Representation & the Media

Representation & the Media

U.S. Demographics • In a group of 3-4 people around you, using laptops or smartphones (which you should put away after use), look up the percentage of the US population who is: • White • Black • Hispanic/Latino • Asian • Native American • Also look up the population distribution by gender (male/female)

From Hollywood Diversity Report 2014* *My own table

Hollywood Diversity Report • http://www.bunchecenter.ucla.edu/index.php/2016/02/new-2016-hollywood-diversity-report-business-as-usual/

To put it another way, according to this person’s study: what would the world look like if the population reflected the composition of prime-time network television? • -Half the population would be white men. • -Five percent of the population would be black men. • -Just 1.9 percent of the world would be Asian or Latino men. • -Overall, 57 percent of the population would be men. • -34 percent of the world would be white women • -3.8 percent would be African-American women • -And 3.8 percent would be Latino or Asian women • -31.8 percent of the population would work for the police or some sort of federal law enforcement agency. • -9.7 percent of us would be doctors. • -2.6 percent of us would be criminals. • -1.9 percent would be supernatural creatures or robots. http://thinkprogress.org/alyssa/2013/10/28/2840441/world-looked-like-prime-time-network-television/

Joss WHedon “Toymakers will tell you they won’t sell enough, and movie people will point to the two terrible superheroine movies that were made and say, ‘You see? It can’t be done,’” Whedon said. “It’s stupid, and I’m hoping The Hunger Games will lead to a paradigm shift. It’s frustrating to me that I don’t see anybody developing one of these movies. It actually pisses me off. My daughter watched The Avengers and was like, ‘My favorite characters were the Black Widow and Maria Hill,’ and I thought, ‘Yeah, of course they were.’” http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/05/05/avengers-age-of-ultron-s-black-widow-disgrace.html

Junot Diaz: "You know, vampires have no reflections in a mirror? There's this idea that monsters don't have reflections in a mirror. And what I've always thought isn't that monsters don't have reflections in a mirror. It's that if you want to make a human being into a monster, deny them, at the cultural level, any reflection of themselves. And growing up, I felt like a monster in some ways. I didn't see myself reflected at all. I was like, "Yo, is something wrong with me? That the whole society seems to think that people like me don't exist?” And part of what inspired me, was this deep desire that before I died, I would make a couple of mirrors. That I would make some mirrors so that kids like me might seem themselves reflected back and might not feel so monstrous for it.“ http://www.nj.com/ledgerlive/index.ssf/2009/10/junot_diazs_new_jersey.html

Junot Diaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao “He read The Lord of the Rings for what I'm estimating the millionth time, one of his greatest loves and greatest comforts since he'd first discovered it, back when he was nine and lost and lonely and his favorite librarian had said, Here, try this, and with one suggestion changed his life. Got through almost the whole trilogy, but then the line "and out of Far Harad black men like half-trolls" and he had to stop, his head and heart hurting too much.”

Representation • White, heterosexual, middle-class male is the media’s default for “protagonist” • Does this mean all white, heterosexual males are evil? Does it mean we shouldn’t see them at all in TV? Does it mean that they are less important? • NO: other people are also important • Take a few minutes to think about what the media’s focus on WHM does for: • People of color watching TV about only white characters? • Women watching movies only about men saving the world and in which women are the “prize”? • LGBTQ people reading books only about straight relationships?

Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) on Star Trek: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLOZxOo5Czo

Diversity and Star Trek • Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) tries to quit Star Trek (long version): https://youtu.be/pSq_UIuxba8?t=4m15s • Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan) on the impact Star Trek had on her life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUmMBF7uYLQ • John Cho (Sulu) on the impact Star Trek had on his life: ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndLLqJc-NM4&feature=youtu.be&t=2m21s

