Untitled

By Olivia Carter

[blacktechne]

Nollywood Film Industry

As you would exspect, Nollywood, is the Nigerian version of America’s Hollywood. The Nollywood film industry began around 1992 and produces films for as little as 15 grand. Despite producing films with such a low budget, Nollywood is the third largest film industry. It follows right after Inida’s Bollywood and America’s Hollywood. It’s home is Lagos, Nigeria, one of Africa’s largest cities. Just as one of the speakers discussed, Nollywood is used as a platform to tell African stories. Before these films, there was an influx of films from other parts of the world such as China and Britian. However, since Nollywood has taken over, you no longer really see such types of films. This is mainly because, Africans want to see the African story. During the documentary, one thing that intrigued me, where that a lot fo the speakers refered to Nollywood being the voice of Africa. One woman in particular, had stated that many of the Nigerian actors and actresses are not very attracted to Hollywood. She made a point that these talented artist actually prefer to stay in the Nollywood sphere because Hollywood is “too-white.” I can say that I whole heartly agree with her. Although I am not Nigerian, I can tell from the documentary that the producors and consumers of Nollywood films are very proud of their work because it consist of people like them, and it tells THEIR story. It also made me think about the recent boycott of the Oscars awards. Since Nollywood consist of mainly, if not all, blacks/people of African decent, and paints a positive picture of blacks/African decent, then why are there not many African Americans participating in the Nollywood film industry? This is not to say that African Americans should just completely overtake the Nollywood film industry. However, I often times see in magazines and even social media of black actors and actresses complaining that Hollywood is basically being bias towards them because Hollywood is a white sphere. In my opinion, I say why continue to complain and boycott to an industry that, honestly does not respect, hardly employees, and have no interest in any other ethnicity except for white? Furthermore, even when African Americans are able to make it in Hollywood, they are unfortnately only most noted for stereotypical roles. Lupita was only known for playing a slave, Denzal Washington mostly played thug and crime roles, and even the first African American female to win a grammy recieved the award for playing a mammy! The list goes on and on. I really did not mean to make this an “African American” thing. But as I was watching the documentary and some of the comments the speakers were making about Nollywood and what it meant for them, it sparked an idea. Although, African Americans and Nigerians obvisouly have two totally different cultures, I feel as though Nollywood would do a better job at depicting a black/African person of decent than Hollywood. So again I ask you:

Should African Americans writers, actors, actresses, producors, etc. participate more in Nollywood film industry verses the Hollywood industry? Would it help them or would it have a negative impact due to cultural differences?

[blacktechne]

In my opinion I don’t think that will work out quit easy.  Like you said before Africans take pride in their film industry because most of the movies are based upon what most Africans (those that actually live in Africa) are faced with on a daily base.  In the documentary some of them also stated that acting was one of the major ways that people will use to get out of poverty, with that being said I don’t believe that Africans (born and rised) would fully support African- Americans in their industry.  So overall I do believe that the cultural difference and also the competition of actually getting the role will always clash.

[olivebranch23-blog]

While I don’t believe that African Americans should necessarily join Nollywood, I feel like the idea of creating one's ownership is difficult as well. But while I don’t know the true answer, I do know that ownsership is key, so in order for us to be successful, we should be able to control our messages.

[blacktechne]

Nollywood: Afrocentricity in Practice

Despite being a film industry that started in 1992, Nollywood (the Nigerian film industry) is the third largest in the world, after Hollywood in America, and Bollywood in India. The industry has proven itself so successful because it is simply “Africans telling African stories”. One commentator stated that before that while before the industry wasn’t respected in the country, now Nollywood has “more or less become the voice of Africa”. It’s important to note the value of culturally relevant authentic storytelling here. Constantly Africans the world over have to address and redress existing stereotypes about their very nature of being. Nollywood Babylon discusses an early colonial film “Sanders of the Rivers”, which called Africa “the land of magic and mystery”. Much like the African-American press, and other forms of black media, Nollywood provides an autobiographical presentation of their experience to counter what has been said about them. 

