Last Word 5/4/09

Wow! I can not believe we are at the end of this class. It has been a semester of discussions, agreements, disagreements, conflict and in my case internal conflict. This class has made me realize how much of a grey area actually consumes social issues and problems. This class has made me wish everything was black and white and easy to distinguish right from wrong. Where do we draw the line between acceptable and unacceptable? When do we become accountable for our actions and stop blaming the past for the problems of the world?

It seems this class has opened my eyes to the future. The future starts with me. If I disagree with how people are treated and disagree with how things are being done, it is up to me to change them. We have more power than people ever really realize. We have to be the change we want to see.

For the most part, this class has opened my eyes to the power of the media. The media has more power than I ever gave it credit for having. I thought it could have power if people chose to allow it to have power. But, I realized it does not matter how educated and how smart you think you are the media still has power over you. Everyday, the media is shaping perspectives regardless if we chose to recognize it. I was one of those people saying I was not affected by the media and I could read between the lines of a story and find the truth, but that is not what I was doing at all. I was allowing the media to shape my opinions of all races. No, the media was not all that was shaping my perspectives, but it did a lot more than I ever realized. As a society we have to take back some of the power. We have to demand equal representation and when we are represented we need to be represented in a fair way, whether it be a good or bad light. We also have to become more aware of the bias that is taking part in the media. It is up to us to find the truth in the news. Read between the lines and find the whole truth not just what that particular news station wants you to believe.

In regards to blogs, I hated them. I hated putting my thoughts out on the internet where anyone could read them. But, on the other hand, I loved them. Blogging made me put my views, perspectives, beliefs, and feelings in black and white. I had to chose a side and stand by it with my words. It forced me to think about things I did not want to think about. In a classroom situation, if you do not like the topic of discussion you can chose to not say a word. You can act like the topic is of no concern to you; it does not effect you so why would you even care. Blogging eliminates this. To be forced to blog is to be forced to speak. When we blogged you had to say what you thought otherwise you did not receive a grade. Blogging forced us to “speak” about uncomfortable things. It forced us to acknowledge the flaws of the media and the flaws of our society.

Overall, this class taught me a lot about the country I live in, the workforce I will soon work in, and most importantly the life I am living. I now understand the power of the media and the good and bad it can do for a nation.

Hip-Hop 4/24

Hip Hop- A style of music that combines rhymes with different beats

Five Hip- Hop Artists I have never heard-

1. Talib Kweli

2. Gorilla Zoe

3. Savage

4. Rick Ross

5. Mr. Lif

Videos:

Talib Kweli- More or Less

http://music.aol.com/video/more-or-less/talib-kweli/1859336

Beastie Boys-Right Right Now Now

http://music.aol.com/video/beastie-boys-right-right-now-now/beastie-boys/1206888

Soulja Boy- Turn My Swag On

http://music.aol.com/video/turn-my-swag-on/soulja-boy-tellem/2311919

Pitbull- I Know You Want Me

http://music.aol.com/video/i-know-you-want-me/pitbull/bc:18414027001

Eminem- Mockingbird

http://music.aol.com/video/mockingbird/eminem/1336623

Hip-Hop Radio Stations-

103.5

93.9

Corporations Utilizing Hip-Hop:

Apple iPod-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aga5AISSxv0

Gap-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hXoNIXZmDg

Hip-Hop in the Media:

Cable TV – MTV/VH1/BET

Spot Advertising

Mainstream Words Derived from Hip-Hop:

Fo-Shizzle

Tussel

Crunk

Grill

Shawty

Music genres my parents listened to:

Rock & Roll- Aerosmith

Pop- Elton John/ Billy Joel

Disco- Bee Gees

Reflection:

This assignment definitely got my out of my musical comfort zone. I rarely listen to Hip- Hop or any type of rap for that matter so this was a whole new experience for me. It was interesting to see the different videos and how each artist attempted to deliver a different message. Some messages were political, others were self reflection. There were some messages that I could not understand at all, but I can say this for several types of genres of music. I was also offended by some of the videos I watched. The video portrayed women to be merely sexual objects. Although, I believe this happens in several other types of music. Unfortunately, portraying women in a sexually explicit way happens in country, pop, and rock and roll music. I believe all genres should take a stand against this type of behavior. Overall this assignment was a good learning experience and exposed me to a different culture of music that otherwise, I would not have been exposed to.

