Tuesday, January 1, 2008

essay plan...so far

Introduction
Outlining my thesis/hypothesis
‘We’re the only two black faces surrounded by a sea of over-caffeinated white people, patrolled by the trigger happy LAPD. So, you tell me, why aren't we scared?

Why do stereotypes exist both within crash and in reality? focusing on US society, stereotypes and text.
Focusing on African Americans. In addition to showing how common racism is within society and Crash and its effects on characters’.
{Need to have a clearer thesis}
Introducing Crash - narrative
Look at the quote above, this is said by one of the black male characters in Crash, which links to racism and subverts the stereotype – white people, should be scared of black people... This is commonly based upon the stereotype
‘Here we have a country that is still emerging from a deeply racist history, a society in which white people have treated (and continue to treat) black people with contempt, suspicion and a profoundly ignorant sense of superiority’ [1]
The statement would be used a bold sentence in my introduction as after this I would present my argument.
{A, R}


Paragraph 1 & 2
The narrative seems to intertwine a few stereotypes that are commonly associated with Black males such as: being involved in drugs
How bigotry and prejudice form themes in the films. As some of the characters such as the district attorney‘s wife can be seen prejudiced in addition to officer Ryan who is a ‘bigot’ – a theme which occurs throughout the film

Introduction to my historical texts – Shaft and Do the Right Thing
Introduce Blaxploitation and how this genre has developed over the decades and also how both historical texts fit in within this genre.

link between Crash.. has it become a modern development of this movement genre
Media image and social realities – the media studies reader

{S, H} {G, R, A}

Paragraph 3
Look at how hegemony can help audiences understand the representation of ethnic minorities in western cinema.
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
White supremacy/ dominance – link this concept back to this as this is another theme that occurs throughout the film.
I.e. how a black man will not question a white man (police officer’s) judgement
In addition I would also link back to shows such as the cosby show and the fresh prince of bel air – black comedy sitcoms which are a success. Also looking at how black people are represented and how the situations shown in a comic manner are actually true in reality
{S, H} {A, G, R}


Paragraph 4
Comparison with historical texts (Crash and Do the Right Thing) in more depth. And why stereotypes are used, also looking at America as a country and the issue of politics. As Crash is a drama which looks at the complexities of racial tolerance in America. In addition to looking at how accurately these issues are presented as few films represent black people in an accurate way.
In addition to looking at narrative theorists such as Straus and Propp – how character roles and binary oppositions have been used.
{H} {I, R, N}


Paragraph 5
Looking at theories cited in different book based on stereotyping and American policy.

Stan Cohen – moral panic [ people being more weary]
Gunnar Myrdal – looking at modern democracy and also how there is a political ideology within the film – urban policy
As the district attorney does not want to loose the black vote, as his career seems to be his sole focus, and how one event (car jacking) may look bad.
Looking at multiculturalism, patriarchy, stereotypes, segregative separatism (how different minorities are divided)

{I, A}
Looking at work by
Stan Cohen
Myrdal
Diawara
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[1]The Media Studies reader O’SULLIVAN AND JEWKES
-Reading Race: Hollywood and the Cinema of Racial Violence by Norman K. Denzin (2002)
-The African American Image in Film: Framing Blackness
-Ed Guerrero (1993) - Black representation and Urban policy – Albert K Karnig
-Robert Ferguson – representing race

The books listed above have helped me with research

Below are the websites i have used for research
http://flowtv.org/?p=63
http://www.theory.org.uk/ctr-rol6.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crash_%282004_film%29 http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/media_literacy/35640

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