Collaboration Chapters 1 and 2

Vocabulary

Egalitarianism: asserting, resulting from, or characterized by belief in the equality of all people, esp. in political, economic, or social life.

Minstrel: one of a troupe of comedians, usually white men made up as black performers, presenting songs, jokes, etc.

Monolithic: characterized by massiveness, total uniformity, rigidity, invulnerability

Obstreperous: resisting control or restraint in a difficult manner; unruly

Recalcitrance: resisting authority or control; not obedient or compliant; refractory

Chapter 1 talks about the modern day rappers becoming this generation’s minstrel show. Perpetrating stereotypes and portraying what some believe as the definition of blackness. Summary: In this chapter Ogbar is trying to convey the point that the idea of the “controlling images” of black people reflecs the role that black artists, from minstrel shows to rap songs, assume in articulating dominant ideas about black people, reducing them to sterotypes.

Example: Modern hip-hop and how they are sort of in a way making a mockery of themselves...parading around talking about foolish things, just for the entertainment of mainly white people. Most commercial hip-hop videos could be an example of this, like Candyshop that we watched in class today. It had no real deep meaning, only setting a negative image for black people.

My personal analysis of all of this is that yes, I think people do make a big deal out of nothing sometimes, but if you really look at a hip-hop video, and see the way they portray themselves, the critics may have a point. Black people need to embrace their culture and heritage, rather than money, cars, bitches, and hoes...even though that is what is mainstream, and what makes the most money. It still doesn't help the image of their race, and can be compared to a Minstrel Show. On the other hand though, like Ladi said in class..why don't people bring up the Cherry Pie video by Warrant? White people make the same sort of oversexualized, shallow, meaningless videos, but no one seems to stereotype them..

Project Proposal: Hip Hop Revolution

In my paper I plan to discuss the way females are portrayed in hip-hop. I plan to discuss no tonly male rappers, but female rappers as well. I am going to discuss the way females are degrated, and sexualized in most of the lyrics. I will touch on counter-points such as strong women rappers, and some positive portrayls of women in hip-hop. My audience is going to be women themselves. I will write directly to them so they can understand how they are being portrayed. I will persuede women to push against that portrayl and prove the rappers wrong that call them "bitches" and "hoes". I will tell them that as a plan of action to live their lives with dignity and know who they are as a person, and never let a man/woman judge them or degrade them. So far, i don't know a whole lot, I need to research this topic a bit more, but I have listened to lots of hip-hop in my life and have heard the lyrics regarding women.

Schools For Sale

2,500 teenagers walked out of their Philadelphia high schools because they were protesting privatization of their schools. They were attempting to make a stand and say that they were not “for sale”. They wanted to speak up for themselves and not allow the Edison company to take over their schools solely for money. They had major ethos with their fellow peers because they are all going through the same thing and they all agree that they don’t want to be privatized. The Philadelphia residents should care because their kids already attend those schools, or they will have kids in the future that will be attending those schools. Also, the privatization of the schools will affect the community. For example, when the school had a bake sale, the principal would only allow Coca-Cola products to be sold with the baked goods, because juice and milk would compete with their sponsors. It is ridiculous how much everything revolves around who supplies the money. Education should not be a franchise, I know funding is needed sometimes, but the primary focus should be on the children and what they are learning. Like a student activist leader stated in the book “Do I want to learn that one plus one equals Pepsi?” (Quart 218) this shows that brands are so incorporated in the curriculum that kids are going to start associating these products with school, and that is not what education should be about. If this was happening to me and my school, I would like to be consulted because I would be against it. It is the children that are affected most by this and they should be the ones with the most input not the people with the pocketbooks..

Project Proposal: Major Project 1

My goal with this first essay is to point out that sad reality of children these days trying to act older and older at a younger and younger age. My audience is the parents of these children, tweens, and teens. I am arguing that these children of all ages, until they reach adulthood should not be allowed to be slaves to this over-aged hype that is calling thier attention in all directions. I am going to persuade these parents of young chidren and teens to not buy into the ads. I am going to focus on the parents drawing the line and taking back control of thier youth no matter what the child asks for. The parents are the ones with the pocketbook and they can decide if that 12 year-old girl gets designer clothing and make-up, or if thier 15 year-old "needs" breast augmentation. These parents also need to build self-esteem and value into the girls and boys. The young boys parents need to let them know that having a rock hard physique at the age of 13 is un-natural and its OK not to look like the men on the covers of muscle magazines! The parents need to preserve innocence and appropriatness of age as long as they can. Yes, it is hard with all the "branding" and how easily chidren are targeted, but with a little support of the parents...I think this can be managed a little better.

So far i know that marketers focus and rely on the fact that tweens ages 9-13 are desperate to look, act, and "be" older. It is the cool thing to be older and now these tweens are already not considering themselves children anymore. Now, younger and younger tweens and teens are wanting plastic surgery to look like people in magazines and body image is extremely distorted today. Lavish, adult-like parties are now the norm for tweens. Such as Bar/bat mitsvahs and sweet sixteens. These children spend thier parents money as if it is their own and want things that most 21 year olds think about having at thier big bashes. Alot of this is brought on by celerbrities throwing huge parties for birthdays, and it became a trend and then eventually a competition between affleunt (and sometimes not) parents to throw bigger, better parties for thier 13 year old. It also consists of children being exposed to adult comedy such as "Adult Swim" on the cartoon network for example. It starts playing at 9:30 pm and most kids are still up absorbing these shows that are meant to only appeal to adults but kids, even very young ones laugh right along because they have developed even sense of humors beyond thier age. Its a growing trend and very hard to escape, but if the parents weren't such a huge contributor, I think the issue could be a little more managable.

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