Satire on Race

There is a television series called “Fresh Off The Boat” that jokingly promotes racism to the Asian community. Its story line consists of a family of Asian people that moved from Chinatown Washington D.C. to the suburbs in Florida. They opened a restaurant called, “Cattlemen’s Ranch”  and the producers made the wife a typical “cookie cutter Asian” who is a very aggressively smart women. Their oldest son’s character is really fond of black culture and not really so fond of being smart like their younger 2 son’s are which takes away the stereotype of all Asians are super smart. The show basically tries to make it seem like its okay for people to make fun of and stereotype Asians.

Satire on The Simpsons

The Simpsons was and always has been a part of American satire. They use satire in political and humorous views of the world. Usually an episode over-exaggerates on controversial topics. For example, one episode, Homer Badman, Homer and Marge goes to a candy convention. They hire a babysitter to watch the kids. Her name was Ashley. When he drives home for the night he sees Ashley outside. He sees her from behind and reluctantly picks up a gummy ‘venus’ on the back of her pants. Ashley translates the actions of Homer as a sexual advance.  She also shows a campaign against anti-harassment. This episode has gotten out of hand, and also shows satirical humor as well as exaggeration throughout the episode.

https://www.quora.com/What-Simpsons-episodes-used-satire-the-best-and-why

Satire Parody

Saturday Night Live made a skit that was related to Isis. The skit was about a dad dropping his daughter off to Isis, but they tried adding humor and kindness into it so it wouldn't seem so bad.  It tried making the issue of it into something humorous but many people had different opinions on how that was played out. This is an example of a parody because today, Isis is a huge problem. It's affecting the lives of people and communities, causing destruction all over the world. People are now in constant fear of what's to come with Isis, if they’re the next city/ town to be put into threat. Saturday Night Live tried making this issue into something not as big as it is and they tried to bring humor into this issue. Thousands of people have lost their families to this traumatic event and there should be no reason to make it into a joke.

Link for video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40zP2vRq2oA

Satire in Music

Maeve Levy

December 6, 2015

Satire in Modern Music

Many teenagers who listen to pop music can become very quickly obsessed with a song once they see it is becoming popular. Although, what most people don’t do is actually listen to the lyrics where you can see these songs are openly bashing the media and today’s celebrities. The song “Royals” by Lorde was a big hit almost 2 summers ago with her catchy tune and smooth voice. The lyrics openly talk about how today’s celebrities are obsessed with materials, possessions, and their image. The satire is shown here with irony in this situation because she criticizes fame and fortune, but the song was number one on the top 100 for nine weeks. Here you can listen to the song if you want to hear for yourself.

Another song that shows satire is one that could be said to be one of the most popular songs of its time. With over 2 billion views, this music video and song broke the charts. This song, Gangnam Style by Psy is a song and dance that many people enjoyed to recreate and play along with, but, what many American’s didn’t put together because of the language barrier, was the way Psy was mocking his country South Korea. The music video shows it more with showing the materialists and fake girls and how money obsessed everyone seems to be. This shows satire very clearly because it is a very exaggerated song and video exposing and criticizing the country of South Korea.

Hip hop Parody

Hip hop is a cultural movement that formed during the early 1970s among African Americans residing in the South Bronx in New York City.It became popular outside of the African American community in the late 1980s and by the 2010s became the most listened-to musical genre in the world.As we all know Kanyne West is married to Kim K. in 2014 and 10 years ago he wrote a song called gold digger and as i listen to again in 2015 it seems that he rapped his future...don't you think listen to it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vwNcNOTVzY. Now let's analyze it ¨My psychic told me she have a** like Serena Trina, Jennifer Lopez..¨ now let's take a good look 👀👀

(sip my tea) interesting very interesting. Now the title gold digger!The next shocking line ¨if you fuc**** with this girl you better be paid¨. we all remember Chris Humphries the basketball player for the who played for the Brooklyn nets(at the time) who loved his dear beloved wife aww<3. Well that 2 million dollar ring that she didn't want to give up because its ¨apart of her net worth¨(for a marriage that only lasted 72 hours) wow now i know i don't have to explain. Kanyne don't care he'll still love her,buts that's none of my business ☕️ i already know what's next 1:01😂😂

Teenage Satire

The Wayans' family had already made the 1990s one of the funniest decades with their light comedy and multiple TV shows. The upped themselves the very next year with the first iconic movie that started the series, Scary Movie. The movie is a funny take on multiple movies of the time, horror or non horror. The movie stars a group of young teens who, in the previous year, had accidentally killed a man and are now be killed. The whole scary movie series uses parody to make you laugh and have an underlying meaning. The scary movie in most people's eyes is seen making fun of the teenage horror genre but scary movie is showing how pathetic and sad the horror genre has come. Horror movies back in the day were not only scary but iconic. I see this movie pointing out how silly and unoriginal the newer horror movies are.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41RFw9aqIxM

