Latinos in America

The issue of illegal immigration has been on ongoing topic for many years. Wow what a touchy subject.  I think everyone has their own opinion but for me, being Latina and being an American,  I see both sides of this very important topic.  I understand that immigrants have come over to this country illegally and that it is against the law. I do not think it is right and I believe that there is a legal process to become an American citizen and many people are capable of doing it each year. I also understand that some of those illegal immigrants have brought over young children who did not make the choice to come to the US but will face the consequences due to the fact that they too are illegal, even though they have grown up here and  made this their home. It is not the children's fault, but what I do not agree with is the children continuing to be illegal when they find out their status at an adult age. If someone has gone through the US school system and wants to continue to call this their home then they should pursue citizenship the proper way once they find out they are not an actual legal citizen, instead of continuing to be illegal and obtain false paperwork in order to remain in this country. But in no way do I condone the racial hate crimes that have been committed.  The people that perform such hate crimes like the one in the video should also face legal consequeces for their actions and not just be given a light sentence because it was against an illegal immigrant.  Yet another issue that is talked about is the English language.  Many immigrants can not speak the language.  However, there are those that I have encountered that have refused to learn the language which I think is unacceptable.  Even though we do not have an offical language, I believe that if you want to make this country your home at least put some effort into learning the main language spoken.  But, with that being said,  the Hispanic population is growing at a rapid pace and I think non-Hispanic people will need to realize that if the trend continues they will become the minority and may need to learn their language as well. Many ads can already be seen in Spanish as you make your way around Dallas.  And as many of us have heard we always have to press 1 for English. Not a bad thing just a sign that things are changing.  

Princesses and Disney Films

After watching the video Mickey Mouse Monopoly, I have once again been enlightened by the fact that the movies and cartoons that I grew up with were sending a very direct message. Girls are supposed to be as pretty and proper as possible at all times and aspire to be a princess, while boys are there to take care of the girls and rescue them from evil and live happily ever after. When in fact the real world is nothing like that.  With the high divorce rate in this country these cartoons are painting very false picture of a "happily ever after."  While relationships have their ups and downs there are those that do have a happy endings and I think many people look at celebrities and people in power to try to fulfill their need to see a happy ending.  I believe that is why so many Americans, myself included, have been so fixated on the Royal Wedding.  Over 2 billion people tuned in to watch a regular commoner become a princess on Friday morning.  In essence ever girl's dream and what they have grown up watching in these cartoons,was becoming a reality with the marriage of William and Catherine.

Bamboozled-African Americans

Spike Lee has done a good job of showing a number of stereotypes throughout this movie. Although it was not the best movie in the world it does get its point across which is to identify stereotypes and make the viewer aware that they still do exist and many people still think that way. One thing that I found during the movie that I related with was the artwork in the "White Boss's" office and a stereotype of being married to an African American.  The boss reveals in the movie he is married to an African American woman.  His office is decorated with several pictures of black athletes along with several African artifacts and art pieces.  I relate to this because I too am married to an African American and our home is decorated with several pieces of African art and artifacts. We also have a painting of Nelson Mandela who my husband thinks is one of the greatest politicians ever. When people ask me about my husband and where he is from I always say he is from all over since he is lived in several places all over the world but always follow with letting them know his family is South African and  most of them still live there.  Many people automatically assume he is black because when most people think of Africa they picture black people.  But the truth is there are white Africans (like my husband and his family) as well.  I think that many people sometime forget about them and not only that but when they find out he is a white African they automatically think he is racist and supported the apartied, which couldn't be farther from the truth.  So in a different light he is being stereotyped with a group of people that have oppressed blacks up until 15 years ago, when in fact he idolizes Nelson Mandela who helped narrow the gap between blacks and whites in South Africa. So I understand Spike Lee's point about stereotyping African Americans yet he is leaving out another group African Americans. 

