Media Blog 4

Sex and the City is a Television show that can be watched on TBS Wednesday nights at 9:00.

Sex and the City is a television show that is about four women who live in New York City. The main character is Carrie, who had an article in the New York Sun newspaper that is titled Sex and The City. Carries three best friends are Miranda a layer, Charlotte works in an art gallery, and Samantha who is in public relations. The shows are about relationships and use the girl’s lives as examples and stories. Most of the shows talk about problems the women have with relationships and finding and dealing with men. The four girls stick together and are always there for each other. In these shows there are a lot of privilege, domination, matrix, and gender issues that take place. I choose this specific media because this is one of my favorite shows and I saw how Johnson’s article related to what I was watching. In the third season Samantha apply for a job at a hotel management office for a client of her PR firm. A man named Richard Wright was the man in charge and turned Samantha down, even with her excellent qualities, recommendations, and experience.
Samantha got turned down for a position that she was clearly qualified for. When she asked the reason why he did not hire her Richard responded I have heard rumors about you and some of my male staff members. Samantha answered with you mean because I am not a man, and you do not feel comfortable working with an independent woman. Samantha stated, “Those rumors you heard about me, if I was a man you would poor me a drink and congratulate me on my success as a man and as a businessman” (Sex and the City). Johnson sates in chapter three, “Capitalism also shares and makes use of gender inequality. The cultural dividing of women, for example, has long been used as an excuse to pay them less and exploit them as a source of cheap labor, whether in the corporate secretarial pool in New York or garment sweatshops in Los Angeles or electronics industry assembly plants in Asia” (49). Johnson is saying capitalism is helping improve gender inequality and no matter where or what the woman does she will be treated unfairly because she is a woman and not a man. The privilege a man has overpowers a woman to a great amount, Samantha said to Richard “If I were a man you would be handing me a drink and celebrating my success with me, but since I am a woman you are turning me down for that reason and that reason only” which is an example how men have privilege for just being a man. Johnson states, “Women’s supposed inferiority has also been used as a basis for the belief that much of the work that women do isn’t work at all and therefore isn’t worthy of anything more than emotional compensation” (49). What Johnson is explaining is that women are looked down upon and thought as weak and inferior; whatever they do they will never amount to men. In the Sex and the City episode Samantha being the successful woman that she is fought what Richard said to her went back the next day and got herself the job, by showing him she has power and belief in herself as a woman. This episode of Sex and the City was a perfect example to explain to he how capitalism, privilege, domination, and gender all tie together.
After reading Johnson then watching the episode in Sex and the City I really understand what Johnson point is. In chapter three Johnson is trying to explain how capitalism, domination, matrix, privilege, gender and racism are in our lives and people are treated unfairly. The episode in Sex and the City with Samantha being turned down for a job because she was not a man really opened my eyes and helped me understand Johnson’s issues a lot better. I disagree with racism, gender issues, and treating people unfairly. Johnson makes good points and I am more aware of what is going on in the world around me.

Meida Blog 3

THE PHILADELPHIA TRIBUNE
Whites must own up to their racist attitudes: Racism exists as some refuse to acknowledge it
Yancy, George. Philadelphia Tribune. Philadelphia, Pa.: Dec 3, 1996. Vol. 113, Iss. 89; pg. 7-A.
http://0-proquest.umi.com.maurice.bgsu.edu