Filmmaker Lancelot cites the African oral tradition as basis for the necessity of a unique African film-making form. Because Africans have always told their stories in unique and distinct ways, and because of their cultural orientations, many films discuss themes of struggle spirituality, poverty, and Christianity. Therein lies the appeal of Nollywood. One commentator stated that “the infusion of tradition and Christianity cannot escape the camera” if it wants to tell the African story accurately. As a result, the films have a unique style that transcends production value. 

I grew up watching Nollywood films with my dad. Aki and Paw paw (specifically the films in which they are playing children) appealed to me not solely because it was about children being…*ahem* unruly in the neighborhood, but because their kind of humor was less about being nonsensical and more about real life trickery. What made such trickery realistic, and distinct from say Little Rascals for example, was that they faced consequences for their actions that were relevant to my own experience.

Watching this documentary I find myself wondering about the possibilities of diasporic connections through film. My cousin (born in America), has gone back to Nigeria to become an actor. Through imports, Africans in American contribute to the Nollywood industry and watch the films in their homes. But what if this support began to include other Blacks in America? What paths towards self sufficiency does this illuminate? What do you think?

-Rob

[olivebranch23-blog]

While I too am very impressed with the Nigerian film industry and its success, I also find it very interesting how their claim to fame was simply representing what they know, themselves, while America’s leading film industry Hollywood does the exact opposite by “whitewashing” everything like Jess mentioned. More than anything the film made me wonder why that is the case.  

[bdbam4-blog]

African Twitter!

This topic of African Twitter is a very interesting topic to me and I just learned a great deal through this reading. Most notably I was intrigued by the vast use of social media and cellular devices as a whole throughout the country when other entities that would seem more essential to life aren’t so accessible. This is where evidence in priority began to manifest in my mind and brought me to believe that Africa views its political issues as priority number one. As discussed in the reading by professor Royston, African Twitter is centered around the power of hashtags to propel movements for change. At first thought it would seem foolish to prioritize social media over entities such as electricity and clean drinking water but it began to make sense to me as I read more of this reading. In Africa, the media sector of their lives is viewed as the avenue to attaining the lacking necessities , in my opinion. It seems as if they first wish to use the media landscape to correct the political and governmental issues ailing the countries and this will in turn bring change to the more important aspects of their lives. Renewed governmental approaches could use the huge media market in Africa to fuel and fund the ideas that will make necessities more accessible throughout the continent. Even though African Twitter serves as an interface for other social topics and interaction, I believe that its use for political purposes that professor Royston discussed is its main stay. -Bam Bradley

[blacktechne]

LEAD ESSAY 1

[olivebranch23-blog]

This was very insightful and I definitely agree with Nate that the depiction of Africa in our media is not an accurate representation of its people. In fact,it goes to show that they arguably use social media in a more productive fashion than the very people who victimize Africans.

[blacktechne]

Africa Twitter and the hashtag system

After reading this paper, I realize African Twitter and social media shares many similarities with Black Twitter. Due to the fact that Africa is often technologically behind in the way of media like news or mobile devices that have the ability to alert individuals of news constantly, Africans use the hashtag system on social media to communicate events that are of importance or significance. In the paper they group the influential hashtags into five groups: “global media events; culture and everyday life; crisis intervention; governance; and protest movements”. The same can be said for Black Twitter.  For global media events we actually adopt hashtags from “Africa Twitter” such as #PrayforSudan, #BringBackOurGirls, #WorldCup or #PrayForNigeria, just to name a few. The Black American population often adopt what is going on in Africa because, at the end of day, we come together in solidarity to help our black brothers and sisters. We also utilize hashtags such as #BlackLivesMatter or #JusticeForTrayvon. The next similarity that we share is culture and everyday life. The #GrowingUpAfrican hashtag was also circulating in America among African people that lived here. As someone who is African, I can personally say I have used many of the Africa Twitter Hashtags, for example #JollofWars or #NigerianJollofvsGhanaianJollof. These hashtags make this into mainstream media, which is the purpose of this. As for American culture and everyday life, Black Twitter uses things like #AskRachel or #GrowingUpBlack to unite the community. Africa Twitter also uses crisis intervention like the #BringBackOurGirls hashtags mentioned above or the #Ebola. Black twitter also uses these, along with ones of our own like #Zika or #SandraBland.  Both Africa twitter and black twitter also utilizes governance hashtags, as you can see throughout the current election. Even politicians use them to attract younger voters. Finally, like the Africa twitter hashtag #BringBackOurGirls, Black twitter also uses things like “Justicefor[insert name], or #NoJusticeNoPeace. There are many similarities in the way both Africa Twitter and Black Twitter utilize social media to create a niche to get their message out there. Social media forces us to be confronted with the issues going on in other countries or amongst minorities, and Africa twitter is the perfect example of how a continent can force people to listen.

