Race & TV-Racist Pokemon?

            I always loved watching cartoons.  I always thought that they were entertaining.  Little did I know that there are dark, hidden messages within some of the characters.  How was I supposed to know at the time?  I was just a little boy.  My favorite show that I would watch, Pokemon had such a character.  Pokemon number 124, Jynx.

            Above is Jynx’s original artwork.  She had charcoal black skin, big pink lips, long blond hair, and oversize hands.  In the anime, she talked with a deep voice, wiggled her hips, danced around for no reason, and acted silly.  In Japan, no one seemed to have a problem with her appearance and behavior.  Once the show hit North America, this Pokemon became the target of African American author Carole Boston Weatherford.

Weatherford claimed that the Pokemon was designed to look like the “blackface characters”  mentioned in our assigned readings. Weatherford also noticed that Jynx’s actions were similar to politically incorrect depictions of obese African American women.  Nintendo quickly made note of Wetherford’s claims, apologized to her, and redesigned Jynx.
  

           
            Above depicts how Jynx has looked since Weatherford’s accusations.  Her skin is now a light purple, and her figure is much more elegant.  In the anime, her personality is now reminiscent of a flirtatious woman.  The question remains though, were Weatherford’s accusations true, or was it just a misunderstanding?   

          

          Japan is a culture with very few black people, as such; there is no distinction of what is offensive to them.  Perhaps Jynx was a depiction of something else from Japanese culture, and got misinterpreted when it hit North America.  Japanese theater is known for having men wear dark make-up, and dress in women’s clothing, something which Jynx also seems to resemble.  In any case, Nintendo of America should have been able to see that this particular Pokemon might cause trouble.  I view is as irresponsible for them to let it slip through the cracks when the franchise was being localized.  No matter if it was a reference to African culture or just a coincidence, it should have been noticed that this Pokemon was referencing something that was not going to localize well.  I guess it just depends on how you look at it though.

Works Cited

Bulbapedia. (2011, October 24 ). Jynx. Retrieved October 24 , 2011, from Bulbapedia.com: http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Jynx_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29

Wikipedia. (2011, October 7). Jynx.  Retrieved October 24, 2011, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jynx

Masculinity-Be tough! Be a Man!

          One of topics that we covered in class last week how males are expected to be tough in modern day society.   It seems that males are expected to have muscles, be brave, and be powerful figures.  Even in children’s programing, males are shown to be the dominant figures on the show.   In this entry, I will cover some examples that I have noticed.  I will use an example form the Anime Dragonball Z.  

The picture above depicts the character, Gohan.  He is a twelve year old boy in this picture, and he is not your typical hero.  He studies hard, sacrificing a social life in order to please his parents by becoming a scholar.  While he looks like your typical preteen boy in this picture, the picture below makes him look completely different.

Gohan is also a skilled fighter.  Unlike most scholars, he has muscles and is able to raise his power to very high levels.  In this picture, he is in battle.  As such, he has blood on his body and no longer has a smile on his face.  This is implying that even smart males should be strong, and not afraid to fight.  While Anime is not targeted solely toward children in Japan, it is when it is dubbed in English and aired on television here in North America.  This can lead an expecting child to think that this image of toughness is normal for any age.  They might then feel as if they need to mimic what the show portrays, or else they will not fit in. 

This example relates to what the documentary we watched in class portrayed.  At one point, the documentary showed us that action figures are beginning to become exaggerated.  They almost always have abs, and are depicted as being strong men.  This can sometimes contrast the character that the figure is actually based on.  Children might then expect that this is how men are supposed to look.  Whether or not this is done intentionally, it is wrong to continue for this image to be enforced.  It is a false perception that does not identify with all males.

 

Dragonball Wikia. (2010, June). Gohan. Retrieved November 2011, from Dragonball Wikia: http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Gohan

Everyday Pornography-Let's have some fun; this beat is sick.......

Pornographic actions are being incorporated into all sorts of modern media today.  Even in music.  We all know about the esteemed Lady Gaga.  She’s always pushing limits with her outrageous personality, outfits, and song lyrics.   Most of the time, it is difficult for people to see the hidden meaning in her songs.  An example of this is her debut song, “Poker Face.”  Most people would think that she is singing about playing a game of poker with her friends, and the music video supports this assumption.  It was not until Lady Gaga announced that the song was about sexuality that people started hearing the hidden message.  She explained that she was bisexual, so she never told any of the men that she dated about it because she was worried that they might be uncomfortable if they knew.  Thus the lyric, “I’m bluffin’ with my muffin.”  Little children go around town singing these songs, but they do not realize what they are singing.  Since some of these messages are hard to catch, most just accept it.  However, there are some Lady Gaga songs that are not as subtle about the sexual meaning, and one song comes to mind.

            The song “Love Game” is clear about its message from the moment the song starts, “Let’s have some fun; this beat is sick!  I wanna’ take a ride on your disco stick!”  Saying that that she wants to take a ride implies sex, and the disco stick is referring to his penis.  The chorus of the song then implies that all of this is a game, “Let’s play a love game, play a love game.  Do you want love, or do you want fame, or you win the game?  (It’s) Called a love game!”  At no time does she refer to this all being done to find someone that she would like be in a relationships with; rather, she is just looking for a hookup.  In other words, this song is promoting promiscuity.

            Given what we talked about in class this past week, this song puts a different spin on hegemony.  Usually, men are the dominant ones, but here the power belongs to women.  Either way, small children walk around in public singing this song, not knowing that it is referring to a promiscuous woman.  This shows that pornographic actions are becoming more accepted in today’s world.  While I am a big fan of Lady Gaga, I am slightly disturbed when I hear children singing this particular song.

Gaga, L. (Performer). (2009). Love Game [Music video].

Femininity & Advertising- Sex in Media

This week in class, we talked about how sex is present in the media.  Our class discussions seemed to focus on how women are taken advantage of, and misrepresented in advertisements.  When we brought in advertisements from magazines, almost every one that was posted on the board was of a woman.  While I do agree that women are misrepresented, and taken advantage of by men in advertisements, I would like to point out that this happens to men in advertisements, too.

       

I will start with this example of an advertisement that I came across about Axe Body Spray.

In this advertisement, these women work as airport security.  They are clearly attracted to this young man, so they abuse their power, and set the detectors off.  Each time that the detector goes off, he is forced to remove an article of clothing.  This continues until he is naked.  If something like this were to happen in real life, these women would be fired from their jobs, and arrested. 

Since Axe Body Spray is geared toward men, I am confused as to why they would even want to show a man being humiliated by women in public in an advertisement.  In this case, it appears that the company did not realize that they were not targeting their proper audience.  This advertisement seems to want women to buy their product for their boyfriends, but it was quite a stretch.  

I will end this blog entry with a picture of a male model form Ambercrombie and Fitch.

 http://www.abercrombie.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Casting?catalogId=10901&storeId=10051&langId=-1
This company is known for setting false images with their models.  In this particular picture the model is shirtless, has a muscular body, and is wet.  This Ambercrombie is implying that men should be very muscular in order to fit in, or else no one will like them.  I, personally, have a problem with this.  This makes nonathletic men feel self-conscious about their bodies and appearance.

It does not seem as if advertisements will ever stop promoting sex.  The people producing the advertisements will continue to push the limits.  I think that if people would do something about it, instead of just complaining about it, then maybe it might stop.