#10 - Mad TV - "Gay Straight Guys"

This video can also be found ON YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yxdncxro-9s

The final piece of media that I’m choosing to post on comes to us from Mad TV. The skit I chose for this final blog is known as “Gay Straight Guys”. The premise of the skit is that these two big, manly men are sitting down watching a Tampa Bay Buccaneers game, talking about their girlfriends, however every time their favorite team does something favorable, they react in a very homosexual way. The first time the team scores a touchdown they stand up and begin making out. After the initial shock, one begins asking, “Are we gay now?” and the other explains that no, they’re not gay they’re just two dudes that made out and that it’s normal when guys get together. Soon their debate is interrupted by their team’s recovery of a fumble which prompts them to go at each other again. This time the two men are getting worried that they may REALLY be gay. The one begins rationalizing that they find the cheerleaders sexy and as they are watching them they begin dancing and grinding on each other. In realizing what is going on the one guy breaks away and defends that, “just ‘cause a couple guys kiss, and dance a little, and grope each other, and one of them whispers to the other ‘I know that you’re a man but I’m going to treat you like a lady.’ That doesn’t make them gay”. Then the man decides that it’s time to leave for his girlfriend’s house and as he’s leaving he and his buddy have a difficult time finding a comfortable way to say goodbye, which ends in a peck on the lips. The other man then covers his face with a pillow to hide his joy and kicks his feet like a giddy little school girl. I chose this piece among all others because I feel it touches on a lot of straight men’s feelings on homosexuality and also I wanted to find a piece of media that related to something that we’ve discussed more recently.

This piece relates not only to the discussion we had recently involving male’s fear of being gay (stemming from the A&F talks), but also to the Johnson chapter involving privilege. The way in which the men continue to deny the fact that their behavior is of a homosexual nature proves that they view being homosexual as a bad thing and are wired with lame excuses for why they cannot be gay. In class we discussed how men fear appearing gay because they may not be looked as much as a man; they fear appearing weak or even diseased (thanks to some right-wing protest groups). These men very clearly have some gay tendencies, but why is it that they deny it so vehemently? Johnson may have explained it in chapter 3 of his book. Johnson points out that homosexual men have many of their “male” privileges taken away the minute that they come out and are placed on the privilege ladder more closely to women. Again privilege plays a large part in determining how we wish to be viewed.

If we as white men often say that we are largely unaware of the existence of privilege and oppression, why are so afraid to be viewed as being gay? Why do we assume that we will be treated as a lesser or even just different? The fact is that someone who is openly gay IS looked down upon in many ways, especially by conservative religious activists. No one wants to lose their status in the world, especially if it’s to go down to a lower status. White, straight men (like the characters in the skit) hold a large amount of power in the world and admitting that they were gay would be like buying a first-class ticket to give it away. Even if you choose not to believe that privilege and oppression (and at this point I would at least hope that everyone in this class does), you must at least admit that it is easier for some people to get certain things in life. For example, it is easier for a white person to get good credit over a black person, or it’s easier for a male to seem like they are proficient when it comes to mechanics, than it is for a woman who is sometimes the victim of attempted cons. Don’t like to think about these privileges or how they keep people from getting equal opportunities to desired things? Do something about it and fix the world.

#9 - Coheed & Cambria - "The Amory Wars"

This acoustic version of the song was found on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dey-ns3TSKw

Lyrics to all Coheed and Cambria songs can be found at http://www.plyrics.com/c/coheedandcambria.html

More specifically the lyrics to "The Velorium Camper III: Al the Killer" can be found at http://www.plyrics.com/lyrics/coheedandcambria/theveloriumcamperiiialthekiller.html

