Katherine Sender argues in her article, Sex Sells Sex, Class, and Taste in Commercial Gay and Lesbian
Media, that heterosexual sex sells, while homosexual sex doesn't. I had never really thought about that before. Sex is everywhere, so why is one form of it so taboo?
My roommate is an elementary education major. Her assignment for the week was to pick a controversial picture book and write an argument as to why she would introduce it to her class. After a trip to the library, we now have a number of gay and lesbian introducing kids' books on our coffee table. This has brought up a number of conversations with various people about what is appropriate to teach a young child.
Children are bombarded with sex before they understand what it is, and a lot of it is ignored. However, even I (and I like to think I'm liberal-minded) found myself uncomfortable with a few of the books. I realized the trend. The books I was more comfortable with didn't include sex and one of the characters easily could have been switched out for a member of the opposite gender. Uncle Bobby's Wedding, by Sarah S. Brannen, is a cute story about a little girl-hamster who get's very jealous when she find out her uncle is getting married. This fiance happens to be a man-hamster, but it makes no sexual references. Also, if one of the man-hamsters was pictured in a dress but the story was exactly the same, no one would be confused. The King & King series, by Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland, is all fun and games. Even in the story where the kings meet each other, it is very comfortable because sex is not involved.
However, two other books created a lot of conversation. Heather has Two Mommies, by Leslea Newman, has good intentions, but little details are uncomfortable. One page, specifically, feeds a lot of the sexual controversy conversations. The text on the page reads
Kate and Jane went to see a special doctor together. After the doctor examined Jane to make sure
that she was healthy, she put some sperm into Jane's vagina. The sperm swam up into Jane's womb.
If there was an egg waiting there, the sperm and egg would meet, and the baby would start to grow.
Granted, this is not actual sex, but planting the idea of artificial insemination into an elementary schooler's head was a little much for us to grab onto- especially so graphically. On the same page, in the picture, the mother is sitting with the doctor with part of her shirt off. Part of the breast is extremely visible, for no apparent reason. These two details made everyone who saw it, a little confused as to why they are in a children's book. In Daddy's Roommate, by Michael Willhoite, there are countless images of the two men, or at least one of them, shirtless. They have chizzled arms and pecks, and in some images, their crotch areas are very pronounced. There are pictures of them hugging, rubbing suntan lotion on each other, and a general sexual tension throughout. Though the story itself is very straight forward and not sexual, because the sexuality in the images is so in your face, many people have felt confused as to the book's motives.
Even though it makes a lot of people uncomfortable, it is very good to introduce the idea of a gay relationship to a young child at a time when they don't have an understanding of it as a subordinate culture. Many people in our generation did not grow up with this idea. My first introduction to a gay relationship (that I remember), was when I was 12. An uproar occurred when a Russian pop band, t.A.T.u., released the music video for "All the Things She Said" in 2002. The video included a story of two school girls who are in love but are not accepted. The biggest issue was the fact that the two girls kiss. Because I had no concept of what the problem was, my first experience with homosexuality was in a controversial light. This is not a good introduction for a child.
I find it interesting that what we are introduced to as a child can affect your thoughts on a subject without you realizing it. I thought I was very liberal, but obviously I have my own issues introducing gay sex to a child, and by the conversations I've had, so do many others my age. Dominant sexuality in the media has to be pushed a lot further for it to be deemed inappropriate for children, and a lot of it is overlooked. It's my hope that the liberals of the elementary schools now are even more open minded than the liberals my age.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
The Princess and the Frog
After over 100 years of film, it has become very evident that movies racially stereotype. It is no secret that Disney movies have been extremely racially stereotypical over the years. Disney has not shed great light on the African-American population, with the "Jim Crow" characters in Dumbo, the monkeys in Jungle Book, and Uncle Remus in Song of the South. In 2009, Disney tried to reverse this image, however, they did not do as well as they intended for a lot of people.
