jalwhite:

So then Lesley Arfin retweeted me and her followers started sending me messages about how I need to learn how to take a joke.

Nah dude, you need to do better.

You could point out that Nealla Gordon (the actress who played Mrs. Lichtenstein) is white & was in Precious in a role of authority & with actual lines.

erasure in the making. we’ll erase you, and if you come at me with legitimate and articulate critiques - me and my friends will feel entitled to belittle you. cause sit down & shut up, right?

yes post race america - yes.

04.18.12 ♥ 94

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Zoom

redlightpolitics:

Lesley Arfin, one of the writers of HBO series Girls, on Twitter.

I suppose this is a joke? Is this how she deals with commentary about the lack of diversity in the show? I am baffled, someone throw me a rope!

WHOA - WTF?

so there is a show about women in New York City that has no POC. It gets critiqued because in 20-fucking-12 its kind of embarassing to not put serious thought into the fact that you present day NEW YORK CITY as an all white venue in TV show. A problem we see time and time again where the people in power erase those who aren’t them. It goes without saying that this is a LEGITIMATE CRITIQUE.

And one of the writers of the show, instead of saying “yeah, we honestly didn’t think or care about this, we were really just focusing on our life & reality, which involves excluding POC from the world of NYC” or even “audiences don’t care if the cast is diverse and we would rather market the show to the mostly-white HBO audiences anyway” - you know, some honest shit that I can at least say “yeah, that sounds about right”. instead she comes back with a non-sensical attack/retort? On a LEGITIMATE CRITIQUE THAT A 3 YR OLD CAN MAKE?

at least its nice knowing that the people who make the media that we all consume could honestly give a fuck about how they represent America falsely and will just demean you and insult you if you point it out. at least they can’t use the “it was an accident” excuse anymore…

04.18.12 ♥ 1726

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“ As much as stories of black empowerment are critically important to tell, it’s also important to illustrate the depths of white brutality, and to acknowledge that in a deeply racist system, there were certain functions only white people could perform, and certain avenues that they had privileged access to.

— Alyssa Rosenburg “White Characters and Black Liberation, From ‘The Help’ to ‘Twelve Years a Slave’”

04.11.12 ♥ 47

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Just noticed (re: Mad Men)

Mad Men got a new black character, Dawn, who play Don Draper’s secretary. Even though the show is full of secretary characters, her being Don’s secretary makes her the most prominent, she also happens to be the shows token “example of black women in service roles” character. I just remembered the black maid character was fired in the last season… I think the only other black female character was a playboy bunny. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but have there been any black male characters on the show at all? Would that be too much of a challenge to the hyper masculinity of 1960’s white patriarchy?

Random thoughts…

04.11.12 ♥ 24

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Zoom

Imagine a world where our media was ACTUALLY as diverse as the populations that take it in…

04.10.12 ♥ 160

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Black people are not the main consumers of hip hop

The Hip hop that you see on TV isn’t actually targeted or marketed towards black people, or even POC at all really. While many hip hop artists are black, and are presenting the construction of “authentic blackness” - we take for granted how commercial hip hop is a carefully structured entity.

Interestingly enough, hip hop is looked to as a musical representation of black culture and black people. People use hip hop as an excuse to paint black people as pathologically depraved and oversexualized… But these representations of blackness are created by white CEOs and sold to white youth in the suburbs.

Why is America obsessed with this idea of blackness that isn’t even real? (rhetorical question, we all know the answer) I’m tired of being told by white audiences who move to the suburbs to escape the “troubled” populations of people who live in MY neighborhoods, to then turn around and tell me what blackness should be. Are you serious? Really? Get the entire fuck outta here thinking that buying Odd Future and Watch The Throne makes you an expert on blackness and my experience. My life isn’t your commodity.

/end rant. Melissa Harris-Perry had a segment on Hip Hop today and got me in rant mode.

03.10.12 ♥ 887

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Things I come across as I write this essay about how the media constructs/reflects hegemonic gender norms in terms of masculinity…

Killing Us Softly 4 (2010) - 1/2

[click here for link to the second half]

In this update of her pioneering Killing Us Softly series, Jean Kilbourne takes a fresh look at how advertising traffics in distorted and destructive ideals of femininity. Killing Us Softly 4 stands to challenge a new generation of students to take advertising seriously, and to think critically about popular culture and its relationship to sexism, eating disorders, and gender violence.

