain stereotypes. For example, Louis CK is a white male and his stand up tends to appeal mostly to white males. A similar thing occurs with people of color in the stand up comedy world, like Kevin Hart. In watching some of these shows of people of color, such as Katt Williams or Reggie Watts, they tend to live up to the stereotypes of "loud, ghetto" black people. They have titles like "Why ___ So Crazy?" or "Pimpin' Pimpin.'"They talk in very stereotypical ways and usually make jokes about black people, specifically black women. The audience eats this up, however.
I feel like these stereotypes are not representative of the African American population, so why is this comedy so popular? Why does it seem as if stand up comedy is segregated? Is white stand up too isolating for other races in terms of content?
Comedy is something I am very interested in, as I said earlier. I plan to do one or two more posts on this topic, but I just wanted to get my basic thoughts out while I noticed this pattern. Let me know what you think in the comments!
It seems that whatever race the comedian is, they kind of tend to make the title and content of their shows fit certain stereotypes. For example, Louis CK is a white male and his stand up tends to appeal mostly to white males. A similar thing occurs with people of color in the stand up comedy world, like Kevin Hart. In watching some of these shows of people of color, such as Katt Williams or Reggie Watts, they tend to live up to the stereotypes of "loud, ghetto" black people. They have titles like "Why ___ So Crazy?" or "Pimpin' Pimpin.'"They talk in very stereotypical ways and usually make jokes about black people, specifically black women. The audience eats this up, however.
I feel like these stereotypes are not representative of the African American population, so why is this comedy so popular? Why does it seem as if stand up comedy is segregated? Is white stand up too isolating for other races in terms of content?
Comedy is something I am very interested in, as I said earlier. I plan to do one or two more posts on this topic, but I just wanted to get my basic thoughts out while I noticed this pattern. Let me know what you think in the comments!
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Kerry Washington on Saturday NIght Live and African Americans in Sketch Comedy
The other night, I finally got to stay up and watch Saturday Night Live. It was a rerun of Kerry Washington's hosting debut. The episode was very funny and I thought she did a great job of hosting. The opening sketch addressed and issue that SNL has always had, but no one had every really mentioned, the fact that SNL lacks writers and actors that are African American.
SNL has always had a very white-washed cast, with one or two token black actors to play any black characters they made need. This season there are only two African American actors, both of them male. There is one Persian woman, but she cannot play an African American person in the sketches. Kerry Washington made a joke about this during the first sketch of this past episode. Now, obviously, she did not write the sketch herself. This means that the writers made this joke. So, do the writers of SNL realize that they truly have a problem with their cast? Do they realize that they should try to be more inclusive in the casting and writing of the show? We'll see. Hopefully, this realization will lead to a more diverse cast in the future.
The problem (for the most part) it seems, lies in the people who audition for the show. There are plenty of talented, hilarious African Americans out there, that I'm sure of. However, African Americans tend to do stand up comedy, which is great, but does not translate well into working for SNL. The actors that do best on SNL took sketch comedy classes and improv classes at very well known improv theaters like the Upright Citizens Brigade theater or the Second City. These classes require a lot of money and time. As we know, economic distribution in the United States is not exactly fair in terms of the balance among races. Stand up comedy requires little to no classes, just a funny personality. Maybe this is the reason that African Americans tend to gravitate to stand up comedy instead of sketch comedy?
This is something I am very interested in, as I love the world of comedy and I want to potentially write for SNL one day. However, I would love to write for a diverse cast of characters. I'm sure there are other reasons for the lack of diversity, but I feel that this is a large one. I plan on doing more research into the topic, but in the mean time let me know what you think in the comments!
SNL has always had a very white-washed cast, with one or two token black actors to play any black characters they made need. This season there are only two African American actors, both of them male. There is one Persian woman, but she cannot play an African American person in the sketches. Kerry Washington made a joke about this during the first sketch of this past episode. Now, obviously, she did not write the sketch herself. This means that the writers made this joke. So, do the writers of SNL realize that they truly have a problem with their cast? Do they realize that they should try to be more inclusive in the casting and writing of the show? We'll see. Hopefully, this realization will lead to a more diverse cast in the future.
