Hip-Hop Stereotyping

      There is a very good point brought forward by Jamilah Evelyn in the essay, “The Miseducation of Hip-Hop- Discrimination in Education”.  Some young people are getting put into a stereotype labeled perhaps as thugs or “gangstas”, because of the way they dress or the music they listen to. This could be considered the situation in the case of Jason Hinmon; a transfer student from the Atlanta based Morehouse College who transferred to the University of Delaware.

      “Dark-hued, dreadlocked and, well, young, he says many of his mostly White Professors figured they had him pegged.”(Evelyn 2008, p.559). Let’s face it, America has this specific stereotype in mind; young Black males with dreads are likely to be rebellious rap fans. Is it fair to assume this? No, it is not fair to assume that a kid who lets his hair grow out is going to talk back to their teachers and cause some kind of ruckus. Can a book really be “judged by its cover”?  Is it fair to say that every White boy who let his hair grow in the 60’s was smoking pot or tripping on acid? Is every pimple-faced kid who wears glasses going to be the next Bill Gates?

     How many future CEO’s in America once in their lives decided to dress like their favorite musician, or thought that they had a cool hairdo? America is a country full of diversity; there are different cultures, ethnicities, and different generations all co-habitating here. So for a University level professor to make a judgment based solely on what a student looks like is hogwash. Yes, there has to be a higher level of behavior for students at the University level, no doubt. Dress does not implicate stature, what if this kid got into the school through a scholarship, and does not have the money to afford the nicer clothes that some of his classmates wear? Does that make him a less desirable student? Or does it show that even through some of the hardships this kid went through to get to the level he is at, that he can persevere to reach for something greater? It is a stereotype that America has to overcome.

References:

Evelyn, J. 2008, The Miseducation of Hip-Hop-Discrimination in Education. In Gray-Rosendale, L. Pop Perspectives: Readings to Critique Contemporary Culture. McGraw-Hill. (pp.559-565).

Is the News, Really What is Going On???

      In their essay, " The Bias of Language, The Bias of Pictures", Neil Postman and Steve Powers, talk about how the news and the people reporting are brought to the public and how each type of media differs in its approach and ability to affect its readers or viewers. They write about the television news, newspapers and even stationary pictures in today’s news.  The authors are also giving us their view on how what the media show us is not really the whole story but merely just a way to grab the public’s attention.

    The authors speak of how, “By itself, a stationary picture cannot deal with the unseen, the remote, the internal, the abstract.”(Postman, Powers, 2008p.485).  A person can only interpret what they see on that piece of paper, not knowing what the story is behind the picture that was taken. That is where the written word comes into play, “Our words are baskets of emotions. Smart journalists, of course, know this.”(Postman, Powers, 2008p.484). So, journalists try to give their audience an interpretation of the picture that will grab their attention and make them want to keep reading.

     Of course, it is easier to keep an audience’s attention, by flashing different pictures on the screen, especially those pictures are moving. Except for specific details, these moving pictures can pretty much tell you the tale of what is going on. That is where language comes into play again. Now there is the news team on the television broadcasts bringing the viewer the details of these moving pictures. But, they most likely don’t include every single detail, because part of the audience might not stick around to watch the whole show. So they just give the public enough information to “keep them informed” of what they just saw. “The fact that television news is principally made up of moving pictures prevents it from offering lengthy, coherent explanations of events.”(Postman, Powers, 2008p.489).

     Let’s face it, it is the truth, the news broadcasts that are flashed on television are done in a sensationalistic fashion to try and keep us, the public, tuned in to that particular station that the TV is tuned to. If the music didn’t catch our attention, if the videos of police lights flashing down the expressway were in no way brought to our attention with the words, “In Breaking News”, how many people would even care to know what is going on in some other city or even state across the country or half way around the world?





References:

Postman, N., Powers, S. 2008 The Bias of Language, The Bias of Pictures. In Gray-Rosendale, L. Pop Perspectives: Readings to Critique Contemporary Culture. McGraw-Hill. (pp.481-489).

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Darth Vader: Volkswagen Commercial

http://youtu.be/R55e-uHQna0
     
This commercial is an interesting one. It shows a "traditional " family type, with the mother staying at home with the child while dad is out and about at work. “Traditional”, is used in a sense of what American families really use to be. Nowadays, chances are more likely that both parents would be out at work during the day trying to keep the family stable financially. A nanny would probably be at home taking care of the little Darth Vader, who is trying to conjure up the Force to make objects bend at his will.

It’s amazing that the Darth Vader character has withstood the test of time. This is greatly accredited to George Lucas' creation of such a memorable character. Even though, at heart he is evil, the thought that one could be able to control objects and people with his mind, makes the child in the commercial want to imitate the dark character. It has been 34 years since the Darth Vader character leaped onto the big screen and into the minds and hearts of both children and adults alike. Lucas has added to the mystique of this character with the release of the more recent three episodes of the Star Wars series, appealing more to the children who watch these movies. The child in this commercial shows an innocence about him, because he does not understand that the character and his powers are not real, but a product of that good old movie magic. The child just sees what was shown to him on the screen and tries to duplicate the feats that Darth Vader was able to perform. What’s more classic than that of a child trying to be like his favorite TV/movie character?  How many times have children seen something on the big screen and then gone out to their backyards and bedrooms and tried to imitate what they saw?

Baby

Well, this is actually the first Justin Bieber video I have seen, and the first song I have heard. All in all, not a bad song. I like how the director had the boys in a group trying to get the girls' attention, especially the Bieber character. He was trying to do whatever he could to get the young lady's attention and she plays hard to get, the same "cat and mouse" game throughout the centuries. Man advances woman retreats until eventually she gives in. The scene being set in the bowling alley, with the two separate crews, fits nicely because it is a new school video with a classic feel. Although a more adolescent setting might have been more fitting; such as kids at school during lunch, or even having the kids at a park trying to show off for the girls. Its funny, because the main stream has children doing things that typically young adults in their late teens early twenties might do. Are our kids growing up faster than they should, or did back in the day?
The interaction between the two different styles of music, pop and rap, is just another sign of how rap has come into the media spotlight. Having a world famous artist like Ludacris gives Beiber some kind of "street cred", even the cameo by up and coming rapper Drake in the video adds to that. Haha!! Bet you thought I didn't see you there, did you Drake? Maybe it is true our kids are growing up a little faster than we did. I can't remember a time as a teenager where I would grab a girl and try to pull her in close to me like Justin does in this video.