Archive for April, 2007
Empathy is Futile? Media, War and Empire from the Classroom
Paula Chakravartty, University of Massachusetts — April 27th, 2007|
It has been noted repeatedly that within 48 hours of the horrific Virginia Tech massacre, five car bombs killed 147 people on the streets of Baghdad. Killings that were no less senseless and tragic, eliciting few public displays of empathy in the United States. Without minimizing the tragedy in Virginia, the two disparate responses forces us to interrogate the absence of empathy in the current context of an indefinite war on "terror".
I selected this clip based both on the images of the viole [...]
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Zombies v. Humans in ‘Land of the Dead’: Fireworks and Community
Mary Beth Haralovich, University of Arizona — April 26th, 2007|
For centuries, fireworks have exploded to celebrate state occasions, military actions, civic traditions, and sports. In these spectacles of community, fireworks are associated with nation and national identity. Like early film spectators in Tom Gunning's account, fireworks spectators enjoy “a reaction of astonishment." Television coverage of civic celebrations features faces gazing up, citizens in uniform and civilians, underscored with Americana music.
In 'Land of the Dead' (2006), hum [...]
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Re-visioning Arab Identity in US Popular Culture
Karin Wilkins, University of Texas at Austin — April 25th, 2007|
The edited clips in this brief video were constructed by Jacqueline Salloum to complement Jack Shaheen's book Reel Bad Arabs. The underlying concern expressed here is that the Arab identity projected in US popular culture positions members of this community as overly simplistic, barbaric villains, rather than recognizing the contributions, depth and complexity to this community. Moreover, the narratives dominant in US popular culture resonate clearly with the narratives of news and educational m [...]
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“All Skin Is Not Created Equal”: Televisual Flow and Racial Ideology
Ronald Becker, Miami University — April 24th, 2007|
We all likely have our favorite examples of televisual flow—those sometimes odd, sometimes hilarious, and often sadly predictable moments when the juxtaposition of program and ad expose more than either intended. Here is mine: a rerun episode of the oh-so 90s NBC sitcom Newsradio ("Daydreams," o.a.d. November 13, 1996) and a L'Oreal ad featuring Andie MacDowell. On a hot day at work, each of the station's employees zones out in a daydream. Here, Catherine (the station's and the program's to [...]
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Reality TV in a War Zone
Serra Tinic, University of Alberta — April 23rd, 2007|
I consistently struggle with the concept of hybridity when we hit the section on global television formats in my senior seminar. It often becomes the "happy place" where tensions are resolved between local cultural representations and the structural interests of transnational media conglomerates. I always feel like the spoilsport when I suggest that there is little to distinguish Canadian Idol from American Idol, except for the lack of a Simon Cowell presence (and, therefore, any dramatic tensio [...]
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The (White) Rapper Show, or White Folks Acting Like Fools?
Marnie Binfield, University of Texas at Austin — April 20th, 2007|
On Egotrip's The (White) Rapper Show on VH1, "12 contestants ... will have to find a way to make it through challenges that will test their musical cred, knowledge of hip hop culture and their ideas about race along the way." In this clip, the contestants make music videos. Both the comments on this clip on YouTube and the commentary around this show illustrate the trouble with the series: "Are they serious?!" The program raises questions especially hot in the aftermath of the Don Imus "nappy-he [...]
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“And Then There’s Maude”: Television, Abortion, and Social Relevance
Susan Murray, New York University — April 18th, 2007|
Less than a month ago, the first season (1972-3) of Norman Lear's Maude was released on DVD. It contains what was the series' most controversial episode, "Maude’s Dilemma", wherein Maude falls pregnant at age 47, grapples with her options, and eventually has an abortion. In this clip, her daughter Carol explains to Maude why she believes ending the pregnancy would be the right choice in this instance, while also recognizing why it might be a troubling idea to someone of Maude's generation. Car [...]
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Television and Reality: The Politics of Representation in Celebrity Big Brother, U.K.
Shanti Kumar, University of Texas at Austin — April 17th, 2007|
On January 28, 2007, Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty was crowned the winner of Celebrity Big Brother (CBB) 2007, on Channel 4 in the U.K. The show received national and international attention due to confrontations between Shilpa Shetty and Jane Goody (with three other housemates on Goody's side). Over the course of the show as the arguments and confrontations began to mount, Shilpa claimed that she was being targeted by her housemates because of her race. Although, Shilpa later withdrew her all [...]
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Who Knitted the Clangers?
Anna McCarthy, New York University — April 16th, 2007|
Throughout the 1960s and '70s, British schoolchildren were exposed to a wide array of animated television programs. These shows--despite their laughably primitive visual techniques--elicit powerful feelings of nostalgia among Brits of a certain age. To remember them is to return to the magic hours before teatime when Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men, Hector's House, The Magic Roundabout, and Bagpuss brought a sense of enchanted ordinariness to the bleak routines of the school night. Recently, we r [...]
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Performing Baghdad: Reality TV & Arab Modernity
Marwan Kraidy, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania — April 30th, 2007