Take Control of Your Culture - American Studies - Blog

Deal or no Deal parody- MAD TV

This is a parody of the show Deal or no Deal. Mad TV makes it feel like it is the real show. They did a good job acting. 

Satire: It's a Trap

"It's a Trap" is a Star Wars parody that pokes fun at Star Wars in a Family Guy way. Seth MacFarlane pointed out in the little message in yellow text in the beginning he didn't want to do the parody. I think he did truthfully. Seth clearly throws a lot of jokes into it. Like when Jabba is strangles, or the Sarlac pit,   or when c-3po was telling the ewoks of their various adventures as the fresh prince song. Also Han Solo let a giant fart when he was being released from carbonite as his rear end was sticking out as opposed to hands. When luke was thrown into Jabba's pit, instead of a monster, it was Rush Limbaugh. There are too many jokes to even describe in a single post.

 

then there's this:

its flipped so fox couldn't block the video

 

Satire:Situational,Dramatic Irony(Good Times)

In this episode of Good Times JJ witnesses a accident involving hus brother in law and Sweet Daddy's lady and has to lie that his brother was in the wrong but he wasn't he was threatened to lie so that sweet Daddy lady won't get into trouble, this is what makes it a situation because JJ has to decide.JJ is scared and don't know what to do and tries not to tell his family what's going on which makes it dramatic.

Steven Colbert on immigrant workers

    I've always known Steven Colbert as an extremely sarcastic person who shares many of my views on America.  He always has a way with words even when he is adressing one of the most powerfull entities in the United States.  In this video we see Steven adress a House (Sub)Committee on immigration, citizenship, refugees, border security, and international law.  Steven uses hyperbole to get his saterical message across.  Steven makes the argument that 

 

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1T75jBYeCs

"When Black Men Succeed"

    In American Studies 3-4th period classes we were assigned to find something about race and as I browsed the interwebs I found this study.  

    When I read the title to this article, "When Black Men Succeed", I thought about how black man succeeding, makes news.  I thought about the significance of the topic and how it actually makes news is insulting.  Though as I read on I began to understand that the writer of the article shared the same view as me. The article talks about how when black man DO succeed in business, they are usually surrounded by a bunch of whites.  

    This article talks about how a study was conducted that shows 3 out of 5 blacks come from low income families.  Many blacks struggle to go to college or esteem to be anything great because most come from an unsporting lifestyle and are led to believe that they cannot get in to college (or succeed greatly in life) even if they tried.  This negative influence usually comes from their living conditions and lack of positive reinforcement from those around them.  Not only does it come from people in their life but also from the media.  The media portrays the upper and middle class as white law abiding citizens, while it portrays the lower class as blacks and latinos as criminals and convicts.  Even though in some cases this stereotype is true, it doesn't help aspiring blacks to see other blacks portrayed as poor gang members.  The media supports these stereotypes despite them not being true.  

 

Link to study: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/02/06/study-aims-learn-why-some-black-men-succeed-college

American Satire

America's conversational confrontions are filled with satire such as sarcasism, hyperboles, understatements and parodies. This video from The Onion strictly expresses the meaning of American Satire. The video talks about how terrible Eli Manning (New York Giants Football QB) is in his Football career. They use a long-term series of sarcastic facts about Manning. "Facts" were given that Eli Manning asked his dad if he could stop playing Football now that he has won the Superbowl.

 Click Here for The Onions News.

Is that really me?

    Tyler Perry is a actor, writer, producer, and  director of stage plays, movies and T.V shows, he is also a African American. His character Madea has made many people laugh and excited to go to the shows and see what she is going to do next. Although many of his projects are made to make people laugh, and move their hearts, what is it really saying about race in America? Some can even argue there is and underlined stereotypical message about women in some of his work as well.

    Is this what people think of me, that I am a mad Black women? Now there are stereotypes about what the majority of black people are like, some might say they are loud, ghetto, rude, bitter, obnoxious, illiterate and many more. I think the reason some people believe these things is because of bad a experiences they have had with a black person and instead of singling them out as being one ignorate person that they came apon, they group black people as a whole of acting this way. I for one do not think i match and of these stereotypes, I do know some people that has some of these qualities however I would not chalk that up to race, I would say they are a product of how they grew up and their family life. If i did not grow up in the place that I did with the people I did I might not be the same person.

