self directed research

http://www.cineaste.com/Sicinski.htm

http://flowtv.org/?p=63

http://www.theory.org.uk/ctr-rol6.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crash_%282004_film%29

http://www.youtube.com/

http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC41folder/EthnicityFilmBooks.html

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/AfricanAmBib.html

Self Evaluation

· Attainment - 3
I think the work I produce is of good quality, however there is also room for improvement
· Effort – 4
I think I put a fair amount of effort into my class work and blog work
· Punctuality – 1
I’m normally on time for lessons
· Submission and quality of homework – 2
I hand in all work on time and try to meet blog deadlines
· Ability to work independently – 2
Though I can get distracted sometimes
· Quality of writing – 2
I could use more media terms
· Organisation of Media folder – 2
Fairly organised
· Oral contributions in class – 3
Could contribute more
· Standard of Module 5 blog – 1
I keep up to date with blog tasks and post other research which I have found up on to the blog
· Standard of Module 6 blog – 1
Same, I keep up to date with regular tasks i.e. weekly guardian story

WWW
- Blog work, finding other articles/research relevant to my topic
- enjoying the topics that are being covered
- good understanding

EBI
- more contributions in class
- add more depth to thesis
- use more media terminology - in general

Representation of Ethnic Minorities

Below is part of an essay written by Reena Mistry on the topic of Hegemony and representation.

http://www.theory.org.uk/ctr-rol6.htm

Can Gramsci's theory of hegemony help us to understand the representation of ethnic minorities in western television and cinema?

Antonio Gramsci's theory of hegemony is of particular salience to the exploration of racial representations in the media because of its focus on culture and ideology. Unlike Marxist theories of domination, Gramsci relegates economic determinants to the background and brings to the fore the role of intellectuals in the process. The fact that television and cinema are central to popular culture is crucial because Gramsci says particular attention should be given to 'everyday' routine structures and 'common sense' values in trying to locate mechanisms of domination

Many of the clearly racist images of past television and cinema that are now fading from western screens can, in hindsight, be easily explained in hegemonic terms - particularly in relation to colonialism and white supremacy

The use of Gramsci's notion of hegemony does not expire here, however; it can be used to identify both elements of the old racist stereotypes and new, but destructive, representations of racial minorities in the current media of a seemingly liberal society. Thus, it is unsurprising that racism, though perhaps more covertly, still pervades our society.

No one in TV shouts racist abuse at black people… No one in TV physically assaults black people, they simply feed us on a diet of "Blacks are the problem"[1]

A similar process of normalising black subjugation can be seen in more recent times in 'black' sitcoms; Gitlin argues the emergence of black comedies (as opposed to a serious black drama) reflect an acknowledgement of a rising black middle-class in a non-threatening way to white audiences. Using comedy perpetuates the myth of the black clown a recent example is Will Smith's character in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Second is the development of the 'blaxploitation' genre [2]; characters such as 'Shaft', 'Black Caesar' and the numerous accounts of the black revolutionist Angela Davis (such as Foxy Brown, 1974) showed black individuals as the central protagonists and in control, in contrast to the marginal roles they were accustomed to in other Hollywood movies. The genre has endured, spawning a 'neo-blaxploitation' in which we could include films such as Bad Boys, Pulp Fiction, and White Men Can't Jump.

Despite these apparent positive developments in Britain and America, the white hegemonic hold over the television and film industries appears to have merely created different, but equally harmful, racial representations and to have repackaged the old stereotypes into forms more acceptable in a 'liberalist' society. A prominent problem is that the media industry is still dominated by white practitioners (though more black people are starting to get behind the camera). Producers and directors may consider themselves to be liberal individuals in trying to bring 'race issues' to the screen, or for avoiding the traditional stereotypes, but largely they rely on the racial stereotypes that they have assimilated as white people living in a racist society

It appears that Gramsci's theory of hegemony not only helps us to understand the motivations behind racist images in the media, but it is also part of a crucial process of demonstrating the inadequacy of white 'liberal' attempts at reform. In spite of well-meant ventures to present racial minorities favourably, white hegemony over the means of media production means that television and cinema continue to subjugate these social groups.

[1] can link to hyperdermic needle model.'as they feed us on..' the producers/directors are wanting the audience to believe the statements which are made. However these statements may not neccesarily be true as they want the audience to think in this way so it fits in with the cultral ideologies.

[2]Blaxploitation is a film genre that emerged in the United States in the early 1970s when many exploitation films were made that targeted the urban black audience. Blaxploitation films starred primarily black actors, and were the first to feature soundtracks of funk and soul music.

