Rough Draft Paper #5

Sigmund Freud, a renowned sociologist, probed the question of desire. He spent his life pondering and testing this question of human desire. The prime-time television show Ugly Betty flirts with the desires for fashion and food. Superficially, these two items are historically opposed because fashion likes tall thin bodies. Seeing these images on television makes young girls aspire to deny their bodies for fashion. At work Betty consumes an endless supply of vanilla frosted donuts while everyone around her consumes fashion. Betty indulges in a pleasurable feast while her co-workers prostate themselves on the painful dogma of fashion. Initially, Betty thought that fashion equaled pain and eating represented pleasure. As a young Latina, Betty views herself positively although her peers see her as unattractive. Conversely, Betty might see her peers as unhealthy. Betty does not need to spend 5,000 on a purse because she has donuts. Ugly Betty is an empowering for Latinas because it fulfills their desire for representation floating in a sea of empty fashionistas. The show intrinsically sets up American beauty ideals in conversation with typical Latina body types in almost every episode. Psychology scholar, Deborah Schooler works to answer the question of what images do to Latina body images. Schooler put a heavy emphasis on young Latinas ranging from eleven to seventeen years old. This is believed by psychology domain to be a time when females are most susceptible to images because they are developing their identity. Remarkably, Schooler found that Latinas responded positively to black-oriented television but reported lower self esteem after viewing mainstream television. Ugly Betty is especially a guilty pleasure for Latina women because it transmits an uplifting counter cultural message to them. The findings of Deborah Schooler help support the argument that Betty’s consumer body helps curvy girls feel attractive and self nurturing but leaves minority men as malnourished one dimensional characters.

The best prime-time television shows often reflect the racial attitudes of society. Top rated shows on ABC must be particularly entertaining because the network has one of the highest cancellation rates for programs on network television. Even the shows lowest ratings night was pretty successful compared to most other networks. On March 5, 2009, Ugly Betty pulled in 6.3 million viewers. This number ranked as a 35% drop from the season premiere. However, Ugly Betty will return to finish its current season on April 24, 2009. There are 19 episodes available for season three of Ugly Betty. Betty nourishes herself with food while her co-workers fulfill themselves with fashion. The episodes that best convey this argument are “Bad Amanda” and “A Mother of a Problem”. Due to the nature of the show most of the minority characters are Latinos. The Latina and female culture of the main character is a large part of the series. The show is progressive as a whole but it misrepresents other minority groups that are not Latina. The black male characters and white European characters are presented as one-dimensional. The summation of the plots, characters, and visual presentations make the series compelling and fresh to white and minority audiences.

In episode eighteen Wilhelmina Slater and Betty Suarez face their own crisises with the items that they consume. Wilhelmina cries out saying, “Why God why…these things are who I am, each fur tells a story, each piece of jewelry is a piece of me”

The primetime show Ugly Betty makes compelling statements about race and race relations. The show first aired on ABC on September 28, 2006. The nature of the show is a comedic drama. On any given night the audience is primed to follow Betty Suarez as she navigates the twists and turns of life in New York City as well as home in Queens County. Betty works for a fashion magazine but she is not exactly what anyone would consider fashionable. She is short, overweight, and wears braces and glasses at the same time. The show is based off a Colombian soap opera or telenovella called Yo Soy Betty La Fea created by Fernando Gaitan. The show was adopted for an American audience by Silvio Horta and co-produced by Salma Hayek to portray a first generation Latina American. One major change that they made was making the family first-generation Mexican American. The show is a highly rated show among whites and Latinos. The series is currently in its third season.

The Ugly Betty series has many consequences that are good and bad. A positive consequence of the show is that it uses comedy to change people’s perceptions. The show follows its gay, transgender and Latino characters through their personal lives and reminds the audience to accept them as real people. The light-hearted appeal of the show makes it all the more attractive to the viewer when the characters encounter problems. Consequently, the show helps foster conversations and understanding around minority issues. A negative consequence of the show is that it may broadcast the world through rose-colored glasses. Specifically, the show makes a hardy attempt at pleasing minority characters white elites and white racial conservatives. The consequences of the show are mostly good but it has some bad effects as well.
A major flaw of the show is that it doesn’t feature black male characters. The only black male characters on the show are portrayed as sex objects. This is problematic because viewers at home may get the wrong impression. Some viewers might actually start to believe that black men don’t have interesting backgrounds or intelligent characters to share with the world. Another problem with the show is that it doesn’t have any characters that are actually Mexican American. All of the actors are Colombian, Peruvian, Spanish or from other Latin American countries. My response to this is that it is offensive because it lumps all Latino people into one solitary group of people. This is problematic because it doesn’t honestly represent the Mexican American people.

