300 word blogpost on the opening of 'Top Boy' using content analysis

Within the opening of ‘Top Boy’ we see several positive and negative representations of youthful people portrayed by the characters. E.g. some of the negatives were the clothing seen in the scenes, the teenagers had ties hanging down and shirts top buttons undone therefore portraying a more scruffy look rather than representing themselves and their school in a more formal and professional matter. Some may argue that it’s possibly because of the teenagers have just finished a long day at school. But even if that is the case they are still representing the school and themselves and obviously not looking professional and formal doesn’t portray a positive image. However, some representations of the teens were positive e.g. the teenagers reach home and one was looking for his mother and was worried about her and therefore stayed in and waited for her along with his friend who decided to keep his friend company.

According to Gerbner’s cultivation theory, the more an audience watch or “live” in a TV world the more they are likely to believe the representations of that world. E.g. in Top Boy there are scenes of drug dealing and foul language being used by the characters portraying a negative representation and possibly dangerous representation, the male selling drugs is a black male, this could therefore make audiences fall into a trap of falsely believing the stereotypical view portrayed on TV of black males. Audiences would believe Alvarados four stereotypes of black people in the media, most likely believing the “dangerous” stereotype, they would believe that Perkins was correct about how some elements of stereotypes are true. Even if the stereotypes, according to Medhurst, is purely for quick identification of characters for audiences. Audiences may end up avoiding certain people falsely believing the stereotype or may end up finding comfort around a certain stereotype.

Theories

Fanon: Non-whites have to put on a "white mask", adopting the western culture and lifestyle to be accepted within society. e.g. President Obama, a black male president according to Fanon had to adopt the western white culture and adapt himself to live in America and eventually become president. He'd have to dress smart and have similar mannerism to that of a White American.

Edward Said: Orientalism, West = superior and civilised while East = dangerous and uncivilised  e.g. Rules in the West to follow; East has wars and terrorism.

Alvarado: Black people are stereotypically placed in four categories:
- Pitied e.g. Slavery
- Humorous e.g. Black comedy
- Dangerous e.g. Ghetto areas within America
- Exotic e.g. Caribbean

Yasmin question

Does the opening of Yasmin offer a positive or negative representation of British Muslims?

The opening offers both a positive and negative representation of British Muslims. The positive representations are they aren't seen as the stereotypical East (which is heavily portrayed as terrorist) They are in-fact represented as religious and calm an example of them being calm is when the two mechanics/shop owners found graffiti on their shutters, they didn't respond violently or show any aggression, instead they just continued with their jobs and cleaned it off. Another example of calmness is when the main protagonist (or hero according to Propp) is stopped and checked by police, it may show the police as being slightly racist for stopping the muslim women but she was use to it and stayed calm and was prepared to show the necessary documents.
The negative side is shown with the man who woke up looking quite scruffy and dangerous, he also was seen as acting uncivilised and uneducated as he uses his finger to eat food out of a jar and ends up cooking outside the front of his house using a home made stove on the floor (which shows he's possibly quite poor), he also shows aggression when telling a young boy to get lost in a harsh tone. The main protagonist/hero was portrayed negative when she seems to having to apply the Fanon 'White Mask' theory, it's usually applied to black people but this theory seems to fit with Yasmin the British Muslim, she would usually be representing herself as a Muslim women around the Muslim community and her family but when away from them she tends to have a westernised lifestyle, she eats meat while prayers are read from the Mosque, she drives a western car listening to western music and dressed like a stereotypical english women, she also went to a pub which isn't supported by her religion and the pub was full of white males who all gave her dirty looks. Yasmin is portrayed as unfaithful to her religion and family.

To what extent does the opening of Yasmin reinforce or challenge Said’s theory of Orientalism – that the west is superior to the exotic or dangerous east?

To some extent it defiantly shows the west have some power as the police had the power to stop and check. But the west are actually portrayed as the opposite of what Said's theory of Orientalism would state, the west is seen as being dangerous e.g. the racist graffiti, the cops stop and check and the pub customers giving dirty looks to the protagonist/hero. While the East aren't shown as dangerous, the only person shown as being dangerous from the East is the man with the homemade cooker.

The representation of race and ethnicity in the Olympic Open Ceremony and the Daily Mail article

In the 2012 London Olympics Opening Ceremony, London is represented as a diverse and multi-cultural area, in the opening we see a white female mother getting out of the patriotic coloured and designed mini with her mixed raced child, they enter the family home which then reveals the rest of the family. They are portrayed as a happy and ordinary family who are genuinely happy and genuinely love each other and not putting on a mask as Fanon's theory would suggest. Fanon believes that in society people would need to wear a mask to fit in and be a part of society, they aren't able to be themselves within society as that would lead to conflict. In the Daily Mail article about the Olympics the journalist is suggesting a similar thing to Fanon, he supports Fanon's theory and doesn't believe that if the actors of the Olympic Ceremony were an actual family in London then it wouldn't be a genuine family. He states that he would be sure that in the whole of London that you cannot find any household with a black father and a white mother, as shown in the Olympic opening, if they were found together then it wouldn't be genuine and would be an unhappy family, he believes it's an alternative representation of London and the race and ethnicity within London. It doesn't even show a stereotypical family within London according to the journalist. 

