Discourse & Identity III (Discussion) - Revision history

Jeremy Butler: /* Beretta Smith-Shomade */ student responses

2020-12-07T22:05:49Z

Beretta Smith-Shomade: student responses

Jeremy Butler: /* Girlfriends */ correction

2020-12-03T19:03:08Z

Girlfriends: correction

Jeremy Butler: /* Beretta Smith-Shomade */

2020-12-02T23:15:33Z

Beretta Smith-Shomade

Jeremy Butler: added allusions

2020-12-02T23:14:51Z

added allusions

Jeremy Butler at 22:16, 2 December 2020

2020-12-02T22:16:31Z

Jeremy Butler: /* Beretta Smith-Shomade */

2020-12-02T22:13:30Z

Beretta Smith-Shomade

Jeremy Butler at 21:42, 2 December 2020

2020-12-02T21:42:56Z

Jeremy Butler: updated

2020-11-19T19:05:39Z

updated

Jeremy Butler: /* All groups */

2019-12-11T14:28:56Z

All groups

Jeremy Butler: Undo revision 3506 by Jeremy Butler (talk)

2019-12-05T20:06:59Z

Undo revision 3506 by Jeremy Butler (talk)

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 *'''Group 1:''' work and class. When Joan snoops in Marcus's apartment, she notes music by John Coltrane and Macy Gray and a novel by Walter Mosley. What do these allusions tell you about Marcus's social class? Also, elsewhere in the episode there are allusions to the Tuskegee syphilis experiment, Nelson Mandela, and Rainbow/PUSH. Each is a significant allusion within black culture. What/who are they?
 *'''Group 2:''' identity: language. How does the way they speak define black characters? What differences do you hear in the ''Girlfriends'' characters' speech?
 *'''Group 3:''' identity: skin shade. How does skin shade define black characters? Describe how this episode directly addresses this issue in the black community. Is there a moral to this story?
 *'''Group 4:''' identity: hair. How do hair styles define black characters? What hair-style differences do you see in the ''Girlfriends'' characters and what do they tell you about Toni, Maya, Joan, and Lynn?
 *'''All groups (if time permits):''' characterization (i.e., conventional roles and stereotypes). Does ''Girlfriends'' rely on African-American stereotypes? E.g., "mammy," "sapphire," "tragic mulatto," etc.
 ==Casts==

@@ Line 23: / Line 23: @@
 File:Girlfriends20001002qq00 01 36qq00007.jpg|alt=Screenshot from Girlfriends.|Lynn.
 File:Girlfriends20001002qq00 01 39qq00010.jpg|alt=Screenshot from Girlfriends.|Toni.
-File:Girlfriends20001002qq00 01 41qq00034.jpg|alt=Screenshot from Girlfriends.|Reggie.
+File:Girlfriends20001002qq00 01 41qq00034.jpg|alt=Screenshot from Girlfriends.|William.
 </gallery>

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 *'''Group 3:''' identity: skin shade. How does skin shade define black characters? Describe how this episode directly addresses this issue in the black community. Is there a moral to this story?
 *'''Group 4:''' identity: hair. How do hair styles define black characters? What hair-style differences do you see in the ''Girlfriends'' characters and what do they tell you about Toni, Maya, Joan, and Lynn?
-*'''All groups:''' characterization (i.e., conventional roles and stereotypes). Does ''Girlfriends'' rely on African-American stereotypes? E.g., "mammy," "sapphire," "tragic mulatto," etc.
+*'''All groups (if time permits):''' characterization (i.e., conventional roles and stereotypes). Does ''Girlfriends'' rely on African-American stereotypes? E.g., "mammy," "sapphire," "tragic mulatto," etc.
 ==Casts==

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 Beretta Smith-Shomade (pronounced "show-ma-day") examines "four intertwined elements in [1990s] television comedy that define and give meaning to Black women's representation there: work roles, characterization, class, and identity" (48). Each group should consider one key aspect of these elements and discuss how ''Girlfriends'' illustrate that aspect (or doesn't).
-*'''Group 1:''' work and class.
+*'''Group 1:''' work and class. When Joan snoops in Marcus's apartment, she notes music by John Coltrane and Macy Gray and a novel by Walter Mosley. What do these allusions tell you about Marcus's social class? Also, elsewhere in the episode there are allusions to the Tuskegee syphilis experiment, Nelson Mandela, and Rainbow/PUSH. Each is a significant allusion within black culture. What/who are they?
-*'''Group 2:''' identity: language. How does the use of language define black characters? What differences do you hear in the ''Girlfriends'' characters?
+*'''Group 2:''' identity: language. How does the way they speak define black characters? What differences do you hear in the ''Girlfriends'' characters' speech?
-*'''Group 3:''' identity: skin shade. How does skin shade define black characters? Describe how this episode directly addresses this issue in the black community.
+*'''Group 3:''' identity: skin shade. How does skin shade define black characters? Describe how this episode directly addresses this issue in the black community. Is there a moral to this story?
 *'''Group 4:''' identity: hair. How do hair styles define black characters? What hair-style differences do you see in the ''Girlfriends'' characters and what do they tell you about Toni, Maya, Joan, and Lynn?
 *'''All groups:''' characterization (i.e., conventional roles and stereotypes). Does ''Girlfriends'' rely on African-American stereotypes? E.g., "mammy," "sapphire," "tragic mulatto," etc.