The rebel message that Ugly Betty gives women of color makes their lives better. These women finally see themselves represented on television as desirable main characters. Inner beauty and unapologetic curves are the stars of the show.

Ugly Betty helps Latina women to better understand the central issue of consumption. It accomplishes this task by weaving the stories of fashionable women with Betty. The nourishment that fashionistas receive is superficial while Betty is content with not being satisfied.

Rough Draft of Paper #4

Life for blacks in the South was a conflict between satisfying the demands of whites and fulfilling their hopes for better lives. Ann Moody shares her account of life for southern blacks in Coming of Age In Mississippi. Moody’s novel is a staggering representation of how the Civil Rights movement impacted black life in the South through the eyes of a young woman. Civil Rights activists were constantly beaten and defeated by violent whites, in order to win the war on segregation. Violence, whether verbal or physical, is a unifying theme throughout the novel. Moody uses dialogue to convey the impending danger facing Civil Rights activists when they challenged white authority. Moody shows how the violence done against other activists and herself shaped her view of whites and life in the South. Moody uses imagery, story, and characters to make her claims about the Civil Rights Movement. Moody and those like her were soldiers in a violent internal war against American bigotry.

Moody uses dialogue to convey the theme of violence. When Moody and another girl named Rose try to do a sit in by themselves they are confronted with harsh epithets. Moody says “the crowd was going to get violent any minute now…some were threatening to kick us out-or throw us all the way to Tougaloo” (Moody, 281-282). At first glance it appears that the crowd is winning because they forced the girls out of the diner. However, the attention that these conflicts brought only made the Civil Rights Movement stronger. For instance, when a black minister saw the girls being pushed out of the diner he rescued them. The minister instructed the girls “not to ever try and sit-in again without first planning it with an organization…you girls just can’t go around doing things on your own” (Moody, 282). This quote shows that sit-ins were a militant operation that required training and the backing of organizations. Sit-ins required discipline and strength, which Moody did not possess alone. Doing sit-in was a way to make people choose sides. Spectators had to choose to rise up and become soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement.

Moody also uses dramatic story telling in order to demonstrate the violence black activists encountered. Moody recounts her experience in a planned sit-in with the NAACP. She says “a man rushed forward threw Memphis from his seat, and slapped my face...I saw Memphis lying near the lunch counter with blood running out of the corners of his mouth...the man who’d thrown him down kept kicking him against the head” (Moody 290-291). This vivid imagery makes the violence that activists faced tangible. Violence from whites shows that the Civil Rights movement was controversial in for time.

Paper #3 Rough Draft

The years 1930 to 1940 were a time of great unity but also a time of dire crisis. America was suffering the adverse effects of the great depression brought on by an economic turn down. Simultaneously, American citizens felt threatened when they looked at the political structure of Communist, Fascist, and Socialist countries all around the world. These radical political structures seemed to be spreading like an infectious disease. On the surface Communist Russia appeared to offer more economic opportunities, more racial equality, and more unity among their citizens. This realization threatened Americans and motivated them to seek out a miracle resolution to the depression and communism. Most Americans maintained the idea that hard work in a democratic America would lead to economic success for all. On September 23, 1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt gave a moving speech known as the “Commonwealth Club Address” about how America could get out of the depression. Roosevelt says “the right of free thinking, freedom of farming and expressing opinions, and freedom of personal living, [was entitled to] each man according to his own rights.” Blacks desired the freedom that Roosevelt spoke of in his speech so they participated in the great migration. Warren Susman proposes that a singular national “culture” existed in America during the 1930’s period. Susman supports the conception that blacks were just as much a part of American culture as any other Americans. Blacks were willing to do whatever it took to obtain the economic freedom Roosevelt promised all Americans were entitled to. The New Deal affected all people in America regardless of nationality, gender, age, or race. Various visual cultural materials were used to support the political viewpoint of Franklin D. Roosevelt. These visual images were photographs and murals depicting African American men as productive, rural or urban, and included in American society. The life and murals of Jacob Lawrence chronicled how African Americans had more job opportunities, freedom from Jim Crow Laws, and hope for full citizenship in the future because of the New Deal.

