Archive for November, 2007
SíTV and the emergence of English-language Latino television networks
Juan Pinon, New York University — November 15th, 2007|
English-speaking Latina/os have historically suffered a double marginalization by U.S. mainstream television and by the Spanish-language television networks. These entities have built structural barriers against Latina/os, denying access in terms of ownership, management, and the participation on the production of Latina/o representations within the screen. After 50 years of television, and more than 30 years after the civil rights and labor movements pushed Chicanos and Nuyoricans to the stree [...]
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On Chances Lost: The World Outside Ed’s Garage
Mary Beltran, University of Wisconsin-Madison — November 14th, 2007|
You may recognize the opening credits of CHICO AND THE MAN, still one of only a handful of U.S. television shows to include a Mexican American lead. The series, which ran from 1974 through 1978, was set in East Los Angeles and was clearly influenced by the networks’ success with other “socially relevant” programming. The ways in which it in fact broke with any attempt at verisimilitude are striking, however, and arguably demarcate the limits on how Latinidad and Mexican American experienc [...]
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Will the Wolf Survive, Los Lobos
Joseph Straubhaar, University of Texas at Austin — November 13th, 2007|
This video reminds me of my own process of discovery about Latino culture. I grew up in a small farming town in rural Southwest Idaho with several families of Latino migrant workers. One Latino friend was really smart, but he seemed to be losing traction in school. I found out that he kept getting pulled out of school to help work in the fields with the family. My father got the same treatment, which kept him from graduating from high school. I worked in the fields, too, sometimes with migrant w [...]
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Latino Hip Hop: The Complexity of Challenging the Status Quo
Mari Castaneda, University of Massachusetts at Amherst — November 12th, 2007|
Latina/o media and popular culture is in a moment of dynamic transition and flux. With the Latino population growing faster than any other ethnic and racial group, it is no surprise that major conglomerates are increasingly targeting the Latino audience not only in the United States, but also across the Americas. Within this context, there is a growth of Spanish-language and Latino media outlets and opportunities for artistic expression, especially in communities in the US that have historicall [...]
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What is so comical about old choreography?
Mari Pajala, University of Turku (Finland) — November 9th, 2007|
Many of the most widely circulated clips of old Finnish television entertainment feature dancing. For example, this performance of “I Want to Love You Tender“ by Armi & Danny, a successful 1970s duo, was popular on the Internet even before YouTube took off. What is it about dancing that makes it so recyclable as comedy?
Television comedy that relies on dialogue doesn’t always work very well decades later; if the viewers don’t understand the references to contemporary events the comedy [...]
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Katarina Löfström’s ”High Noon”: The Materiality of a Medium
Anna Orrghen, Södertörn University College (Sweden) — November 8th, 2007|
When an image is blurred, one way to evoke it more distinctly is to look at it with screwed-up eyes. And if it happens to be extremely small it might be easier to catch a glimpse of it either by enlarging it or to move closer towards it. But how far is it possible to focus a picture before it transforms into an abstract pattern? And how many times is it possible to enlarge an image before it turns into a completely new image?
These questions are put to the fore by watching the Swedish artist [...]
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Amateur?
Espen Ytreberg, University of Oslo (Norway) — November 7th, 2007|
I take this opportunity to champion the cause of the youth of Norway, represented in this clip by is something of an international YouTube celebrity, Lasse Gjertsen. At least he is considered as such in his home country, where we are suckers for any news that Norwegians are being recognised abroad. I want to highlight Gjertsen's clip "Amateur" for two sets of reasons: First, it's clever, and fun. a real attention-grabber. It pretty much has what you tend to expect of distributed and shared digit [...]
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”I Miss my superfast broadband!” Comical heroes in phone operator’s TV commercial
Sari Elfving, University of Tampere (Finland) — November 6th, 2007|
Elisa is one of the leading communications and ITC solutions companies in Finland. As I saw these commercials, my first impression was that the company was being promoted in a truly funny way, by using irony, nostalgia and also seriality typical to television. At the same time, the Finnish cultural identity was negotiated in an inspired way. Later on, I started to get irritated by the fact that there were no girl or woman characters in the commercials. A very notable absence, I think.
Two co [...]
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ABBA 1974: The Birth of Swedish Modernity?
Christian Christensen, Karlstad University (Sweden) — November 5th, 2007|
For me, this clip of ABBA's winning performance at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest is more than three minutes of kitsch, nostalgia, irony and misogynist commentary. ABBA’s victory in 1974 was a moment in popular culture that played a part in shifting the image of Sweden as, “a country full of mountains, lakes and forests” (to borrow the words of the announcer) toward a conception of the nation as modern, culturally pro-active and urban-sexy. Sweden was not invisible on the global stage be [...]
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Queering Ugly Betty’s nephew
Antonio LaPastina, Texas A&M University — November 16th, 2007