Video Reflections-

Talib Kweli- More or Less

This video was more inspirational and political than most Hip-Hop videos. Talib was the only person featured in the video. This goes against other Hip-Hop video because it does not feature any women in the video. Overall, I like this video and enjoyed the song.

Beastie Boys-Right Right Now Now

This video was also political. They are basically begging for political change. The video is set in Times Square. The three male band members are the only people featured in video. Overall, I did not enjoy this video. It was hard for me to understand lyrics of the song.

Soulja Boy- Turn My Swag On

The emphasis of the entire video was about money and material possessions. The video/song was about Soulja Boy’s progression in fame and fortune. I did not feel that there was much of a message in this song or video. It seemed like he was just flaunting his money the entire time.

Pitbull- I Know You Want Me

The emphasis of this video was women and their sexuality and money. This has become a fairly popular song on the radio, but I had never seen the video. The video featured several women dancing and showing off their bodies. I thought this video was offensive to women.

Eminem- Mockingbird

This video is about a reflection on Eminem’s life. I usually hate Eminem’s music, but this song was actually heartfelt and I could understand the words. There was no sexuality in this video. Out of all of the videos this is the one I understood the most. This video was very heartfelt and had a message to portray to the general public. There was an emphasis on money, but merely the necessity of money.

Diversity in Advertising 4/3/09

Most of Americans would say advertising does not affect them. They do not see it, they do not listen to it, and it definitely does not make buy something, but we know that is not the case. Advertising works. Why else would companies spend millions of dollars every year trying to make people aware of their products and the benefits that come along with it? Advertising, without a doubt, is effective in all aspects. It makes people question their current brand loyalty, it urges them to try new things, and ultimately makes them buy new products.

Because people do not think advertising affects them, I would say most of them do not put much thought in to how people, in regards to race and gender, are represented. I can honestly say, I have never thought about a person race or the amount of diversity in an ad; it never entered my mind that some people are not being represented. For this assignment I decided to research along four parameters, the total number of ads, the number of ads that I considered to be diverse, and the amount of African American, Asian, and Hispanic women featured in the ads.

(1) Glamour

• Total number of advertisements-56
• Total number of advertisements that are diverse-14
• Total number ads featuring African Americans- 9
• Total number ads featuring Asians or Hispanics- 5

(2) Prime Time TV (Millionaire Matchmaker-BRAVO 8:00)

• Total number of advertisements- 11
• Total number of advertisements that are diverse-5

• Total number ads featuring African Americans- 5
• Total number ads featuring Asians or Hispanics-0

(3) The Oklahoma Daily-

• Total number of advertisements- 19
• Total number of advertisements that are diverse- 1

• Total number ads featuring African Americans- 0
• Total number ads featuring Asians or Hispanics- 1

This was probably the most surprising of the all the mediums I have researched. We as college students are supposed to be aware of the need for diversity. The Oklahoma Daily did not fulfill the need of diversity. There was only one ad throughout the entire paper and it was of an Asian female; she was accompanied with three other white individuals.

(4) Elle-

• Total number of advertisements -98
• Total number of advertisements that are diverse-16
• Total number ads featuring African Americans- 13 (three were of Rihanna)
• Total number ads featuring Asians or Hispanics- 3 (two were of Penelope Cruz and the other was Kimora Lee)

I knew this magazine was going to feature predominately white women because this is the target for this magazine. It was very interesting to see that the ads that did not feature white women the featured famous black or Hispanic women. I am unaware of either Penelope Cruz’s or Rihanna’s official race so I am only going off of what my eyes can see. The magazine rarely featured non famous women of color.