Jacob Lawrence made his Migration series in 1941 looking back at the changes brought on by the New Deal policies and other events. Two mural paintings by Jacob Lawrence are particularly good at persuading Americans that Roosevelt’s new deal was a success. Out of a sixty mural series, mural number seventeen captures the devastating oppression black tenant farmers suffered under white landowners. The mural features two black men and one white man. The rural black men are hunched over carrying heavy satchels of raw goods to be hanged on giant hooks. The black men are dressed in suspenders and straw hats. Simultaneously, the white landowner intently writes the labor down on his checklist ignoring the pained faces of the black men. The white man is dressed in white pants, a grey blazer and hat. Lawrence sees this Black American way of life as another form of slavery. Roosevelt thought that all American farmers should be able to enjoy economic freedom. Lawrence shows that blacks have little to no economic freedom in the sharecropping relationship. The New Deal sought to fix many of the problems that Lawrence points out in his artwork by creating economic opportunities for blacks in the industrial field that primarily existed in the North.

There is a fundamental difference between mural forty-five and mural seventeen. There are no white people in mural forty-five to supervise the work or life of the blacks in the painting. Instead the mural depicts a black family complete with men, women, and children. All the black figures appear to be dressed in well made garments. Two of the figures are smiling at two black women as they look out at the smoke stacks being produced by industrial buildings. This conveys a sense of pride because one of they may work in the industry or know someone who works there. In the caption below the painting Lawrence writes that “I think people…have escaped certain kinds of desperations, and they have arrived [at] a goal where they hope to prosper, relatively speaking, not to become rich but just to prosper, and become part of the work force and to realize the American Dream.” (Lawrence, Migration Series, 12) This quote epitomizes the support Lawrence has for black economic equality. Unfortunately, blacks had flee the farms to go North and achieve this American way of life. Roosevelt spoke of the quest that all Americans are on in search of better things. The New Deal played a significant role in creating jobs for all Americans so that Blacks could have inclusion in the American ecomonic struction. Warren Susman argues that this kind of inclusion could not have been possible without Americans sharing in a unified culture during the years 1930 to 1940.

The programs that Roosevelt implemented with the New Deal in 1933 made it possible for artists such as Jacob Lawrence and ordinary black citizens to gain jobs that were previously unavailable. The miraculous program was designed to rebuild the American economy through new stronger federal programs like the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and Office of War Information (OWI). Susman makes an insightful claim that “the New Deal, of course, in [the work] area offered considerable competition [to communism] with its own projects in arts, in the theater, and in the Federal Writer’s Project.” (Susman 173) Yet, the Deal had a remarkably unique relationship with African Americans. Before the New Deal Americans were beginning to become insecure about the reliability of an economic democracy. Roosevelt changed the economic landscape of opportunities for black people.

Paper 2 draft

The role of women in American society was in constant flux from 1890 to 1925. As Kathy Peiss observed, the ideal ‘new woman’ was beautiful and fun loving. These ‘new women’ were permitted to work but their primary roles were as wives and mothers. However, some women wanted more freedom and equality prompting them to seek out other representations. During this period the women’s suffrage movement resumed along with civil rights and reconstruction. Often times white American women and black men were seen as the spokespeople for these causes. African American men represented the typical black rights activist because they were the most visible in American society. White American women of middle and upper class were thought to embody the struggle of women’s suffrage. Immigrant women and black women may have been just as committed to social progress but they were often pushed aside to make room for more identifiable representations. Black men represented their causes because of their gender while white women gained appreciation because of their national identity. Not unlike white women, black women were also grappling with ideals of domesticity and newer ideals of independent womanhood. Both black women and immigrant women were more disenfranchised than black men or white American women. Anzia Yezierska wrote Bread Givers to chronicle one immigrant woman’s struggle for equality in New York. Similarly, “The New Negro” by Alain Locke implicates the role of African American women in society. Immigrant and black women were disrespected and marginalized by American culture. In spite of their demeaning significations, some black and immigrant women fought for equality by adopting the ‘new woman’ ideal to include themselves. In the early 20th century Black and immigrant women defied traditional ideals by educating themselves, wearing make up, and by proclaiming their rights to equality.

Black women had an especially difficult time assimilating into the ‘new woman’ ideal because of previous stereotypes. The cultural atmosphere for women is discussed by Kathy Peiss in “Making Faces: The Cosmetics Industry and Cultural Construction of Gender, 1890-1930.” Peiss’s document discusses how the advent and growing popularity of cosmetics led to the unequal standing between women. In particular, Black women were grappling with the dominant white beauty standard; nothing was too white, too lavish, or too much fun for the new woman. The flourishing advertisement industry shows how black women were supposed to attain higher status in America. For instance Peiss says that whites “featured light-skinned, refined looking, women” in their ads geared towards all black women. This choice not only created one standard of black beauty but also taught black women to reject their black heritage. The distinction between light and dark skinned black women represented the difference between the sophisticated and the mammy. Peiss supports this claim when she writes “stylishness and adornment were ideals cultivated by postbellum African Americans, signifying freedom and respectability. Although the issue of personal grooming for Black women centered more around hair care [and] some use of cosmetics.” Black women used skin-bleaching kits to essentially bread out their un-American or African features. This supports the claim that African American women made their presence known in the U.S. by utilizing feminine products more than in the past. The newfound products women used were ways for them to reinforce the roles they established for the new woman.