Are there any other ways that we use social media to mobilize and unite that have not been mentioned above? Or can there be a downside to this hashtag system?

-Lorraine Scott

[olivebranch23-blog]

I agree with what you said and the previous commenters about utilizing other mediums like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to share ideas and unite people. Since social media gives everyone a voice, the message becomes more prominent when a hashtag is put behind it. It organizes the messages so that everything can be read with the click of a button. However, the downside to that is how the message can become too concentrated, or diluted and with that the true message is altered.

[blacktechne]

Importance of Sonic Space

http://www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_06-godeeper.htm

~Jovon Petty

[olivebranch23-blog]

For myself, creating my intimate space with my headphones is key to maintaining my sanity. Like stated before, with Pitt being a loud, large campus, and lacking diversity, I like to listen to music that takes me to a different place, depending on my mood and activities I encounter throughout the day. Creating these spaces keeps me grounded or sometimes even provides an escape from places foreign to me and because of that, I value them greatly.

[blacktechne]

The Power of Sonic Technologies

           In this chapter Weheliye discusses the idea of consuming sonic technologies. The conversation is initiated by trying to distinguish the difference between “music” and “noise”. This phenomenon is very dependent on the perspective of the sonic consumer and the sonic social surroundings. 

           The sonic social surroundings definitely have a heavy influence on interpretation and the way we experience sonic stimulation. Whether its the background noise in Hillman or the bustling of cars on fifth, our day to day is surrounded by what most would interpret as “noise”. Possible reasons being—it is not self-imposed and we cannot control it. Factors like whether you are the one self-imposing the sound into your own surroundings, as opposed to having sound imposed on you, effects your perception and how you interpret such sonic stimulation. This can be the distinguishing line between “music” to you and “noise” to someone else. Even in very controlled environments where sonic stimulation is self-imposed factors like what song, the location, the timing and even the volume become an essential component of the listening experience.  

           Weheliye brings up a quote about Hughes that talks about the impact of music on his social surroundings. As he traveled he would listen to jazz music on his record player, making his room a social center, “Perhaps it was because of music that my room because a social center. Everywhere, around the world folks are attracted to American jazz. A good old Dixieland stomp can break down any language barriers, and there is something Louis Armstrong’s horn that creates spontaneous friendships.”. In a time where African American music was so popular, it emphasizes why sonic technologies play such an important role in molding our social surroundings. 

           Another example that was used in this chapter was a Hollywood studio film directed by an African American woman, Darnell Martin, called I Like It Like That (1994). This film centers around the main character, Lisette, who is a black Puerto Rican woman. She would often use music as a way to escape her social situation. The use of recorded music would not only distance herself from those around her it was also capable of linking her with her friends and family as well. Depending on the space, be it social or private the use of sonic technologies is able to shape the experience that is created from listening to music. 

           How much influence do you believe that sonic technologies can truly have on a social situation?

~ Ayo Awoyemi

[olivebranch23-blog]

From a musical standpoint, I believe sonic technologies have great influence on social situations, so much to the point that many artists take that into consideration when making the songs. That is why when certain music comes on, it instantly takes you to a place emotionally, regardless of the location you're listening to it from. If it’s a song about the club, it instantly puts your mind and mood in that place, and this corresponds with the social aspect of the setting as well.

