Blog Post #1

 I personally really like all of the works so far. Bree Newsome’s “Wake” and Jordan

Peele’s “Get Out” have been my favorite works of the course so far. I liked the supernatural

aspect of “Wake” and the fact that it was set in an older period. It was interesting to see black

characters in an older period existing without the racial implications. Oftentimes, I feel that when

things are set in an older period, black characters are often depicted in a way that is indicative of

their race and racial tensions at the time. Because of this, it was nice to see black characters exist

and experience things happening without any racial implications/racist encounters. I felt the

same way about the Son of Ingagi. I believe both films did a good job of having black characters

exist without the discussion of racial status/tensions. As a black person, it made the film more

enjoyable to see these black characters existing normally like we see oftentimes with white

characters.

With Get Out, I enjoyed the commentary on some of the modern-day black experiences

and its connection with the history of black people in America. I believe the scene where they

were auctioning off Chris was a really powerful message on the modern-day

commodification/fetishization of black bodies and how it ties back to the slave trade. The

comments made to/about Chris and the other black characters show how the stereotypes of black

people have persisted throughout history and continue the commodification of black bodies. For

instance, the comments on how fit Chris is or how fast Walter is. These stereotypes stem from

slavery and have long been used to further oppress and profit off of the black bodies. I believe

this aspect of the film was especially pertinent and made the film even more impactful in the

horror scene. I often feel that people look to horror as a way to make the heart race, but

oftentimes horror is things that are not real or impossible situations. Although, with Get Out, I

feel like the fear was born out of real experiences that black people have gone through, but also

fictional enough to make those who are not familiar with those experiences will still be scared.

Overall, I have really enjoyed all of the material we have gone over in the class and I am excited

to see more black horror. The material that we have discussed so far has made me think deeper

about my experience as a black woman and allows me to resonate more with some of the

experiences that are being discussed in things such as “The Comet” and Get Out. On the other

hand, I enjoy seeing black characters simply exist and experience the happenings of the films

such as Son of Ingagi and “Wake”.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Catwoman

As a child, one of my favorite movies growing up was Catwoman with Halle Berry. After watching Miss Representation, I can tell that this movie is another victim of the objectification of women in the media. In the movie Catwoman, there are some very independent and powerful women but also most of the women were existing in order to please a man or the male- dominated society. For instance, the main antagonist has a beauty cream that is supposed to make people, more specifically women, look more youthful. It’s often catered to women in the movie in way that is expected to please men, this is just evidence of stereotypes being imposed onto women in the media. Not to mention Catwoman, Halle Berry, wears little to no tight clothes and when fighting has very sexual movements. This is to appeal to one large demographic, men. There is no independent woman that fights men and looks good doing it, there is simple a scantily clad women who goes around purring. After rewatching this movie, I can ...
Read more

McDonalds Advertising

Image
Everyone eats McDonalds. It's cheap, easy, and greasy. Who wouldn't love it? But recently, since learning about companies using certain words or phrases in advertising to be more appealing, I've been looking at every ad differently now. I've been analyzing the wording and searching for evidence to confirm what I've been taught. The other day I went to McDonalds to eat and I look at the ads that are displayed everywhere in the restaurant. Literally everywhere. There is no hiding. Anyways, I started looking at these ads and realized I found the ambigous language that we had been learning about in class. They use words like 'bliss' or 'tender'. Even their kids meals are called 'happy meals'! They use these words so people associate good things with their food. It's a quite simple technique: Use a word with positive connotations, relate it to the food that is being advertised, and suddenly the brain is associating chicken nuggets with happine...
Read more

Whitewashing Roles in Movies and TV

This has been an issue in Western and especially American media for years, the whitewashing of roles in movies and tv. There are so many actors of color who are robbed of their chance to showcase their talent due to whitewashing and also the status of an actor. For instance, the  movie, The Great Wall, set in ancient China, has a main character of Matt Damon, who is of European descent and identifies as white. Matt Damon is the hero in the movie that helps the Chinese people fight off lizard-alien invaders. This role could of easily, and would have made a lot more sense, if it was given to a person of Chinese decent. There are plenty of Chinese-American actors or actresses that could have filled this role and executed it. But this is just simply another show that American media is being whitewashed, a country with so many different cultures and ethnicities should have movies and actors that represent that, whilst also being successful.
Read more