Furthermore, blaxploitation films laid the foundation for future filmmakers to address racial controversies regarding inner city poverty. In the early 1990s, a new wave of acclaimed black filmmakers focused on black urban life in their films (particularly Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing and John Singleton’s Boyz N the Hood, among others).

Homework

Anti Narrative - A text that challenges the traditional idea of a sequential linear narrative by using flashbacks, unrelated images and altered time sequences.

This can be linked to my study as Crash constantly changes between its multiple story lines and also at the beginning of the film the audience is shown a suspected murder scene which then follows on to a flashback of 'yesterday' - which would explain to the audience how this event occur ed.

Genre - A category of media products classed as being similar in form and type.

Crash belongs to the Crime/Drama genre

Ideology - A set of attitudes, beliefs and values held in common by a group of people and culturally reproduced within that community to sustain its particular way of life. e.g. capitalism and communism

Crash presents a variety of ideologies which include Patriarchal, Heterosexual,Political and Feminist

Mise en scene - The arrangement by a film maker of everything that is to be included in a shot or frame. This includes settings, props, decor, lighting, actors, characters, positioning and all other technical elements which contribute to the look of the scene and create its distinctive quality and unity.

This is used in each storyline to create an abrupt visual break when cutting between characters and arcs. As crash has multiple story lines each one happening at a different place, mise on scene is important as it also reflects the characters background. i.e. Rick and Christine & Christine and Cameron 's houses show that they both may have had a more privileged upbringing as they live in large houses.

Levi Strauss - French structuralist anthropologist whose analysis of human culture and myth argued for a common origin for all narratives, based on shared human life experience, fears and expectation.His narrative theory of binary opposition is based on the essential difference between such concepts.

In Crash binary oppositions have been used. e.g. black and white and victim and aggressor.

Propp, Vladimir - Writer and folklorist who analysed the structure of folk stories. He refers to the types of character in folk tales and the events that involve them. Propp's character types include: the hero, the villain, the false hero and the helper.

In Crash the villain would be Officer John Ryan as he molested a black woman during a routine stop, but he can later be seen as a hero as he saves her from a car crash. The helper would be Officer Tom Hansen as he helps to stop a confrontation that could have got some one killed but he also can be seen as a villain as he 'accidentally murders' a black man.

Prejudice - The pre - judging of an issue or social group, usually in a negative or stereotypical way. Prejudice often involves the targeting of vulnerable minority groups viewed as not conforming to mainstream norms or expectations.

Officer Ryan is considered a prejudiced characters because of his views towards black people another example is Jean Cabot who refers to the Mexican locksmith as being a 'gangbanger'.

Racism - Practices and behaviour involving social and economic discrimination, based on the false assumption that one particular ethnic group or race is culturally and biologically inferior to another.

Jean Cabot appears to be racially insecure when being car jacked, partly because of her assumptions of black people, and their race is inferior to hers. Also Anthony is constantly paranoid about racism however his friend Peter humorously mocks him and seems less worried about racism.

Stereotype - The social classification of a group of people by identifying common characteristics and universally applying them in an often oversimplified and generalised way, such that the classification represents value judgments and assumptions about the group concerned.

Anthony and Peter represent black youths, who are feared because of their stereotype, this also includes the Mexican locksmith and it could also relate to social stereotypes. Officer Ryan is an example of a stereotypical white cop who is racist towards black people.

Social realism - The representation of characters and issues in film and television drama in such a way as to raise serious underlying social and political issues.

The director tries to represent issues in a realistic way, as racism is a topic mostly avoided, however the issues show realisticly represent American society at present day.

Clip 1 - Tensions

The clip starts with the Mexican locksmith changing the locks of the D.A’s house.
However Jean (Sandra Bullock) appears to be uncomfortable with him because of his appearance (shaven head and ‘prison tattoos’) , she makes this point clear to her husband – and as far as we can tell he does not appear to be prejudiced towards the locksmith, whereas his wife does. Yet again this exposes her racial insecurities - which was first revealed to the audience then they both got carjacked. However her husband seems more worried about his political career as he does not want to risk loosing the black vote however Rick also mistakes an Iraqi person for a black person, when told about the misunderstanding he simply replies ‘well he was dark skinned’, this shows that he does not care about certain individuals as he worries mostly about his political career and how it may be jeopardised because he was carjacked by two black men.

In this clip Jean Cabot (Sandra bullock) does not trust the locksmith based on the stereotype of a person who had previously been in prison.
Even though her husband explains to her that they are not prison tattoos she refers to his stereotype, as in her eyes he would go and sell their house keys to one of his ‘homies’.