[blacktechne]

Music’s Impact on Memory and Space

The author states through the examples of Ellison’s and Martin’s protagonists in I Like it Like That (1994) and “ Living with Music” (1955) how music can be used to create and recreate spaces through sound “as it is articulated at the interstices of the private and social.” Music can be used to block out outside noise and create a personal space and time for the listener or used publicly to transform a space and the listeners experience for either good or bad. Following Jody Berland’s example Weheliye says that unlike the visual, sound is something that the listener is completely immersed in and that it comes from all the directions from the soft and subtle whispers of someone behind us to the annoying clicking of a pen on the table.  Listening to music definitely illuminates Berland’s and Weheliye’s points. The experience of listening to music with headphones versus choosing to play a song on a pair of speakers dramatically changes the experience not just for you, but for other listeners (either directly or indirectly) and the geographic space as a whole. Noting this, sound and sonic space become communal unintentionally at times.  Using a specific technology like speakers, choosing what music to play, where, when, and at what volume has the power to completely change a space.

               This point really stood out to me because music is such an important aspect in black communal activities such as parties, family reunions, and cookouts. The music played can truly impact the success or failure of an event. For instance, everyone will get up, young and old to dance to the Electric Slide where as if some current hip hop music comes on, you’ll see young people dancing while the old folks exchange disgusted looks or roll their eyes probably in shock of how music has changed since they were younger,remembering the soulful and melodic tunes of their youth. This example goes along with Wehliye’s idea that the intimacy and sociality of sound  “highlights the particular manner in which subjects relate to sound in space.” Music ties us to our memories and experience. Even today, hearing a specific song can bring me back to a specific time in my life growing up and all those images flood back into my head. And that again goes along with Weheliye’s quote that, “this quality at once makes the sonic at once more communal because it draws the subject something or someone outside of themselves…in a way that visual items do not.” 

In what other ways do you see the intimacy and sociality of sound in black spaces? (Musical or Otherwise)

-Gabrielle Wynn

[blacktechne]

I do agree with that us individuals have those certain types of songs that we have grown up to and still love and listen to it up to today.  In general, playing music can be used for so many other occasions outside of get-togethers or parties.  I personally believe that your current mood at a certain time of the day determines what type of music you want to listen to at the time.  From the mood you have at that time, it creates that feeling of intimacy of yourself and the music you are listening to and furthermore enter into your own “world.”  For example, it’s an obvious distinction from the music you listen to between relaxing one time of the day vs. the music you are listening to when you are at the gym at another part of that day.  There are days where we can’t stop listening to one song and there are other days where we just feel like we never want to hear that song ever again.  To me, it’s the mood that you have any time of the day that determines when and what I want to listen to whether it’s in my headphones or when I am with friends.  

-Daniel Scovotti 

[olivebranch23-blog]

While reading this piece, I completely agree that space and mood play such an impact on how we interpret music. Since music possesses such power to transform the space, it shows why it varies greatly depending on what the person is doing. It is designed to conduct certain spaces and influence the moods of those who are listening, which in turn, reflects the intimacy and sociality of the spaces.

[blacktechne]

Black Latinos

Afrolatinos occupy a gray area between racial and ethnic backgrounds that myself and most people have probably never considered. While Dates and Barlow in, “War of Images,” present W.E.B Dubois’s idea that African Americans occupy a strange space in which we must have a double consciousness, Violeta Donawa argues that Afrolatinos have a triple consciousness, as their racial identity is complicated by their mixed Latin and African ancestry. In this space that Afrolatinos occupy, there is a struggle as to whether or not they identify with their Latin heritage, African heritage, or try and reconcile the two into one. Afrolatinos, therefore, do not properly fit into any established mold if they choose to proudly embrace both sides of their heritage, as the black community does not fully identify with them, and neither does the Latino community. Because Afrolatinos fall into this gray area, it is necessary for them to come together in their own space where they can proudly identify with whatever heritage(s) they choose and not be judged because of it. This is where the Black Latin@ collective Facebook group that Violeta Donawa speaks of in her thesis, “THE BLACK LATIN@ COLLECTIVE: IDENTITY NEGOTIATION AMONG BLACK LATIN@S ON FACEBOOK,” comes into play.