03.09.12 ♥ 131

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America’s Top Magazines: Still Not Hiring Women

think-progress:

Do we really have to educate editors that women can bring new perspectives on major stories, and not just to stories about living as a single woman or going through a divorce?

- ThinkProgress culture blogger Alyssa Rosenberg

02.29.12 ♥ 80

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think-progress:

REPORT: By a nearly 2 to 1 margin, cable networks call on men over women to comment on birth control

02.11.12 ♥ 2216

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wayradjr:

Playing Unfair: The Media Portrayals of Female Athletes

01.14.12 ♥ 92

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“ Anything all black is for black people. But things all white are for everybody!

— My friend said this once and I never forgot it. But it definitely applies to the sentiment of the article i just posted: Even George Lucas Had a Hard Time Finding Funding for Film With Black Leads

01.11.12 ♥ 101

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Even George Lucas Had a Hard Time Finding Funding for a Film With Black Lead Characters

partypropagandaprofessional:

newwavefeminism:

who’s surprised? *crickets*

Can we also talk about how there have been black artists, writers, and directors trying to do this for years but no one cared until a white hero showed up to do it?

right? “we can ignore all those other attempts but come on guys - GEORGE LUCAS. He obviously knows what’s best for POC! Geeze!”

But yeah, it reveals the nature of erasure. This happens every single day and has been happening in the history of fucking media, but it only gets noticed when a very privileged individual - the person who fucking created star wars - can’t even get past the barrier.

01.11.12 ♥ 65

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Even George Lucas Had a Hard Time Finding Funding for a Film With Black Lead Characters

who’s surprised? *crickets*

01.11.12 ♥ 65

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reader submitted “feminist friendly” media

So the other day someone asked about feminist friendly things to watch, and here are the top responses (and some short reviews):

- Parks & Recreations

raisin-girl: In the current season there even was an episode where a guy starts a Women’s study course and… wait for it… there was no punchline to it. It was the most glorious thing. No, seriously though, this show is absolutely flawless.

- Mad Men

- Game of Thrones

- Wonderfall

maidofmatter: “an old canceled very funny show called Wonderfalls have strong well-developed female characters.”

- The Swedish version of Girl w/a Dragon Tattoo

- Lilo & Stich, Spirited away - wtfmovies suggests going to feministdisney.tumblr.com to see more reviews of feminist friendly media

-True Blood (seasons 1-3, 4 is crap)

- Children of the Revolution

- Melancholia

- Adventure Time (FUCK YEAH adventure time!)

- Doubt

- Mildred Pierce

- Repo Man

- Black Books,

- Freaks&Geeks

- Breaking Bad

- Avatar: The Last Airbender

siriuslynow: A whole bunch of kick-ass ladies who fight, and heal, and develop, and grow, and accept the responsibilities thrust upon them, and runaway for a better life, and overthrow entire kingdoms, and most importantly, are not afraid to be both warriors and women.

- Whip It

- An Education

- Buffy

- Gilmore Girls

- Daria (fuck yeah Daria!)

- The L word

hopeless-believer: “a show about lesbian couples and a couple straight ones. It’s really great! It brings up feminism, gender stereotypes, sexuality, and race issues.”

and to top it all off iamabutchsolo submitted this list:

For the person who asked about feminist-friendly movies/TV shows, here are some of my favorites.

Movies:

Firefox

Boys on the Side

The Color Purple

Mulan (Some problems, but it’s a classic; I wouldn’t be a feminist without it)

Fire

Wonder Woman (the latest 2009 cartoon version. Again, some problems, but c’mon, it’s Wonder Woman!)

Friend Green Tomatoes

Itty Bitty Titty Committee (this one is a borderline satire, but still awesome)

TV:

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Fringe

Prime Suspect

Once Upon a Time (A bit hokey, but the diverse range of women is notable. Plus, Snow White, duh.)

Uhhh those are all off the top of my head, but I’m a huge media fanatic, so I’ve got plenty somewhere lodged in my mind.

Thoughts? While these may be “feminist friendly” where does intersectionality issues pop up in the media? What shows also tackle race & class? What things should/shouldn’t be on the list?

new wave feminism

Killing Us Softly 4 (2010) - 1/2