Modern Satire

Satire is used in social media, advertisements, television shows and even propaganda and some art. The Daily Show, which was stared by John Stewart, but recently retired from the position, expresses a lot of satire. This show is not popular with teens and children considering that most of the jokes used are written catered to an audience that is older and have advanced knowledge on contemporary politics. Satire, which is, the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues, according to (Bing.com)  is the main soft spot for the viewers. John Stewart delivered the jokes in an extremely funny attitude and created many that ridicule politicians. As many think in the United States, the normal news shows are idiotic, bias, and consistently focus on violence. Watching The Daily Show is like taking a brief break from listening to the normal news to laugh at modern politics. This is how more and more young adults are getting the news through shows that use satire.
by Cal Venerus

Satire On Race-Jasmyn Peterson

There was a video called "White Squad" that promoted hilarious and sarcastic satire. It was about a group of white people that offers their help to people of color and hispanics to get the same privileges as the whites. They would help them get a cabs, better jobs, better homes, basically better opportunities as a whole. It was funny because the tone of his voice made it seem like he was joking, and he also made it seem like he was being dramatic.  They  made the point of the video seem like it was made to help people but in reality, it was throwing shade. It was indicating that the only right race to be is white because everything is better that way. They also tried to manipulate the audience to believe that they were being helpful but in all honesty it was a way of being nice but nasty.

Satire on family guy

          Family guy is a very funny television show that was created by Seth Macfarlane aired its first episode on Jan 31,1999. The Main characters of this show is the Griffin family who includes the parents Peter and Lois, their children Meg, Chris, Stewie and their talking dog Brian. This show is known to be using satirical humor which not only aims fun at political figures or stereotypes but is aimed to bring about the issues in today’s society. For example In episode fourteen of season two the show introduced peer pressure and drugs. Meg sees a girl named Lisa, also the girl who bullies her, doing toad behind the school with all of the popular kids. Lisa bullies Meg some more when she finds out that Meg does not do drugs. Meg however, wants to become popular and is peer pressured into holding drugs for them in order to get a date to the Winter Snow Ball that week. It goes to show that this sitcom also addresses important issues that our society faces especially among teens. Although there are multiple instances of satire, it does not get rid of the importance of this issue. Besides that is an aspect of satire is to use jokes to bring these issues in the light.

Saturday Night Live Satire---Natalie Rumoro

Saturday Night live is a T.V show that was created by Lorne Michaels. SNL (Saturday night live) has been airing since the fall of 1975, and nothing has changed, SNL is full of comedy. The comedy that is shown is usually focused of politics and culture. Sometimes they take serious topics and turn them into jokes, such as using satire, a long with a ton of sarcasm. Other times the show comes up with their own topics and performs skits. In many cases this show has also taken popular T.V shows that catch the viewers attention, and do a reenactment on the show using satire. Saturday night live is constantly taking racial aspects, funny topics already, and changes them into a comedy, or a parody of their own. Each episode that is shown has a celebrity guest, and they join in the annual way the show always has opened. This show has actually become so popular in America that many different countries such as Germany, Spain, South Korea, Japan, and Canada, all have their own version of SNL. All of them are comedy shows as well. One of the skits that took place and shows satire was when Amy Schumer took gun enthusiasts and turned it into a parody. Things like this are done because they take a serious topic and it is easier to get across the message to people if they turn around what is actually happening and turn it into a comedy. This makes it easier for people to understand what is actually going on, and in an interesting way. Above is a video showing Amy with the gun laws. This skit is showing one problem that we are facing, with everyone's different opinions on it, and changing it around for people to see it in a more enjoyable way that they can connect to.


http://www.today.com/popculture/amy-schumer-takes-aim-gun-control-saturday-night-live-parody-t49316

The Proud Family

In the TV series “The Proud Family,” there are a variety of characters that breaks down racial stereotypes. For example, Oscar Proud who is Penny’s father, describes what a stereotypical African American male is like. In one episode that I watched, “Puff’s Magical Adventure”, in the beginning of the show, Oscar smells like rotten eggs mixed with bodily functions. He lays down on his couch about to watch the game while others such as Bebe&Cece and Suga Mama’s pet dog Puff, keep interrupting him so he goes on and puts the babies and the dog in a playpen. He then goes off and proceeds to watch the game until his wife Trudy tells him it’s time to go to the furniture store to pick up a closet. He then goes off on her and tells her it is Oscar Day, which is a day for him to lay around doing nothing all day. This shows a racial stereotype that all black male’s are lazy and they don’t want to do anything besides sitting down watching television. Another thing that breaks racial stereotypes is that Dijonay Jones who is Penny’s good friend is portrayed as a typical black girl with a bare midriff and always ditches Penny to do something  else.

