Assignment 2: Cultural Snapshot

1. Uniball Pen Commercial

2. Frame from 'Jessica Jones' comic series

3. Still from 'Luther,' a BBC Crime Drama 

4. Or this article from Fortune magazine.

5. A hugely popular Drake music video.

6. Still from 'The Hateful Eight,' a critically well-received 2015 film

7. And even this initially deceptive article from NPR.

Discussion

I chose to examine how African American men are portrayed in hegemonic American culture. The messages sent by the media about what an African American man is / should be like are even more consistent and narrow than for American white men. The image of an African American man is one that is highly gender socialized-- typical ideals of masculinity abound and include a muscled figure, gruff demeanor, warlike / aggressive tendencies, uneducated or urban speech patterns, highly sexualized interest in women with large bottoms and breasts, and susceptibility to racist treatment to law enforcement (implying, depending on interpretation, history of contempt for the law making such racism justified).

Examine the artifacts above, which I believe represent America's 'single story' of African American men extremely well. The only activity not traditionally solely restricted to men which they participate in is music. The style of music associated with the group however, is notably associated with masculinity in our society: music with sexual themes, rap, etc. There is mostly one body type presented in the examples above, as well, not just with reference to their figure, but also the skin tone. There is a huge range of hues that is classified as African American, but when the media needs a stock black man to fill a diversity need, why is the jump automatically of one of the darker shades? Furthermore, only one of the figures above is presented as educated or intelligent. One is actually in prison, but several of the others seem to intimate or actual commit actions that would merit prison time. None of the above artifacts make it clear that plenty of the African American male population could actually be lighter-skinned, gentle, skinny, effeminate, notably law-abiding or supportive, or brilliantly intelligent.

The impact these kinds of messages will have on my students is clear. It will form both expectations of African American young men themselves as well as their peers.  Their peers might continue to supportive the invisible and visible structures of racism still built into our society by believing and expecting such children to become men like they believe to become the norm. Role-fulfillment in this way might not turn my African American male students into Frankenstein's monster, but it will limit their choices or cause them pain if they don't fill the role prescribed for them. And that's the hurt that I see most clearly caused by this story-- that those African American young men who I teach that might otherwise go on to be doctors and engineers and teachers and artists and dancers and chefs and stay-at-home dads won't be able to fulfill their dream or I-never-realized-it-was-my-dream, but will try so hard to fit themselves into the mold set for them that it will cause them stress, depression, and despondency / lack of fulfillment. These feelings can crop up very early in life (I know from personal experience), so I need to be prepared to help my students examine this representation of the media. It's important for teachers to do this, after all, because that is the only way such hegemony can be recognized and overcome! Awareness of cultural hegemony enables the fight against it.