The next media that I want to blog on is in large part a rock opera that spans over the course of five albums known collectively as “The Amory Wars”. Claudio Sanchez, the mastermind behind the alt-rock behemoth Coheed & Cambria, has written all of his songs based around the Kilgannon family. The story is very heavily based in sci-fi and fantasy and is very difficult to follow at times, but luckily Sanchez has released a series of comic books that follow the story thus far, which give pictures to all of the mental images that fans of Co & Ca (as the band is often written for short) have created. The story takes place on an Earth-like planet and begins with the father and mother, Coheed and Cambria (respectively). They quickly notice that they aren’t quite like everyone else and are convinced by a stranger that supposedly works for the government that they were once infected by a virus and that it has mutated within their offspring and that if they don’t dispose of them, the children will rise up and destroy humanity (We later find out that the stranger is actually an enemy, Mayo Deftinwolf). Horrified by the thought of his children being the downfall of the universe, Claudio convinces his wife of what must be done. They murder their three youngest children and their oldest comes home and catches them in the act. Claudio (the oldest son, ironically the sharing a name with the lead singer) runs from the house and goes into hiding. The Kilgannons then find out that they have been lied to and that their children were of no danger and were only killed to enrage Coheed who has a beast sleeping inside of him (similar to the Incredible Hulk). Luckily, Claudio has successfully escaped and the rest of the albums follow his story of finding out that he is destined to be the savior of the universe (“The Crowing”) and the adventure and battles that ensue. Specifically to represent this story, I chose the song “The Velorium Camper III: Al the Killer”, which tells of a man named Al that apparently loves to kill white women; a love that stems from an unrequited love from his past. Some of the lyrics include:
“When I kill her, I'll have her
Dance upon the graves of the dead, upon your name
Die white girls, die white girls
Dance upon the graves of the dead, upon the graves of the dead”
I chose this piece of media because I’ve not yet done a post on a piece of music, which is a passion of mine. Also I chose “The Amory Wars” story because it has an interesting coincidence within it.

The story of Claudio Kilgannon involves many characters, many aren’t human, but the ones that are, are predominantly white. In fact, there are only two black characters in the story. One is one of the worst villains of all time, going as far as to convince a man to kill his own children. And the other is “Al the Killer”, the man who delights in killing white girls. Although many characters are brutal in the story, even the way that these two are described physically relate to description found in the “Ethnic Notions” video that we watched. Not only was this idea of black males expressed in the video but also in the Zinn piece “Slavery Without Submission”. African slaves were feared because of their large builds and so-called “brutal nature”. This is one of the reasons slave owners used to argue that slavery was necessary, because the black citizens would be unable to coexist with whites in society. Both Al and Mayo Deftinwolf play up to the stereotype of strong, brutal, black males that will kill white people without conscious. It’s not likely that the writer of the story intended this, seeing how he is a minority, himself (Mexican to be exact). Again regardless of intentions, some could find this representation of black people offensive.

I personally love Claudio Sanchez’s story and even more the way that he has told the entire thing through song. I think that he is a musical genius that deserves far more credit than he has received thus far. The more I work on this project; I’m beginning to notice that you can find instances of racial injustice or misrepresentation in just about anything. And if it CAN’T be found, things can always be seen differently by someone who may find them. That’s been one of the more difficult parts of this class, stepping into the shoes of someone else, more than I ever have before, in order to try to see things from their perspective. I can now see where an African-American could be upset by Claudio’s representation of black people in his story. However, I believe that the complexity and intensity of the “Amory Wars” story overshadow any possible notion of racism, more than half of his characters aren’t even human so…

#8 - "Santa's Surprise"

This video can be found at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7492424601969524458&q=Santa%27s+Surprise&total=215&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

Next, I chose another cartoon that I thoroughly enjoyed throughout my childhood. The cartoon is entitled “Santa’s Surprise” and marks the first appearance of Little Audrey (who later got her own show). It was released on December 5, 1947 by Famous Studios and was directed by Seymour Kneitel. In the short, seven children from all edges of the planet who have been waiting patiently for Santa Claus to visit them sneak into his sleigh and catch a ride with him back to the North Pole. Once there, Santa falls into a very deep, well-deserved sleep and the kids pile out of the sleigh. The children feel bad that Santa brings so much joy to everyone across the world, but has no one in his life to make him happy (for some reason there is no Mrs. Claus). They quickly decide that the best thing that they could do for him would be to clean up his extremely messy house. After quietly entering, they go to work on cleaning up after St. Nick. Of course, being that it’s a cartoon for children there is a song involved and also some drama as the kids keep making loud noises that don’t seem to faze Santa a bit. In the end, they succeed in their mission and, as they leave, the slamming of the door awakes Kris Kringle. He looks around to see a decorated tree with a present for him beneath it. In the small wrapped package is a music box that displays a photo of each of the children as it plays; attached to the music box is a calendar that reminds Father Christmas to not forget them next year. I chose this cartoon for a few reasons. The first being, like I said, that it was one of my favorites as a kid, I owned it on VHS and watched it year-round. Also, the holiday season is quickly approaching and thought that this would be a festive blog. Finally, the short raises many racial stereotypes in the portrayal of the children, which makes it perfect for this assignment.