Race analysis

The very first time i became aware how important my race was in this world was in the 5th grade. One day I went to target with my brother and dad , while me and my dad were walking around the clothing area my older brother Brandon was in the Video game section. My brother Brandon has never stolen a thing in his life and was a good kid , a football player. I walk around the isles to be with my brother in the video game section and I see he's talking to a tall skinny white man. Finally i go and stand next to my brother and hear their conversation my brother asks this guy to open the glass case so he can get the video game and the guy keeps telling him “i don't have to do what you tell me boy.” My brother starts calling my dads name .. my dad runs over angrily because he had to run over he asks “what's wrong son”. The tall man that worked there calls security and says “ we have three crazy black people in the electronic area”, my dad gets outraged and starts screaming and cursing. The security comes up and asks if everything is okay and my dad whips his badge out and says “yes everything is okay” the target guy slowly asks my dad if was a cop and my dad says no i'm a sheriff for cook county. My older brother flips the guy off and we walk out and go get food at Chili's but on the ride there my dad gave me a speech about people like him.

everybody hates chris, promoting sterotypes or breaking them?

Everybody hates chris is an American sitcom based on the troubled teenage experiences of comedian chris rock aired on september 22, 2005, the show is set between 1982 and 1987. Everybody hates chris is based on the racial stereotypes we see and think of everyday. The popular sitcom is about a boy named " Chris" ( Tv comedian Chris Rock child impersonater) who is midunderstood by the " white community" and his daily struggles with being an only black kid in a all white school.

Everybody hates chris portrays the typical “ african american lifestyle” that other races see them as. African Americans are seen as ghetto, poor, uneducated, and fatherless. The media portrays this type of image so we as the audience start to believe it and think it’s funny because we see it to be true. In the video above it shows different scenes of  Chris's teacher Ms.Morello sterotyping chris and when chris shuts down the stereotype she thinks he's lying because he's embarrass to admit it being the truth. One example from this episode is when Chris ran for president and the student's were going to impeach him because he couldn't give them what he promised to give them. In this episode chris has to write a speech as to why they shouldn;t impeach him and Ms.Morello saids " can i give a suggestion, maybe this time you should try rhyming." Giving the stereotype that all African American men are rappers or drug dealers this quote shows how she views chris, she views him as being just another African American male stereotype.

The stereotype of Black people only being good for being comedians, being good at sports, or being musically talented goes back to slave days in the south beiginning in 1619. Blacks were known for always being happy and funny due to Jim crow; Jim crow was a character made up my white comedian Thomas Dartmouth Rice, "Rice darkened his face, acted like a buffoon, and spoke with an exaggerated and distorted imitation of African American Vernacular English. In his Jim Crow persona, he also sang "Negro ditties" such as "Jump Jim Crow." http://www.ferris.edu/news/jimcrow/origins.htm No one really knew what was really going on on the plantations and thought the slaves wanted to be enslaved and that being enslaved would be good for the Africans. They also used music to communicate with other slaves.

In the famous sitcom " Everyone Hates Chris" they promote stereotypes by making fun of them and also break stereotpes by showing the truth about Chris and his family. People find the stereotypes they promote in the Tv show to be funny because we as a country have come to beileve the stereotypes that our media puts out about different races. Everybody Hates Chris breaks them because people in the TV show think that chris is fatherless, living on foodstamps, has alot of brothers and sisters, can't afford clothing, etc but the TV show shows that Chris has a father, his parents are married, doesn't have a whole bunch of " half siblings", has a home, and his parents have jobs.

Is Non-Reality Showing Reality?

The shows that are shown on TV today seem to be all reality shows. Made all dramatic and not showing the truth behind anything. Seems like the shows that aren’t reality portray a more realistic view on the world. The hit TV show Black-ish for example, shows a black family in today’s world. As the father, tries to teach his children what it means to be black he also tries to set cultural for his family. He also teaches his children their family history. Each show starts with references about African-American history. While the show shows various black stereotypes, it also corrects many of them. It shows a family with both parents that work, four children that go to multi-race public school, and a house.

The Racism in American Dad

The show American Dad is promotes stereotypes.

American Dad is largely based on stereotypes, which are mostly not the true/good stereotypes.

This is a show that has been out for sometime now, and was meant for grown ups to watch, it is aired on a television channel named Adult Swim. But lately, the show’s audience is becoming younger and younger. Another show that is in the same trend as American Dad is Family Guy, which is created by the same person that created American Dad.

There is a character of Asian descent in the show that goes by the name of Toshi, in which by itself, sounds stereotypical. In the episode, “Best Little Horror House in Langely Falls”, Steve, one of the main characters, takes a liking to Toshi’s sister, Akiko, another stereotypical name. Toshi’s finds out and tries to get revenge on Steve. The way he tries to take, is being a samurai, more stereotypical. If that wasn’t enough stereotypes, like the “typical” Japanese fighter, Toshi did not give up until he completed his mission, or until he was defeated.

Cultural Analysis: Wild Card

The comedians Key and Peele had made numerous knee-slapper videos. The anger translator video they did back in 2012 shows the brute stereotype, where the translator is kinda wild and uncontrollable; like a wild card. This work kinda reinforces the stereotype, even though it is making fun of it. Being in the media makes it so well know to many people giving them the idea. It reflects the identities in society and helps shape how society views some African American men, connects to how a lot of the violence in the media mostly shown on the news is an African American man, or a person of color who is very violent. In the video the Obama character (Peele) is calm and collected, but then comes the translator (Key) who is like showing the feeling on the inside. Even though that Obama is the president, he is under pressure and can’t express that much emotion, even if he is overly excited people would automatically fit him into a stereotype. Not only can this be shown in comedy, people get so much information in media today whether it be songs, movie, a TV show that  people are always making assumptions of others even if they don’t know it.