If a person has not been exposed to people outside of their race and they watch alot of Perry's work they might beleive that this is truely what a black person might act like. Due to the fact that alot of his characters have taken on the sterotypical roles. I think a lump some of his films perpetuate racial sterotypes. I feel as though he can have some more movies and characters that send a different message, i also beleive that he can have different races in his movies and not solely african americans.

I am not saying that i do not enjoy Tyler Perry's films, i think that he is brilliant at what he does. He gives African Americans the chance to act in films that they might not have had the oppurtunity to do if he did not make the jobs for them. However i do think that he needs to rethink some of his characters and how they protray the african american culture.

Confronting Racism

One day my friend introduced me to a new artist named Kendrick Lamar. He is a rap artist and is now one of my favorite. While listening to his album "Section#80", i was pulled in by one of his songs titled "Fuck your Ethnicity". This song talks about how racsism is still a lie and is evident in the world we live in today. A line that really stuck out to me was, " Racsism is still alive, yellow tape and colored lines" This guy is talking about how racsism is still evident in the world we live in today. Even though race in general doesn't actually exist, people are still being judged upon the color of their skin, how they act, what they like, how they live their lives, and so on and so forth. But not only are people being judged, there are hate crimes that happen in our world.Drive by shootings, group beatings, and so much terrible actions being opposed on some just because they are different in the slightest way. Look up the song, "Fuck Your Ethnicity" by kendrick Lamar

The cycle of racial stereotypes

  At the beginning of this project, I preconceive the idea of the stereotype of Mexicans in the United States.  As a Mexican I have the opportunity to describe my experiences in this country, as well as any student who has a concrete notion of his or her roots -African-American, Asian, Latino, or other.

A few days ago I was in the school cafeteria when one of the students asked me, “I wonder if you can answer me some doubts that I have about Mexico." Excited for his curiosity about the country where I grew up, his questions established my disappointment. “Do you still use horses as transportation? Does your mother make tacos every day for dinner? Are there movie theaters in Mexico? What kind of entertainment do you have? Why all the people in Mexico name his/her child Maria or Jose?” The seriousness of his questions rule out any possibility of laughing. Trying to be as serious as he was, I answered to him "For transportation I used to take the bus, taxis or my family's car. I ate tacos every two months. We have as many cinemas as you have Starbucks in this country. I cannot tell you in what we entertain ourselves, because the list can be so long that I won't have enough time to mention everything. For what I know, in my school I was the only person named Maria Jose, and my name is from Spain."

When I finished answering all of his questions he was stunned. His astonishment was my disappointment.

Watching the majority of the American television programs, Mexicans are seen mostly as workers with low salaries and with a large number of individuals in their families. Or as domestic workers who end up in clandestine relations with the owners of the House (Anglo-Saxon generally).

I was exploring the perspective of individuals of other nationalities based in the Mexican stereotype. That is why in my English as a second language class, I asked how is that they visualize Mexican people. My classmates commented that they think most Mexicans are in jail. That Mexicans are involved in drugs, or that we simply do not have jobs because we do not finish school. Immediately they mentioned that I was different.  

 I was upset thinking about how not only a country but a compendium of cultures living in this country perceives my culture: immigrants, ignorant, and violent.  In Mexico we have a lot of state universities were students pay a minimum fee to attend. At this point it is difficult to enroll because of the high demand on all careers. Unfortunately the economy in Mexico is bad and people have immigrated to the United States or other countries.  Not only people from small towns but from big cities have immigrated, so it is common to see Mexicans that have a college degree cleaning tables at a restaurant in the United States.

The discomfort that I feel towards the Mexican stereotypes was calmed by my reasoning.  Sadly in all cultures there are stereotypes. We are stereotype in the way we look, in how we speak, and basically in the way we think.

 

 

 

  

Good Hair

The movie "Good Hair" is about how black people have different hair than white people and how they feel that they don't have as beautiful hair as white people. The movie "Good Hair" talks about how all of the different types of hair are beautiful hair and that the stereotype that black people have "nappy" and not as beautiful hair as white people isn't true. It's not fair that black people are said to not have as beautiful or "good" hair as white people because that stereotype isn't true because all types of hair are beautiful.

