In today’s lecture, we continued our discussion of the portrayal of African Americans in the media and the history behind certain stereotypes that get perpetuated. A lot of interesting points were made and one in particular that stuck in my mind was statement that” the Dave Chappelle Show had been the modern day minstrel show”. I instantly thought she was right, without the blackface. Although I was one who rather enjoyed the Chappelle Show, I now realize the significance behind her statement. I then questioned myself. Was it wrong of me to enjoy Dave Chappelle poking fun at our races expense? Being laughed with and being laughing at are opposites on the spectrums of comedy and which was I doing. Some interesting points in the Powell (2006) article about the movie, Bamboozled, we had watched in the previous class was made as well. The article comments on modes of representation of the minstrel shows. It states,” The mode of representation of the nineteenth-century minstrel show typifies a principle characteristic…that persists in the increasingly liberalized regimes of later representation of a speculative self through the mask of the alien”(p. 183). This particular quote made me examine the reality shows that I enjoy and how the stereotypes of African Americans that were portrayed in history still are perpetuated in today’s society.
We were pleased to have a guest speaker that focuses on African American women and body image. Ms. Terra Moody, a PhD student, came to share her vast knowledge of body image and help us to question our own ideologies about what we thought beauty was. Webster’s dictionary gives various definitions for beauty but for this blog, I’ll only list two. Beauty: 1. the quality of an object of sense or thought that arises admiration, approval, or pleasure. 2. A particular trait, grace, or charm that pleases. With all the bombardment of images coming from the media, how do one choose for themselves what beauty is. Ms. Moody discussed the concept of “whiteness”. The book, Channeling Blackness, states that whiteness has become the unspoken proxy for goodness. But if white is good, what does that make black? After reading that I asked myself, just because you see the same images valued as beautiful, does it make it truth? Although the faces of beauty have changed in color, many of the traditional traits are still very apparent. Ms. Moody’s lecture was quite an eye-opening experience. She helped me to ask myself, as an African American woman, how do I determine beauty? What were my influences for my standards for beauty and how much of that influence played apart in how I chose to portray myself to the world?
This lecture raised a lot of questions about how African American women perceived beauty. Does a relaxer and extensions means that you are trying to assimilate yourself with the white culture? Does it mean that a Caucasian is acting black if she had cornrows? I challenge you to ask yourself the hard questions of what your standard of beauty is and why is it so? Who influenced your standards of beauty and does those values still hold true today? And finally, I challenge you to look around at others and ask yourself if those traits were on another race, would you still consider them attractive?
By Arnesha Davis
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IT's Tyra J.
ReplyDeleteI personally do not feel that when people relax and add extensions to their hair is them trying to capture white culture. I think it is a personal choice for them to want to simply look good. At our age(18 and up) people SHOULD know what makes them look good. If another person looks at someone with straight hair and tracks and say "she wanna be white" is simply crazy and probably over analyzes a lot of things. As far as influences, Terra told us to think of two circles... family and media... and which one Controls our influence. I took time to think of both and I've come to the conclusion that for me, they both have a major influence. For example, I love Rihanna's style... she's edgy, cute, and has outrageous style! I like to look at her to see what my next outfit can be! Yet my parents, my brothers, and my close friends will tell me when something is too short or not cute... so I'll go back and make adjustments to it. At the end of the day, there are numerous styles and different races.... people are going to be negative and say crazy things... I feel it is up to each individual to not take to heart what people have to say about you, if it’s negative, make it positive!!! but dont be disrespected... educate that person who has the urge show ignorance through their comments.. ;-)
Antonio wants to say that I dont think that changing your hair or style classifies you as trying to be another race. I feel as though anything you do to make yourself feel better about yourself is fine. I dont think you are trying to resemble any other race. My definition of beauty is confidence, I dont think long hair or your body size classifies being beautiful. I don't feel like media affects any of that. But with that being said, I dont think that certain qualities on a black woman would look good on a white woman. That may be contradicting statements but that way I feel.
ReplyDeleteGrayson!! I think that the most important thing to remember when it comes to beauty is that the person finds happiness. We want to know the truth of what it means to be beautiful but with the diversity of humans how can there be one truth. People need to get away from closed minded ways and find ways to be happy with themselves for who they are. Now this is unrealistic in the brain washed society we live in. The truth of the reality is if you just look for happiness black and whiteness does not matter. As humans we should just look to find our happiness, not listening to what everyone is telling us, that's the truth.
ReplyDeleteOk ladies lets get real. Why are we letting the media (and men) tell us what is and isn't beautiful. We are not clones of one person but instead unique individuals that all bring something different, but good, to the table. Just because my hair is straight and blonde (i wish it was curly and red like it was when i was little) does that give me any more of a right to an education, job, housing, etc. over someone else?? NO!! I am a firm believer that one must work for hard in life and not be ok with someone handing them everything on a silver platter. I know thats how I live my life. Furthermore, I think that everyone has their own style and no one should be the judge of whether it looks good or not. You are the only one who knows what really looks good on you and what makes you comfortable. Confidence equals sexyness, and you can create your own confidence!!
ReplyDeleteI think everyone has a right to make their own decisions of how they want to look. I think wearing hair extensions that does not mean you're acting white, just as a white person wearing cornrows, I don't think they are trying to act black. If they look in the mirror and think they look good, then more power to them, but if I think they look bad no matter what color they are, then that's my opinion. Even if a black woman were to wear her hair in dreads, and she wanted to get a job in a corporate office, then it's ok, as long as they are maintained and looks nice. That goes for anyone of any other race, with any kind of hairstyle. No one should feel like the media is putting pressure on them to look a certain way or is creating a standard image of beauty. Just be you, and make your own decisions of what your standard of beauty should be.
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