While watching "Master of None," a Netflix series created by Indian-American comedian Aziz Ansari (very funny -- I highly recommend), I was intrigued by Ansari's social commentary on the way minorities, specifically Indians, are portrayed in television. In a straightforwardly titled episode, "Indians on TV," Ansari navigates the difficulties of being an Indian actor. When Ansari's character, Dev, doesn't get the role he wants because he refuses to fake an Indian accent (in place of his very American, New York accent), he is shocked at the stereotypical roles Indians play in television. Whenever his agent finds him a role, he is denied the part because he refuses to perform as a stereotype, for roles such as an Indian cab driver. At one point in the episode, Dev and his friend, who is also Indian, both try out for a television show about three best friends. To Dev's dismay, they are not both casted because the producers said there can't be two Indian guys, because then the show would seem like a show about Indian friends. This specific part is a great example of symbolic annihilation. As Dev soon realizes, Indians are not commonly portrayed in media, but when they are, they are trivialized and stereotyped.
Throughout the episode, Ansari describes what we discussed in class as Cultivation Theory. In "Growing Up With Television," the authors described cultivation as "the independent contribution television viewing makes to audience members' conceptions of social reality"(35). From this article and the cultivation analysis by Susannah R. Stern, it is clear that from a young age, people are influenced by what they see on television. And, not only are minorities not usually portrayed in television, but when they are, they are stereotyped. When Dev and his friend are told they cannot be in the television show about the three best friends, it is because they are both Indian. On the contrary, two caucasian men would never be told they couldn't be on the same show because they are both white.
In this clip, Dev is talking to a friend about the lack of Indian representation in the movie industry.
Even though this story happened a long time ago, it has been on my mind for a while now. A couple of weeks ago when the Giants played the Panthers there were a couple of small altercation on the field between Josh Norman and Odell Beckham Jr. that created a large media controversy questioning Beckham Jr's manhood and sexuality. For a brief little overview, throughout the game there were slurs that were thrown the way of Beckham Jr. along with a bat being brought out onto the field; further questioning his manhood. Of course, the mass media caught wind of this interaction, and ran with it. They began to pull certain videos and photos from his social media accounts of him dancing in traditionally "non-masculine" ways with his closet friends. I guess these videos were suppose to serve as conformation that Beckham is Bi-Sexual? This is where I began to question the media's judgement. Who and what determines what is masculine or not? Why can't he just be himself and have fun? Similarly, I began to interject the notion of race into the conversation, because a week after that when Channing Tatum participated on Lip-Sync battle he was praised for dressing like a woman TWICE while showing off his Beyonce moves. While Odell Beckham was defending his sexuality for millions of ignorant American's with too much free time. The media has trained the minds of American's to think that African American males should always display "manly" "strong, dominant" behavior. Needless to say, this comparison tells me something. The media has a lot of power over how we think!
This week, AdWeek published an article stating that there is a new addition to the family of lego figurines...and this new members is disabled. The new mini figure is a young man in a wheelchair clad in a trendy beanie and hip clothes.
Technically, Lego has included disabled mini figures in their toy collections before. However, last time the person in a wheelchair was a stereotypical elderly man. This new toy is most likely in response to the #ToyLikeMe campaign, which has been encouraging Lego and similar companies to diversify their toys.
I came across some Kanye West tweets that sparked my interest. Kanye and Wiz Khalifa had some unkind words to express to one another. They are both millionaires who rap. These tweets represented power and class. Kanye took some shots at wiz's son. Since Kanye have so much power and class he feels as if he can talk to anyone any way he pleases. It is simply too far to bring up someone's child in an argument but Kanye feels as if he is over everyone else so he can do as he please and say whatever he wants.
"Only women show up in Senate after snow storm" - headliner from the Washington Post
"Only female lawmakers show up at Senate following blizzard" - NY Daily News
"Hardiness Women" - C-SPAN
"Women Ruled the Senate After the Blizzard (Because the Men didn't Show Up)" - UPROXX
"Senate Women Rule Capitol Hill at Post-Blizzard session" - abcNEWS
From these headliners, we get the point that women were indeed the only representatives of the Senate after the blizzard Jonas. If you take a closer look at the word choice, there are slight discrepancies that provoke reaction from someone with a critical media perspective. The spectrum shifts from a sense of women empowerment with the terms "women rule" to a distance stance with the 'biologically-correct' gender terminology "female lawmakers". In relation to the article we read Guess Who Won't Be Coming to the Studioby Alex Mitchell, the opposite was expected in this instance. Mitchell's study found that "minorities (and, to a lesser extent, women) in Congress were profoundly underrepresented on the Sunday shows during the same period." While at times women shy from the spotlight, their presence speaks loudly in circumstances where little attention might be given e.g. frosty conditions. Spoken by, Abbey Gonzales
Zayn Malik, a former member of One Direction, released the music video for his new single "Pillowtalk" over the weekend. The video was filled with trippy visual effects and a lot of sensual kissing between Zayn, and rumored girlfriend, Gigi Hadid. Another aspect of the video was the inclusion of an unnamed black woman adorned in spikes. The woman, whose open and naked legs contained an image of a blooming flower, emphasizes the constant sexualization and commodification of black women in the media. Her inclusion in the video was confusing, she was not another love interest but merely a prop, exploited by her race to be used as a piece of scenery.
While Grease Live was an exciting and entertaining event, the inclusion of Keke Palmer as fun and loose Marty, was entirely off putting. It seems that Palmer, a talented singer and actress, was cast to add diversity to the majority white show. By casting Palmer as Marty, a sexy and suggestive teen, Grease Live reinforced the stereotype of black women as hyper-sexual. Marty's league of suitors and sultry style seem fun and free spirited, but in reality, the network's determination to perpetuate negative black stereotypes manifest itself in Palmer's casting leaving viewers to wonder why was the only black lead cast as the slut?
