Racism as it is Portrayed in Film: Annotate Bibliography - Essay Example

Racism as it is Portrayed in Film: Annotate Bibliography Morton, Adam David. Unravelling Gramsci:Hegemony and Passive Revolution in the Global Political Economy. Ann Arbor, MI: Pluto Press, 2007. This book helps to break Gramsci’s Hegemony theory into understandable ideas as they relate to the uneven development of society and what that means to the individual. Some of the specific details the book offers includes a more straightforward and down-to-earth understanding of how Gramsci’s hegemony theory focuses on the ways in which structure is imposed on the cultural level and how this revises the Maxist viewpoint that focuses primarily on economics. As part of the discussion, Morton illustrates many of Gramsci’s concepts such as the idea of passive revolution, uneven development and political economy. Because it is all placed within a modern world context, this text will be helpful in applying Gramsci’s ideas to the research topic. Artz, Lee & Murphy, Bren Ortega. Cultural Hegemony in the United States. Foundations of Popular Culture 7. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2000. This book also discusses the basic ideas of Gramsci’s theory of hegemony but in a different context. Beginning with a basic introduction to what hegemony is and how it relates to other theories of social order. What will be particularly useful to this research, however, is the chapter on hegemony and race. Throughout this chapter, the authors continue to apply Gramsci’s hegemonic theory to the question of race particularly as it is displayed through mass communication such as television and film. Although the first chapter is somewhat difficult, the authors provide a 30 page analysis of Gramsci’s theory as it applies to the depiction of African Americans on television which will be very helpful in the present research as an example of how this can be done. At the same time, they offer numerous shorter sidebar analyses of other forms of film and communication media. Bollen, Wim. Technology and Alienation. Paris: 4S & EASST Conference, 2004. October 19, 2007 < http://www.csi.ensmp.fr/WebCSI/4S/search/search_P/search_P.php> This presentation explores the concept of alienation as it exists within modern times. After providing some background as to how the concept has been treated throughout history, the author explains how it is seen in the modern context, particularly as it is affected by technology. As a paper presented to a conference full of experts in the fields of science, technology and democracy, the authenticity of the author is significantly boosted. He also works through the whole paper to discuss what other scientists have found in researching major questions of alienation. When he talks about how technology has affected our experience of or lack of experience of alienation, he presents two ways of thinking – one that claims technology has increased our sense of alienation and one that says it has reduced it. This discussion will be helpful in formulating my thoughts regarding the role of alienation and technology in the presentation and understanding of racism. Holt, Thomas C. “The Political Uses of Alienation: WEB Du Bois on Politics, Race and Culture, 1903-1940.” American Quarterly. Vol. 42, N. 2, (June 1990), pp. 301-323. Although I understand how racism has led to alienation from a first-hand experience, it is a good idea to get the ideas of others on this issue and this article verifies my experience. The author uses the words of WEB Du Bois, a very respected and well-known early African American writer, to illustrate the experience of alienation that is caused by racism. By putting his experiences and observations into words, Du Bois provides me with a voice I didn’t realize I had and supports the feelings I have experienced. Holt explains these words and places them in a more modern context, using other sources to support his opinions and interpretations of Du Bois’ words. By understanding how alienation is felt from within, and having the words necessary to express it, it should be helpful to seeing where this feeling of alienation can also cause racism as people attempt to find a connection somewhere. “Self-hatred Leads to Skin Bleaching.” The Statesman. (June 6, 2007). October 20, 2007 This article in a Ghana newspaper illustrates the problem that skin color has presented to many people of color around the world and the reasons why they have turned to dangerous skin-bleaching techniques that lighten their skin at enormous risk to their health. The author, who is unidentified by the newspaper, reports on studies that consistently show people of color associating positive economic and personal success with lighter skin color. The author also talks about the dangers of skin lightening treatments, which begins to highlight how important these people consider lighter skin that they would take such risks, and then discusses how some Africans are fighting against this practice, encouraging their countrymen to claim their heritage rather than attempt to subvert it. This article further helps to illustrate the point that the way that minority groups are portrayed in the western culture tends to increase racism because it is mentioned in the article that this tendency to bleach the skin in Ghana didn’t begin to approach the levels it is done today until the country began gaining more western influences. DeFazio, Kimberly. “Crash and the Ethnic Within.” The Red Critique. Vol. 12. 2007. October 20, 2007 This article is a critical review of the Hollywood film Crash and the various viewpoints that have emerged regarding the issues the film addresses, particularly the way in which it addresses the questions of race and expectations. In introducing her topic, DeFazio illustrates how the people of the US in particular are incapable of accepting the concept of the other even as they cannot escape the knowledge that the ‘other’ is not just defined by the exterior elements of color or biology but is instead concepts of how we think and why we think the way we do. She uses current events and refers to scientific studies that support what she’s saying, which is that alienation from ourselves causes us to develop racism against others which is reflected and continued in the media that we watch. This article will help me with analyzing films for racial contexts as well as point me to new references to research. Wharry, Steve. “Canada’s Leading Medical Journal.” Health Officials Warn AgainstSARS Racism. (April 4, 2003). October 30, 2005 When the disease SARS first became widely known in Canada, the fact that it was a disease brought to the North American continent from Asia caused many individuals to start taking out their fears and retaliations on Asian peoples. This is the subject of this article, which urges Canadians to realize that any human being can be a carrier of the illness and skin color has absolutely no effect on whether someone has it or not. This illustrates the deep impact the media can have on a society’s perception of a group of people based on little more than a passing association with something they fear – whether that something is an illness or a different cultural outlook. CBC News Online. “Indepth: SARS.” (December 15, 2003). October 29, 2005 This article details the timeline of the progression of the SARS disease as it developed in Asia as a recognized illness and then was brought by human carrier back to Toronto where several more people contracted the illness and major precautions were taken to stop the spread of the disease, such as a mandatory quarantine of 10 days for all those individuals who may have been exposed to the virus. While people generally attributed the disease only to Asians because the first woman to bring SARS to Canada was Asian and had contracted the illness from Vietnam on a visit and the people she passed it along to were generally the Asian family members with whom she had the closest contact, this timeline illustrates that the connection was, at best, coincidental and illustrates how people not of Asian descent contracted the illness. Read More