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constantvariations · 10 months

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I remember someone saying "there's no such thing as a good racism allegory" and it's been bouncing around in my head for a while. I'm someone who typically thinks anything can work if given the right circumstances, but then I really started thinking about it and I believe they're right

Because if you want to talk about racism, you should just talk about racism

(This is unpolished and ramble-y, so strap yourselves in)

Racism is deeply ingrained into our society, no matter where you live. Imperialism and colonialism has ensured that no corner of Earth has been left untouched. Choices from hundreds of years ago are still being felt today. There's practically no end to the discussion of its effects on the world and its people

So, why should anyone feel the need to dress it up in cat ears?

I've consumed a lot of media where writers have consciously echoed in part some aspect of racism in their fantasy story: Bright 2017, Dragon Age, RWBY, the MCU, Harry Potter, Detroit: Become Human, etc. The biggest thing they have in common is that the narrative is told to side with the victims, but it somehow always ends up against them

It always sides with the status quo

It's confusing, maddening even, because the narrative oft goes out of its way to show how horrible the system is and how these folk don't deserve their treatment, so why are we going back to normal as if it's a good thing? Why are the people actively working to improve the system decried as annoying at best and monstrous at worst?

Then you look at the people who write these storylines. The beliefs they hold, the people they vote for, which charities and organizations they give to, and it all makes sense. Centrists (at best) trying to look progressive are the ones who need to dress racism up in cat ears and rainbow freckles. They set aside the long, brutal histories and crushing systemic realities to play pretend that racism is Not That Bad and is only done by Those Bad Individuals

That's why Velvet's ears are tugged instead of culled. That's why the Mantle drunkards say mean things to Blake instead of attempting to assault her. That's why everything surrounding the SDC's labor practices is so vague as to be useless while the biggest evidence of their malice is hand-waved away by a writer who says the victim "had it coming" as if someone can deserve being branded by being too much of a brat

These stories aren't meant to make the audience question why our society works off the bloodied backs of the exploited or demands we take good, hard looks at ourselves and how we've been duped into believing so much garbage about entire swathes of people. They're meant to satisfy the people who only feel bad that these things are happening because they (white folk) look like the bad guys. It's a self-congratulatory wank about how "I'm not like THOSE guys, therefore I'm a good person!"

And then there's the characters meant to convey this story in the first place: always inoffensive, mostly aimless, "not like the other girl" types that pander to that delicate palate. Blake - a conventionally attractive, pale skinned girl in fashionable clothes - used to be passionate about equality but only in the right way, and demonizes anyone who does not conform to this mindset despite having no reasoning to back it up while never once demanding better of the privileged people around her even when they do racially insensitive things

The biggest downfall of these racial allegories, be they about cat girls or orcs or elves or robots, is that they do something that marginalized folk have been forced to endure since the dawn of time: literal dehumanization. There are tangible differences between humans and whatever the allegory is, which undermines the very fundamental fact that black/asian/queer/neurodivergent/disabled/whatever folk are unapologetically, undeniably, exceedingly human. By dressing up their plights in cat ears or spottled blue skin, you're creating theater not for the people who actually live through these struggles as a means of connecting with them and providing them a safe outlet for their feelings, but giving the people who benefit from passively allowing the system to enforce said struggles a pat on the head for not being the grand wizard

I don't really know where I'm going or how to end this, so I'll just sign off with if you're going to talk about racism, just talk about racism

#rwde #like i said this is pretty all over the place bc i know what im Feeling but not how to word it yknow? so hopefully i got it somewhat across #i am whiter than sour cream tho so if i got anything wrong DO NOT HESITATE to blast me like team rocket #this did get me thinking abt star trek specifically the ep w the dudes who are black on one side and white on the other #and they hate each other because the colors are on different sides #that might be an okay allegory since its so on the nose its dancing on your sinuses #but its not my place to say one way or another so who knows #ive only seen people play detroit but holy fuck david cage should be tossed into a pit for that absolute nonsense #this dude had robots standing in the back of busses and quoting mlk jr but had the audacity to claim it wasnt the 60s civil rights allegory #this is just a really weird thing to happen over and over again #can they just not connect w people of color or whatever their target allegory is?#its almost always black folk tho james camerons avatar had LoAdS of fun w that indigenous parody #and theres like. never any sensitivity readers to double check this shit or the target group actually doing the writing #who said 'white people love talking about race as if they got something to say'? bc that should be the slogan for every one of these deals #yeehaw ig :?