For the Afrolatinos involved, this Facebook group served as a safe space that I would compare to black twitter. I draw this comparison because in this Facebook group the Afrolatinos involved could talk about issues that were relevant to them, discuss shared experiences and difficulties, and hash out differing opinions with people who could truly relate to their experiences as an outsider, never fully accepted by either of the ethnic groups that they belong to.  

After reading this piece, my eyes were opened to a number of things, one of them being the fact that I utilize the ‘one drop rule’ almost all the time when I am considering somebody who is mixed with multiple races. The one drop rule traces its roots back to slavery, and was created so that mixed race children would inherit the social status of whichever parent belonged to the subordinate social class.  I had never thought about this habit of mine, but now that I am aware of the historical context behind it and how it can affect people, I regret ever having done it. I realize that in doing this, I am invalidating a person’s identity in a way by trying to tell them who they are and what culture and race to identify with.  

Do you guys think that spaces like this facebook group are necessary? For those of you who share multiple ethnic backgrounds, can you relate to this feeling of multiple consciousness that Donawa talks about? Have any of you ever found yourself practicing this one-drop rule?

The link below is to an interesting article about how some Afrolatinos view and describe themselves in census reports.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/03/01/afro-latino-a-deeply-rooted-identity-among-u-s-hispanics/

- Nate Roper

[olivebranch23-blog]

First, I think that the AfroLatina group on Facebook is a great thing, for it allows the people who feel voiceless and underrepresented to acquire a voice in society. This reinforces how social media can and has been used to empower the people. Now, for the “one-drop rule”, this corresponds directly with our human nature and our will to label everyone into groups, and unfortunately, the further they appear from white, which was ideal at the time of slavery, the less of a person they will be viewed as.

[blacktechne]

Does 1 Race = 1 Culture?

In this article the author talks a bout a group that was formed, Black-Latin@. The group wasn’t exclusive to black Latina(o) members, it was open to everyone who had an interest in the topics being discussed. In the thread they discussed topics pertaining to the black Latina(o) racial group. One thing that struck me was what one of the commenters said. He said he would rather identify as Latino than black Latino because of the mention of black allows people to form an idea that he is part of the African-American culture, which he is not. They also mentioned how it is now becoming popular to distinguish between Black Americans and African Americans. I can identify with the commenter because I go through some of the same problems. 

My family is Jamaican, and I am a first generation American. I used to hate, and still really don’t like, when people would say I am African American. I have no ties to African culture, but I also don’t have African American culture that developed in this country over centuries. I only know, and was raised with Jamaican culture. I always thought there should be a distinction for that reason. To me it’s like saying a person from the Ukraine has the same culture and heritage as someone from Spain. That’s not something that would be considered “right” to do. This is why I would like to be considered a Black American. My culture is not assumed, you only know my race. It seems a lot of the time that Black Americans are all assumed to have the same history and cultural background. All our ancestors were taken from Africa and were brought her as slaves and developed a new culture from there. Jamaican history is similar, but the cultures are extremely different. There are so many different traditions, just as Black Latina(o)s are very different from African Americans. Our race has many different components to it and they should not all be crammed into one cultural and racial label.

–Evann Thompson

[olivebranch23-blog]

I agree the issue is that most cultures are mistakenly associated with your skin color, which to many, holistically represents the person. Many people simply rush towards an assumption in order to classify a person instead of trying to educate themselves on cultural diversities.

[blacktechne]