@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 *Joan Clayton ([[Wikipedia:Tracee Ellis Ross|Tracee Ellis Ross]])
 *Lynn Searcy ([[Wikipedia:Persia White|Persia White]])
 ===''Fresh Off the Boat''===

@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 ==Casts==
 ===''Girlfriends''===
 *William Dent ([[Wikipedia:Reggie Hayes|Reggie Hayes]])
 *Toni Childs ([[Wikipedia:Jill Marie Jones|Jill Marie Jones]])

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 ==''Television'' on the study of race and ethnicity==
-*'''Group 4:''' Sociologists Michael Omi and Howard Winant reject the idea of racial '''essentialism''' and propose an approach based instead on a '''racial formation'''. Explain these concepts and compare them to the "gender identity" approach we discussed last week. Is there anything in the ''[[Wikipedia:Girlfriends|Girlfriends]]'' episode we watched that helps explain these concepts?
+*'''Group 1:''' Sociologists Michael Omi and Howard Winant reject the idea of racial '''essentialism''' and propose an approach based instead on a '''racial formation'''. Explain these concepts and compare them to the "gender identity" approach we discussed last week. Is there anything in the ''[[Wikipedia:Girlfriends|Girlfriends]]'' episode we watched that helps explain these concepts?
 *Herman Gray identifies three African-American discourses in TV.
-*#'''Groups 5 & 1:''' Explain what he means by the '''assimilationist''' category and why he puts ''Designing Women'' into it. Should the ''Girlfriends'' episode we watched be put in this category? Why or why not?
+*#'''Group 2:''' Explain what he means by the '''assimilationist''' category and why he puts ''Designing Women'' into it. Should the ''Girlfriends'' episode we watched be put in this category? Why or why not?
-*#'''Groups 6 & 2:'''  Explain what he means by the '''pluralist''' category and why he puts ''Girlfriends'' into it. Why or why not?
+*#'''Group 3:'''  Explain what he means by the '''pluralist''' category and why he puts ''Girlfriends'' into it. Why or why not?
-*#'''Group 3:'''  Explain what he means by the '''multiculturalist'''. Should the ''Girlfriends'' episode we watched be put in this category? Why or why not?
+*#'''Group 4:'''  Explain what he means by the '''multiculturalist'''. Should the ''Girlfriends'' episode we watched be put in this category? Why or why not?
 ==Beretta Smith-Shomade==
 Beretta Smith-Shomade (pronounced "show-ma-day") examines "four intertwined elements in [1990s] television comedy that define and give meaning to Black women's representation there: work roles, characterization, class, and identity" (48). Each group should consider one key aspect of these elements and discuss how ''Girlfriends'' illustrate that aspect (or doesn't).
-*'''Group 4:''' work and class
+*'''Group 1:''' work and class
-*'''Groups 5 & 1:''' identity: language
+*'''Group 2:''' identity: language
-*'''Groups 6 & 2:''' identity: skin shade
+*'''Group 3:''' identity: skin shade
-*'''Group 3:''' identity: hair
+*'''Group 4:''' identity: hair
 *'''All groups:''' characterization (i.e., conventional roles and stereotypes). Does ''Girlfriends'' rely on African-American stereotypes? E.g., "mammy," "sapphire," "tragic mulatto," etc.
@@ Line 50: / Line 50: @@
 *#Third-wave feminism
 *Which of these approaches did you find the most useful way to analyze identity? Why? Which was the least useful? Why?
 == Bibliography ==
@@ Line 69: / Line 60: @@
 *"Infanity: Girlfriends," tour of the ''Girlfriends'' set by Persia White, [https://tvcrit.org/EO/DV/White_Persia_Girlfriends.php local copy]
 [[Category:JCM311]]
 [[Category:JCM311 Discussion]]

@@ Line 53: / Line 53: @@
 **All responses received by 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, 12/10, will earn one extra credit point ''on the exam''.
 **The two most thoughtful responses will earn two extra credit points ''on the exam'' and will be posted here.
-**#
+**#Anna Rahkonen:
-**#
+**#*Of the lenses we used to analyze identity, I find that stereotyping is the most useful. This is because stereotyping has constituted a large amount, if not the majority, of representations of gender and race on screen. Because of this, we can use the analysis of gender and race through the history of stereotypes as a means of examining and contextualizing the entire history of television. In the practice of understanding why stereotypes exist and how they make up what we see on screen, we can deconstruct both the visual and historical elements of television as a medium which is crucial for understanding representations of indentities on screen.
 == Bibliography ==