This media item relates most directly to the “Welcome to Cleveland” exhibit that we viewed and discussed. The children in “Santa’s Surprise” are very racialized, especially the Asian and African boys. The Asian boy appears with straight, black hair, cut similar to a bowl cut and his eyes are so slanted and squinted that they often appear closed. The African boy is represented by large pink lips, big white eyes, and short jet-black hair (not to mention, brown skin). Other characters conform to physical stereotypes too, but none to the extreme that these two do. The characteristics that are supposed to represent these races in “Santa’s Surprise” are (not surprisingly) almost exactly those depicted in “Welcome to Cleveland,” which speaks volumes to the ubiquity of these generalizations. Also, in addition to displaying physical ideals of race, the cartoon also shows a very obvious African-American stereotype, as the black boy is shown shining Santa’s boots. Although, he was not kneeling down to clean them while St. Nick was wearing them, the fact that the writers elected him to shine shoes, reinforces an idea that white children of the day probably were already exposed to in the real world. Although I can’t think of a piece that we’ve read that this relates to directly, it definitely falls into our range of interest and study.

I’m sure that the writers of this children’s cartoon did not purposefully design it to be racist, in fact it is more likely that they were trying to portray an image of diversity and interracial cooperation, however by representing each race with the ideal characteristics that they were used to, they produced images that could be considered racist. Something else I noticed when watching “Santa’s Surprise” this time was that the white girl, even though she WOULD later get her own show, was the only child given a name (“Little Audrey”). Again, I’m not so sure that the writers wanted it to seem that they didn’t value the other characters as much as they valued little Audrey but it could definitely be interpreted that way. I think this is a testament to how hard it is to correctly present diversity, if you don’t try to understand the other cultures first. Also, like we’ve said countless times since talking about “Chief Wahoo”, it’s not always your intentions that matter, it’s the way something is perceived by each individual.

#7 - Daniel Hoch - Seinfeld Stereotyping

If this video doesn't appear it can also be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JveDpll3eg&feature=related

I discovered the next piece that I’m choosing to blog on through my girlfriend who watched it in a Theatre & Film course. This video is of comedian Daniel Hoch and in this bit he is explaining the time that he almost guest-starred on an episode of Seinfeld, but was fired when he refused to play his offered role the way that the writers wanted it played. Daniel Hoch is a white, American writer, actor, director, and performance artist. Danny (as he is more commonly called) grew up in the city of New York and is very into the hip-hop culture. Hoch considers his comedy more as theatre, which provides adept monologues in the languages of the people he grew up observing. Although he plays characters of different origins in his acts, their lives are not represented solely by the accents he allows their personalities to define them more than that. In 1995 Danny was contacted by casting directors of the show Seinfeld and asked to come play a character called “the Pool Boy” (named “Ramone”), a guy that works at the fitness club Jerry goes to. The writers had seen his work on HBO and hoped that he would bring his personality to their show. Although he had never seen the show, Daniel knew that it was popular and knew that it would be a good way to get his name out. The only problem that he had with the script was that his character was written to be Hispanic, but Hoch wasn’t cool with playing “the Pool Boy” as the stereotypical Hispanic, pool boy. The writers assured him that they loved his work and that they were completely comfortable with him playing the character however he wanted, but as he sat through the first reading of the script, he became very uneasy as his part came up. He chose to play “the Pool Boy” as a high-strung, hip-hop, Brooklyn kid (much like himself). After the reading, Jerry, himself, and one of the other writers approached Danny and told him that his way was good but that the part would be funnier if he played it with a Spanish accent. Daniel went back to his hotel that night and the next day he found out that he had been replaced, and never got paid for the work he had done. I chose this piece because I wanted to find something that related to the Takaki Chapter 12 that we read recently. Also, although the bit was designed to be funny, it was also very serious and had a serious message.