Black Americans in Radio and Television

Integration in all entertainment industries proved to be a difficult task. As for radio and music, ownership and copyright laws were not commonplace throughout the 1930s-1960s, causing turmoil and obstacles for black artists. Squires delves into these issues of ownership in the entertainment industry while highlighting many white artists who stole, and shared work of black artists without awarding any credit. In the jazz and blues eras of the 1930s-1960s black artists created this new genre of music that took the country by storm. Many white artists fell in love with the sounds and started to emulate and created all white jazz bands. Race records, as they were called, began to highlight some of the issues blacks faced in the United States and were very prevalent in the black community. For example, Billie Holiday’s Strange Fruit was about the numerous lynchings and subhuman treatment of black Americans in the 1930s and 40s. Black and white Americans both admired and recorded the same genres, but its implementation and ownership remained separate, like most things of this period. Moving into the 1950s, television began to take over radio broadcasts as the new household medium. The major networks, ABC, NBC, and CBS, formatted some of their most popular radio shows, and created new television series. One of these programs was Amos and Andy, a minstrel show that received much criticism and backlash from black Americans throughout the country. Black actors replaced white actors, and their status within the show was moved up to a middle class family with better jobs and better homes, but this didn’t take away from the fact that black Americans were continuing to be placed in stereotypical roles that had been recycled from the end of the civil war. The writers, directors, and producers were all white, which continued to be a problem for the few black actors that won television and movie roles. Many of the popular black sitcoms, such as Girlfriends and Homeboys in Outer Space had majority of white writers. In the 1980s and 1990s sitcoms featuring black actors were starting to gain popularity. With the creation of a new major network, FOX, an appeal to black Americans through television was clearly being made. Although these new sitcoms featuring black actors were popular with black audiences, “many critics felt FOX’s comic line-ups were ‘neo-minstrelsy’ with actors working in roles akin to those of Stepin’ Fetchit.” [1] The Cosby Show was a landmark television series that “portrayed a loving, successful, black married couple with well-educated children.” [2] Many white focus groups stated that the fictional Huxtable’s were similar to a middle class white family and shared some of their same everyday problems. Those was both displeasing and appealing to many black audiences, but the show, and its spinoff, A Different World, have both reached commercial success. In today’s media it is still very difficult to integrate entertainment and ownership within black media, but many television shows are trying to bridge those gaps.

-Danielle Scott

[1] Squires, Catherine. African Americans and the Media. 231

[2] Squires. Catherine. African Americans and the Media. 229

Billie Holiday- Strange Fruit 

[olivebranch23-blog]

I agree that the Bill Cosby was a watershed moment for black representation in the media. However, I agree with the others that we still have ways to go in order to be represented adequately and escape the stereotypes that have plagued us for years. Yet we also have to remember what is played on TV is a reflection of what we want to consume. So while we should continue to fight for accurate representation, we should also reflect on what we’re accepting as the general public.

[tretip01-blog]

65 of 80 homicides Black lives

With a whopping 14 homicides occurring in September, making the total, thus far, 80, Allegheny County is on its way to having a more deadly year than in 2014, which had 105. Looking back at …

In recent years the murder rate throughout Pittsburgh has increased by major numbers in the past 3 years. According to Pittsburgh Today “the murder rate for per 100,000 people was 22.4% and had reached a major increase in 2014 to a more frightening 53.4 %.” Numbers of 2015 are still being calculated, but most websites are saying the murder rate has once again increased in the city of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh News Courier states that “out of the 80 homicides calculated so far in the year 2015, 65 of the people have been black people, and 60 out of those 65 black people are men.” The city of Pittsburgh may not have a huge population of people, but the Pittsburgh Today claims that “the city of Pittsburgh is in the top ten for homicides within a city.” Death has seemed to loom over the city of Pittsburgh these past few years at petrifying rates.

Most people say that the homicides are due to street gangs, and the everlasting war on drugs. It is sad to hear that people are dying in the neighborhoods that I grew up in, and places that my family currently live. I talk to my cousins all the time about what Pittsburgh Public schools were like for me. To me it seemed as if it was the “cool thing to do” to go sale drugs, or be a part of a gang, it made life seem like the only way I could gain respect. Seeing what that type of lifestyle has done to my family, I could never let myself be part of that way of living.  I never quite understood why my friends were okay with living that type of lifestyle, but I guess that is something I will never understand. Some of my friends claimed that people kill for revenge, or what someone does to them. I lost my cousin in 2009 because he was a part of that life, but no part of me wanted to avenge his death by killing someone else. I guess the question that is imprinted in my mind is what can we do as communities to make the murder rate in Pittsburgh decline?