Black women exemplified the new woman by educating themselves. “The New Negro” by Alain Locke implies that black women shared in the Harlem renaissance with black men.

Not unlike Black women, immigrant women sought to improve their status in America through education, make-up, and assertive behavior.

Black and Immigrant women were all but invisible to the rest of America.

Tentative Argument and 2 Sub-Arguments

tentative argument:  The elite news coverage dominated my local media because it was more detailed.

sub-arguments:

1. My local media and the elite media had different ways of expressing myth making, in particular tautology.
2. Local media had to use different resources and sources than the elite media.

3-page description

1. Elite Media

 

New York Times

 

This newspaper posed several questions in relation to the inauguration and Barack Hussein Obama.  The NY Times conveyed their opinion of Obama with well-planned articles.  One article called “Obama Celebrates Holiday with Service” praised Obama for his work in a homeless teen shelter on Martin Luther King Day.  This article can be found at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/us/politics/20obama.html?hp.  One of the most interesting is the speculation over what John F. Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln would have thought of Barack Obama as a person.  Also what would they have thought about his becoming president?  The New York Times tries to answer this question with the article entitled “A Pragmatic Precedent” published on 1/19/09.  The link to the article is http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/19/opinion/19gates.html?_r=1&dpc

Out of all the articles I read from the New York Times over the inaugural weekend this one spoke to me the most because of its need to perpetuate a myth that Obama is a continuation of Kennedy and Lincoln.

 

Washington Post

            The Washington Post has a complimentary article to the New York Times.  It is entitled “Obama Commemorates MLK Day with Service” and the link is http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2009/01/19/AR2009011901189.html.  The article gives more in depth information about Obama’s day and focuses on his meeting with war veterans as well as his volunteer work with a DC teen shelter.  Fortunately, both the NY Times and Washington Post have Politics areas on their websites. 

 

NPR

            This website is eclectic.  It features poetry, traffic maps, and classroom profiles and manages to tie the stories into the inauguration and Obama.  On the Politics page one article compares Barack Obama to Frederick Douglas Roosevelt.  The article is called “Taking Lessons From FDR’s First 100 Days” at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99464140.  The website mentions security in DC but admits that DC is going to be more like one giant block party for the inauguration.

 

 

PBS

            PBS immediately compares Barack Obama to Martin Luther King and talks about “their dream”.  PBS doesn’t have a Politics tab but it seems to be the subject of many of today’s articles.  PBS had a lot of visuals to go with their articles.  They also had many links to all their different PBS shows that have Obama news.  They have names like frontline and the American experience.  They reported on Obama’s volunteer work during Martin Luther King Day.  Mainly PBS talked about DC and the security measures being taken to ensure the safety of the President. 

BBC

The BBC had a much broader perspective on the implications of Barack Obama’s inauguration.  The article I liked best was called “BBC Correspondents: World hopes on Obama” because it talked about how Obama’s African homeland responded to his inauguration and how proud they were of him.  The article can be found at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/obama_inauguration/7839486.stm. Like all the other elite media, the BBC has drawn parallels between Barack Obama and extraordinary leaders of the past.  In Particular the BBC has discussed Obama and John F. Kennedy.  The piece on Africa and Obama may have been an example of identification.

2. Local Media

 

Denver Post

 

            My local newspaper seemed to give more attention to Vice President Joe Biden than the elite media.  But Obama got the majority of the attention.  The local media felt the need to reiterate Obama’s biracial identity.  The newspaper was particularly concerned about how Obama was going to defend and revitalize the country.  The article that I liked best from the Denver Post was “President Obama:  Crises “will be met” at http://www.denverpost.com/inauguration/ci_11497993.  By the way I love the pictures by my local media the best because they show the whole Obama family.  This site seemed to practice inoculation from the Ronald Barthes reading.

Rocky Mountain Newspaper

The newspaper discussed how the inauguration would affect people in Colorado.  The paper compared Obama with Kennedy.  This is an example of the tautology that we have discussed in group.  They discussed ways for people who had to stay in Colorado to express their inauguration excitement.