Carleton Watkins, The Yosemite Valley from the Best General View, 1866
Briefly answer the following questions based on the readings for this week:
According to Benshoff and Griffin, what is othering? How does it work? How has Hollywood typically used racial and ethnic characters? Briefly discuss the changes in representations of Irish American characters in US cinema. What were the factors behind these changes?
How was blackface used by Jewish entertainers? How did these performances complicate notions of racial and ethnic identity?
According to Richard Dyer, why is it important to study race and images of race? How are white typically seen or spoken about? What are the problems associated with examining whiteness? What are the paradoxes of whiteness?
In my readings of Benshoff and Griffin pg.54,
ReplyDeletei am responding to the question, what is othering? Othering is the process of defining one group against another group. the use of displacement begins to manifest in the group affected,and translates as this group feels a bad trait that all humans have, for example,some people say chinese people are so smart, so i am only going to date asians, so my kids will come out smart,if i date a hispanic or black he the child wont have the same advantages.
Hollywood in the past would use minority actors just for minorty characters. When i was growing up i wanted to play queen elizabeth in a play, and i was told, they could not cast of person of color for the part, the audience would not see her as a believable person. And to this day most charaters that are white, are protray by a causian person.I quess society is still not ready to accept this type of imagary.
The irsh american actors wanted to assimilate, but, they were not up to societys idea of whiteness, to their standards. They were seen as drunken,boisterous,and until the darker more swarthy immigrants from northern and western europe, i feel they were seen as less white , if that makes any sense.
Othering is defining one group against another group. I would use the example of being a person being insecure about their own looks, and instead of accepting this insecurity they make themselves feel better by putting other people (or a group of people) down. Hollywood uses minorities to play all kinds of racial or ethnic characters. The book used the example of African Americans and Latinos were frequently hired to play Native Americans. Upon appearing in cinema, Irish Americans were not viewed as much higher than African Americans, so they exclusively performed in blackface. As Irish Americans were viewed more as an ethnicity or a nationality, they started to be viewed in cinema mostly for having specific stereotypes attached to them. They were viewed and violent drunks, and there were also movies about the different gangs and mobs. Finally when Irish Americans were more accepted they were viewed as being “true blue” Americans who fought in wars and glorified the United States. Jewish entertainers used blackface to feel safe expressing their struggle with the opposition felt by the white race. Their performance complicated notions of racial and ethnic identity because they were able to hide behind their identity in blackface, but they were not able to express themselves as being oppressed as Jewish Americans. We use racial imagery to organize the world. Whiteness is viewed as the norm. An example I liked from the reading was the one where white people generally never have to describe their white friends as “white” but if they aren’t white they feel the need to express that. A common paradox I find with whiteness is that white people are just viewed as humans but anybody else is viewed as something else besides white.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Benshoff and Griffin, Othering was basically the process of defining one group against another group. When Othering takes place the dominant culture ascribes to an undesirable trade one that is shared by all humans on to the “less dominant culture”. This happens every day people often make fun of other people for their own short comings. Today Hollywood still uses minorities to play racial or ethnic characters even though it’s probably not as bad as it use to be in times past but it still exists. Through the ages poor white ethnic groups such as Jews and the Irish were used to portray blacks through the use of blackface. The reason Jews and Irish often played blackface characters was because they were not seen as equals to other whites and were looked down upon as drunks and thieves so they were never offered high rolls when it came to acting.
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ReplyDelete“Othering” is the way a dominate group associates a negative trait to another specific group. Mostly, a trait is perceived by the dominate group as undesirable and projected onto the other group, so the dominate group doesn’t have to acknowledge the trait in themselves.
ReplyDeleteHollywood used white actors to portray non-white characters and also used minority group actors to portray other non-white characters.
Early representations of Irish Americans portrayed them in stereotypical fashion as “small, fiery-tempered, heavy drinking, working class men” As real Irish Americans assimilated into America through “ultra-nationalistic” behaviors like strong patriotism and working in police and fire stations, film characters changed to mirror these images in popular war films of the day.
Blackface performances by Jewish immigrants helped show they were really “white” because they needed makeup to portray African-Americans. In addition, they combined blackface with Yiddish which showed how contrived the whole performance and assumptions were. The end result was a confusing parody of racial and ethnic lines defined by white culture.
