Asian Americans in Hollywood

The article about the portrayal of Asian Americans in Hollywood opened my eyes because I never really thought about it before. I feel that that is a part of Asian culture that Americans find most exciting. In America, Asians are stereotyped as being smart, hard working but apart from everyone else socially. Most have assimilated so I guess martial arts is a way to identify them as being Asian??? Did that make any sense...

Bamboozled

Spike Lee's "Bamboozled" is one of my favorite movies of all time. So, I was really excited when we watched it in class. I was discussing the film with some of my friends (who happen to be white) last week and most of them felt that the movie was over dramatic and unrealistic. However, I see the same things going on in everyday life. It may be a little more subtle, but it still exists and a lot of black people support the way they are negatively portrayed by buying the media that exploits them.

Dove/Axe

I absolutely love the new Dove ad. I feel it was well-made the message is powerful . However, I don't believe these socially responsible ads would continue if it wasn't what women wanted to hear or the sales dropped significantly. Societies standard of beauty, plastic surgery, botox and being thin are all hot topics right now. Attacking these things and not using thin, half naked women sets them apart from the competition and that angle has worked, so far, for Dove. Axe is also owned by Unilever and the "Bom Chicka Wah Wah" video (very stupid) on the Axe website was the exact opposite because it is reaching out to a male audience. It's all about what sells and men want to believe that they can get attractive, young, thin and sexually available women if they wear Axe (regardless of their own appearance). Whatever.

Enough is Enough

I am glad that there are black people, other than myself, that are outraged by the negative images and language in rap videos. For a long time I defended hip hop because I come from an affluent black family, I understood it was not reality, I separated my self from the "other" black people and didn't take the words seriously. The Don Imus comments were a big deal because I feel it made members of the black community look around and say "this is a problem and we need to do something about it". I realized that even though there are different values, levels of education, political beliefs and levels of income among black people in the US, we are all lumped into one group. To everyone else we are all the same. That bothers me so I gave it up (unless it was positive and free of the N-word). I don't agree with censorship but something needs to be done. Rap holds a lot of power. I just wish it would be used to uplift minority groups instead of tearing them down. I don't believe rap/hip hop alone causes sexual behavior among teens because it didn't for me. I feel parenting, environment, morals, social influence and other issues factor into the ultimate decision to be sexually active. But, I think it would be foolish of me to say it doesn't contribute.

News Habits

I usually get my news first thing in the morning on the radio while I'm driving to school. I read the school paper in between classes. I watch local news when I get home and, occasionally, I catch CNN, MSNBC or 60 minutes with my parents . I try to watch different stations to hear different views. I also check out the stories on yahoo for political news of celebrity gossip. I spend a great deal of my time reading, watching or listening to news because I like being informed. I think the news rarely shows any positive views of black people. We are often viewed as criminals. The Dallas Morning News just recently created a column aimed at the black upper middle class and elite ( a column my family and our friends can relate to). I was offended by the coverage of hurricane Katrina because black US citizens were called "refugees" even after some called to complain. I am really looking forward to this class.