Take Control of Your Culture - American Studies - Blog

Parody on South Park

Tim M.

One of the episodes in South Park uses a lot of Parody. The African American race is  being made fun of .  Every black person in town is really rich.  Richer than the Whites in the community.  They took a sterotype and totally flipped it around.  It's parody because all the black's may be rich but in reality this is not true.  They are immitating the syle of an author or work for commic effect and ridicule of others. 

 

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.

For Colored Girls (And the black girls sterotype)

 
This Tyler Perry original movie was about several African American girls in New York who are all interconnected due to and series of unfortunate events. An all black cast in this movie these girls are all basically every stereotype ever thought of by african american females as  whores,clueless,male dependent, lonely,ignorant,nosey.they were never portryed as a strong powerful woman that they were.By the director being African american I would believe that he would understand this an break the mold.The male counterpartsin this movie we just as poorly portryed as the female roles they were thought of as abusive and lying,sneaky,violent people this movie helped put everything racially thought of in this movie.As a whole this movie  was amazing I just wish that african american roles went so poorly chosen. 

Madea, the Symbol of the Typical Black Woman?

Tyler Perry, other wise known as Madea,is a global symbol of the typical African Amercian woman.  Being naturally agressive, yet at the same time caring to others in the house hold.  Being a man of great sense of humor, could his symbol be seen as a racistal figure as well? think of Madea from another race's point of view, how would you react towards black females knowing they could be like this symbol and be aggressive at any moment? would you be afraid to aproach said females?  These are the questions that come along with modern day society. 

There are many things that can be used to descibe african american females, but tyler perry likes to stick to the "facts" and "stories" that come along with this culture of females.  In african american households, the female is portrayed as the ruler of the house.  She lays the laws essentially, but at the same time she isn't the ruler. The african american male obeys the females rules but he knows he is controlling, but doesn't need to say so.  Basically speaking, the African american female plays a strong role in her household.

Religon Is War.

Religion is a huge part of what America is and what we as a nation stand for. We have the right to practice any religion we want, other countries don't have this amazing attribute. Religion also makes many people very upset because they don't believe in what certain religions practice. What would happen if every country with different practices tried to change other countries into what they believe. An argument between all of the countries would be first, then one would get tired of arguing and go to war with that group of country. The reason this topic is being brought up is because in class someone stated that war and religon are soon to be hand and hand. I brought up that's a good point because the movie The Book of Eliwas based in the future after a nuclear war wiped out the majority of the population and leaving people left to have to survive on their own and rebuild what was once theirs. The reason for the war was because people wanted to delete religion from the way of life. People and governments started to destroy the bible and hide it's messages from people. This is why the war was started, I believe religion it's self causes many problems in the way people think and what they do. It is also the most touchy conversation for people because not everyone believes in the same way.

Fast Food Nation, Story #3

    Don Anderson decided to not tell his boss whats going on at the meat supplier factory. He makes this decision after having a lunch with the head of the factory and he threatens him about losing his job or even maybe hinting at bringing him or his family harm. He also implies that any of the fecal matter's bacteria would be killed when they grill the burgers. Earlier in the movie he would even eat the burger willingly even though he know about the high amounts of fecal matter in them. With all this in mind, he later decides to return home without word to his boss just implying that they should investigate farther into it at a later date.
    If I was in Don Anderson's position I would most likely do the same as he did, fearing for the need to support my family and all the work I would of went through to get to the point he is at now. I would prevent my family from eating anymore of the food from Mickey's or any fast food chain for that matter. Raising my kids to know how fast food works and why they shouldn't have often or at all. Then maybe after a year or sooner, have passed and the head of the meat factory has forgotten about his threats; I would be able to have someone investigate farther and do something about it, hopefully befitting the company and America since Mickey's has such a huge influence on it.

'Their Eyes' On The Big Screen

I personally think that there could have been more done to capture the themes of Their Eyes Are Watching God.

Obviously films can't cover everything that goes on in the books, but maybe exaggeration of the characters and events will start to put the book to life : familiar faces with personalities from the text.

In the book, Janie's childhood is described in great detail. Her mother's story is also laid out.

I don't recall viewing anything about Janie's childhood or her mother's life. Janie's grandmother is mentioned. Do you think this was just done because of timing issues or how Janie's life as a child and her mother's life is scaled in importance?

What happened to Janie's mother is basically a huge influence on what she looks like, what kind of person she is because of her up bringing...etc.

Please feel free to share your opinions.

Romantisicim Anaylisis

Some of the ways that the movie “color purple” is related to romanticism is that the movie color purple is all of the mistreatment of a housewife who is actually a slave in the household that she lives in. Also the wife is beaten and slapped around, if she doesn’t do what she is supposed to do, such as work and cook. This is related to romanticism: the definition of romanticism is artistic intellectually and literary. This movie the color purple is definitely intellectual because the wife is always trying to use her intellect to satisfy her husband.

            The color purple is not only a good romanticism movie. It’s just an overall good movie. The movie has a lot of feeling. The characters did an excellent job of relating to some of people that watch the movie. The story of the movie is interesting and makes you want to watch it. That’s why my group and I would like to use this movie the Color Purple as an example of romanticism.

The Patriot

I'm sure you all have heard of the movie "The Patriot"  that was released years ago, and it was a great Movie! For those that don't know about the movie, it takes place during the Revolutionary War, where one man has to stand and fight a war after having his son killed. Now he must fight not just to protect his family, but to also protect the freedom of hundreds.

This movie reflects alot about what the class has been covering, not just about the time period in general, but the study about movies the class was doing while watching the movie "The Crucible." In the movie "The Patriot," we see great examples of lighting, sound, camera shots, and motion. Although there is a certain question that most of us rarely if ever think about when watching historical movies such as "The Patriot." The question itself is rather simple and its, "Is this movie trying to teach the viewer about the event, or is it merely trying to entertain the viewer?"

For example, the movie "300" was a fantastic movie that put the movie "Brave Heart" to shame, but was the movie trying to teach the viewer about the event, or is it merely trying to entertain the viewer? In this post, discuses what you think about the question and historical movies such as "The Patriot."