It’s important to study racial imagery because Dyer feels it can’t be separated from our lives: that the imagery is bound to all aspects of world politics, economics and culture. Therefore, to fully understand these things, we must understand racial imagery.
Dyer points out that Whiteness ISN’T talked about or generally described. Only supposed ”non-white” traits are used to define what is NOT white.
Dyer identifies some problems when examining “Whiteness”
A. Allowing the focus on whiteness to continue by talking about it.
B. Allowing whites to possibly be seen as a victim group.
C. Guilt for past white behavior may center attention on whites as having “moral courage” in addressing these wrongs.
Dyer describes paradoxes of “Whiteness”
A. An individual race and the whole human race
B. White men fight sexual desire and white women don’t have any
C. To display spirit, but be invisible
D. A need to be everything and nothing
Othering is referring to the way a dominant culture ascribes an undesirable trait onto one specific group of people. For example white people may say that other races are immoral and inferior, making themselves seem like the better race. Hollywood typically uses racial and ethnic characters in a negative way at first. Non-white actors play characters that are portrayed as inferior to their white counterparts. They often have undesirable characteristics or eventually die off in films. Irish Americans were treated very badly when they first came to America in the 1840s. They were commonly called “white niggers” during this time. When it came to cinema there was an Irish stereotype. They were seen as short-tempered, heavy-drinking, and hard-working. They played unintelligent characters in films but this stereotype slowly changed. They were seen as more “white” and their image changed. They no longer felt that they needed to change their names to be respected. Blackface was used by Jewish entertainers to show their shared oppression with African Americans. This complicated notions of racial and ethnic identity because white Jewish people were making fun of the white power structure. It is important to study race and images of race because race is all around us. We cannot avoid issues of race and it is a good thing to understand. Whites are not seen as white but non-whites are seen for their characters that are not white. A problem with “whiteness” is the fact that whites are seen as victims for facing up to their past mishaps with other races. A paradox is that whites are seen as “normal” humans whereas other races are seen as less human or not as human as whites.
ReplyDeleteOthering describes the way a dominant culture takes an unwanted trait that human and puts it onto one race of people. To make them seem inhumane or animalistic. Hollywood has used this to describe to create token characters in movies to reflect how they think that other races act and think. Irish American characters in US cinema are stereotyped as angry little drunk men and they women were stereotyped as dumb. This was done in a "comical" way , for quick punch lines towards the Irish community. As they assimilated different stereotypes or characters were formed to show Irish Americans more positivity and more realistically. Black Face was used to comment on the bond that African Americans and Jewish immigrants and Irish Americans share. Showing the struggle to assimilate in order to survive where they though they would be free and live the "American dream". Its important to study to understand what one has been trained to do by watching movies. We've been trained to identify with what we see most, white protagonists. And there stereotypes of different cultures.Its part of our social construct. whiteness is presented as the norm, its only until token minority characters come into play that one realizes that the character is white or in most cases that the whole cast is white.
ReplyDeleteOthering is the process of defining one group against another. It is basically the act of a dominant culture creating stereotypes to differentiate themselves from another less favorable culture. Often times the undesired traits associated with a stereotype are not even exclusive to the specific group, but rather a common flaw of many people, regardless their culture and heritage. This activity is most commonly seen as a defense mechanism. If an individual or group dislike something about themselves, and are too cowardly to admit their imperfections, they are likely to project those distasteful attributes onto a less fortunate individual or group. Hollywood is notorious for playing on and expanding upon stereotypes. The Godfather for example, is driven off the stereotype of the Italian-American crime syndicate. Thus promoting the idea that only those of Italian descent have the capability of becoming involved in underground crime networks, when this is clearly not the case. Another example is the distasteful image of the early Irish-Americans in The Gangs of New York. Not until recently did Hollywood begin to sort of taper off this path and attempt redemption by casting actors of all races and ethnic backgrounds into key roles as influential and faithful Americans. Prime examples of this are films such as Forrest Gump and The Flags of our Fathers, each depicting a minority figure as an American hero. Jewish Americans used blackface minstrelsy as a medium to express their own struggle within and segregation from white culture and religion. This complicated things with a sort of irony because Jewish entertainers were able to express themselves opening and without regard in blackface but were not given the same right simply as Jewish people. Dryer explains that it is important to study and identify with racial issues and images because there are racial issues and images all around us. He argues that one must not form opinions, whether they be political, cultural, or religious without considering the impact race has on the topic. The biggest problem with examining “whiteness” is the fact that in order to examine it you must talk about it, and talking about it is commonly leads to a continuation of the problem.