As I stated, this Daniel Hoch bit relates very well to the Takaki chapter concerning the “Borderland of Chicano America.” Just as Mexicans that emigrated here during the expansion of the United States, Mexicans (and people of Hispanic origin in general) today are often stereotyped as manual laborers. When our country started, they were hired as farmhands, factory and mill workers, and railroad builders. However, even now in the 21st Century, Hispanics are pushed into labor jobs because they are sometimes thought to be better suited for it. As was stated in Zinn Chapter 9 (I believe), whites were thought to be better overseers, while other races were used to do the actual labor. It sometimes seems that that mentality still exists, in a sense, today. When Jerry Seinfeld and his team of writers wrote “the Pool Boy” as a Hispanic man, they were playing on the stereotype that that sort of job is suitable for Hispanic laborers and counted on people to make this connection and find humor in it. Being that the majority of Seinfeld viewers are white, they were likely to find the character funny, without being offensive or racist. Another interesting aspect of the “Ramone” character is that he is obsessed with Jerry and wishes to befriend him. Johnson (and even Takaki) would find it interesting that this Hispanic-American would be written to idolize and want to be like a white man.

I applaud Hoch for standing up against the behemoth that was Seinfeld and for sticking to his morals, even though it meant risking (and eventually losing) the money and exposure he could have gained from being on the show. Portraying racial stereotypes in the media is one thing (sometimes the media can be used in order to draw attention to the generalizations), but creating characters that are stereotypical without even addressing the fact that they are stereotypical only prolongs oppression. Television is one of those systems that, with individual participation (which Danny refused), create our society. Also, even though I have seen several episodes of Seinfeld and have found them to be funny, the ways in which Hoch describes his perspective on the “Ramone” character makes me wonder what other characters on television have been offensive to the peoples they represent. There is a very fine line between satirical social-commentary, and blatant stereotyping and racial-bashing. Sometimes the line is crossed in things that we find funny, but that line is different for every single person in this world, depending on their point-of-view.

#6 - "Jockos"

This picture can also be found at http://www.loudounhistory.org/graphics/history-photos/black-jockey-statue.jpg.

The next item that I chose to post on is not necessarily a media item, but more of a popular culture object that exists in certain parts of the country, and more importantly our state. I’ve chosen to write this piece on groomsmen statues (sometimes referred to as “Jockos”), which can still be found on the lawns of families across the south-eastern part of Ohio and down into West Virginia. Although someone may know what they are by name, almost everyone has at least seen the statues that I am referring to. They portray a small black boy (painted black as coal), dressed in slave clothing, carrying a hitching ring (nowadays people place a lantern in his hand). According to some, George Washington created the first groomsman hitching-post, rather that’s true or not they were designed for white men to tie their horses to. This portrayal of Africans as subservient, laborers was, of course, rampant at the time, considering that the slave trade was in its prime. As the years passed, the image of the groomsman changed. He donned a new jockey’s uniform which made his position as a hitching post seem more like a career than slave labor, as if that’s supposed to make its existence more acceptable. Regardless, the sale of these “Jockos” take place on a daily basis at flea markets and they are proudly displayed in gardens across the Mid-Ohio Valley and because I have been exposed to them to the extent that I have, I’ve chosen to write on them in order to make people aware that they still exist.

Of course, it’s obvious to describe how the “Jockos” are related to the Ethnic Notions video that we watched in class. “Jockos” represent a black servitude that has not existed for more than a century, yet their image still exists today in a world that boasts to be more understanding and open to diversity. Many of the “Jockos” also appear with big smiles on their faces, suggesting that they’re more than happy to be in slavery, the exact definition of the sambo character. On a deeper level, the groomsmen relate to Johnson’s descriptions of privilege and oppression. In Chapter 2, Johnson describes how it’s white privilege for white men and women to view the world as having no inequality. It’s not uncommon for the people who own these statues to rationalize their choice to display them by stating that they’re just “cute” lawn ornaments equal to lawn gnomes (trust me, I personally know people that own them). First, how can you seriously believe that they wouldn’t offend people? Of course, that’s just another privilege of “whiteness”. Johnson might say that minority groups are unlikely to rise up to challenge the majority and therefore, white people don’t often have to worry about the consequences of their offensiveness. Secondly, what group would want their ancestors to be compared to a woodland gnome? A symbol of the hardships and control of slavery used as a way to spice up lawns across America.