~ Tre Tipton

Extra link:

http://www.pittsburghtoday.org/view_MurderMSA.html

[olivebranch23-blog]

I agree with Tre, and that this is a complex issue where we must identify the root of the problem in order to come to a solution. From the clips from the Wire that we watched and lecture, one reoccurring theme I noticed was the feeling of hopelessness. This hopelessness, which stems from the lack of opportunity within certain socioeconomic environments, leads to the finding success in other areas, which lead to violence and illegal activity. While this has been proposed many times before, it is so important to provide outreach to the youth in these areas and promote a positive image of what he/she can become, and how they can uplift the community instead of tearing it down with the cycle of self-destruction.

[olivebranch23-blog]

(oliviacarter)

My audio essay focuses on the empowering and oppressing aspects of black representation in social media today.

Music-

James Brown- Black and Proud  

Kendrick Lamar-The Blacker the Berry

Citations

Hooks, Bell. The Oppositional Gaze

Squires, Catherine R. Chapter 5 African Americans and the Media. Cambridge: Polity, 2009. Print.

Dates and Barrlow Tumblr/Class discussions

Effects

Fade In, Fade Out, Noise Reduction, Amplifier, Tempo Change

[auhhduhh-blog]

The Great Black Migration is a huge gap in american history. This migration had a massive impact and effect on just about everyone lives back then, not just black people. It had an influence on about every aspect from the music people listened to, to politics. This great black migration even had an impact on the south, because they were losing a lot of their workforce due to this movement north. So both the north and south had to change a lot of things. Radio had tremendous impact on the the great migration. Radio gave African American hope. Radio had made black people from the south dream of going north and possibly making it. People like Jack Cooper was a model for blacks. He became the first black radio host ever. He not only played music on the radio, but he actually talked about black lives and black issues; which later inspired the black press to do the same when given the opportunity. Different races of all kinds especially blacks loved to listen to jazz. As a person of color you heard people like Duke Ellington, Earl “fatha” Hines, Cab Calloway and etc, on the radio and wanted to be where they were; even thought maybe you could make it like them. Before the Great Black Migration about 90 percent of blacks lived in the south, after about more than 50 percent moved north. This mad a lot of the whites mad because the blacks were now looking and trying to take their some of the jobs they were able to get. Do you think the reason blacks were not allowed on the radio was because some whites were intimidated by the uprise in the community?  

~Rimoni Dorsey

[olivebranch23-blog]

I agree, I think the whites were intimidated about blacks being represented accurately in the media because it conflicts with the hegemonic messages that society has thrived off of previously.  This corresponds with the idea that pro-black means anti-white which isn’t true. But since pro-black goes against all ideals America was built on, it is bound to provoke intimidation, fear and, therefore, anger from the other side.

[blacktechne]

- Caitlin Rolle

[olivebranch23-blog]

I also found the idea of  “phallocentric spectatorship” to be very interesting.  It never occurred to my before about how not only blacks were represented from the white supremacy point of view, but how we viewed ourselves from that same perspective, despite being on the other end. It exhibits how the psychological effects of slavery hadn’t vanished, but simply transferred mediums going from the plantation to the big screen, therefore making the oppositional gaze of black women vital. 

[blacktechne]

The Oppositional Gaze

Black women have always written little about black female spectatorship towards Hollywood.  Most were aware of the cinematic racism and they never went to the movies expecting to see compelling representations of black femaleness.  Screen images referred to black women as “bitches” or “nags” in the television show Amos ‘n’ Andy, which most black women resented the way that these images could assault black womanhood, the white representation of blackness were laughed at and at the same time being criticized by blacks. Those who enjoyed cinema had to forget critique, racism and even sexism, in the name of an ‘adoring black female gaze… that could bring pleasure in the midst of negation.  For example, Miss Pauline, sitting in the dark must imagine herself transformed, turned in the white women portrayed on screen.  After watching the movies, feeling the pleasure, she said, “But it made coming home hard.”