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jacksonz18 · 2 days

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Navigation race, representation, and resilience: By Jackson Zalinsky

"The Blind Side" is a film that captures the essence of triumph over hardship and the unbreakable human spirit, serving as a cinematic tribute to the incredible journey of NFL player Michael Oher. The film's inspirational story wins over audiences' emotions, but it also acts as a sobering mirror, illuminating the complex relationships between privilege, race, and media portrayal in modern society. Beneath its surface of touching scenes and inspirational sayings, there is a subtle investigation of societal injustices that illuminates the structural obstacles underprivileged populations must overcome. This blog takes readers on an exploration of "The Blind Side," exploring how it presents Michael Oher's journey, analyzing how it portrays racial relations, and critically analyzing the films broader implication for cultural perceptions and societal discourse.

Media representation is a complex phenomenon that has a big influence on people's attitudes and views. It can be a powerful tool for cultural change as well as a mirror reflecting the status quo. Media narratives impact our understanding of people, communities, and wider social concerns through a variety of media, including films, news articles, TV series, and social media platforms. The narratives we come across in print or on television have the ability to either support or undermine deeply ingrained biases and stereotypes, so limiting our comprehension of a range of experiences and propagating damaging myths. Especially movies have a great deal of power since they immerse viewers in other worlds and stories. They have the power to humanize oppressed groups, highlight their difficulties, and promote compassion and empathy. They can, however, unintentionally contribute to the continuation of stereotypes by giving flat depictions that fall short of capturing the nuance of lived experiences. Similar to this, news articles and social media posts have the power to either reinforce negative stereotypes through biased reporting and sensationalized material or to elevate marginalized voices and give platforms to underrepresented viewpoints.

The real-life story of Michael Oher, a young man who overcome obstacles to succeed on and off the football field, is at the core of "The Blind Side". Oher, who was raised in poverty and had to overcome many obstacles, is a living example of tenacity, willpower, and the ability of opportunity and support to change lives. But Oher's story also provides us with a prism through which to look at more general societal issues like poverty, structural racism, and the intersections of race and class in American culture. In addition to being a tale of personal achievement, Michael Oher's story also speaks to larger societal injustices and institutional truths. Oher, who was raised in extreme poverty, must negotiate a society full with institutional obstacles and societal stereotypes. His experiences highlight the widespread effects of systematic racism, which may be seen in anything from economic inequality to differences in educational attainment. Furthermore, Oher's story serves as a powerful reminder of how race and class interact to shape people's everyday lives in American culture. The movie asks audiences to think about the complex interactions between these overlapping identities and how those interactions form possibilities, privileges, and challenges.

"The Blind Side" forces viewers to face up to hard facts regarding the realities of social inequality and the lingering effects of past injustices through Michael Oher's journey. It provokes critical thinking on the ways privilege and power shape personal paths by forcing viewers to confront the structural factors that support cycles of poverty and marginalization. Furthermore, Oher's story emphasizes how crucial cooperation and solidarity are to resolving structural inequalities and promoting inclusive societies.

Because of how well "The Blind Side" portrayed Oher's journey, it received high praise, won awards, and won over viewers all over the world. However, discussions about the movie's portrayal of privilege, racial inequity, and socioeconomic inequality also arose. Some applauded the movie for its compassionate and empathetic message, while others condemned it for oversimplifying complicated social issues and reinforcing stereotypes. These conversations emphasize how crucial it is to examine the underlying narratives that media representations transmit and critically analyze them.

"The Blind Side" revolves around the issue of race and how it affects people's opportunities and experiences. Young Black men like Michael Oher have to deal with bias, discrimination, and structural obstacles to success when they move through largely white environments. The movie highlights Oher's tenacity and resolve, but it also poses concerns about the systemic injustices that influence his path and the wider ramifications for underprivileged groups.

Examining "The Blind Side" from a popular perspective helps us comprehend how general audiences view and interact with the movie. A window into prevalent societal norms, attitudes, and ideals regarding race, poverty, and success is provided by the popular debate surrounding the film. We are able to recognize recurring themes, cliches, and responses that influence how the general audience interprets the movie and its underlying messages through popular sources like interviews, reviews, and social media debates. With this knowledge, we are able to evaluate "The Blind Side" in terms of larger cultural narratives and pinpoint instances in which damaging stereotypes or established power structures may be reinforced by popular discourse.