(5) Vogue-

• Total number of advertisements-89
• Total number of advertisements that are diverse-10

• Total number ads featuring African Americans- 7 (Iman and Halle Berry)
• Total number ads featuring Asians or Hispanics- Asians/2 -Hispanics/1 (Eva Mendes)

When I decided to go through this magazine I had it in my mind that this one would be more diverse than most fashion magazines. I though Vogue would be the most diverse and excepting of all beautiful models. I was wrong. Vogue, along with Elle, only featured ten ads of colored women and three were of high-profile actresses. It was rare to see an everyday black model posing in any of the ads.

(6) Self-

• Total number of advertisements-29
• Total number of advertisements that are diverse-7

• Total number ads featuring African Americans- 3
• Total number ads featuring Asians or Hispanics- Asians/2- Hispanic/2

This magazine definitely surprised me. I could not believe there were only 29 ads throughout the entire magazine. Self was more diverse than most of the fashion magazines. I would like to know if this is consistent with all health and fitness magazines.

(7) People-

• Total number of advertisements-15
• Total number of advertisements that are diverse-2

• Total number ads featuring African Americans- 2
• Total number ads featuring Asians or Hispanics-0

(8) Boyd Street-

• Total number of advertisements- 13
• Total number of advertisements that are diverse-1

• Total number ads featuring African Americans- 1
• Total number ads featuring Asians or Hispanics-0

We all flip through the latest Boyd Street skimming the articles and checking out if we know anyone featured. We also browse the ads to find the best sales and specials in town.When looking at these ads I know I have never thought about the lack of diversity in the ads. There was only one ad that featured a black female and she was accompanied with three other white females.

(9) Life & Style-

• Total number of advertisements-10
• Total number of advertisements that are diverse-0

• Total number ads featuring African Americans- 0
• Total number ads featuring Asians or Hispanics-0

This magazine is all about celebrity gossip. I knew there wouldn’t be a ton of ads because there are only 82 pages total. I know the ratio of ads in the magazine is similar to the others, but I would have assumed there would be at least one diverse as somewhere in the mix.

(10) Domino-

• Total number of advertisements-22
• Total number of advertisements that are diverse-3

• Total number ads featuring African Americans- 2
• Total number ads featuring Asians or Hispanics-1

Discussion and Reflection of Results:

Before I began this assignment I never really thought about the diversity in advertising, but I was pretty sure of the results I was going to end with. I knew white females were going to be the predominate demographic featured in the mediums I chose, but I was surprised at how little amounts of diversity they actually included. Asians are practically not represented at all. Through ten mediums, and nearly three hundred advertisements there were only 5 Asians represented. This is crazy! We have to do something about this! My worry is that we have journalist and advertising majors working on collegiate publications and the diversity is not growing and is far from where it should be. When will the change come?

Links:

· http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2003/03/10/editorial3.html

· http://gawker.com/5134545/the-great-2009-diversity-ad-combo-sale

Local News Extra Credit Assignment

This local news assignment definitely opened my eyes to how the news is reported. I usually watch the news intently following each story reported, but rarely do I think of how and why the story is being told. I never realized how much the news effected my perceptions of people concerning race and gender and I never realized how biased a newscast can be. There are several aspects of the amount of bias that goes into the newscast. For example, the amount of violent crimes reported committed by white men are far less than the stories reported on black and Hispanic men committing the same kind of crimes. Also, crimes committed by a minority are likely to be reported more meticulously . They usually show the neighborhood of the crime, and details of the victim. Another result of my tracking of crimes reported in newscasts is that most news anchors reporting on minority committed crimes are predominately white. I honestly never thought about the race of the anchor reporting the news, and I never thought their race inhibited their abilities to report the news. I now see that race does not inhibit reporting of news, but it changes how the reporter is told to report the story.

