Cultural studies & Kellner's Multiperspectival Approach

  Culture is something that defines this world.  It reflects who we are, and what we do.  In this class we have learned that media can be different in other cultures.  Culture is not just limited to the different geographical areas and race, but the different genders and sexual orientations. Most people assume that culture can just be studied though history and books but there are other ways of studying culture in the media.

  Douglas Kellner has developed a mulch-cultural approach to studying media.  As the first chapter in our book describes, he has imposed a study that involves discussing production and political economy, engages in textual analysis, and studies cultural texts.  Another aspect of Kellner’s study is audience reception.   All of theses aspect can be combined together to create one understanding of a culture.

   In my work for this class, I have done research using mostly audience reception and textual analysis in my mini-research papers.  I first used audience reception in a focus group comprised of gay and heterosexual men, and I recorded their reactions to homosexual pornography.  I got mixed reactions to this focus group, and it helped my paper.

  For my video game research paper, I did a textual analysis of the Legend of Zelda series and how the games all reverse the role of hegemony to make women the dominant social group in this fictional world.  I never realized how many women were in power in these games until applying Kenllner’s theory to it.  I is surprising how much information I was able to draw for my paper just by thinking about hegemony.

  In closing for this entry, I find that Kellner had a lot of useful information to offer in his study.  It helped guide me to better understand how to conduct my research for this class, and I hope to use it in the future for my other classes.  I think that I might kept this book, and bookmark this chapter so that I will remember how to conduct this type of research in the future. 

 

http://www.p12.nysed.gov/ciai/socst/grade3/geograph.html

Overview of gender/race/class

  Before I took this class, I had a very narrow viewpoint of gender, race, class and sexual orientation in the media.  I thought that there was no representation of these things in media except for incorrect portrayals that were influenced by the society.  The media seems to have influenced a white male dominated society. Below are images depicting models from Abercrombie and Finch.

 http://www.abercrombie.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Casting?catalogId=10901&storeId=10051&langId=-1
 

  As you can see, all of these models have things in common.  They are all white, rarely is there a model with dark skin in this company’s advertisements.  The men depicted in these images are very masculine, and seem as if they want to be dominant.  The females in the ads, however, seem as if they are weak and vulnerable.  Given what we know about hegemony, it would seem as if that is what society wants us to think.  

  Hegemony is described as a group in society that has dominance over others.  Given that media tends to depict dominant dominate white men, it might be safe to say that heterosexual, white men are what is expected to be the dominate group. Shows that aired in the 50’s are a good example of this.

 

  “Leave it to Beaver” was a very good example of a show that had a “perfect family.”  The children were well behaved, and the mother was a housewife.  The father was a white man that brought home the money for the family.  He was also the one to give orders to the members of his family, and discipline the children when necessary.  Society wanted the public to think that this was the way that all families should be.  As such, shows like this were very common in society.  They wanted everyone to have a family that was run by a male, and these families were expected to be white.

  I view that all of the above information is terrible.  Men of a specific race are expected to be the dominant group.  This is immoral because men are not always the dominant ones.  There have been plenty of examples of women filling the role of the dominant figure.  If society continues to hold this to be ideal then men will always be thought of as dominant.   

Sexual Orientation- Xandire from Drawn Togeather

  The LBGRTQ community has always been one of the tough subjects in media.  Whether it was representation in radio, television, or in videogames, it always seemed to be offensive.  As time went on, there have been more accurate portrayals of the LBGTQ community on television.  Such positive portrayals include Kurt from Glee, whose “coming out” story has been central to his character.  Other positive portrayals are Will from Will and Grace, who was a professional business man. Reality shows, such as The Real World, often have at least one openly gay cast member.   It is from this reality show, that a rather offensive LBGTQ character was born.

   The animated show Drawn Together was produced by Comedy Central, as an animated Real World.  It featured parodies of famous animated characters all set in a reality show.  One of the characters was based on Link, the protagonist from the Legend of Zelda series.  It has always been rumored amongst fans that Link was gay.  As such, the character based on him was openly gay.  The character, Xandir, started the series “in the closet.”  By the third episode, he started to notice that he was not interested in any of the attractive women that he was now living with; in fact, he was acting like the women that he was living with.  After being in denial for most of the episode, Xandir accepted that he was gay.  This then lead to offensive behavior on his part.

  After Xandire “came out,” he began to throw his sexuality around.  Everything he said had a suggestive meaning to it.  He would also hit on any man that he saw, regardless if they were homosexuals or not, going as far as tricking straight men into having sex with him.  This made his character a stereotypical gay man as perceived in the media.  He was promiscuous, and effeminate.