There have been white, Asain, Native America, and Arab princess, and in 2009, The Princess and the Frog (trailer), brought forth the first African-American princess, Tiana. There were racial issues from the beginning. Originally, the main character was to be named Maddy, however that sounded really close to "Mammy," so Disney changed it. Jennifer Daniels, from BET, wrote responding to the early stages of the movie that Disney brings "...our plucky young Black protagonist, Maddy, as a chambermaid. There's also a plantation owner, two practitioners of voodoo – one a Magical Negro, the other a villain – a singing alligator, and score by the whitest White man to ever rest his head in the Big Easy, Randy Newman, (Were the Neville brothers & Harry Connick, Jr., busy?). Knowing Disney, I'm sure there's a dead parent somewhere in the mix. The living parent, Maddy's mother Eudora, is also a maid. Somebody turns into a frog. Oh, and the prince is White." This doesn't sound very progressive.
Some viewers still have issues with The Princess and the Frog. African-American little girls finally have a princess, however she is a frog for the majority of the movie. New Orleans, of course, would not have a princess in the 1920s, so in order to make her a princess they bring in a white(ish) prince from fictional Maldonia.
Even though there is so much anger towards The Princess and the Frog, many people find it a great addition to the Disney collection. Oprah Winfrey helped fund the movie and was the voice for Tiana's mother. Some reviewers thought Disney did a good job with a touchy subject. Anika Noni Rose, the voice of Tiana, says she "delivers a sense of partnership between other little girls who have friends and family members who look like Tianna. I think in the world of fantasy, and I'm not just talking about Disney, the dark character has always been associated with evil—the black hat is the bad cowboy—and this is the flip. It's wonderful to see something different, and it will be effective on many fronts to many children, and consequently to many adults years from now."
Because it is a classic Disney princess movie, The Princess and the Frog follows a set formula. This causes it to be a little stereotypical, just as the others are. It has gotten a lot of good and bad press, which causes the viewer to decide for themselves whether being stereotypical is offensive or expected.
There have been white, Asain, Native America, and Arab princess, and in 2009, The Princess and the Frog (trailer), brought forth the first African-American princess, Tiana. There were racial issues from the beginning. Originally, the main character was to be named Maddy, however that sounded really close to "Mammy," so Disney changed it. Jennifer Daniels, from BET, wrote responding to the early stages of the movie that Disney brings "...our plucky young Black protagonist, Maddy, as a chambermaid. There's also a plantation owner, two practitioners of voodoo – one a Magical Negro, the other a villain – a singing alligator, and score by the whitest White man to ever rest his head in the Big Easy, Randy Newman, (Were the Neville brothers & Harry Connick, Jr., busy?). Knowing Disney, I'm sure there's a dead parent somewhere in the mix. The living parent, Maddy's mother Eudora, is also a maid. Somebody turns into a frog. Oh, and the prince is White." This doesn't sound very progressive.
Some viewers still have issues with The Princess and the Frog. African-American little girls finally have a princess, however she is a frog for the majority of the movie. New Orleans, of course, would not have a princess in the 1920s, so in order to make her a princess they bring in a white(ish) prince from fictional Maldonia.
Even though there is so much anger towards The Princess and the Frog, many people find it a great addition to the Disney collection. Oprah Winfrey helped fund the movie and was the voice for Tiana's mother. Some reviewers thought Disney did a good job with a touchy subject. Anika Noni Rose, the voice of Tiana, says she "delivers a sense of partnership between other little girls who have friends and family members who look like Tianna. I think in the world of fantasy, and I'm not just talking about Disney, the dark character has always been associated with evil—the black hat is the bad cowboy—and this is the flip. It's wonderful to see something different, and it will be effective on many fronts to many children, and consequently to many adults years from now."
Because it is a classic Disney princess movie, The Princess and the Frog follows a set formula. This causes it to be a little stereotypical, just as the others are. It has gotten a lot of good and bad press, which causes the viewer to decide for themselves whether being stereotypical is offensive or expected.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
BFF or BBF
Race is a very common way for people to organize the world. Media, as a representation of the world, often uses race as a shortcut for evaluating characters. In doing so, media commonly uses a character stereotyped as the "black best friend."
