1. Sunday March 22st, 2009
3:30 p.m.
Barber Shop 2
USA-34 (Tulsa channels)
African Family - relationship between son and dead father as well as "adopted" Barbershop family
Positive
2. Tuesday March 17th 2009
1:30 a.m.
Daddy's Girls
MTV-39 (Tulsa Channels)
African American Sisters - the two affluent daughter of Reverend Run who moved to New York to start their own company
Positive
3. Wednesday March 25, 2009
12:20 p.m.
KFC commercial
T.V. in the union
African American family - one can only assume husband & wife
Neutral
4. Tuesday March 17, 2009
Media goes to jail
Trailer to movie in another film
African American family - humorous, Medea is the main character but we see clips of her family
Negative (funny, but negative)
5. Thursday March 26, 2009
Obama Grants First Family Interview to 'Access Hollywood' July 8, 2008
ABC News.com
African American Family - the White House Family, President Obama, his wife, and daughters
Positive
6. Tuesday March 24, 2009
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
4:00 p.m.
USA-34 (Tulsa Channel)
African American Family - mother & son, mother was a hooker who was shot while son was in the closet
Negative
7. Wednesday March 25, 2009
Local 8 News
NewsChannel 8 @ 5:00 p.m.
African American Family - Female bank robber
Negative
The television in my apartment has been out up until recently, so I had to dig into my brain to images that I had seen at home during spring break (where I spent most of my time plopped in front of our T.V. with the TiVO remote). I am a very visual person, it is the best way that I learn and I am also a person who probably wastes too much watching T.V. Having these two things in mind I began to think about images I have grown up with and see everyday on the television that represent the African American Family. At first I began to pick out families I could think of and choosing to write about them; the Cosby Show, the Fresh Prince, Weeds, etc. When I asked if I could do that Prof. Flippin-Wynn said that would selecting a specific type of image, which is true and an angle I had not yet considered. There are so many mixed images I can think of when I think of African American families. Many of the movies that I've seen, that are specified to my age group, show low income families - yet others show families that are well off, or just average. One of my all-time favorite shows Law & Order:SVU had a marathon of old episodes and one of the ones that I was able to catch was about an a young black prostitute who was killed while her little boy was in the closet and heard the whole thing. This is a negative image in general, however the fact that this story line includes a race changes things - subconsciously. An image that ties along to this is Medea goes to jail. This is strictly based on comedy, but it's comedic because people can relate to seeing this. What kind of image is this? I am not saying that there aren't movies about white people going to jail and it being comedic, but when people see this it sets up for perhaps a stereotype.
I feel as if the issue of race in television and other media is an issue that is hard to touch on. There are so many different types of images thrown at us and I believe it is the mixture of these images with our personal experiences that help us to identify ourselves and others with these images.
Tying things back to seeking out specific images of the African American Family I started to think back on some of the movies that I owned and if I could use those for examples. I noticed a common theme between two of my favorite movies "Save The Last Dance" & "Step Up 2". Both of these movies are about white girls falling into the hip hop culture, but does this mean it has to be ghetto? That is the case here. And even further Save The Last Dance is about an inter-racial couple and touches on the issues with that. This is kind of irrelevant, but these are the kind of movies that I watched in middle and high school, so they had an impression on my childhood. The images that we show to growing children have a stronger impact on someone rather than someone who has fully matured and will probably not change their conceived notions of race.
While i think that these images play a part in how we identify or view races I believe that our experiences in the real world are what have the greater impact. If someone is sheltered and had no interaction with people different from themselves, then yes they will probably be prown to take these images more into account. But I think that I base my thoughts about race more on personal experience, but maybe I am wrong!
“While I think that these images play a part in how we identify or view races I believe that our experiences in the real world are what have the greater impact.”
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with this statement. The media can put whatever they want on TV and portray it however they wish. It is up to us as to whether we want to believe what we see. Many college students are quick to question their professors, but want to believe everything they see on TV. It is not all factual; however, you have to form your own opinion on issues. You can’t base your life on the things you see in the media, you have to live your own life and pass your own judgements.
I do believe that the images we show to the children will have greater impact of their perception then a mature person. This is called primacy, which means that something we learned at first will have greater impact and memory about it. If the images show a stereotype several times, more than likely the children will read it as a typical situation or reaction and it will be hard for them to unlearn that idea. Therefore, it is important for us or media to provide the correct information to the younger generation at first place, so they can see the truth through their real life experience.
ReplyDeleteI think you are right on that view where certain situations maybe affect the images of a particular race more than others because of stereotypes embedded deep into the societal psyche. Yes it is true that all races have or have gotten into their fair share of trouble but in the case of black and white stereotyping, people are more like to label Africans as being trouble makers, inferior and societal misfits because of the images the media brands into the minds of its audience. Like you said, interaction is definitely what is needed into order for one to truly prove the validity of these so-called perceptions and it seems to me that media somehow tries to get the audience to make their judgment solely on the images portrayed. Not everyone is sucked into the media’s ploy but one cannot deny the effects of this strategy. Continue to write your wonderful blogs, I enjoy reading them. Keep it up.
ReplyDelete"This is kind of irrelevant, but these are the kind of movies that I watched in middle and high school"
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's irrelevant at all :). Middle school and high school, in opinion, was when we started to come into our own as young adults. We began shaping the social dynamics of our lives and these stereotypes that we saw in movies and TV had a grand effect on how perceived African Americans. Although we may not have known it at the time, but these images instilled in us a set of beliefs about African American’s…some positive, but mostly negative. It’s up to our generations to stop these negative images and begin seeing African Americans in media through a different scope.