On the other hand most developed an oppositional gaze, encouraging black women not to accept stereotypical representations in film, but rather actively critique them.  In addition to spectatorship, this article critiques Hollywood’s portrayal of black women and criticizes the lack of more substantial role opportunities.  Black women assumed that white women were also aware of the role of white womanhood.  Mulvey’s essay shows how white women had a particular problem in developing an oppositional gaze arising from their love of cinema whereas black women had already chosen not to be identifying with Hollywood films. This black oppositional gaze offers a critical space to replace the binary oppositions of Mulvey, and a new pleasure too –'the pleasure of resistance, of saying “no”: not to “unsophisticated” enjoyment… but to the structures of power which asks us to consume them uncritically’

At the beginning of the chapter they spoked upon how a “gaze” played a major part in blacks culture identity.  Whites used “gaze” as a way to maintain power over African Americans.  The attempt to repress black people rights to gaze has only produced an overwhelming longing to look.  Through “looking at films with an oppositional gaze, Hooks asserts that those voices that are silenced can develop a realm in which critical judgments and assessments can be made.  This condition does not punish gazing, but rather praises it as an essential element in being able to transform what is into what can and should be.

-Racquel Williams

[olivebranch23-blog]

I agree that for too long, blacks were stripped the ability to look for so long, that when we finally were given that power, we did not/could not utilize it to its fullest capacity. So in turn, as Bell Hooks put it, we were oppressing ourselves just at the white people did. It shows how we must work to once again acknowledge the power that not only gazing holds but also black women hold as well.

[olivebranch23-blog]

(oliviacarter)

[blacktechne]

Weekend Update- Updated or Overplayed?

In Squires chapters 5-7 we learn that throughout the 1930s and the 1940s, prejudicial casting practices were used to send messages that reinforced racist ideology in films. Blaxploitation films began in the early 1970s; these action films starred black actors and focused on their adventures in the ghetto. Buddy films paired white and black main characters, and largely relied on racial differences to create a dynamic. 

Much of the media depicting African Americans throughout the 20th century was created as the result of pressure from organizations and legal threats or an attempt to expand revenue. These films, and the media that came before them, had no intention to and largely failed to represent African Americans. Today there are new, cheaper ways of producing content and African American filmmakers are no longer limited to creating solely based off of audience appeal. Squires noted an interesting dichotomy. Although media being produced by black creators has been made more easily accessible as the result of Netflix and the Internet, many of these productions tend to rely on urban stereotypes and largely exclude black women.

I think it is important to recognize and discuss the types of films that were being produced, why they were being produced, and acknowledge that there are examples of these themes still in our media today. Let us take for example the buddy film, which often depicted a leading white male and his black male sidekick. The buddy dynamic still exists today; on the NBC television show Saturday Night Live. Co-hosts of the Weekend Update Michael Che (black) and Colin Jost (white) often rely on their racial differences for much of their material. I’ve linked to a few of their bits relating to race below.

Weekend Update Burger King: https://twitter.com/jdavhill/status/650529174562689024 Jost: “Oh sure, but when I turn black for Halloween I’m setting back race relations.” Che: “I begged you not to do that.”

Weekend Update What You Can Say http://www.hulu.com/watch/695308 Jost: I just feel like I can’t say anything, and you can say everything. Che: There’s things I can’t say, like, “Toodeloo,” or, “Skinny macchiato.” Or, “Thank you for your help, officer.”

Weekend Update Gun Control: http://www.hulu.com/watch/855653 Che: “Which, by the way, if I owned a dozen or so jacked Africans I’d probably want a dozen or so guns too.” *Camera cuts to Jost* Jost: “It’s not supposed to cut to me…” Che: “Oh it is, I told them to do that.”

The segment continues to reveal that while Jost assumes Che doesn’t have a gun, he slips in that he in fact does because he “owns a lot of sneakers”.

In your opinion, are the jokes in these bits problematic? Why were these types of films being produced then? Why are they being produced now? Is it troublesome that our media continues to rely on these themes, or is it just part of the trade?

Since African American creators now have more artistic freedom to produce media, has there been an increase in media that is representative? Is this media making its way into the mainstream?

Jess McDade

[olivebranch23-blog]

I definitely agree with the blog, as well as with the commenters that putting humor to these deeply rooted racial issues does nothing but attempt to shield the public from the ugly reality of these stereotypes. Another example is, in the show “The Mindy Project” which is written and produced by Mindy Kaling, (a minority woman), the one black female character on the show, “Tamra”, is still reduced to being the coworker with the one-liners and attitude. It goes to show that it takes more than simply getting to a position of power to make a difference.