Stereotypes in media

1. Stereotypes in media

2. No Doubt • http://www.thedailybeast.com/videos/2012/11/05/no-doubt-pulls-racist-video.html • Very inappropriate, somewhat inappropriate, appropriate?

3. RachealWhitehawk Strong • [6:43] I feel like right now, we’re not really in control of our image in the media. There are other people who have more power in the media who are able to portray Native people, and they don’t do it in a very accurate way. I don’t know why that is. I think we’re starting to take that back. I see social media as a means for that. With the No Doubt video, they released it the second day of Native Heritage month. The day after that, after Twitter, Facebook and YouTube complained, they took it down. And the Paul Frank thing as well. Within a relatively short period of time with that, they took the pictures down immediately and issued an apology a while later. Now they’ve set up a fund for a Native cause and they’re hiring a Native artist to do their work. So I see that inaccuracies are still happening, but I kind of feel like it’s going in a positive way where we’re using social media and other forms of expression to have a voice to express ourselves, that it’s not okay to do that. [8:35]

4. On “No DouBt”  “How is this racist? This video celebrates the native culture and Gwen is 'looking hot' while doing it. People need to STOP pulling out the race card, and practice something that has been locked away with the Constitution—tolerance.” –Wall Street Journal comment • [9:22] “The problem is that the Wall Street Journal terms it as they took the video off for racism. But I don’t think that the members of No Doubt are racists. I think the general frustration with the video was that there was a lot of misuse of culturally sacred objects. Like the eagle feather staff and the headdress. In order to understand why that’s offensive to Native people, you have to understand what place those things hold in Native culture. For Lakota people, the eagle feather in itself is a very important object. People would wear it on their regalia. [the watchiki] at the Powwow. During ceremonies, they used eagle feather stands. The eagle in itself in Lakota culture is a really important symbol. It symbolizes strength, fortitude, bravery. It’s a proud thing to have an eagle feather. You really do not mistreat it at Powwows. With little kids, parents will tie really tightly the eagle feathers onto their regalia. Because if you drop the eagle feather at a powwow, you can’t just pick it up. They have to do a dance and special ceremony before you can even pick it up off the ground. Because you’ve mistreated it, and that feather no longer belongs to you. You have to give it to somebody else. You give it away because you’ve dishonored that.”

5. Continued… • [11:28] “I once saw a 40 year old man break down and cry at a powwow because his bustle of like 20 eagle feathers fell off in the arena. They did two ceremonies for it, and picked it up and gave it back to him because it was a family heirloom, but he can’t wear that for another year as regalia. This is the kind of high regard we hold for those feathers. The eagle feather staff is the same kind of deal. In No Doubt’s video, Gwen Stefani is like chucking an eagle feather staff down to the ground. People are wearing headdresses who obviously have not earned the right to wear those. That to me was really offensive to see that. • [12:36] There were people in the Wall Street Journal article in the comments section saying ‘oh, you’re being too P.C., you’re being such cry-babies. No, because that person doesn’t understand what those objects mean in Native society and culture. It’s like saying to the Christians, ‘why are you so offended you cry-baby, I just drew a penis on Jesus Christ’s forehead.’ People would be really offended by that. In Christianity, Jesus is that kind of sacred image to them. It’s the same with the eagle feather staff or the war bonnet in Native society. It’s not just clothing. It has meaning. It has significance.” [13:27]

6. Lana del rey “I’ve spent quite some time working on Indian reservations in my life—and it was an ode to the spirit of dance and freedom that we used to Say we wished had come more easily. I wore the headdress because I share struggles w my friends I know who gave it to me—its personal.” –Lana Del Rey

7. Princella Parker • “I think they miss the point completely. It’s not an honor to our culture to mock our sacred and respected ways of life by objectifying it.  It may be personal to her and what she believes but how does that honor the “spirit of dance and freedom” when it’s ripped, copied and duplicated in mass quantity? It losses this spirit when it becomes an object worn by a non-native with no conception of what it’s intended for in the first place. It’s perceived as harmless because America is a melting pot and we have shared cultures in diversity. This is not diversity this is a bastardization of Native culture.” –Princella Parker, Omaha Tribe of Nebraska

8. Continued… • [14:13] In Lakota culture, in the Great Plains tribes where those war bonnets are used, traditionally the person who wears it earns each and every eagle feather that goes into it. Nowadays, it’s the veterans or people who have done significant acts in the community that earn those feathers and earn the right to wear those things. [video] I know those things aren’t real, but for me it doesn’t make a difference whether it’s an eagle feather or turkey feather, what have you. It’s meant to look like the real deal. In the music video, she’s holding a gun to her head and dancing around scantily clad. The bottom line is it’s totally disrespectful and it’s not the way that anybody who has a headdress would behave or act. Whether she had earned it or not, there would certainly not be anyone in the native community acting that way wearing a headdress, because that’s the significance given to it. It’s not like an article of clothing you just put on to wear around. • [16:21] Just because, a lot of times those images place Native people in a historical context. It promotes this stereotype and idea that Native people only exist in the past instead of that we’re here today as thriving, dynamic people. That we don’t have to walk around with a feather in our ear in order to be Native. People will say, ‘where are the real natives at?’ It’s like saying ‘so where are the Scottish people at?’ if I go over to Scotland and be like ‘where’s the bagpipes at? Come on guys, you’re not stereotyping yourselves enough.’

9. “JigSAW” groups • 4 groups of 5 • Read and discuss your article as a group for 10 minutes • What’s the issue presented? • Does the writer take a side? • What is your position? • How does this relate to other texts, video, and audio we’ve studied.

10. Jigsaw Continued… • Then: • Number off into new groups where you’re the only one who has read your article. • As the “expert” of your article, explain what it’s about and what your group’s opinions are.