Tag Archives: race

Barbershop Backdrop

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When reading the article “The Podcast ‘‘Chitlin’ Circuit’’: Black Podcasters, Alternative Media, and Audio Enclaves” I was struck by the mention of the barbershop being brought into the listeners homes, and how well equipped a podcast is to deal with this. This made me think of the movie that was recently released, which is appropriately named, “Barbershop: the Next Cut”. With this contrast of mediums, I had to wonder how important the medium is to the reception of the product. While I admit that as a very white individual, I am hardly the target audience for these pieces, but I hadn’t heard much of anything about the podcasting circuit that focuses on the black community. In this same vein though, I haven’t heard much in the way of amazing success for this genre of movie either. This seems to be due to the severe pay difference between the two mediums. It costs certainly more to produce a movie than it does a podcast, and this pay difference has a direct effect on the quantity of media that is produced, and when the idea is to create a sort of home space that can be shared among individuals, being able to return to the environment is important. As well as the fact that in the long term, there isn’t much technological replacement that really has to happen, microphones won’t be changing dramatically in the foreseeable future. This means that there is just one up front payment for podcasts, as opposed to sets, costumes, and actors for film.

With movies like the barbershop series paling in comparison to other movies popping on the scene at the same time, like “the Jungle Book”, there also becomes an issue of the system feeding itself. The fact that these movies that don’t bring in the same sort of viewership that the bigger box office hits do makes them less likely to be produced, which means that they need to be wary of being eliminated from the system all together. This is a problem that plagues the industry in representation as well. Since movies that star white men do so great on the monetary side of things what reason is there for changing the system? It becomes a conveyor belt that only speeds up the process for the homogeneous bleaching of the cinematic industry.

Another aspect that I think of when addressing the podcast is the income of the listeners. It is an unfortunate aspect of our society that a large number of black citizens do not have the income necessary to live in this day and age. This is a factor because it is an expenditure to go and see the movies, with taking the time out of the day, driving there, and purchasing the movie tickets themselves, while podcasts cost very little with access to the internet, which more and more is becoming a necessity. Podcasts can be listened to while going about the day to day tasks that are needed to be done around the house, thus making it a much more natural fit for merging into the everyday life of people.

Why Web Series Matter

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images-4Up until about a month ago I had never considered the actual definition of a web series. Wikipedia defines it simply as, “a series of scripted videos, generally in episodic form.” I thought that I had a pretty good working knowledge of why someone would decide to produce or star in a web series as opposed to entering the television industry. Of course looking back on my initial assumptions, they were all fairly ignorant.

I believed that writers, producers, actors, etc. involved themselves in these projects because they could not make it in Hollywood or did not want to commit to larger endeavors. Even on the most basic level, I was very wrong. A web series takes a lot of time and commitment to be involved in. Also, as I learned from The Meme Team’s presentation, actors and actresses actually go through auditions in order to land a role on web series just as they would for any TV show or movie.

Most importantly, I was overlooking the actual motivation of these creators and contributors because I failed to consider the content that they are ultimately generating. Most web series use their platform to display and acknowledge groups of people who are overlooked on prime time. Beyond acknowledgement, these webisodes usually act in an effort to erase false stereotypes that regular programming may unfairly perpetuate.

The picture shown at the top of this post is of Issa Rae who stars on “The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl” as the main character, J. The web series revolves around J’s comically frustrating everyday interactions. Blacks are largely underrepresented in television shows, especially in relation to main characters. Sure, there is BET (Black Entertainment Television) but it nowhere near fills the void. By making “Awkward Black Girl” a web series, there was no need to negotiate the content with a network. Instead, it can be played through YouTube and portrayed exactly as how the creators envisioned it.

Another great web series, “The Guild,” follows a group of gamers who interact through their webcams and an online game. In mainstream media, gamers are portrayed as younger in age, predominately male, as well as white and nerdy. The characters in these webisodes vary in age, race, and gender. The character at the forefront, who is also the writer and creator, is a female in her mid-thirties. Some of her fellow players include a mother who I would not describe as nerdy, an older male, and a younger male who is, shockingly, not white. This dynamic more accurately depicts the actual diversity of the gaming world than most mainstream portrayals.

Clearly, there is a lot more to web series than initially meets the eye. Whether or not they could make it on TV is not the question I should have been asking. Instead, the focus should be on why a secondary platform is needed in order to include these underrepresented groups of our population. Fortunately, the Internet has opened up such a sphere. Many web series could make it on network televisions and some have even been picked up to be adapted into shows already.  Creators of web series may not even want to be picked up by a network due to the censorship they would have subject their material to; the message could be lost between media. These are the web series that need our attention most: the ones that would not work for TV. The important thing to remember is that all of this content should have a place in our society.

Developing My Digital Literacy

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When I signed up for this class I had no idea what to expect. I decided to enroll because I wanted to take an English class that was not literature-based. Although I did think that the class would require us to interact more with technology, I enjoyed learning about new media and the impacts of technology from an academic standpoint.

In the beginning of the semester we discussed our broad opinions about new media. I remember referring to new media, specifically the internet, as a faceless equal playing field where race and gender do not matter. Throughout the course of the semester, I realized that I was misguided in my original interpretation of new media.

Contrary to my initial view, we learned that often new media perpetuates racism and the objectification and degradation of women. In class we discussed racist memes which, due to the ease with which they can be copied, rapidly spread and thus widely and quickly promote their racist message.

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We also discussed how video games degrade women through hypersexualization while also over-representing white men by almost exclusively portraying white males as heroes. While in these two instances new media popularizes negative stereotypes and creates new negative stereotypes about women and about different races, new media also offers a place for misrepresented and underrepresented groups to express themselves. We learned about how web series offer a place for these misrepresented and underrepresented groups to create shows that focus on the specific problems that their groups face unrestrained by the tenants of traditional network television.

In addition to learning about race and gender in new media, we also discussed how Google and Youtube dictate our searches and thus dictate both our knowledge and who grows popular on the internet. I used to view YouTube and Google as places where anyone could have their blog discovered or could post a video and grow famous. Now I realize that YouTube and Google are, at their core, businesses, and, that advertisers rather than users exist as YouTube’s and Google’s customers. Because advertisers are Google’s and YouTube’s customers – YouTube promotes videos and Google promotes websites based on which websites or videos receive the most views, or based on who pays for promotion. While I appreciate the existence of Google and Youtube as free services, I recognize that the validity of information or the quality of content is not Youtube’s or Google’s first concern when yielding search results.

Overall, this course taught me to recognize the importance of digital literacy and to develop my own digital literacy. While the internet does offer a place for anyone to have a voice, the business-minded nature of websites that control our searches, namely Google and YouTube, makes some content difficult to discover. In addition, I learned that it is important to recognize that while the internet gives misrepresented and underrepresented groups a place to express themselves, it also promotes racism and degradation and objectification of women by idolizing white men and by perpetuating negative race and gender stereotypes.

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Here’s a trailer for the film “Miss Representation” which outlines many of the themes we discussed this semester:

 

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2UZZV3xU6Q[/youtube]