Media 10 all focus questions

Thanks to all group members…….

Focus Questions for Celluloid Closet due 4/19:

 

 

Give examples of how homosexuality was represented by early Hollywood?

List some of the themes restricted in American film as a result of the Production Code?

Why were there protests against the movie “Cruising” (1981)?

Discuss the importance of the following quotation from the film: “All minority audiences watch movies with hope”.

1: Onscreen portrayals of homosexuality were very exaggerated in Hollywood and homosexuals were depicted as being “less than” (homosexual men) “monsters” (homosexual woman) and always different than the norm, in the few images that Hollywood showed of homosexuals in the early days of Hollywood. Many images had to be subliminal and not overt since the Hays Code existed as a set of rules to prohibit any show of homosexuality on film, so directors and actors had to use dialogue and lighting techniques to convey homosexuality. Audiences views on homosexuality were influenced by depictions they saw onscreen with homosexuals being depicted as comedic relief and lesser than the main protagonists, so a homosexual audience had reinforcement about being bad for society and monsters through the portrayal of homosexuals on screen in Hollywood films.

 

2: In the early Hollywood, gay and lesbian people were represented as a source of humor.

Shown subliminally because it was illegal, the homosexuality was something to laugh at. For example, the Sissy was the perfect representation of the desexualised man, who was occupying the space between the male and the female in the 30’s. In fact, full of stereotypes, this special character was depicted in a funny way. His appearance in the movies like “The Gay Divorcee” (1934), or “Behind The Screen” with Charlie Chaplin, was always considered as a joke, making people more manly or more womanly. This representation of gay and lesbian people ended very quickly after the Hays Code.

 

3: In the 1930s, a production code otherwise known as the Hays code was put into place to restricted certain film content from being viewable to the mainstream audience. With film being as popular as it was back then, the church felt that it was dangerous to expose people to content that could taint people’s minds. Blatant sex was banned completely from cinema at that time and the only way filmmakers could get around this was through implications. One such implication was showing a motion picture of a train racing through a tunnel. The neutrality of homosexuality was also banned from cinema as well. While at one point u had homosexuals performing as equals among straight actors and actresses, once the production code was put into place homosexuals were reduced to villains, and victims of murder.

 

Question 4:  In the movie “Cruising” depiction of homosexuals was that they were the victims of being abused or even killed. The movie was overall very brutal in how all the homosexual victims die, that idea alone that a killer who preys against homosexual is “glorified” amongst most of the audience. Starts to put the idea that killing,abusing,harassing homosexual is “okay”. When this idea starts to circulate,it becomes dangers for the homosexual community because of the obvious fear that something horrible might happen to the just for liking a certain gender. This is why the people in San Francisco did not want this movie to air, because of devious ideas it was trying to somewhat “promote”.

 

questions 5: Minorities who are not heterosexual were compressed by social norms. They were not allowed to express themselves and they could not protect their human rights. Even more, it was socially unacceptable to talk about homosexuality or bisexuality. They wanted their voice to be heard. Hollywood encrypted the movie with production code and people learned how to decrypt the information. For example, people could tell whether the characters were homosexual by looking at characters’ outfits. In Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, male dancers did not even look at Jane Russell. Gay people wanted to find others like them. They craved to fit in a group. Because most homosexual scenes in movies were indirect, gay people started to search for every detail which could be the production code for homosexuality. They hoped there were more homosexuality in movies. Gay audiences hoped gay people could get what they desired.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Focus Questions for Killing Us Softly/ Miss Representation due May 2nd

 

Group Discussion Questions

 

1. How does advertising shape American values, ethics, morals and responsibilities? Should it change? Be very specific and offer at least three examples.

 