Masculinity in the Media

Like so many other people I never really noticed that the males in Disney movies like the ones in the video below were all shaped after one type of male. Strong, masculine, straight and as a hero saving a women in distress.  I found this video through an online course I'm taking called American Culture. Most of these Disney movies depict women as objects.  The characters are often seen as mothers or servant to the buff and tough men.  They are also seen as week and in need of men in order to survive.  I think this is giving young boys the wrong message making them feel like they have to grow up to be big and tough and not ever show true emotion or compassion.Not to mention to see the girls as inferior and weak. 

GLBT in the Media

The GLBT community has come a long way in the media, today's society seems to be more accepting and inviting toward them. They are becoming more and more prominent in television shows and movies. From gay characters to full series about gay lifestyles, audiences are learning more about the GLBT community. One TV show that I found did a great job of incorporating this group of people in their show was Nip/Tuk. They were able to bring in a transgender male who had undergone surgery to remove his Adam's apple. They also introduced another transgender male who had made a full transformation and become a woman that ends up striking up a romance with a teenage boy. The teenage boy is then confused and goes onto beat up a transsexual. They also took the traditional mom in the series and switched her character up, after she separates from her husband, to become a lesbian. Nip/Tuk has always pushed the envelope with its content but I think they do a good job of introducing some groups in our society that other shows may not be brave enough to introduce.


Clip from the show where Matt gets violent with a transsexual...

Music Race and Gender

In today's class we discussed a number of recording artist that send a negative message in their lyrics and in their videos. As an avid music lover, I can say that before when I listened to songs I didnt realize the actual message they were singing about, instead I focused on the beat and if it was catchy enought to sing along too. Since MTV rarely plays any music videos it is hard to watch any music video on TV. You almost have to search them out if you want to see them. So to some extent I think artist feel like they have to push the envelope when it comes to their videos. Shock value is huge and gets those tons of views and as long as that keeps happeneing videos and music will continue to push things to the limit.
As for the idea of "acting a certain color" I think people can been seen "acting Black" or "acting White" if the person lookng at them has a specific stereoptype of what black or white people are "supposed" to act like or be like.

Project 1 Presentation

02/28/11 I have to say a lot of the projects presented were very interesting.  I was particularly fascinated by the one about how gays are portrayed as characters in TV series.  She brought about very good points on how gay stereotypes were brought into the TV show GLEE and how the characters were portrayed.  In my project I did something similar where I took the characters in the show Modern Family and broke down the stereotypes of each character.  She however focused on one group and did more of an in depth analysis.  I think it is going to be interesting to see her end results and to see how gays are portrayed in regularly programming vs. cable programing. Here is some examples of stereotypes I found in the show I analyzed

Killing Us Softly 4

02/20/11 WOW! I never realized how advertisements give such harsh messages and unrealistic ones too.  The Dove Evolution video was definitely eye-opening, I knew that most advertisements were retouched but I had no idea to what extent. Some of the ads that were shown in the film Killing me Softly exposed women so negatively . I'm sure that I have seen a number of these ads before but I never really payed attention to them in that way.  I guess like many others I am used to seeing these kinds of ads and don't think twice when flipping through my monthly subscription to Cosmo or any other ad I come across.
After watching this film, it reminded me about a show that I watched called "The price of beauty."  It is about Jessica Simpson and her two best friends and how they go around the world to see what other cultures consider beauty.  There are a few episodes that I  can remember that were heartbreaking where the women had gone to great lengths to alter their bodies just to try to fit the image they were exposed to as beautiful







I guess the saying "A picture is worth a thousand words"  is definitely underrated when you come to think of how these advertisements are speaking to young women.

The Black Press

02/14/11 After viewing the film The Black Press: Soldiers without Swords it was clear that African Americans did everything they could to try and pull together as a community after the Civil War.  It was particularly eye-opening to see that young children were asked to read the newspapers to the elderly because the literacy rate was so low during that time.  No matter how many times or how many different ways they tried, the white man could not keep the black man from knowing what was going on. These papers encouraged blacks to head north for jobs after the war and taught them how to survive in their new found homes.  The black press is an area in journalism that is not often taught along with the rest of history.  I personally don't recall learning much about the black press before.  However I am currently taking a History of American Media course that does touch on the subject of the black press, women and what effect they had in the history of journalism.  I think as the newsrooms become more and more diverse (or at least we hope they do)  the history of the black press and history of women in journalism should become a topic that is discussed more often in classrooms.