As I said earlier, I’ve been exposed to these “Jockos” since childhood and actually my grandfather has made them and sold them at flea markets, they’re quite popular. It makes me wonder, what within people makes them want these statues? I have a feeling that the true answer is much more volatile than what people will admit to. The types of people that do tend to desire these “Jockos” are mostly white working class Americans, which makes me think that it is possible that there may be a feeling of worth (mastery) in the ownership of a slave statue. Also, as I stated earlier there is very little diversity in my hometown (making the minority groups even more of a minority), which means there are very few people to express actual distain for the statues, there is very little resistance. “Jockos” have bothered me for a long time but I never really thought of them in terms of prolonging images of slavery before taking this course. When I think about the ignorance that people around my home have, I wonder if they (like me) would be affected by more knowledge about these sorts of things, but more often than not I believe that the answer would be NO.

#5 - Famliy Guy - "Breaking Out is Hard to Do"

Oh my god it's Jackie Chan

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This video was found at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8173174273564963206&q=It%27s+Jackie+Chan&total=210&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1

The next piece of media that I’ve chosen to write about comes from another episode of Family Guy (I told you that I liked it). However, not only do I find Family Guy absolutely hilarious, it’s also very interesting at times in the ways that it touches on very relevant social stigmas. If you are unfamiliar with the show in general you may want to read the first part of my fourth post. In addition to all of what I explained about the show there, I think it must also be said that in many ways Family Guy is completely random in its methods of making references. For example, in one instance that I can recall one episode in which Stewie (the family’s talking, genius bent on world domination, infant) is trying to impress a girl and at one point says “My God, I’m cooler than that cheetah from the commercials” and the next scene is of the Cheetos Cheetah getting high from snorting crushed up Cheetos. This reference may not be relevant to this class but it’s just an example. The piece that I did choose for my portfolio comes from an episode entitled “Breaking Out is Hard to Do”. In it, Lois (the mother) finds that she gets a rush from shoplifting and goes on a mass shoplifting spree, taking any and everything that she can (rather she wants it or not). After getting caught she is sentenced to jail, but eventually escapes by sticking her head in the mouth of her morbidly obese husband. In order to evade the cops, they run off to Asiatown where many Asian stereotypes come up, which is why I chose to do this episode even though I already wrote on Family Guy once. The stereotype that is presented in the clip that I found is the idea that all Asian/Asian-American people look the same (or in this case, like Jackie Chan). Once in Asiatown Peter runs around calling out, "Oh my God! You're Jackie Chan," to everyone he meets. Eventually he does run into Jackie Chan who ironically mistakes Peter and his son for Ethan Hawke, and his daughter for Frankie Muniz. Another very relevant stereotype that comes up in this episode though surfaces when the Griffins are watching CBS – Asia-town and the logo is the CBS logo turned at an angle and squinted a bit.

This piece of media relates well to the Wu article that we read in class. Although Family Guy doesn’t directly point out the fact that Asian-Americans are seen as individuals at some points, it certainly plays on the idea that all Asian’s can be, at times, lumped together under one identity. Even in their own satirical way, I feel that the writers of Family Guy effectively display the frustrations that Wu feels being associated, sometimes only, by such blatant stereotypes. You can tell by the reactions of the two men that Peter (the father) mistakes for Jackie Chan that they are almost jaded to his ignorance in their walking away, this makes me think that they are used to such associations or feel that nothing can be done about them. Wu expresses his real-world experience with this sort of lumped-indentity in the 4th paragraph of the piece we read. Wu says, “Sometimes I have an encounter that demonstrates how easily people can be transfixed by a racial stereotype… They tell me that I resemble the cellist Yo-Yo Ma or their five-year-old son’s friend in school.” It seems sometimes in our ignorance of different cultures that we assign any characteristics we associate with one individual (Jackie Chan) to all individuals vaguely resembling them.

Although I’ve been around this stereotype for as long as I can remember, I must admit that often find myself applying it to my life. It’s not that I believe that all people of Asian heritage are truly identical, but because I haven’t ever extensively been exposed to Asian-Americans, I sometimes find it hard to notice distinguishing characteristics right off the bat. Due to my ignorance (I have no problems owning up to it), in my eyes, the overwhelming similarities among many Asian-Americans, overshadow the differences that I know exist. I feel that I can relate to Peter in this ignorance; however I blame mine on a provincial upbringing which did not include much diversity, whereas Peter’s can only be chalked up to pure, unabashed blindness to anything that he doesn’t understand.