 

  While I was a fan of the show, this character was very offensive to me.  I was dealing with the pain of coming out to my family at the time that this show aired.  As such, I thought that if I did come out, then I was going to be expected to act like Xandire.  I am not promiscuous, as I view it to be immoral.  While I do talk suggestively at times, it is only when appropriate for humor and not everything that I say.  While the show was made with the thought of being funny, there was nothing humorous about being misrepresented.

 

Wikipedia. (2011, November 26). Drawn Tpgeather. Retrieved 29 November, 2011, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xandir#Xandir_P._Wifflebottom

Social Class- The P.J.'s

  Social class is present in most television shows today.  Sometimes, it is hidden while other times it is rather obvious.  Some of these shows depiction of class might even be considered offensive.  One such show that might be considered an offensive portrayal of social class is “The PJ’s” which used to air on FOX.

  Taking place in the projects in an unnamed city, “The PJ’s” ran for three seasons.  The show was done in a stop –motion animation, and took a long time just to make one episode.  The show had a pretty straight forward premise in the first few episodes.  An African American family faced the challenges of living in the projects, while trying to work their way up in society and move into a better area in the city.  As the show went on, however, the creators decided that the two main characters, Thurgood and Muriel Stubbs, should focus on being more comedic and less about moving out of the projects.  

 

  Above is the main character, Thurgood.  He was stereotypical superintendent of a project building as is always demanding rent, and doing virtually nothing to improve the flaws that were present in the building.  He would also act politically incorrect by behaving inappropriately, and not being afraid to admit that he was not well educated.  He would also say random names of famous African American people to express his emotion.  For example, he once said, “Sweet Macy Gray,” to express being surprised.  He is contradicted, in appearance and behavior by his wife, Muriel.

 

  Above is Muriel Stubbs.  While she looks like a typical African American woman from the projects, she is much more down to Earth than her husband.  She was able attended a privet school that was made up of mostly white students, due to her good academics.  When she graduated high school, she settled for what she could get, and married Thurgood, fully aware that he was just a superintendent of the local projects.  She has, however, shown that she can be just as dimwitted as Thurgood and the rest of the characters on more than one occasion.

  While I was a fan of the show when it aired, I always felt bad for laughing at it.  I understand that it was done for humor, but people I talked to at school about it seemed as if it was a touchy subject.  African American people showed great resistance to this show until it was eventually cancelled.  Eddie Murphy, who voiced Thurgood for most of the run of the series, left the show for a while, as the producers would not listen to any suggestions that he made to help make the show less offensive.  Even though it was all done in the name of comedy, FOX should have taken the views of the public into consideration. 

The PJ's. (2007, May). The PJ's. Retrieved November 2011, from tripod.com: http://tspwr.tripod.com/characters.html

The PJ's. ( 2011 , July 5). The PJ's. Retrieved November 28, 2011, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_PJs

Videogames- Race Equality

     As a gamer, I have always noticed that certain races were not present in the games that I play.  It was not something that I noticed when I was younger, but around the age of 13, I saw that African Americans were either not present, or there was only one African American character in the game.  It seemed rather unrealistic that everyone that was alive in these fantasy worlds were white or Asian.  Even the Pokemon games were guilty of this until just recently.

 

    Above is Lenora, she is known among fans as, not only the first African American main character in the Pokemon series, but also the very first African American Gym Leader in the Pokemon games.  In the Pokemon Universe, a Gym Leader is a very powerful Pokemon trainer that must be defeated to prove a trainer’s skill as a Pokemon trainer.  When Lenora’s artwork was revealed to fans in Spring 2010, fans quickly theorized what her role in the series would be.  When it was revealed that she was going to be a Gym Leader, African American fans of the series were excited, but worried at the same time. 

        

    African American fans were afraid that Lenora would act like stereotypical African American woman, which the media is known for doing with characters like this.  Once the games were released, however, everyone was pleased with the final product.  In the game, Lenora was revealed to be a world renowned archaeologist who owned a museum where she stored her findings.  She also spoke very professionally, and was always excited when speaking.  Below is a recording of Lenora’s Gym battle from the game.  In this recording, her mannerisms match what is described above.

 

      Even though it is good that there is finally a positive African American character in the Pokemon games, one question remains.  Why did it take so long for Nintendo to create an African American character for this series?  Pokemon debuted in 1997 and Lenora’s game did not come out until early 2011.  Nintendo must not have thought that a character like Lenora was needed, but I thought that it seemed rather irresponsible for them wait this long to create a character like her.


 

Bulbapedia. (2011, November 5). Lenora. Retrieved November 27, 2011, from Bulbapedia: http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Lenora

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