The problem (for the most part) it seems, lies in the people who audition for the show. There are plenty of talented, hilarious African Americans out there, that I'm sure of. However, African Americans tend to do stand up comedy, which is great, but does not translate well into working for SNL. The actors that do best on SNL took sketch comedy classes and improv classes at very well known improv theaters like the Upright Citizens Brigade theater or the Second City. These classes require a lot of money and time. As we know, economic distribution in the United States is not exactly fair in terms of the balance among races. Stand up comedy requires little to no classes, just a funny personality. Maybe this is the reason that African Americans tend to gravitate to stand up comedy instead of sketch comedy?
This is something I am very interested in, as I love the world of comedy and I want to potentially write for SNL one day. However, I would love to write for a diverse cast of characters. I'm sure there are other reasons for the lack of diversity, but I feel that this is a large one. I plan on doing more research into the topic, but in the mean time let me know what you think in the comments!
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Doctor Who
The other day, I decided to rewatch a few older episodes of Doctor Who, the popular British sci-fi show. Normally I am not into science fiction, but I really liked this show when I watched it on Netflix a few years ago. Eventually, it got too confusing and I stopped watching, but every now and then I put it on in the background for noise while I do homework.
I have never looked at Doctor Who in terms of race, as it was something I didn't think about too often before taking my Women's Studies class. After watching a few hours worth of the show, I began to think about the writing of the show, and how that writing works in terms of race.
The writers of the show do a good job with the few Afro-european characters. Now, I don't necessarily know what stereotypes exist in the British media, but from what I can tell the characters are not written in a stereotypical way. They act and speak in the same way that the white characters do. They are written as intelligent people, who are just as necessary in helping the Doctor as any other character is. However, despite this, there are still so few Afro-european characters on the show. From the episodes that I have seen, there were maybe two or three major characters that I can remember the names of that were of color. I'm not necessarily sure if this is representative of the British population, or if BBC has the same problems with not writing people of color as NBC in America does, but I'm leaning towards the second one.
The thing that most surprises me about the writing of Doctor Who is the fact that in 50 years, there has not been a Doctor of color. For those of you that don't know, the Doctor is an alien (who looks and acts just like a human) that can regenerate as a person of any age, any gender, any race. However, in all of the 12 Doctors there have been, they have all been white males. I think this says a lot about the team of writers. Do they not think a women Doctor would be as popular? The Doctor has had plenty of woman companions who have been incredibly intelligent and necessary for the Doctor to complete this work. Why could the next Doctor not have been a woman with a male companion? Or ever better, a female Doctor with a female companion? The companion does not always have to be a love interest, as in the case with Donna. A female Doctor would still have the same brain and act in the same way as the Doctor. I know for a fact that a female or Afro-european Doctor would be just as funny as the current Doctor. I just don't see what the writers or casting directors thought processes are in terms of characters that aren't white males.
As great as I think the show was when I watched it, I do see a lot of flaws in terms of the writing of women or Afr-European characters in the show. I believe this shows that it is just not America that has trouble representing non white males in the media.
If any of you have watched the show, or just have opinions on this issue too, I encourage you to comment below. I would love to have a discussion with you!
I have never looked at Doctor Who in terms of race, as it was something I didn't think about too often before taking my Women's Studies class. After watching a few hours worth of the show, I began to think about the writing of the show, and how that writing works in terms of race.
The writers of the show do a good job with the few Afro-european characters. Now, I don't necessarily know what stereotypes exist in the British media, but from what I can tell the characters are not written in a stereotypical way. They act and speak in the same way that the white characters do. They are written as intelligent people, who are just as necessary in helping the Doctor as any other character is. However, despite this, there are still so few Afro-european characters on the show. From the episodes that I have seen, there were maybe two or three major characters that I can remember the names of that were of color. I'm not necessarily sure if this is representative of the British population, or if BBC has the same problems with not writing people of color as NBC in America does, but I'm leaning towards the second one.