The news and the rest of the media build perceptions on race. Sometimes the media is accurate and sometimes they are not. People have to be read between the skewed lines of the media. Everyday crimes are committed by all races, but it is up to the media to decide how they are reported. Some are reported to seem more severe and others are reported to seem less severe. There is bias in every story being told. It is up to the people watching the newscast to see the real truth behind the story the anchors telling.

News and the Media 3/27

We are living in a time where the government is dictating every aspect of the news. The government sets the agenda for all major issues considered "news". Different news corporations have different agendas based on their affiliations. I feel like this has always been the case, government propaganda has always been the responsibility of the media.

I think there is a huge need to represent more people in the media. In order to do this, we have to diversify newsrooms. Changes have to be made to be able to appeal to various races of people. Different demographics have different needs and interests when it comes to the media and it may not be possible to represent everyone through the media but an effort can be made to broaden the scope of media material.

In the beginning of the war, the media supported and urged the support of the American people. The war was portrayed as necessary and a patriotic action, rarely were negative positions of the war printed. This was fairly easy for the media due to the fact that 9-11 was fresh on the minds of many Americans and the early war effort was littered with positive visuals. The media was able to show bombing missions followed by a pep talk from President Bush. Most Americans and perhaps the media were full of emotion and spirit at this time which made the medias decisions on reporting fairly one sided.

The media played a crucial role in civil rights movement. The media allowed Americans to see the brutal actions actually taking place. Whether or not the media knew of the powerful effects it would have on history is irrelevant. The media exposed harsh realities of the times and diffused many excuses of Americans who wished to keep Americas problems out of sight and out of mind.

2/27/09

Racial Stereotypes in the Media

02-26-09- CNN – 10:00 p.m.

Television

Black America 2

The panel discussed how there are not enough black finance bankers and how young black children believe they have to grow up to be a rapper, athlete, or entertainer to be successful. America needs to show the success of African Americans in a different light.

(1) Racial Stereotypes

02-26-09- VH1-10:45 p.m.

Television

Black to the Future 90’s Edition

Panel discussed successful black entertainers; contradicting with the CNN observation.

(2) Racial Stereotypes

02-24-09- ABC- 10:00 a.m.

Television

The View

The ladies of The View discussed President Obama and racial issues

(3) Racial Stereotypes

02-18-09- Human Sexuality- 3523 12:30 p.m.

Class Discussion with Professor Terry Dennison-Huston Huffman

Discussion of racial and cultural impacts on sexuality

(4) Racial Stereotypes

02-24-09- Lifetime- 11:30 p.m.

Television

Will & Grace

Racial stereotypes of Jewish people

(5) Racial Stereotypes

Gender Stereotypes in the Media

02-25-09- Comedy Central- 10:30 p.m.

Television

The Daily Show

Gender discrimination and stereotypes of Hillary Clinton

(1) Gender Stereotypes

02-25-09- Bravo- 12:00 a.m.

Television

Million Dollar Matchmaker

Gender stereotypes of females lusting after rich men

(2) Gender Stereotypes

02-20-09- Advertising Campaigns- 4343- 10:30

Television Advertisement/ Class Discussion

Class discussion on new ads/ discussed the Go Daddy.com Enhancement Ad

(3) Gender Stereotypes

02-23-09- Human Sexuality- 3523 12:30

Class Discussion

Class discussion on gender roles, gender norms, and gender stereotypes

(4) Gender Stereotypes

02-27-09- Glamour Magazine- February 2009

Magazine Article

The article was a self help to women on how to get men to notice you

(5) Gender Stereotypes

Reflections:

I was not surprised that stereotypes exist in the media. I knew stereotypes existed and I knew they were present in the media, but I definitely did not realize how prominent and blatant they appeared. At first, I thought this assignment would be hard. I thought I would have to look through several different mediums to find stereotypes, but it was exactly the opposite.