My media item is an article from the BGSU Library. The article is called “Whites must own up to their racist attitudes: Racism exists as some refuse to acknowledge it”. The reason I choose this media was because it is an example of what Johnson was explaining in chapter eight “Getting Off the Hook: Denial and Resistance”. In chapter eight some of Johnson’s main points are called Deny and Minimize, It Doesn’t Count If You Don’t Mean It, and I’m One Of the Good Ones. The article talks about privilege and oppression, and how some white people think they have nothing to do with racism and making black people feel oppressed.
The article “Whites must own up to their racist attitudes: Racism exists as some refuse to acknowledge it” is an example of what Johnson is saying in chapter eight because the article talks about how racism exists and even though white people deny it, think it doesn’t count if you don’t mean it, and they are one of the good ones because they never say anything. In the article Yancy states, “Black people still suffer from the pang of oppression, discrimination and the stereotypical constructions of white people,” (1). Some white people don’t believe that racism and oppression occurs anymore or that they are not a part of it. Johnson talks about “Deny and Minimize” which is when white people deny that they are part of racism or privilege. Johnson states, “When you deny the reality of oppression, you also deny the reality of the privilege that underlies it, which is just what it takes to get off the hook,” in other words people who are privileged and deny oppression think they can get off the hook, but when oppression is denied there is no hook to get off of. In the article, “Whites must own up to their racist attitudes: Racism exists as some refuse to acknowledge it,” it explains how white people who are privileged and don’t think that black people are oppressed, or have issues with race, or are treated unfairly because it is not their problem, they have nothing to do with it so why should they care about black people or people who are oppressed. In the article Yancy states, “Why should I feel obligated to give anything to Blacks,” he argued, “since I didn’t do anything to create the problems from which they suffer?” He also added, “I wasn’t around during slavery and I didn’t owe any slaves. So, why should I feel like I have to give up something,” (1)? In other words a white privileged male felt that he should not be obligated to give anything to blacks because he does not participate in slavery, or didn’t create any problems with them. So there for the white privileged man does not feel that he owes anything to the oppressed black man. The article Yancy wrote is a perfect example of Johnson’s chapter eight because it shows “Deny and Minimize” with clear examples.
I believe that Johnson’s chapter eight is expressed well in the article Yancy wrote called, “Whites must own up to their racist attitudes: Racism exists as some refuse to acknowledge it” because it shows one of the pieces in chapter eight called “Deny and Minimize”. The media article really helped me understand that concept a lot better because it had an example that made it clear for me to follow. I believe Johnson’s article is very important and powerful and should be taken seriously. Privilege and oppression are serious issues and treated people unfairly and oppressed is extremely wrong. In the article Yancy wrote gave a good example of how people do not take those issues seriously and people are getting hurt everyday because of them. These two pieces of writing really taught me something about privilege and oppression, and opened my eyes to a problem that needs to be fixed in our world today.

Meida Blog 2

It’s a wonderful life was created in 1946. It is a movie that can be bought or rented at any store. I found the picture at www.google.com.

The movie “It’s A Wonderful Life” is based on the 1940’s. "It's A Wonderful Life," starred Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. It is about a young man named George Bailey played by Stewart, who was just about to start his grown up life. He wants to travel and get out of his small hometown called Bedford Falls. His father has a company that gives loans to people and he has been working there to help his father out. George’s family was a middle class family back then, the family business did well. George’s family consisted of his father, mother, brother, and the extra help. The extra help was a black woman they used for a maid, but in the movie they very much included her as part of the family. She was the boy’s nanny when they were little, and the mother’s helper and friend. I choose “It’s A Wonderful Life,” as my media because when I was watching the movie “ “ in class and it was describing how mammies where popular back in the old days. The first thing that popped into my head was the movie “It’s A Wonderful Life”. In the movie “It’s A Wonderful Life,” the mammy was very friendly and kind towards the family, and the part they showed in the movie the Bailey’s included her as part of the family as well. The mammy was still the maid and did not get to do what the family members did but they were kind to her. So I choose this piece of media because it was an example of what the movie in class was explaining.
The movie “ It’s A Wonderful Life” relates to the movie we watched in class because the movie “Ethnic Notions“ talked about how black women were stereotyped and degraded. The mammies are the most well known and enduring racial caricature of African American Women. The film “Ethnic Notions “ used mammies as an example of how black women were stereotyped and degraded, the film described the characteristics of the mammy. First, she was an obese, coarse, maternal figure who always wore a headband around her head. She had great love for her white “family,” but often treated her own family badly and was looked at as the male figure. Mammies were also completely desexualized. In the movie “It’s A Wonderful Life,” the black maid was portrayed as the mammy. She was a bigger woman, wore a headband around her head, loved her white family, and was placed below the white mother of the family. The black maid in the movie “It’s A Wonderful Life” was portrayed exactly how the film in class describes the mammies. In the film you never saw the mammies’ families or her real personality, the film only showed the part of the mammy everyone knew, which was happy, friendly, loving towards her white family. She was not shown as a sexy wife, or a beautiful woman, or a loving mother of her own children. This media relates to the movie “Ethnic Notions“ that we saw in class because it is giving a perfect example of how the movie we saw in class described the mammy.
I believe the issue of the mammy is extremely wrong. Degrading black women and seeing then as manly and ugly is sad. These black women are people as well not only are they people but they are women. They want to feel beautiful, and want to be treated like all other women are black or white, mammies or white wives. I can only imagine how it would feel if you were looked at as a man, not as a beautiful women. That would make me so sad and depressed. I feel for these women who were called mammies, they life and their families matter too, they were not put on the earth to just care for someone else’s family, and how the media portrayed them to be was very wrong. Being a mammy was their job, they were the maid or nanny of a white family, it was not their personality. Black women are women, they are sexual, they are pretty, they are mother, they are lovers, and human beings. Black women are not these creatures used in the media called mammies, they have feelings and lives of their own.