Advertising reflects societal values we well as continuing to shape what societal values are, as well as reflecting ethics, morals, and responsibilities so it continues to perpetuate a cycle of preconceived notions like women only being used for their bodies and only having worth of youth and beauty, and indoctrinating another generation into believing as such. Women in advertising are used as docile, quiet, and sexualized props in ads showing blatant sexism and should change to reflect how multidimensional women are, instead of just props to look at in ads. Advertisements have HUGE impact on people’s attitudes and values. People may argue that they never watch TV or advertisements on the internet thanks to “a great technology” named AdBlock. However, every research goes against this statement. Advertisements boost business dramatically.  The benefits of advertisements clearly outweigh the cost. That is why advertisements have grown to an over $250 billion a year industry just in United States. In addition, the average American sees over 3,000 ads intentionally or accidently per day. According to Jean Kilbourne, people in United States waste two years of their lives just watching commercials. And, advertisements are everywhere, schools, buildings, billboards and bus stops (Jean Kilbourne, 2000). It is impossible for people to block these ads using “the great technology.” Some people claim that they never really “watch” these commercials. Ads have absolutely no effect on their brain. Nevertheless, according to Jean Kilbourne, the influences of advertisement are quick, cumulative and subconscious, which means that when people are surrounded by toxic advertisements, certain values are planted in their brains without their notice. Advertisements sell everything, values, manners, love, how we should look, what is conceived as beautiful. Most importantly, these toxic advertisements disguise themselves in normal themes. People may just accept these toxic ones as normal values.

 

2. Do advertisements influence young girls and their own perception of themselves? Be very specific and offer at least three examples.

 

The advertisements tell young girls how they should look, what is beauty. Companies produces commercials that surrounded people. Young women compare themselves with the perfect images that commercials provided. There pictures are processed by dedicated graphic designers.  No one can look like the model on magazine covers. Young women spent a lot of money on their “beauty” and they always fail. Supermodel Cindy Crawford once said I wish I looked like Cindy Crawford. When young women fail, they will feel bad about themselves and decrease their self-esteem. It is even more difficult for women of color to “achieve” this beauty because they may not have light skin and straight hair. Women are always been objectified. Advertisements use female models to sell cars, food, house, everything. Objectification is the first step before a group of people perform violence behaviors against another group of people. Mental illnesses among young women like depression and self harm have increased, as advertising has increased, as these unreal advertisements promote an unrealistic beauty standard and make young women have low self esteem, leading to depression, body dysmorphia, and self- harm.

 

3. How do advertisements portray women as opposed to how they portray men? Be very specific and offer at least three examples.

 

In advertisements, men are portrayed as strong, confident, and tough, whereas women are portrayed as vulnerable, small and submissive. The best way to illustrate the difference is to put a man in a traditionally feminine pose, Jean Kilbourne said. Girls should be sexy but innocent, experienced but virginal. However, no one cares about how many women one man has slept with. Men are never called “whores” for being sexually active. Both men and women are objectified by the popular culture. But there is no issue for men since they will never be raped, arrest or beaten by women. Men are told by the society to be not feminine which leads to the devaluation of feminine. Men devalue women and women devalue each other. In advertisements, women are always in bondage while men are always the one who perform the violence. Advertisements even tries to eroticize violence which help men get away with their crimes. Women are portrayed as childlike, with waifish bodies and docile, passive poses while men are posed in positions of power and the focus of a man’s advertisement is on what is being sold, as well as women’s bodies being on display like in typical Tom Ford ads, instead of the actual models themselves, which is in direct contrast to women’s ads which objectify women’s bodies to sell products.

 

Focus Questions for Tough Guise:

1. What does Jackson Katz observe about changes in the media representation of men’s bodies since the 1960’s?

 

Men’s bodies have become more sculpted, pumped up, and ripped. People can see the difference by comparing Superman and Batman in 50s to 60s with Superman Vs Batman. Even toy figures have changed melodramatically. Over the past fifty years, the size of GI Joe’s biceps increased from 12.2 inches in 1964 to 26.8 inches in 1998. At the same time, iconic tough guys arm themselves with pistols in 1940s, to the larger than life heavy metal killing machines we have today. This promotes violent masculinity due to the promoted male body being unrealistic for the majority of men, therefore promoting unrealistic body standards for men today.

 

2. How does the media’s portrayal of African-American men distort the actual experience of African-American males?

 

The media has an ever changing meaning towards any race that is, in the case of African American,s the caricature of a gangster, thief, and overall committer of crime being the label that has stuck for awhile. The ironic thing is that African American men label themselves this on purpose to express their dominance. For example, in 50 cent’s “Many Men” he states “I’ll put a hole on n*gga for fucking with me” and “Till I put a clip on your face this beef ain’t over.” Both quotes express his dominance by threatening lives and asserting domanance. And giving the negative connotation that it is risky to try and make friends with African Americans because one bad move and it can lead to “disrespect” thus “death.” These extreme ideals don’t even come close to what African Americans actually act like, regardless of how its stereotype in the media different backgrounds,experience, ideas,morals,etc.

