Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Friday, October 1, 2010
Racialized Depictions in Popular Media
To support Nakamura's point that in relation to technology in film people of color are represented as "primitive and sexual if black, and machinic and inherently technological if Asian"I have two examples: one from a popular hit television series and another from a prominent film. Both of these examples relay that media depicts racialized representations of characters and incorporating technology does not change these images. I will examine the manner in which Glee and Avatar both support racialized images of characters in relation to technology.
The hit series Glee has recently started its second season after winning many awards during the past year. A good portion of these awards are diversity based and are congratulating Glee for portraying a diverse set of characters meant to be high school students in a glee club. However, while Glee does attempt to portray diversity amongst the characters it appears that this is done for the sole purpose of such awards and to make viewers feel as if they are progressive and inclusive. This can be seen in the way that only the white, straight students are prominent characters in the show. Glee typically uses non-white and the one gay male character as side stories running off those of the white students. During the premiere of the second season, Glee blatantly portrayed the stereotype of the "tech-savvy Asian student."Of course, this was merely a side story into one of the main white characters (Artie) life, but nonetheless Artie's once girlfriend Tina had dumped him after going to a camp as a counselor for Asian youth. This camp is depicted through Artie describing how "heartbroken" he is while relaying what has happened between him and Tina. In his depiction, his ex-girlfriend is in a room full of Asian children who are all using computers. Her and Mike (again, an Asian male) are flirting while Artie describes the situation as a "camp for tech-savvy Asians." He literally uses the phrase while discussing what has happened. This is from a show with diversity awards that hopes to make the white viewer feel inclusive and progressive for watching a series that includes people of color while the majority of the time these students are side stories who are blatantly stereotyped.
The other example that immediately came to my mind while reading Nakamura's quote was the movie Avatar. Like Glee, Avatar has received a tremendous amount of recognition and popularity. This film is thought to groundbreaking, and the graphics may be, but when it comes to racial interactions Avatar is overly simplistic. Avatar creates the story that embodies the white savior message as well as portraying native people as savage. Essentially the storyline follows military and scientists who have two separate agendas upon landing on the planet Pandora. The military wants to take over the land and force the Na'vi tribe to move out while the scientists are interested in learning about the Na'vi and Pandora. Both parties (military and scientists) use technology to accomplish these goals while the Na'vi people are thought to be too simplistic and barbaric to even compare. In the end it is the efforts of a white man who was once involved in the military operation which saves the Na'vi people on Pandora. Technology also plays a role in this characters actions to save Pandora because he uses an avatar to appear similar to members of the Na'vi and no longer considers himself a member of the military and a white man. This film is also meant to make the viewer feel progressive in the sense that most can tell that the actions of the military are wrong and inhumane. However, the idea of us vs. them and that only a white man with these skills in technology can ultimately save the land and people of Pandora only further depicts overly stereotyped and racialized images.
The hit series Glee has recently started its second season after winning many awards during the past year. A good portion of these awards are diversity based and are congratulating Glee for portraying a diverse set of characters meant to be high school students in a glee club. However, while Glee does attempt to portray diversity amongst the characters it appears that this is done for the sole purpose of such awards and to make viewers feel as if they are progressive and inclusive. This can be seen in the way that only the white, straight students are prominent characters in the show. Glee typically uses non-white and the one gay male character as side stories running off those of the white students. During the premiere of the second season, Glee blatantly portrayed the stereotype of the "tech-savvy Asian student."Of course, this was merely a side story into one of the main white characters (Artie) life, but nonetheless Artie's once girlfriend Tina had dumped him after going to a camp as a counselor for Asian youth. This camp is depicted through Artie describing how "heartbroken" he is while relaying what has happened between him and Tina. In his depiction, his ex-girlfriend is in a room full of Asian children who are all using computers. Her and Mike (again, an Asian male) are flirting while Artie describes the situation as a "camp for tech-savvy Asians." He literally uses the phrase while discussing what has happened. This is from a show with diversity awards that hopes to make the white viewer feel inclusive and progressive for watching a series that includes people of color while the majority of the time these students are side stories who are blatantly stereotyped.
The other example that immediately came to my mind while reading Nakamura's quote was the movie Avatar. Like Glee, Avatar has received a tremendous amount of recognition and popularity. This film is thought to groundbreaking, and the graphics may be, but when it comes to racial interactions Avatar is overly simplistic. Avatar creates the story that embodies the white savior message as well as portraying native people as savage. Essentially the storyline follows military and scientists who have two separate agendas upon landing on the planet Pandora. The military wants to take over the land and force the Na'vi tribe to move out while the scientists are interested in learning about the Na'vi and Pandora. Both parties (military and scientists) use technology to accomplish these goals while the Na'vi people are thought to be too simplistic and barbaric to even compare. In the end it is the efforts of a white man who was once involved in the military operation which saves the Na'vi people on Pandora. Technology also plays a role in this characters actions to save Pandora because he uses an avatar to appear similar to members of the Na'vi and no longer considers himself a member of the military and a white man. This film is also meant to make the viewer feel progressive in the sense that most can tell that the actions of the military are wrong and inhumane. However, the idea of us vs. them and that only a white man with these skills in technology can ultimately save the land and people of Pandora only further depicts overly stereotyped and racialized images.
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