Transformers, Racism in Disguise

Transformers is a series of American science fiction action films directed by Michael Bay, and based on the toys created by Hasbro . The movies revolve around robots that can change into different vehicles bringing their war to Earth. The Transformers series promotes racial stereotypes through its movies. From the “urban” transformers mudflap and skids to the Samurai transformer named Drift. In the transformers movie Revenge of the fallen two new Transformers are introduced into the audience named Mudflap and Skid. Although voiced by white voiceover comedian Tom Kenny, a.k.a. the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants, they speak stereotypically “black”. the two transformers are stereotypical and offensive in many ways like how one of the robots has a gold tooth or the scene where the main character ask if they can read ancient glyphs, they nervously respond, "Read?! Nuh-uh..." "No, we don't really do much reading'!" to add to this they also constantly fight and snap on each other in inappropriate situations, and even refer to Leo, the Latino college student played by Ramon Rodriguez, as a "shrimp taco." It has seemed though that Michael bay has not learned from his mistakes as the cast of the latest transformer movie “Age of Extinction” has a transforme named Drift who also promotes racial stereotypes. In the movie Drift can be heard calling other transformers sensi while donning a completely yellow face literally. the way Michael Bay uses racial stereotypes to just get laughs without at least trying to defy or question these stereotypes is appalling. 

The Simpson's Sterotypes

The Simpsons are known for it's humor, but have you really thought about the meanings of their humor? The Simpsons has many characters, including Groundskeeper Willie (angry Scotsman), Bumblebee Man (clumsy Hispanic), Dr. Hibert (all black doctors gotta sound like Cliff Huxtable?), Krusty (self-loathing Jewish comedian), Cooki Kwan (are all Asians this competitive?), Luigi (is his brother's name Mario?), Fat Tony (all Italians are mobsters, huh?), and Cletus (white people have feelings too!).  Once digging deep into their humor, it's all making fun of the race of a person. They make them sound and act how they're "suppose" to based on society's opinion. It's funny until is your race that's being made in fun of. 

The Racism of Power Rangers

If you haven't realized by now many of the shows we watch today are racist. One clear example of this is the power rangers. Its also pretty obvious. The yellow ranger is an Asian, which is racist because Asians are known as yellow faces.  The black ranger is actually “black” and they made him have lots of rhythm and he was known for dancing a lot. The pink ranger was a perfect pretty white girl, a very common stereotype. Then there is the most racist of them all, The white ranger. I say this because the white ranger was actually “white”, and he had the most skills and powers. This basically made him the best power ranger. This is proving the point that society is really obsessed with race and stereotypes. Until now I wouldn't have even payed attention to it but after research it became really obvious to me. This is bad, especially since it is a children's show, so it seems like the idea of race starts off really young, and continues throughout life.

How does the media view us

Today many racist stereotypes still exist in the media. The show “The proud family” is a perfect example of the way that the media can perpetuate the racial stereotypes. The father, oscar, is made out to be a complete clown rather than a father. The way that he carries himself is much like the way a Sambo would have acted. He is a carefree idiot. The grandma “Suga Momma” is a representation of the Mammy Stereotype in the way that she is the disciplinarian of the household and is completely desexualized. In the same way that the show shows blacks in a negative light it also shows the white character, Zoey, in a negative light. Zoey is smart, awkward and dorky. She was very clumsy and made it seem like all white people are unathletic and awkward. The whole show has a very racist look on black people but it also shows white people through a racial lens. These looks on life need to be taken out of our media so we can stop perpetuating stereotypes.

Hispanic Stereotypes In Family Guy

The TV show Family Guy promotes stereotypes of Hispanics by only showing Hispanic characters with irregular physical features and of way of speaking and by the same character being in stereotypical roles such as a maid and other service workers.

Hispanic domestics are a sample of depictions of American families. One example is the comedy show that a lot of people watch a lot, Family Guy. Family Guy is a show based on a white family with different skills and a way of speaking about others and making fun of their cultures or ethnicities. Here is an example of a stereotype in Family Guy, are the Hispanics and how they’re depicted in the show.



An example of the picture above shows G.I JOSE speaking to each other; and if you have seen Family Guy then you can remember how the Hispanic soldier spoke. He spoke with a Hispanic accent. Other physical features such as his body shape making the character look fat, and also have a moustache with long sideburns, also a black hairy belly and black hairy arms and last making them have one skin color too. It promotes these kinds of stereotypes by showing the lack of intelligence in Hispanics and making them look stupid and also with one skin tone too. They also make Hispanics not attractive either.



Another example with stereotypes in Family Guy are what roles the Hispanics characters play in. In the picture above shows Peter Griffin and Consuela speaking. Typically how it portrays Hispanic characters as maids or other service workers. Such as Consuela above in the picture is in a maid outfit and wearing plastic gloves and with a rag in one hand too. 