Also to support the journalist, Alvarado's theory states that black people are generally stereotyped in the media as either exotic, humorous, dangerous or pitied, so linking this to the journalist it could suggest that the media aren't portraying the short hand stereotype (Medhurt theory) which may have some elements of truth (Perkin's theory) and allow quick identification (Blumber and Katz uses and gratifications theory). It suggest that the journalist may be quite racist in believing a stereotype that white women wouldn't be married to a black man and be happy at the same time which could suggest that he believes that if a black person were to fit into one of the categories of Alvarado's theory then it'll be pitied or dangerous. 

Learner response from feminist essay

7/12
Level 3/C-

WWW: Very good attempt to bring in theories and debates. Good textual analysis

EBI: Not enough focus on the Q: you explore the other side of the argument in much more depth

LR: Look again at the Q: Why might people object to the video?

In the Robin Thicke video 'Blurred lines' Women are represented as objects e.g. toys which the women seem to be surrounded by such as the beach ball, big dice and the toy car, which is using the female as some sort of surface for the toy car to emphasise on the shape of the females body. The females are also wearing some plastic clothing on top of their white shorts during the video which connotes the females are meant to be represented as toys. Which seems to be a way to attract males and make them view the females as objects which is why some people may disagree with the video. The video looks like it was designed to portray females as objects to pleasure males especially the explicit video, it provides a sense of entertainment and escapism, according to the uses and gratifications theory. 'Blurred lines' encourage males to view females as a way to get out of their current lives and situation and to just be entertained, this would go against what McRobbie believes as this isn't empowering women, it makes them seem less important than the males, who they aren't being represented as plastic toys (which usually have connotations of cheap, easy to break and easy to discard). The males are being represented as business men, men who are of higher power as throughout the majority of the video they are standing up or in more dominant positions than the females, who are at times walking around as if they are trying to grab the attention of the male protagonists, or heroes according to Propp, they are also at times sitting down or bent over e.g. the female who had the toy car on her back.

Feminism: The End Of Men

1) To what extent do you agree with Rosin's hypothesis that women are taking over modern society? Give examples in your response.

I agree to some extent, in today's society it is true that women are slowly taking over but I doubt that women will take over, it's more likely that there would be a balance between the two genders. 40,000 more women than men applied to university (in many universities, women currently outnumber men) and the more graduated an individual is the more likely they are to get a higher paid job (which is stereotypically 'men' jobs) so in that sense women are taking over modern society. However, some of the most powerful jobs in the world is being part of the Government, most of the politicians interviewed were men, and most of the bankers interviewed were men, and most of the lawyers interviewed were men and most people conducting the interview were most likely men so in that sense women aren't near to taking over, some parliaments have 10 women.


2) Can we find examples in modern media that support Rosin's suggestion that women are taking charge? You may wish to argue the opposite - that men still dominate the media scene.

One of the most important people within a country (the Government) are heavily covered by media globally and as stated in question one, most parliaments have men dominating with very few women, however in less important roles such as film roles a lot of women are found 'sexy' and 'attractive' when being represented alternatively e.g. smoking, wearing jeans and leather biker jackets, this could be an example of women taking charge, they aren't sticking to their stereotypical female role. 

3) Research Judith Butler's approach to feminism. How might Butler respond to Rosin's writing in The End of Men? 

Feminism: Essential reading homework

• Was the Twitter boycott an appropriate response to the online threats prominent women were receiving?

In my opinion it was pretty much a pointless approach, it was only done for a day and wasn't a big event, it was just a few influential celebrities and possibly a few hundred fans of theirs who didn't tweet for a day but most likely continued the next day which is pointless, it didn't affect anyone apart from those who decided not to use the site for a day and for many people,like myself, didn't even know about the Twitter boycott.

• Should Twitter have done more in response to those threats?

Twitter is an incredibly large site and therefore cannot be monitored by every individual tweet, Twitter had given a formal apology to those who have fallen victim to the threats but I guess that Twitter could do more, they've added the option of a report button of tweets and as soon as they receive reports of a tweet they could have someone monitor the tweeter and view their previous tweets and then ban them from using the site.

• Should young women in 2013 take an interest in feminism? Do young women need to 'reclaim' feminism?

I think that we are approaching a post-feminist world but we haven't reached there yet so yes some (not all) young women would need to reclaim feminism before all the work done by feminist before them goes to nothing, it's possible to go backwards especially when some old-fashion traditionalist's still exist today e.g. Australian PM. There are still some inequality within the world, Parliament has very few women MP's, work pay is also at times lower for women than men and also many jobs within society are considered gender specific and jobs which are usually male dominant have very few women and judge women who attempt such jobs (e.g. stereotypical builders).

• Why has the internet been effective in feminist campaigns?

The internet can easily connect one feminist to millions of others, they can host events/protests quickly and share each others experiences online and can be a place for help and advice for many feminist who are receiving some sort of abuse which can lead to a large group of feminist help fight back the abuse and get it recognised as well as get feminist campaigns recognised.

• What is your opinion on page 3 of the Sun still featuring a half-naked young woman in 2013?

In some sense it's giving women the power to 'control' men and allow women to feel more independent and comfortable with who they are and what their bodies look like however the page is there to 'entertain' and 'please' males which then may cause certain males to objectify women and find them there for their sexual pleasure which can lead to women being given abuse and harassed. But even if this page was removed, there are other ways to grab a hold of some sort of images of half naked young women e.g. internet pornography which is going to be more graphic and could objectify women even more as just a sexual pleasure, getting rid of page three won't affect anyone much as there are much more graphic and explicit content online and in films. Page three compared to content online is nothing much, if anything page three is less graphic and explicit than what is shown in films and therefore isn't a big deal and could allow women to feel more independent and comfortable with who they are.