Benefits of Privilege in Relation to Media • I can look at the media and see people from my group widely represented as heroes, role models, leaders, news anchors, television hosts, and experts. • In political ads that talk about protecting “our way of life”, “our culture”, “our values”, “our civilization”, I can generally assume that my group is included. • At school, I can expect to be given materials that attest to the existence of my group. • When talking about the best movies and television shows, I can expect to see my group widely represented in almost all levels of production (writing, producing, acting, directing). • I can easily avoid shows that do not focus on telling the stories of individuals affiliated with my group. • I can easily avoid media that portray members of my group in a negative light, as victims, or as clowns and freaks. • Most characters in media that are members aren’t expected to represent my entire group. • The revelation that a character is a member of my group is never a cause for shock, or used as the butt of a joke. • Members of other groups in the media rarely if ever use potential membership in my group as an insult hurled at others. • There are many films and television shows in which a member of my group plays a character who is a member of a different group. • I can easily buy posters, movies, television shows, videogames, and merchandise featuring people from my group. • I can worry about and discuss the lack of representation of a given group in the media without being seen as self-interested. • I can, if I wish, arrange to not have to consume media that was not made by or for members of my group. • I can be fairly casual about whether or not I understand the aesthetics and the canon of other groups’ media. • I can be oblivious of the practices, customs, or culture of a group that is not mine as they are represented in television and film because in most cases, they will be explained to the audience — usually by a member of my group. http://mediasmarts.ca/diversity-media/privilege-media/benefits-privilege-relation-media

“When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.” • Equality can feel like oppression. But it’s not. • What you’re feeling is just the discomfort of losing a little bit of your privilege — the same discomfort that an only child feels when she goes to preschool and discovers that there are other kids who want to play with the same toys as she does. • It’s like an old man being used to having a community pool all to himself, having that pool actually opened up to everyone in the community, and then that old man yelling, “But what about MY right to swim in a pool all by myself?!” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-boeskool/when-youre-accustomed-to-privilege_b_9460662.html

“About that dumb Star Wars boycott…”

“About that dumb Star Wars boycott” • Oscar Isaac on diversity in Star Warshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQE7U7oi-N0

Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) encounters a “skinhead”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2AX34Fs4wQ

Think of something you are a fan of • Choose a fandom that is a kind of popular entertainment: • Sports team, musician, TV show, movie. • Consider how well you are “represented” in the thing you are a fan of? • Consider how well you are “represented” among other fans of the thing you are a fan of? • Does that make it easier (if you are well-represented) or harder (if you are not well-represented) to be a fan of it? • How do you “negotiate” or figure out your place in your fandom, whether you are well represented or not?

“About that dumb Star Wars boycott” • Of course there’s a Star Wars Episode VII boycott. And there’s a hashtag to boot. Because of course there’s a hashtag. One-click buffet-style serving of shittiness, coming right up. • Apparently people are mad because blah blah black dude protagonist with a lightsaber, or girl protagonist, or Latino X-Wing pilot protagonist, and not enough straight white dudes. And folks are mad enough to join in on the hashtag and — I mean, what version of Star Wars did you watch? The one where Luke Skywalker is a racist hick shitbird? The one where the Empire are the good guys because yay oppression and fascism and totalitarian chic? • You have 100 toys, and someone comes along and asks for a toy of their own, and you start screaming about DIVERSITY SJW GENOCIDE REVERSE RACISM SEXISM AAAAAAH. • That’s fucked up, right?

“About that dumb Star Wars boycott” • Inclusion isn’t for me. I’m covered. I am already included. Luke? Me. Han Solo? Me. Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, Anakin, Wedge, me, me, me. And it’s not just Star Wars. John McClane, Harry Potter, Frodo, Iron-Man. All a bunch of white guys saving the day. Hell, Santa Claus. Or damn near every painting of Jesus, who was clearly not a white guy but is often depicted as a white guy. We do our level best to paint ourselves as the heroes of our own narrative. It’s white guys all the way down. I’m golden over here. I don’t need more representation. I have had my fill to the point where my pop culture belly is a-burstin. • In fact, I’m so glutton-fed I figure it’s time for a diet. • Chuck Wendighttp://terribleminds.com/ramble/2015/10/19/about-that-dumb-star-wars-boycott/

Representation & the Media