These stereotypes are not only evidence in Family Guy. Many other Comedy Central shows, such as South Park and Tosh.0, participate in this trend.

Racial Superbowl commercial

During the 2008 Superbowl they released a commercial about the Chinese and what they do. They included about almost every stereotype about the Chinese. This commercial offended many viewers of the Superbowl of the Chinese race. This commercial was saying that since the Chinese are so smart and all. So the commercial described one of the pandas complaining about having no customers and that they would have to close the store. The other panda said "no i don't want to go back to the zoo." Then the other panda called another panda to solve their problem, told them to go to "salesgenie. com to get sales and to stop eating furniture."Once after that they started getting customers again and then they left in a car thanking salesgenie and then went to the zoo to visit the grizzly bears.

A Cultural Analysis on Skins

Skins is a influential British TV from the mid 2000’s displaying the lives of a group of teenagers of different races/cultures  just trying to figure out how life goes and how to handle everything while finding their adulthood. Every two seasons comes with a new round of kids with generally the same plot line basis: kids just trying to figure things out. (But each characters own subplots differ tremendously), with a comeback season following the most highlighted characters life’s finally as adults out in the independent world. Google describes it as “The lives of a group of teenagers in Bristol, England, are followed through two years of sixth form, with the storyline of this critically acclaimed series delving into such controversial subjects as substance abuse, sexuality, teenage pregnancy, personality and eating disorders, and mental illness. "Skins" is unique in its casting of amateur actors, and the fact that the cast is replaced every two seasons, when the characters leave school.” (Google Home Page) I feel that this is something that's very relevant to us; particularly because were also teenagers going through a lot of the same problems as many of these teens portrayed on this show, ei, social, educational, and family struggles. The interesting thing about this series is that each character gets an episode within the season highlighting them and their specific problems.  This series - while highlighting some racial stereotypes, but not exactly promoting them, crushes a lot of typical racial stereotypes. The four characters analyzed in this article will reiterate that.

This series shows some typical racial stereotypes, but it more feels like these stereotypes are being more portrayed than reinforced. While the existence of them is generally not so noticeable in the series itself unless you were looking out for it? They’re still prevalent. Here's an analysis of some of characters that support modern stereotypes:

• Cassie Ainsworth: Portraying: The Manic Pixie Dream girl, a typical sort of stock character, the cute eccentric (almost always) small white girl who has something so very wrong with her but if usually unnoticeable or goes unnoticed by the character who's lusting after her. (Cassie suffers from suffering from several mental disorders — most notably, anorexia nervosa — and multiple problems, including low self-esteem, suicidal ideation, and drug addiction.)
• Cassie’s problems are best highlighted in “Cassie” the second episode of the first season. Where many things happened to her that are caused by her eating disorder, a sticky note on her back that reads “EAT!”, or when she goes to her clinic with her underwear filled with weights as to fool her disorder clinic into thinking she's eating and gaining weight. (Stereotype that girls with eating disorders are crazy and just cannot recover properly) And gets to a point where she begins to get constant text messages telling her to eat, eat, eat. But is then resolved in the end that she's sending these to herself and just really had no idea due to some of her mental disorders.

• Liv Malone: Portraying: A typical party girl played by a black girl. Typical booze party girl, living recklessly, life and mind usually set of some sort of reckless abandon. (Which ties back to the “reckless” tendencies of black portrayal like Zambo, Zipcoon, etc)
• Livs stereotypical ways are highlighted throughout the season, but just like Cassie and most of the characters her ways are most brightly highlighted in her characters episode of “Liv” (episode four, season five) Where she deals with sleeping with her bestfriends boyfriend (stereotypically untrustable), introducing Marijuana into her group of friends and around her little sister. (Who she actually removes from the drugs scene, and leaves her at a sci-fi marathon, which she fails to notice is 24 hours long, and then goes to visit her sister in prison.) (Also stereotyping that blacks end up in prison.) Where then on a bus trip she meets a guy, (who also happens to be a POC) and they somehow end up acquiring a large amount of ecstasy which they then take (stereotyping that POC takes drugs whenever handed to them) and then proceed to shoplift and rob two different shops. (In the second shop the owner tries to rape Liv, which prompts them to basically knock him out, and then rob his store.)  

These two characters portray a lot of typical racial stereotypes. But now I’d like to introduce you to a different pair of characters from the same series who defy and crush many racial stereotypes:

• Jal Fazer: (defying the stereotype that people of color (POC) are lazy, unambitious, and the idea that that can generally not reach their desired goals.) The smart ambitious black girl who plays clarinet like a dream. (more like nobody's business) She is obviously the most affluent character out of all of her friends “As a highly talented and intellectual teenager, she defies various stereotypes. Her school is quick to take pride in (and responsibility for) a young black student being so successful, despite carrying little interest in the naturally gifted Jal. She is very straightforward and self aware.” (Skins Wiki)
• Jal defying stereotypes is seen throughout the show but is most prevalent in her episode “Jal” (season one, episode three) where her main focal point is to win “Young Musician of the Year” award for clarinet performance. (Defies the stereotype that POC are unambitious) In the Skins Wiki synopsis of the episode they mention “Back at school, Jal is taken to see the school rector. The rector tells Jal that she’s delighted they’ve got such a talented pupil. The school want Jal to do a couple of interviews to make the school look like it’s helping ethnic minority pupils achieve. She’s even prepared a checklist of ways in which the school has helped her overcome her “handicaps”. “ This slightly bothers me because they're just using a talented black student to make their school like a little bit higher than the rest just because they have an outstanding student who happens to not be white. (Defies the stereotype that POC don't succeed as often as who are white do.)