The thing that most surprises me about the writing of Doctor Who is the fact that in 50 years, there has not been a Doctor of color. For those of you that don't know, the Doctor is an alien (who looks and acts just like a human) that can regenerate as a person of any age, any gender, any race. However, in all of the 12 Doctors there have been, they have all been white males. I think this says a lot about the team of writers. Do they not think a women Doctor would be as popular? The Doctor has had plenty of woman companions who have been incredibly intelligent and necessary for the Doctor to complete this work. Why could the next Doctor not have been a woman with a male companion? Or ever better, a female Doctor with a female companion? The companion does not always have to be a love interest, as in the case with Donna. A female Doctor would still have the same brain and act in the same way as the Doctor. I know for a fact that a female or Afro-european Doctor would be just as funny as the current Doctor. I just don't see what the writers or casting directors thought processes are in terms of characters that aren't white males.
As great as I think the show was when I watched it, I do see a lot of flaws in terms of the writing of women or Afr-European characters in the show. I believe this shows that it is just not America that has trouble representing non white males in the media.
If any of you have watched the show, or just have opinions on this issue too, I encourage you to comment below. I would love to have a discussion with you!
Sunday, November 3, 2013
New Blog Focus - It's More Than Words
It's been a long time since I've posted, and that's because I've been feeling very uninspired. I realized that the focus of my blog causes me to go out and search for material to write about, and I've kind of been putting it on the back-burner. So, because of this, I have decided to refocus my thoughts. I'm going to try to look at the way media is written (movies, television, music) and find patterns or just speak about things I find interesting or confusing in these words. I will not be creating a new blog for this, as I feel that More Than TV fits this description as well. I hope that this new focus will be better for me as a writer and for you as a reader.
Monday, October 14, 2013
Dehumanizing Black Women
The other day I read this article from The Frisky and I found it very interesting. I always knew that black women were very sexualized in the media, if not more sexualized then white women. However, I never thought of it in terms of "dehumanizing" black women. But I can definitely see where the author gets that idea from.
We are shown daily in the media, black women as either highly sexual, or "mammies" who never have sex. It is thought to be odd if a woman of color on TV or in a movie does not have an extremely curvy figure. A flat chested or flat bottomed black woman is a rarity on screen, and usually if there is one, the character is more of an "Oreo" with a more "white" personality. Black women are strippers and prostitutes on screen or in music. Black women in music are also less likely to be called women. They may be called bitches, or even just a piece of ass, but never a woman. They are broken up into parts of their body, but never seen as a whole. And yes, this does occur to white women, but it seems to be most aggressively done to women in the hip hop culture, who are predominately black.
I can see how this language dehumanizes women in the eyes of the public. Women are not whole people, they are only breasts and ass. This could possibly explain the widespread violence in predominantly black neighborhoods. It could also explain the thought processes of many people, especially on issues such as rape and domestic violence.
I truly feel that knowing why we think things can help us change the way we think. I'm hoping to spread this information and to try and get women to seem more like humans and not pieces of something to the public. I hope you do too.
In case the link above does not work: http://www.thefrisky.com/2013-10-04/true-story-i-grew-up-a-poor-black-sex-symbol/
We are shown daily in the media, black women as either highly sexual, or "mammies" who never have sex. It is thought to be odd if a woman of color on TV or in a movie does not have an extremely curvy figure. A flat chested or flat bottomed black woman is a rarity on screen, and usually if there is one, the character is more of an "Oreo" with a more "white" personality. Black women are strippers and prostitutes on screen or in music. Black women in music are also less likely to be called women. They may be called bitches, or even just a piece of ass, but never a woman. They are broken up into parts of their body, but never seen as a whole. And yes, this does occur to white women, but it seems to be most aggressively done to women in the hip hop culture, who are predominately black.
I can see how this language dehumanizes women in the eyes of the public. Women are not whole people, they are only breasts and ass. This could possibly explain the widespread violence in predominantly black neighborhoods. It could also explain the thought processes of many people, especially on issues such as rape and domestic violence.
I truly feel that knowing why we think things can help us change the way we think. I'm hoping to spread this information and to try and get women to seem more like humans and not pieces of something to the public. I hope you do too.
In case the link above does not work: http://www.thefrisky.com/2013-10-04/true-story-i-grew-up-a-poor-black-sex-symbol/
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