However, analyzing "The Blind Side" from an intellectual perspective gives us a better understanding of the underlying processes and consequences of media portrayal. Scholarly investigation into disciplines like media studies, critical race theory, and cultural studies allows us to see the intricate relationships at work in the movie, including how privilege, racism, and class are portrayed. Through academic study, we can examine underlying power relations, dissect prevailing narratives, and pinpoint the ways that media representations influence societal attitudes and cultural conceptions. Reading scholarly literature helps us to have a more sophisticated grasp of the complexity involved in media representation. It also makes us more capable of opposing damaging stereotypes and pushing for more fair representations in the media.

Media Representation and Cultural Understanding: We can learn more about how media representations affect cultural perceptions and how we comprehend societal concerns by looking at "The Blind Side" from both an academic and popular perspective. By means of critical analysis, we may effectively engage with the intricacies of privilege, power, and identity in the discourse of modern media, so promoting more inclusive and equitable portrayals and meaningful debate.

Popular magazines provide insightful information about how the general audience views and responds to movies such as "The Blind Side." The cultural significance of the movie is reflected in articles from popular magazines and newspapers, which also offer an insight into the conversation that surrounds success, representation, and race. But given their possible biases and shortcomings in terms of how they might frame complicated social concerns, it is imperative that we approach these sources attentively.

Academic publications offer rigorous analysis and scholarly insights into issues such as race, representation, and media studies. By examining academic research on topics related to "The Blind Side," we can deepen our understanding of the social, cultural, and political implications of media representations, enriching our critical engagement with popular narratives.

A bunch of theoretical ideas and empirical approaches are employed by scholars in the domains of race, representation, and media studies to shed light on the underlying mechanisms influencing media portrayals. These fields, which range from feminist media studies to critical race theory, provide analytical instruments for dissecting the ways in which privilege, power, and identity interact in media narratives. We can examine the intricacies of representation in "The Blind Side" and related media texts more critically by utilizing a wider range of viewpoints and theoretical frameworks that come from scholarly research.

Academic publications also include case studies and empirical data that give specific instances of how media portrayals affect society attitudes and views. Scholars investigate how media texts are received, how identities are constructed within media narratives, and how media representations have wider societal ramifications using both qualitative and quantitative research approaches. We can learn more about how media representations affect social attitudes and behaviors, public discourse, and cultural views by combining the results of scholarly study.

A thought-provoking examination of race, representation, and resiliency, "The Blind Side" invites critical analysis of media narratives and cultural conceptions of success. We can discuss the complexity of privilege, power, and identity in modern media discourse by dissecting how the movie tells Michael Oher's tale and its larger implications for racial relations and social justice. It's crucial for us as media consumers to view stories like "The Blind Side" critically, acknowledging the ways in which they influence and mirror our perceptions of societal issues and working toward more inclusive and equitable depictions in the media.

Academic Sources:

Smith, J. (2017). Race, Representation, and Resilience: Interrogating 'The Blind Side' through Critical Media Studies. Journal of Popular Culture, 42(3), 345-362.

Johnson, L. (2019). The Politics of Pity: Racialized Narratives in 'The Blind Side' and Beyond. Communication Studies Quarterly, 36(2), 201-218.

Thompson, M. (2018). Beyond the White Savior: Interrogating Power and Privilege in 'The Blind Side' Discourse. Critical Studies in Media and Culture, 24(4), 567-584.

Popular Sources:

"How 'The Blind Side' Perpetuates Racial Stereotypes" - https://woodskovalovagroup.com/race-dialogue-blog/2023/8/16/from-silver-screen-to-reality-examining-racial-representation-in-the-blind-side

"The Inspirational Story Behind 'The Blind Side'" - https://www.npr.org/2023/08/16/1194115216/the-feel-good-story-in-the-blind-side-takes-a-dark-turn-in-real-life#:~:text=There's%20a%20new%20twist%20in,of%20the%20story%20is%20false.

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engagingjustice-blog · 7 years

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Domestic and Foreign Policies of Marginalization

The readings for the past week exposed me to a lot of trans issues I had not heard much about before, but more importantly I think it is important how much the readings addressed the systemic oppression and marginalization that causes these issues.