• Anwar Kharral: (defying the obedient Muslim child stereotype, also defying the “all Muslims are terrorists stereotype.) The young Muslim boy dealing with overbearing Pakistani parents. “With parents that attempt to regulate both his faith and his life inside of the Mosque. He is not a very devout Muslim, he takes drugs whenever at a big party, drinks and has premarital sex; although he does pray five times a day and believes that homosexuality goes against his religion.” (Skins Wiki) Anwar is just a typical teenage boy who just happens to pray five times a day. His religion doesn't really hold him back from all life has to offer .
• Anwar defies a few common stereotypes that Muslim people hold, and him defying these stereotypes are most prevalent (like the last three characters mentioned) in his episode - split with his best friend - entitled “Maxxie and Anwar”. Where we see Maxxie (Anwar's bestfriend who happens to be gay.) and Anwar friendship beginning to dwindle due to Anwsar becoming severely uncomfortable with Maxxies sexuality. (Which actually promotes a stereotype about Muslims being uncomfortable with homosexuality.) In the same episode the gang travels to Russia with there school at which point once they land Anwar is taken into custody and then released. “Anwar says they all look disappointed that he’s not a terrorist, but Tony that’s probably because he’s a very dull Muslim.” (Skins Wiki) (Also promoting the stereotype that all Muslims are terrorist, even though Anwar turns out to not be one.) Later Anwar meet a girl who he falls in love with and does end up having premarital sex with. (Despite his religion (defying the obedient Muslim child stereotype)) And also ends up doing drugs and drinking. (At which point Maxxie calls him out. “Maxxie finds him talking about drugs and has a go at him for being all Muslim about gays, but still doing other non-Muslim things such as taking drugs and drinking. He calls him a hypocrite and leaves,”.) Anwar both promotes and defies Muslim stereotypes.

So in conclusion this TV show portrays a lot of racially based stereotypes as well as crushing many to, and with a generally diverse cast. I think this show did a pretty good job of not coming out as ‘too’ racially bias of a show. So yeah. Skins man.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCQFB4qEek8

The Portrayal of Black People

Black people are portrayed many different ways in movies, TV shows, etc. Some are good, some are bad, but rarely, they are both. In the TV show, "House. M.D." There is one black man who is portrayed in both a good, and a bad way. Dr. Eric Foreman was the person portrayed both ways. Eric grew up on the streets in the ghetto, he robbed houses in his youth, but he decided to turn his life around as an adult. His boss, Gregory House, wanted to solve his medical cases using any means necessary. He keeps bringing Eric's past life into the work place by telling him to break into patient's houses and find evidence.

He was also portrayed as a good man as well. A few seasons in, he became the head of the hospital. He went from being a house robber to being the head of a hospital. This shows that black people are not always portrayed as bad people that don't really get anywhere in their lives.

Stereotypes in Country Songs

If you ever take the time to listen and think about the lyrics to country music, you'll realize that all the songs are actually different. Listening to the song "Chicken Fried" by: Zac Brown Band I realized that they are singing about growing up in the south, but are very stereotypical about it. One lyric is "... sweet tea, pecan pie, and homemade wine - where the peaches grow ..." stereotypes what come from the south, Georgia more specifically. Yes, Georgia is known as the peach state but saying "iced tea" it groups together all the southern people and it becomes known as a Southern Thing. Another line was "... so we don't have to sacrifice all the things we love, like our chicken fried ..." this implies that everyone from the south loves and eating fried chicken. There are many people who do but not only in the south. Also not everyone from the south drinks iced tea or eats fried chicken. This song probably wasn't written to group together all people in the South and stereotype them but when you really listen it's easier to realize that is what it's doing. More often times than not we just sing along to the lyrics without listening and really thinking into them. There are many other songs, both country and any other genre in music that stereotype race and religion in their songs and no one stops to think about it and realize that is actually what the song is saying. We don't always realize it but stereotypes are in everything and anything, we just have to listen for them.

Racist Commercial: 2013

 A Mountain Dew ad released by PepsiCo in 2013 raised a lot of anger from the viewers that saw the ad before being taken down shortly after. This is not nearly the first time a company has been accused of making an inappropriate commercial. The ad portrayed many racially bias images. For example there is a part that consists of a guy looking through a glass window at many possible suspect of a fake crime. Every suspect is of color and dressed like they are in a gang. The only one that isn't is of color is a goat that whispering to the other suspects saying,"snitches get stitches foo." These obviously racist depictions can create harsh dialogue when discussing racism in the media today. PepsiCo took down the commercial after being pelted with angered viewers. Some blame the director of the ad rap-star Tyler the Creater for the inappropriate images in the ad. But PepsiCo must have thought that giving Tyler the lead would create an ad that teens could relate to. They thought wrong according to the video covering the racist ad on abc news.