Jim Crow portrayed by Waka Flocka

AUSTIN CONE

In Flocka's hit song "Grove st. Party" he perpetuates the Jim crow crow stereotype:

[Waka Flocka Flame - Chorus]

I gotta a whole lot of money, bitches count it for me
Bottle keep poppin that's why the bad hoes jockin

It's a party It's a party It's a party
It's a party It's a party It's a party

My partner on a pill, my other partner drunk, rollin a lot I'm trying to get fucked up

It's a party It's a party It's a party
It's a party It's a party It's a party

Wakka Flocka is a new american rapper who almost always perpetuates the Jim Crow stereoype in every song.  The Jim crow stereotype is African Americans  feeling the need to always party and have a good  time.  This song is herd by many americans everyday and is seen too young people as the way of life. He portrays the notion that the only way for rappers to make a lot of money is by forcing the idea that the partying life is fun and ok.  It seems like the majority of  artist who use the Jim crow stereotype are of the African American race. This is backwards to me because the Jim crow stereotype was created  to put black's in a lower class than whites.

Dark-skin vs. Light-skin?

    Today in american society, many African-Americans are still left with the bitterness of slavery. Even though slavery was abolished in 1865, the events that occured seemed to leave the race seperated and somehow against each other. It all goes back to slavery and there being 2 different types of slaves, the field slaves and the house slaves. Usually if you were darkskin then you would have to work the fields but if you were lightskin you had the privilege of working in the house, having it a bit easier to be a slave because the master felt because you were lighter, you were closer to being white instead of more African. Because of this many house slaves began to believe that they were better than the field slaves because they were lighter and had it easier. The field slaves then started to envy them because they had a better advantage.  Even after many years alot of African-Americans still hold on to this stereotype that being lighter is better than being darker because it traces back so long ago. It is now 2012 and most African-Americans have started to accept the fact they ware beautiful no matter what shade they are, while some still feel that being lighter is better than being darker. In the end, everyone within the African-American race is beautiful and honestly, shade doesn't really matter.

B.I.G. promotes Jim crow stereotype

Tim M.

Notorious B.I.G. shows the present-day Jim Crow sterotype  in his song  "Party and Bullshit" :

Verse II:
Honey want to chat 
but all we wanna know is where the party at 
and can I bring my gat?  If not, I hope I don't get shot

The Jim crow stereotype is a black person only wanting to have fun all the time  and live life like a joke.  This song does indeed perpetuate this stereotype.  It shows this because that's all notorious wants to know is where the parties at.  Nothing else matters, not even a girl thats trying to talk with him.   

Chorus:
and party and bullshit and party and bullshit X 5
and party and bullshit and X 1

The chorus also betrays this stereotype.  The chorus is basically the Jim crow steroype itself  but in the words of Notorious.  Even though the Jim crow sterotype was more popular in the past it's still  brought up in the present day.   Not just in music but the news and in  books.   B.I.G. is not the only person who perpetuates the Jim crow stereotype in a song and  he certainly will not be the last.  It seems like the only way for black rappers to succeed in the rap industry is if they use the Jim crow sterotype in there music.      

 

All Black People Like Chicken.

 

    In this video clip comidian dave chappelle talks about the stereotype that all black people like chicken. Though he dose exaggerate, he tells us about how people in our modern day all believe this stereotype is true.  This is a perfect example of raceism in America. It takes place in every state.  Dave is basically saying if your are black and raised in a African American family you will like chicken. This is by no means true. America's two most popular meats are beef and chicken. African Americans dont make up the majority of America's population. This tells us that Chicken is popular among all races. Many people in America are black but dont care for chicken. Just becauce you are a certain race dose not mean you only like to eat the food that the majority of your race enjoys. That Goes for all races.

Racial Stereotype: Hispanics Are All Illegal Aliens

    This is a picture of a hipanic person attempting to illegally cross the border into America. This picture is supporting the racial stereotype that all hispanics are illegal aliens. Obviously, this is not true, but it is a debatable topic today because illegal immegration is one of the biggest problems that America has to face. However, it is still not right to catagorize all hispanics under this stereotype because it is not true. 

-Ian Sutherland