Media Blog 1

Media Portfolio 1


This document can be found at A&E Television Networks Christopher Columbus Biography. You can find this on iTunes under Christopher Columbus biography.

Christopher Columbus our American hero, or is he? The media I chose to analyze was on A&E Television, Biography on Christopher Columbus. I wanted to find out more about our American hero. I went on iTunes and searched for Christopher Columbus to find a forty-six minute biography. Throughout my education I learned about how Christopher Columbus found America and traveled the world. In my eyes I was taught that Columbus was a hero and he is the reason why we Americans have land. Until I read Zinn’s article “Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress” I did not know any details of the voyage. I chose this audio biography because I want to learn more about the findings of America, what happened on the voyage, and where Columbus came from.
The biography of Christopher Columbus from A&E television is an audio that gives facts and opinions about Columbus’s life and voyages. The biography Christopher Columbus relates to Zinn’s article “Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress” because they both talk about how Christopher Columbus found America, and the details of the journey. In the biography many Authors shared their opinions about Columbus, such as Jeffery Simcocks. Simcocks stated, “Columbus was born to sail the sea,” he started sailing when he was fourteen years old. In Zinn’s article he stated, “The information that Columbus wanted the most was: Where is the gold? He had persuaded the king and queen of Spain to finance an expedition to the lands, the wealth, he expected would be on the other side of the Atlantic-the Indians and Asia, gold and spices. For, like other informed people of his time, he knew the world was round and that he could sail west in order to get to the Far East” (4). Gold was one reason for his voyages and the A&E biography of Christopher Columbus can relate to that. The biography states how Columbus set sail for the lands, and wealth as well. A big part of Zinn’s article is about how Columbus treated the Indians. In the article Columbus the Indians and Human Progress, Zinn stated, “In the year 1495, they went on a great slave raid, rounded up fifteen hundred Arawak men, women, and children, put them in pens guarded by Spaniards and dogs, then picked the five hundred best specimens to load onto ships” (6). The A&E biography of Christopher Columbus had a different aspect on Columbus and the Indians. The biography stated “He was very much involved with the cruel treatment to the Indians, he was a brilliant leader on the sea, but he did nothing different form any other explorer or any other man looking for glory, fame, and riches for oneself.” The issue in Zinn’s article differs from the biography; Zinn is arguing that Columbus was not quite the American hero as he is pertained to be. For example Zinn states “For generation after generation, it all starts with heroic adventure-there is no bloodshed-and Columbus Day is a celebration. Only in recent years do we see droplets of change” (8). Where as the Biography does mention the cruel treatment Columbus did to the Indians, but he is still seen as an American hero in many ways.
I feel that both Zinn’s article and the A&E biography of Christopher Columbus were interesting, and informative. I learned a lot of information about Christopher Columbus’s personal life I did not know in the A&E biography, and in Zinn’s article I learned about information from his voyages that I did not know as well. The issue raised form both these interesting, informative reading’s is was Christopher Columbus this heroic figure that Americans think he is, or hearing from his voyages was he a selfish mass murder? I personally like the biography from A&E because it does mention how Columbus treated the Indians unfairly, but it talks about the reason behind it, which I thought was back then times were hard and Columbus was just doing what every other explorer did. Yes it may have been uncalled for and wrong, but I feel that Columbus had to take certain measures to become successful in his voyages. I do agree with parts of Zinn’s article such as, how the American children do not learn the whole truth about Columbus’s voyages. I feel that students should learn the truth about the killings from the voyages sometime in their high school education. From both reading’s and learning new information about Christopher Columbus such as his childhood, the killings, voyages, and findings I still believe Columbus is an American Hero.