The Domestic

The TV show "Family Guy" displays many hurtful race prejeduces and plays them off as funny. For example the cleaning lady named Consuela might actually validate the lingering racism of some viewers, in fact it seems it seeks to. After all, the Consuela joke seems to work only if the viewer can buy in to the concept and relate – “Hey, don’t you guys know a Mexican lady like this?” At this point, we’ve taken a step past simple black humor and into minstrelsy, haven’t we? Although the show plays this stereotype off as funny, in the real world its nothing to laugh at. By showing viewers this its only adding to the stereotype and people will therefore continue to enforce it. So the stereotype will have a hard time changing because of what we put on the media. 

Tragic Isis

The US needs to prevent isis from doing their normal actions that they love to achieve. Many horrific videos and pictures have shown what isis has done to victims after kidnapping them and just taking their lives away in a unpleasant way. This needs to stop immediately because its getting out of control on what isis is doing to Americans and we need to give them their own taste of their "style". Obama on progressive.com on a article by Phyllis Bennis said the "bottom line to stopping isis is there is no immediate action that will make ISIS disappear, even if U.S. airstrikes manage to get the right target somewhere and take out an APC or a truckload of guys with RPGs or whatever." It also said "Its a long term solutions, something not so easy to do in a political year." Also on Cnn.com they reported that the president needs to identify the threat that America is facing radical Islam but instead President Obama has decided to make peace with them when they still go ahead and kill Americans in a tragic way. We need to save people from isis before they attack again and isis needs to be shut down immediately and must plan a sneak attack that would take long term. 

Racial Ads  

The thing about racism in america is that it is almost impossible to make it go away. There will always be a small amount of racism somewhere in america. And sometimes we even make fun of that. Racism can be funny in the right conditions. If it is no in those conditions then people from all different races start to get upset. looking around on the internet there are truly some terrible, way over the line ads. Like Key and Peele and SNL. they are funny because they don’t go over the line. But when an ad is made, there has to be someone who has to look at it and make sure that it doesn't offend anyone. When an ad is put out into the public, people's first thoughts when seeing it shouldn’t be that's racist.  with some of the stuff that is put out today or even thought up, it’s really messed up.      

Cultural Analysis

Hairspray

The movie ¨Hairspray¨ was very popular when it came out in 1988, and blew up over the media when it came back in 2007. The movie is full of fun characters and songs, all exploiting the obvious signs of racism. The movie is based in Baltimore in 1962, when racism was at it´s peak in the United States. The main character, Tracy and her group of friends are some of the few high school students in their predominantly white school who believe segregation is wrong. The main issue of Hairspray is the racial segregation. The Civil Rights Act of 1960 was a time in America where the whites controlled the political system and social institutions, making it impossible for African American´s to live up to their full potential. The Corny Collins show, a popular TV time special that is shown in the movie, portrays the same idea. In the dancing show, they have a specific segment where the African American´s dance because they were never allowed to dance with the white people. There was even one instance where the white people stole one of their songs and tried to make it sound more Caucasian and friendly. My favorite scene in particular, is the scene where Tracy gets sent to detention. In this scene, it is very ironic that when she goes to the detention room, the only people in there are African American, and there are a lot of them. Although this seems like a punishment, all the African American´s in the room were used to it, almost as if they got sent there everyday. They sing and dance the whole time. When Tracy and her friends try to join in, they are unsure at first, and then accepting of who they are, which is not what the white people would have done. Eventually, Tracy gets the people at the Corny Collins show to warm up to the idea of mixing both races and dancing together. It creates a positive outcome, but not from everyone. The moral of the story is we make progress, but we have yet to reach our final goal. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0Dxsmk-EZ8 (Detention scene)

Coke and America

During the 2014 Super Bowl, Coca-Cola released an ad were America the Beautiful is sung in multiple languages. Generally, the ad over simplifies the current situation of race in America.

At the beginning of the ad images of open waters and a forest are shown. The entire ad has clear vocals over it. At 0:07 two children, most likely of Latin American descent, are sitting in a movie theater eating popcorn. Clips of these type of things are shown throughout the ad, African American children dancing in the streets, an American Indian looking out the window, etc.

While this ad isn't particularly perpetuating any stereotypes, it does separate each racial group. No one group was ever shown with another. This furthers the ideology that people are separated by skin color. On the other hand, this ad shows the value of Americans being able to hold onto their cultural heritage.

Another good thing this advertisement promoted is that Muslims can be and are Americans too. Since 9/11, many Americans see museums as terrorists, but Coca-Cola rejected this idea and presented all Americans as American.