 

3. What is the “Tough Guise”

 

The “tough guise” is the typical pose adapted by men to act “hard.” The stance reinforces the idea that men must assert dominance and act tough, unfeeling, and possibly violent when needed. The tough guise hides a man’s vulnerability and hopefully shields him from showing feelings and being deemed “gay” or womanly for showing his feelings. The tough guise can be used for all men, whether they are men of color or not, to assert dominance and put up a front to hide their feelings and appear superior to other men, and women. It promotes the idea that men have no feelings and must shield their emotions to become powerful, as they couldn’t become powerful if they showed intelligence or any range of emotion.

 

4. How does Katz analyze the basic horror film?

 

Katz analyzes the basic horror film depicting violence and being connected to the entertainment industry, which blames gun companies for violence, while video game companies use guns which are sponsored by the gun companies, so horror films are connected to violence, as well the promotion of guns and violence through video games and films. Violent masculinity is promoted through the combination of violence in films, video games, and promotion of firearms through the entertainment industry, and even the US Military which uses video games which are violent like Call of Duty for training. Horror films are called “propaganda” by Katz, and are part of the larger cycle of not taking responsibility for a high rate of violent crimes since Hollywood blames gun-makers (though Hollywood uses specific guns in its films) and gun- makers blame Hollywood (though they let Hollywoo use their guns for promotion), and this cycle continues which neither party is taking responsibility for its role in the furthering of violence.

 

Reel Injun Group Focus Questions

Please write your answers in complete sentences and in paragraph form when necessary with a cover page, due date, group member names, class, and title of the assignment.

Due Monday May 23, 2016 (beginning of class ONLY, one per group)

 

1. Before seeing Reel Injun, what was your image or idea of the American Indian? How did you develop that image?

 

2. How important is historical accuracy in films, television programs, and other media? Should filmmakers stick to the historical facts? What responsibility do they have to let audiences know if they have embellished the historical record?

 

3. Some groups are hardly visible at all in the media. One example is the elderly. Which is worse, being included as a stereotype (Use Native American as a reference point) or not being included at all? Explain your answer.

 

4. When John Wayne shoots a dead “Indian” that was dug up from a burial ground in the eyes to make sure he will not be going to the spirit world, what kind of message did Hollywood send? Be specific, the film clearly talks about this scene.

 

1. Before seeing Reel Ijun, I had no idea that there barely if any positive portrayals of NA’s in the history of American media. But after watching the movie I was astonished by how negatively NA’s were treated in the media. In the John Wayne movies for example, you’ll see him killing Indians and even after they’re dead he’ll shoot up their bodies until they’re completely unrecognizable. Bullchild Long Legs was another example. He was an extremely talented man with a charismatic personality.  But because he wasn’t a “full indian,” he was forced to commit suicide.
2. Historical accuracy shapes the entirety of what a culture perceives to be truth since the majority of people will not question what they are shown even if the intent of the film, TV show, or other media is just trying to entertain people, people will take it as fact and absolutely be shaped by the images and portrayals of people in a minority group that they see on TV. In today’s media culture, directors should let the audience know that what they have watched is embellished if it has been embellished, to help minimize the damage that misconceptions can cause.
3. It depends which perspective the minority class takes- some historians take the perspective that some exposure is better than no exposure at all, which is a common view, but when there are groups that are systematically and drastically misrepresented, it does not serve them well to have stereotyped perpetuated. Many groups have been hurt extremely by misrepresentations and if you asked certain members of the misrepresented group, some would vehemently disregard any disparaging media which they are depicted in, and other group members would argue that some exposure is better than no exposure, so it is a matter of perspective and depends on which person and group is being asked their view.
4. John Wayne is the typical action movie hero actor. Every one of his movies is tremendously violent, but people never thought of him as a villain. John Wayne played Ethan Edward in the movie The Searchers. In the film, Ethan just returned home from the Civil War. The day after he returns home, a Comanche raiding party murders his family members and took his two nieces as captives. Ethan searched for his nieces for years. He found that one is already dead and the other becomes one of Scar’s wives. Ethan is disguised. He decides to kill his only family rather than save her. At the end, Ethan changes his mind and brings his niece home. Ethan and his enemy Scar are extremely racist and violent. If Ethan was played by anyone else, no one would ever consider Ethan, such racist and violent character, as a hero. The Hollywood simply told people to be racist against each other, killing “enemies” cruelly is a just and heroic movement and they must defeat their “enemies”.