ReplyDeleteOthering can be defined as; The process of defining one group against another. It is a defense mechanism that one group of people use to identify an unlikeable trait that they see within onto another group and apply negative judgment towards them because of it. Hollywood has a tendency to include "token" ethnic characters in mainstream films in order to prevent racial tension between themselves and their audience. If Hollywood films choose to include "ethnic characters" their roles are often "cliche" and "stereotypes" usually with negative, subliminal connotations.
ReplyDeleteInitially Irish Americans did succumb to these stereotypical roles as well, such as the drunken, fiery-tempered working class. However, once the Irish chose to assimilate into the American culture their roles began to change, becoming more a part of the cultural "norm" and widely accepted as "white/standard". The black face was used by Jews to illustrate the extreme differences between themselves and the Irish in opposition with African Americans. Since white Americans viewed all of these groups as subordinate, it seemed as if the Jews and Irish americans used the black face in order to gain more acceptance at the attempt to assimilate into the white culture. On the other hand, the fact that this act was combined with Yiddish it also seems as if these acts were magnifying the confusing parody of racial categorizations defined by white culture.
I think it is important to study race and racial images simply because it is such a huge factor in our culture. America is obsessed with categorizing and labeling people and it is impossible to be oblivious to that. Perhaps it is also a flaw, and understanding and depicting racial images can help us understand what happens in our minds and how these prejudices manifest. Whites are often viewed as the "norm" or just plain human beings, the are judged based on the content of their character opposed to the color of their skin and all of the negative connotations associated with that particular skin color. Examining whiteness is going to be misinterpreted as reverse racism, white people are going to assume the role of the victim and by examining their role even more, will not change the glorifying of their whiteness even more. The paradox remains the same; whites are seen as human beings and our sub-consciously used as a form of ideology; what everyone should try to measure up to.
Othering is the process of defining one group against another, but more specifically it is the way a dominant culture ascribes an undesirable trait onto one specific group of people. As stated in Benshoff and Griffin, the psychological process of othering is a defense mechanism that a person or group may not like about them and displace those flaws upon other people or groups. Adolf Hitler is a prime example of using the othering process. He was dark haired, white skinned, and had gray-blue-green eyes. It is a known fact that Hitler had killed people who where not up to his standards. His standards consisted of people who had blond hair and blue eyes. Racial and ethnic characters in Hollywood were mainly as the antagonist or “bad” guy in their movies.At the beginning of US Cinema, Irish Americans were hired to portray other race groups than their own. Then they were seen as the “Boy-o” or “Mick”. As time went by, Irish Americans were being acknowledged in films as a positive figure in American society. The change that helped in the image of Irish Americans was influenced by real Irish actors that were from the main stage and then the appeal gravitated towards Hollywood.
ReplyDeleteJewish performers used blackface to show that they were whites portraying African Americans. …”you may consider us lesser, but at least we are not blacks.” It made them feel superior to something or someone. The complicated notions of racial and ethnicity in these performances let them speak about their discrimination but not really saying it by donning a different face.
“Racial imagery is central to the organization of the modern world.” Racial imagery may be viewed as part of the modern world but it has always been apparent in the past. Race surrounds us consciously or subconsciously. White is typically seen as THE human race. Examining whiteness turns the table and shows that they are the victims. Paradoxes of whiteness constitute flexibility and productivity.
According to Benshoff and Griffin, what is othering?
ReplyDeleteOthering is defining one group of people from another.
How does it work?
for example... when one group sees something it doesn't like it can be defined as othering ..like sex, or religion if a group doesn't like this about its self it pushes it on to another specific group at which this can be generalized and defined othering,
How has Hollywood typically used racial and ethnic characters?