Greys Anatomy plays a role in Racial Stereotypes

In today society, racial stereotypes takes place in music, movie, shows, media, etc. People are portrayed in a way that has to do with their race and being treated in different ways.  One typical stereotype that is known in America is that Asians are known to be smart and "geeky". In some shows they are shown as the nerds or the problem solvers. In the show "Greys Anatomy" Doctor Christina Yang is a young Korean women who is one of the most intelligent doctors on the show. She is the only Korean character as well and as seen on the show she is shown to make no flaws, she does not care about her appearance, and her talent and knowledge is the most important thing to her. Yang quotes, "Oh, screw beautiful. I'm brilliant. If you want to appease me, compliment my brain" (Season 6). Her intelligence is what she is known for. Yang also explains in an interview that "She doesn't care about her appearance is on the show". In the TV industry the way that people are played has to do with examples of everyday life and they want it to be as real as possible to the word. Christina Yang has been playing the role of the person people "think" she is because of her race.

Fantasia Barrino Story : Life is Not a Fairy Tale

At the age of sixteen a lot of issues come up as being teens , especially with us teen girls who have full figured body’s like were 21. One of of those challenges Fantasia had occurred.

In the year of 2009 August 19th to be exact , Lifetime Movie presented the Fantasia Barrino Story : Life is Not a Fairy Tale. This movie is about a teenage girl who is a very known artist to this day who dropped out of high school and was raped by a fellow student and end up conceiving a child with her boyfriend Rodney. Rodney was the brute and mammy of all evil. He made sure that she had everything she wanted and needed , but at the same time threw her down every possible chance he could. Life with Rodney for Fantasia was bitter , but yet sweet.

Fantasia is human just like the rest of the world and what sticks out as a sore thumb for her is that she drop out of high school. In 2009-2010 42,000 or 15 percent of 19-to-24 year old youth in the city of Chicago did not have a regular high school diploma. Even though Fantasia is not from Chicago she is still apart of the category who have dropped. That's the stereotype that people see African Americans as. In this movie Fantasia was very fast and got pregnant at the age of 16. That's what most people betray as African- American young teens to be, especially in the 21st century. Im proud to say that I am not part of this generation or any other generation who ended up 16 and pregnant. Many people doubted Fantasia , just like many people doubt African-Americans today as a whole. Fantasia pushed passed the negativity and became something in life and what she became is the winner of American Idol and became very successful whose net worth is worth 5 million dollars. Many people see the negative side of African- Americans but never focus on their success , but Black Lives Do Matter.

OREO GIRL

Why is this relevant? That's a good question i asked myself the same thing.It is relevant because this is a commercial were a little girl is just worried about her father’s health and just wants him to be healthy. You’d think race shouldn't matter right?!?!? WRONG.

Just recently that happened in a cheerios commercial featuring a mixed race family this is the 21 century their are black and white kids everywhere rather you realize it or not but the fact of the matter is that they should not target any young child for any reason race, religion etc.

In American history black men were known to leave their families and leave the mother to raise the children by herself or stereotypes where the black men would be brutal to the wife or both. Also blacks in general were not on the same level as whites. Whites were seen as more superior than blacks.Biracial couples and or children were rare especially on national TV very few are even broadcast .

People are afraid/ shock to see a happy family. Black people weren't allowed to be in relation with the opposite race(whites). This is where we get to the brute how black men were consider women beaters or that a black man isn't worthy to be with a white woman.

This time in society this shouldn't happen point blank.It should really never be a thought other than look at the cute little girl. I guess some people still have to cope with the thought i guess. But one thing my mama always taught me was that if you have nothing nice to say then don't say anything at all:-).

 

Blacks being treated badly

Black people were/still are treated badly today. I say this because we black people are still being named called, we are being called names like "Blackie", "Niggers", and "Monkeys". I remember  a time while I was in class, and this white girl said that she doesn't like black people. She said that we remind her of monkeys, and that we also look like monkeys. Another reason why I said we were treated badly is from a 1900's movie called "Roots", starring Levar Burton, Louis Gossett Jr., Chuck Connors, and Sandy Duncans. Its about a boy that was kidnapped from this village in Africa. His name was Kunta Kinte, he was sold into slavery, and then brought to America. He was mistreated wrongly, beaten all the time for no reason, and he was also being named called several of times.

Which race really has power?

The tv show “Scandal” which is set in the white house. The president is played by a white actor. He has the perfect family with his perfect wife and kids. So we think. There is a character named Olivia pope who plays a big role in helping the present to get elected. In the process of the election Ms.Pope and the president seem to get close. Maybe a little to close. We later on find out that Olivia Pope played by a black actress is presented as the president mistress.(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZhVzYLMbo) I thought since this was a little stereotyped. I just thought that it was ironic that in this day and age that if they really casted the most powerful man as white for the show. I also thought it was ironic how they just so happened to cast the mistress as a black woman. They seem to focus on how she is mainly the mistress. They don't seem to focus enough on how she is one of the most powerful and feared women in the show. I thought this show for now of days was a little too stereotyped for my liking. But at the same time the present falls in love with Olivia the mistress but as the show continues you see that his perfect little wife doesn't like that so much. Even though she's no better. Sometimes in the show it makes me question if she doesn't like them half because of her race and because she the mistress. This show brings up a lot of questions.