Sexual Stereotypes in the Media

02.07.11 Tonight's class seemed liked a women bashing women session.  Several girls seem to be very harsh and critical of the women in the Vanity Fair article to the point of criticizing the color of the dress one of them was wearing. I think they were basing there opinions on stereotypes they have of women dressed a certain way.  It reminded me of the movie Legally Blonde and how throughout the movie Elle Woods was kind of bullied at Harvard Law School by the "intellectual" students.  They didn't want to study with her or try to be her friend all because of a stereotype they had. They thought that because she was a blonde girl dressed in designer clothes driving a Porche and liked the color pink, that she was stupid and was just going to law  school just to go to law school. I think as women we should try to be more supportive of the women working in the field that we are pursuing. If we keep attacking each other like this then others are going to think it's ok to do so as well and it will defy any progress we have made thus far.  After all it seemed like the article was trying to portray the two in a negative light to some extent. 

Stereotypes in the Media

01/31/11 Tonights discussion was very interesting.  I liked how Dr. Everbach pointed out that the front page of the sports section was about women's basketball and that the Super Bowl had its own section.  This then ignited an even bigger conversation in which a male student kind of implied that a female sports reporter cannot do as good of a job as a man commentating... Really?  As an avid female sports fan I can say that I know quite bit about sports and sometimes I come across guys who don't know half of what I know.  I used to work in a bar and one guy I worked with would always get asked all the questions as to what games are on and who is playing by our customers ( probably because he is a guy and they probably thought I had no clue) and I must say he never knew and always came over and asked me.  Many times he had this look of surprise when I would tell him who was playing and that I had already set the TV to automatically change when the game started.  He even said to me once "How do you know this and I don't?" and he even asked my husband the same thing...My husband laughed and said "She knows her stuff, she likes sports."   Though when I came home and discussed the students opinion about not wanting to hear a female voice commentating during a game with my husband he agreed.  He admitted that there is one woman that does commentate on the early college football games and that he purposely does not watch it because he does not want to hear a woman's voice when he is watching the game.  Of course I said "Are you serious? What if it were me up there? You wouldn't watch it because it's a woman talking?" He tried to explain that the sound of a woman's voice is a distraction and when men watch sports they related that voice to that of their wife or girlfriend and they focus more on that than the actual game so they can't relax and enjoy the game.  I was not convinced by this excuse. It may be a "personal preference" but I think guys are just intimidated by women's knowledge of sports especially if they keep up with the men around them. 

Week 1 Jan 24, 2011

First class of the semester and I can already see this is going to be a very intersting class with a lot of different opinions and heavy discussions. After watching "Race and Local TV News" (on VHS)  and the YOUTUBE video of  the "Dodson attempted rape" news story there were a lot of things I realized. In the YOUTUBE video for example I thought about how I lost focus on the story at hand and focused on the character that was put in front of me because of his strong personality. Although I had seen this video numerous times before I always found myself waiting to see Antoine again so that I could laugh. And now thinking about it the reason I watch news is not to get a good laugh at someone else's expense, it is to stay informed about what is going on in the world. Should the news be bringing such stories to the air that loose focus of the real story?  In my opinion no, this story could have been done differently. This storied portrayed a stereotype of the African Americans that live in the projects and didn't focus enough on trying to help find the suspect that was accused of breaking into a home and attempting to rape a young black woman.  I have seen other stories that have been done about a rape victim or attempted rape victim and in those cases they were white and the seriousness of the story and the focus to find the perpetrator was more profound.  At times even when the reporter was talking with the victim they would blurr out their face to protect their identity. A sketch often followed (of the scary minority suspect) to warn people of what they looked like to try to get the word out.  Minorities are portrayed like the suspects in most news stories, but at the same time they are not the only ones that are committing crimes.  It is ultimately the decision of the producers of the news stations that decide what they want to allow the viewer to know about.