Monday, January 3, 2011

First Post. Comments on Hook's movie Cultural Criticism and Transformation


              I do agree with Hook's assertions in her movie Cultural Criticism and Transformation. I think that the media does further racism and sexism. There are many different parts of media that do show what she was explaining on racism, where the white man is the hero and the black man is the bad guy. I feel like many people may not notice this when watching the movies, but also that as she said, when all these movies are watched it becomes the underlying ideas in society. Hook did not give any examples of movies that show white people as bad or black as good, so I do wonder how much things have changed in current day movies. I also agree that women are seen very badly in movies, though I do not know if it is because the media wants women back in the household, or if it is just degrading to the entire sex in general. The media does cause people to continue being racist and sexist and that these problems are not being helped by most images we see today.
                The example Hook gave about Madonna was about how she was a powerful women in the music industry but then changed to submitting to sexism and being the patriarchic woman. Hook mentioned how when Madonna reached stardom, she needed to use white supremacy and fall back into the sexist views in order to make more money.  Hook also believes that Madonna said negative things about black men because of the money reward. I do agree with the fact that if everyone in stardom does what Madonna did, and changes their views because of the ability to get more money, then these issues with the public view and society will never get better.

13 comments:

  1. I agree with your statement about money being an issue. Nothing will get better as long as society acts in ways that allow them to obtain more money. Perceptions will only get better when greed is not an issue.

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  2. While I was watching the video I was hoping that Hook would bring up the routine in movies with violence against women. Most movie's tend to have a very climactic sexual scene, followed directly by violence, whether it be a murder or a slap across the face. It also is an issue for violence against women. It teaches young boys and women that this is okay, that the two are related.

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  3. I agree with both of you. I think you are right Sam, people truly need to stop living their lives to just become rich. Perceptions on these issues would change more readily if that was not the end goal for everyone. I think you are correct too Miranda, I wish that Hook had mentioned the violence more, as I think that is just a big of issue, if not bigger, than patriotic household women.

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  4. I agree that the media and people in general need to stop portraying violent sexual behavior against women. If a young kid it viewing something and sees a man hit a women and then they have sex, he's going to say "well okay... that's okay to do then because I saw it on tv". The violence and oppression in the media just adds to the ignorance and social deprivation that is the modern day generation.

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  5. I agree that people will follow what the high profile individuals in our society will do. I Madonna is a great example of this because she was praised for reinventing herself so many times. Also, I think women need to stand up for themselves and not participate in violently sexual scenes, however, the chances of that happening are slim to none.

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  6. That is what is so frustrating Lynette. No one watches it and says no that is a good image to portray, they know it is wrong. But no one is going to say no to a few tens of thousands of dollars when all they have to do is pretend to be slapped and then jump in bed with some guy.

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  7. I wish people would, but I guess money truly rules everyone. We need producers out there that will do the opposite of the violence, and pay people to show how wrong the media can be.

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  8. Hey Ruth I accidentally deleted your comment on my page. I don't want you to loose points so I just wanted to let you know! Sorry!

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  9. Oh okay! No worries, I just went back and posted again :)

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  10. I agree that Madonna was a powerful women in the music industry but then submitted to using sexism to be more successful. Ever since women have been making more and more provocative videos, photos, album covers...etc. I feel like a lot of new artists today are sort of breaking out of that stereotype, but it is still a major issue and continues to cast negative connotations on women and their capabilities.

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  11. I agree what hooks says about Madonna that she became greedy and wanted to make more and more money by using sexism as a tool.

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  12. In my work I have seen a couple examples of women who have advanced degrees (I work in the computer networking industry) who could be go on to be very successful in their work, take a break in their careers to have children, while their husbands continue to work. What are your thoughts on this, do you think they are being "greedy" like Madonna (since they are somewhat conforming to the "stay at home" stereotype like Madonna was) or do you think they are justified in their actions. I know its sort of unrelated to the topic of the media but I thought it was an interesting question to pose.

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  13. That is a very interesting question. I think that women should be allowed to both work and have children, but that they should not destroy who they truly are, as Madonna did, to do it.

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