In a Gender Studies class at Indiana University, my professor asked the class to name movies and TV shows that include a "black best friend." After a list of about 20 examples (Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You, and Scrubs to name a few), I realized just how regularly the media uses these shortcuts. In his article, "The Matter of Whiteness," Richard Dyer argues stereotyping characterizes "the representation of subordinated social groups and is one of the means by which they are categorized and kept in their place, whereas white people in white culture are giving the illusion of their own infinite variety." Dyer means that while the white race has an infinite variety of images associated with it, other races have a finite number. This causes stereotyping in the media.
The "black best friend," or BBF, is one of these finite images and is represented again and again in media. Greg Braxton from the Los Angeles Times explains on NPR's Talk of the Nation, "Black actresses seem increasingly to be relegated to this role of being the best friend of the white heroin; the one that will be giving them advice, and be sort of sassy, and warn them about hooking up with that guy, or taking that job, or anything that's going to put the white heroine in jeopardy...they don't seen to have much of a life outside of helping that friend...a BBF not a BFF." Braxton continues that it is very uncommon for the reverse to occur.
The BBF also is true for male characters, however, Braxton argues that not only is the relationship more equal, the black friend can be dominant over the white friend. I agree, but only to a point. Men BBFs are, indeed, more equal to their white counterparts, however their character still serves as the second to the white male lead. In the TV show, Scrubs, Turk has his own life and is not exclusively there for his white best friend,JD. However, he is quite frequently used to help JD or to be a comedic relief. Though they are more advanced than female BBFs, I don't see male BBFs to be as advanced as Braxton claims they are.
These stereotypes continue to pop up in the media, but do they really represent the true world? When black women have a white best friend, are they exclusively there to serve the friend and give advice? Are black best friends only there for comedic relief? No, the true life black best friend would be considered a BFF, not a BBF, to the white best friend. This racial stereotype, like a lot of others, is bogus, and media's use of racial stereotyping is not going to end until we find a new way of organizing our world.
In a Gender Studies class at Indiana University, my professor asked the class to name movies and TV shows that include a "black best friend." After a list of about 20 examples (Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You, and Scrubs to name a few), I realized just how regularly the media uses these shortcuts. In his article, "The Matter of Whiteness," Richard Dyer argues stereotyping characterizes "the representation of subordinated social groups and is one of the means by which they are categorized and kept in their place, whereas white people in white culture are giving the illusion of their own infinite variety." Dyer means that while the white race has an infinite variety of images associated with it, other races have a finite number. This causes stereotyping in the media.
The "black best friend," or BBF, is one of these finite images and is represented again and again in media. Greg Braxton from the Los Angeles Times explains on NPR's Talk of the Nation, "Black actresses seem increasingly to be relegated to this role of being the best friend of the white heroin; the one that will be giving them advice, and be sort of sassy, and warn them about hooking up with that guy, or taking that job, or anything that's going to put the white heroine in jeopardy...they don't seen to have much of a life outside of helping that friend...a BBF not a BFF." Braxton continues that it is very uncommon for the reverse to occur.
The BBF also is true for male characters, however, Braxton argues that not only is the relationship more equal, the black friend can be dominant over the white friend. I agree, but only to a point. Men BBFs are, indeed, more equal to their white counterparts, however their character still serves as the second to the white male lead. In the TV show, Scrubs, Turk has his own life and is not exclusively there for his white best friend,JD. However, he is quite frequently used to help JD or to be a comedic relief. Though they are more advanced than female BBFs, I don't see male BBFs to be as advanced as Braxton claims they are.
These stereotypes continue to pop up in the media, but do they really represent the true world? When black women have a white best friend, are they exclusively there to serve the friend and give advice? Are black best friends only there for comedic relief? No, the true life black best friend would be considered a BFF, not a BBF, to the white best friend. This racial stereotype, like a lot of others, is bogus, and media's use of racial stereotyping is not going to end until we find a new way of organizing our world.
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