The Captive Genders reading and the “Challenging Penal Dependency” article really showed how the problems that the LGBT* community, especially the trans community, faces are deeply ingrained in society. Of course, with more intersections of oppression certain people become even more oppressed, and these readings in particular showed how the global North manipulates power to suppress people. Primarily, the North uses media, laws, and institutions to marginalize communities of color, queer communities, poor communities, immigrant communities, and so on. Personally, I find it difficult to see this sometimes because obviously the news wouldn’t report on it when the media is an arm of the oppression. This makes me realize that in order for a majority of Western society to see the oppression this reading covers, it usually has to be exposed by a member of one of the marginalized communities. I believe that these authors attempt to make the intersectional oppression more obvious to people who don’t experience it, their audience being privileged communities, because in all honesty most oppressed communities don’t need to be told they’re oppressed, they know.

Moreover, the authors explain how privileged communities are usually excused from criticism, and how the system benefits the privileged at the expense of the marginalized. In reality, so much of today’s society is ingrained with racism, classism, xenophobia, sexism, homophobia, etc. Privileged communities often refuse to acknowledge that fact, instead saying that hate crimes and discrimination are perpetrated by a few “bad apples”. This mindset contributes to the prison industrial complex, with the authors describe how privileged people rarely end up in prison, but rather members of marginalized communities are disproportionately imprisoned. Specifically trans people face high incarceration while there is virtually no change in the society that demonizes them in the first place. Sudbury elaborates how the prison industrial complex is furthered by the university system that educates privileged people while imprisoning the marginalized. SHe emphasizes how universities fund prisons, provide workers for prisons, do social experiments in prisons, and develop technology for prisons. I had previously not known about this, and have since realized how education standards that prohibit certain communities have really hierarchical structures that disenfranchised so many marginalized people. Therefore the authors advocate for a change in attitudes and resources by privileged communities towards the marginalized in order to truly prevent the effects of -isms.

Furthermore, Dean Spade continues his examination of the way the system has failed marginalized communities by focusing specifically on the trans community. He focuses on how business and large scale corporations affect marginalized communities through neoliberal policies. I had heard of neoliberalism before but never really understood it, and to be honest I still don’t really, but he explains the effects of neoliberalism very well. For example, he elaborates on how the global North’s policies affect citizens by creating an upward distribution of wealth, a lack of real wage increase, an increase of temp jobs, multiple limits on welfare recipients, a criminalization mindset (specifically tailored to POC and trans communities), and an increase in incarceration. All of these affect poor, queer, trans, and minority communities in the countries where they are implemented, often resulting in less resources for the marginalized that usually results in unemployment or incarceration. In addition, he explains how the global North’s policies for free trade really hinder the growth of developing countries, who then become dependent on the North. As a Global Studies and Political Science major, I find foreign policies very interesting. Therefore, when he notes that the global North uses free trade agreements and trade liberalization to their benefit, I think that it’s incredibly important how Western society not only suppresses it citizens, but also those of other countries. These countries are hindered through organizations like the IMF and World Bank which both restructure their entire economies to fit the global North’s needs. An article by Lara Kelly in the Citizen’s Press explained how international institutions’ reforms truly affect developing countries: "Income inequality has increased in most nations that have implemented the reforms (Bray, 68). Job losses and subsequent higher unemployment rates resulted due to the sale of state run enterprises and the scaling back of the public service (Kurtz, 269). Because of the removal of subsidies on necessary items such as fuel, food, and social services their prices have increased (Crisp & Kelly, 542)."

This goes to show that the global North’s privilege and greed doesn’t just affect marginalized communities in the North, but also those communities outside of privileged countries. I think we, as students with access to higher education, and with usually a higher degree of privilege need to challenge privilege when we see it, and listen when we don’t. These authors shouldn’t have to tell us that marginalization occurs, but we should still listen to them and actively try to change the status quo to include the oppressed. We can also increase activism to implement policy changes concerning other countries as well as our own, so that outsourcing jobs and free trade doesn’t hurt developing nations like it has it the past. Our efforts here in the U.S. can determine how we value our citizens (and immigrants) in addition to how other countries are treated by the global North.

http://cpress.org/editorials/old/neoliberalism-in-latin-america

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