In Approaches to Theorizing International Communication, Thussu concludes that modern Western concepts of people in the developing world have been molded through literature, travel writing and film. These communicative mediums have been a noteworthy participant in the extension of imperialism and ultimately used to maintain control of the peripheries and justify Western domination. While reading this week however, I could not help but think to our own country and how these same mediums, particularly film, contributed to the long struggle for African-American equal rights. The Emancipation Proclamation was presented on January 1, 1863 and yet the Civil Rights Movement did not begin until the late 1950s. Why did it take roughly one hundred years after breaking the bonds of slavery for the African-American freedom movement to grip the nation?
As demonstrated by Thussu and other scholars, film is a powerful medium that affects public opinion and perception. From early films and onward the African-American community was continually subordinated in the United States. Birth of a Nation (1915) was one of the most widely received silent films celebrated for its technological innovation, yet its portrayal of African-American’s in the Reconstruction Era is indisputably racist. Gone With The Wind (1939) won ten Academy Awards yet also portrayed its African-American characters as silly, senseless and happily dependent on their Masters. These films permeated American culture, furthered a negative African-American stereotype and also justified the pre-Civil War Southern lifestyle thereby stifling movements for African-American equal rights until the mid 1950s.
Minority subordination in film and television still persist today. How can we combat stereotypes in a world where the media has supreme control on public opinion?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAV3OfHo4n4&feature=related
It is amazing how far the reach of Hollywood goes. Film has easily become the easiest way to package a culture and export it across the globe. You're examples in your blog from the past provide a strong argument, I do believe film is becoming more open to other societies though. It is also becoming more important to developing countries. The success of Bollywood films is skyrocketing, and documentaries and biographical films are becoming more and more popular. With film equipment becoming smaller and more readily available to the masses, I think we will see the rise of other cultures and societies within films. Recently an Iranian film maker under house arrest created a film using his iPhone and smuggled it out of the country: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/14/jafar-panahis-this-is-not-a-film_n_963266.html
ReplyDeleteSpeaking about film making, nowadays you can use any camera for doing it. If i'm not mistaken, in 2008, one of the private broadcasting school in Indonesia together with Indonesian HIV Committee held a film making competition. The unique thing was, you had to use mobile phone camera and it had to be not more than a minute. The message behind the competition was to raise HIV awareness among Indonesian teenagers. Simple but it had a deep and important message. (Lodya)
ReplyDeleteMinority subordination in TV and film is definitely still an issue and I like the question you posed.
ReplyDeleteConsidering the amount of Arab-phobia in the US, I've always thought that if a TV show were created to show an everyday, Arab American family, it might have a positive effect on public opinion.
Now, I don't watch TV often, but I am fairly certain that there aren't any TV shows of that kind these days. Most of the time you see an Arab character pop up in Law & Order as a terrorist (a friend of mine recently played one in the Criminal Intent series).
I do remember, however, seeing a parody of an Arab version of the Cosby's. Unfortunately I can't find the link now, but it must have be from The Daily Show or SNL. It was hilarious because it mocked all the ridiculous stereotypes that Americans have. I took the skit to heart though and realized how interesting, dynamic, and informative a TV show about an American-Arab family could be.
Unfortunately, that's not what flies with the networks these days. Shows either have to be about doctors, detectives, or vampires. The only exception could be "Modern Family" which is definitely reflective of the myriad of nuclear family arrangements that exist in the US today. Progress would be including a plot line with the "Ali's" or "Haddad's" who live next door.