When my class discussed racial stereotypes I always understood how and why people used them, but I never felt offense to them because they never really effected me because of my white race, but when we turned the subject to gender stereotypes I took personal offense to the female discrimination in the media. It is easy for me to see the gender stereotypes present in advertising. Stereotypes are everywhere in advertising. Stereotypes are something everyone can identify with and when selling a product it is important to identify with the consumer.

I, without a doubt, now understand how continuous images can shape opinions and perspectives. Stereotypes that are continuously reinforced by the media shape the way children perceive races. When a white child is constantly exposed to stereotypes of African Americans their perspectives of that particular race will be skewed. The same thing goes for gender stereotypes. Boys and girls that are exposed repeatedly to the same types of stereotypes form unrealistic expectations for their lives. For example, a girl that is taught that finding a man is the primary goal and beauty the secondary goal becomes consumed with these two things. She will likely have body image issues. In my human sexuality class, my teacher lectured that a young child exposed to several hours of television tend to have more self image issues and low self-esteem than those who see little television.

Links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR5xbvSDLn4&feature=PlayList&p=D5F65736F51FA5C6&playnext=1&index=67

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2008/black.in.america/

2/13/09

Before watching the Tim Wise video in class I never really gave privilege much thought. I suppose this is due to my particular race and me being the one with the privilege. I now understand the idea of privilege and how it impacts my daily life. I agreed with a lot of what Tim Wise said. I agreed that people with the privilege do not want to give it up; even if it is hurting them too. I also agreed that people are in denial that they actually have privilege; I was one of those people. But, just to clarify, I have never been so torn when watching a video. I felt like I could not form any opinion because I actually saw both sides, and this rarely happens to me. Most of what I disagreed with was the Iraq War comments. Tim Wise is very effective at getting people to think with a narrowed scope. He actually makes you think about you and your responsibilities to society.

The media, without a doubt, portrays stereotypes while reinforcing and supporting privilege. The most popular shows on television take part in emphasizing these stereotypes. It is difficult to flip through the television stations and find a show that directly identifies with a particular race other than white. This in itself is white privilege. It is easy for a white person to find a television show that connects with them personally. Another example of white privilege in the media is in the use of news. Most stories featured in the local news cast or newspapers represent the white race and when people of a different race are interviewed they are viewed as representing their entire race.

I do think people still believe in the one-drop rule. But, without a doubt, I do not think they should. It is not right for us to make snap judgments the race of people. People should be able to identify with whatever race they want. Why would I care about the particular race in which a person identifies? In one of our readings the author talked about how he and his brother identified with different races. I’m not sure how common this is, but I don’t see anything wrong with it.

Reflection:
In regards to a new perspective and responsibility, the video definitely woke me up. I did not agree with everything, but it did make me aware that these things are happening and they are a problem, and we have to change to become a better society. I believe the number one thing people need to do, in order to fix the problem, is take on responsibility. No, I was not taking part in the slave trades nor did I ever own a slave, but it happened and that fact is never going to go away. Realizing it was wrong and seeing how white privilege still exists is the first step in taking responsibility. We have to quit denying white privilege exists and start dealing with the problem because it is impacting all of us.

Links:
This link is an article about the presidential election in regards to Sarah Palin and the white privilege she received. I was never a fan of Governor Palin, but I suppose as a woman I felt a connection with her and respect her to the highest degree. I read this article in astonishment. At this point, I can’t say I agreed or disagreed. I will need some more time to process all of these thoughts.

http://airamerica.com/blog/2008/oct/07/white-privilege-white-entitlement-and-2008-election

The other link I chose is a website contributing to media awareness and how white privilege and stereotypes shape the way we think. More people should be aware of this website, it warns you how dangerous the media can be.

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/whiteness_and_privilege/index.cfm