They have used minorities to play minority roles. I feel Hollywood has done a good job in defining roles for actors,, what usually happens is someone will wright a script that calls for a certain type of character. then a team gets together and chooses that character through tryouts, scouting and so forth.. then they place the character .. Think about it for a second,,, can you think of anyone better to play Ray Charles in Ray then Jamie Fox.. seriously ? Michel Jordan maybe! .. or Brad Pitt.. or what about The Godfather ... maybe Jet Li should have played in the film.. .. I strongly believe Acting roles really depend on the actor. That is why you cant see any other actor playing certain roles. because they are that GOOD ......... and if you can it must be a bad film, or bad directing.
Briefly discuss the changes in representations of Irish American characters in US cinema.
Irish Americans have come along way. They where defined as dunks , worker bees, the bottom of the list. Now they are heros, all american, Lucky
What were the factors behind these changes?
They became the backbone of america.
How was blackface used by Jewish entertainers?
Jews used this method of entertainment to express themselves .
How did these performances complicate notions of racial and ethnic identity?
It confused people and took black face into an entirely new direction. They might as well have chosen another color, like pink.
According to Richard Dyer, why is it important to study race and images of race? I feel they want you to become more aware of people and race insomuch that you recognize that we are all the same people, with eyes , hearts and feelings. Instead of the opposite .
How are white typically seen or spoken about? In what circles ?
What are the problems associated with examining whiteness? What are the paradoxes of whiteness?
I don't agree with the readings concerning whiteness and how whites are the superior race and all other races should be like them..Thats like saying models are skinny and beautiful and we should all try to dress like them act like them appear like them..
I think people take this a little to seriously... maybe they should find a new hobby like knitting.
Othering is defining, characterizing and judging one group of people against another. What I found interesting about the readings for this week, was how in the media represents “whiteness” as the “normal.” When you have a white person stand for something, it stands for everyone in America. When you have a black person stand for something, it stands for the black community. When you have a movie that has mostly white actors in it, then it is aimed at all audiences in America. When you have a movie that has actors who not white, then it is targeted at whatever race the actors are. I guess I find this interesting because I am white and I never really realized that movies target different audiences in such I specific way. I often assume that some of my favorite movies like Star Wars and Back to the Future are targeted for all audiences but in reality, they probably only appeal to some. I also found it interesting how in the past, white people would discriminant against other whites. I know that for most of America's history, Americans have hated immigrants and foreigners. This is completely ironic, especially when you think of how people in America hate immigrants even though they themselves are descendants of immigrants. The stereotypes of Irish and Italians have become accepted in American media because the groups who are being stereotyped haven't been persecuted in the ways that people of Jewish and African decent have.
ReplyDeleteSpecifically, “othering” is the process through which a dominant group projects it’s own shortcomings onto that of another group, making the dominant the norm and characterizing the minority as a whole as less than civilized.
ReplyDeleteIrish-Americans were originally portrayed as small, drunken, uncivilized, even stupid laborers. However, the Irish began distancing themselves from African Americans by performing in blackface, thus offering themselves as whiter than perceived by most. As more and more Irish immigrants came to America they began to assimilate as time went by, becoming more and more a symbol for patriotism with their depictions of moral, and decent figures such as policemen, priests and soldiers.
Jewish Americans used blackface performance as an attempt to assimilate themselves into the white culture, but also as a tool to allow the to retain an “outsider status” that still linked them to their roots.
Othering is taking on group of people and imitating them but not in a flattering way but in more of a way that insults them, hurts them and entertains, outsiders of the group. Hollywood has used othering for entertaining purposes such as movies or comedies. Hiring actors of different ethnicities to act in blackface made African Americans look a certain that they really weren't and promoted stereotypes that weren't true. This process could intimidate one group while taking the heat off another group of people. The purpose of Jews using blackface was to show that they were in the same boat with African Americans when it came to how the world viewed them. It seems like since white people have power in the past that they are more dominating and that white is the standard all other people in the world should live up to. If two white people are friends its completely normal but if people of other ethnicities are friends then it is something else. The problem here is that while white is seen as normal other ethinicites are seen as different.
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