One of our readings was “Chapter 5: Culture, Media, and
Communication” by Eric Klinenberg and David Wachsmuth and there were two quotes
that really stuck out for me. The first
one states that “One important part of the sociology of culture involves
studying people’s daily routines and practices.
Another involves examining the values, social norms, and collective
beliefs that make some behaviors acceptable and others suspect” (Pg 112). This particularly caught my attention because
I didn’t realize that culture was more than just a religious tradition, like Christmas
being part of my culture. Not everyone
celebrates Christmas. I think that quote
can relate to what a woman wears to work.
There is a religion where a woman, or girl, should not be showing much
of her skin. However, for a woman going
to a corporate or executive kind of job, they need to look “professional”. This look usually is a very plane outfit that
doesn’t show off much of the girl because they don’t want to look trashy or
unprofessional. But, that is what our
social norm is viewed as. There are
specific “looks” to different events that has been viewed as acceptable.
The other quote that caught my
attention was; “The latest song by Beyonce, a performance of the opera, our
assumptions about monogamy, a series of posts on Twitter, a headline in the
newspaper, the reason one person sleeps in and another wakes up early: These
are all examples of culture” (pg 114).
It goes along with my realization that culture is more than just a
tradition. The way social media has
begun to dominate our social world is part of our culture. If you ask someone for their Twitter account
or Facebook account, and they say they don’t have one, it has become a very odd
response to the rest of society.
Personally, I have asked people if they had a Facebook. When they said no, my reaction was “really?” I couldn’t believe it, but that is where our
society is going.
One of our second readings was the “Representation of the “Primitive”
American Indian” by Lisa Wade. It shows
how the pictures of the Indians were edited into viewing them as less
intelligent. Within the edits of one of
the photos, a clock in the background of the two Indians was taken out. The clock showed that these Indians did have
some form of technology. However, that
is not how we have been viewing them.
There are two Disney movies that show Indians being less civilized, as
well as less intelligent. The first one
is Peter Pan. During Peter Pan, there is
a scene with the Indian tribe. They do
not speak in full sentences, making them seem not intelligent. I have added the link to the video of the
scene, including the song. During the
song, Wendy is confronted by a female Indian who tells her “Squaw no dance, Squaw
get ‘em firewood”. This isn’t exactly
proper English and grammar, making them seem uneducated.
The second movie is Pocahontas. The scene I have added is when the Indians
are going to kill John Smith. The “humans”
are talking about the Indians being savages, while the Indians think the “humans”
are demons. In relation to the reading,
the lyrics from the “humans” correlate well.
The lyrics that come to mind are “Here's what you get when races are
divers, Their skins are hellish red, They're only good when dead, They're
vermin, as I said, And worse”. In
addition, the chorus states “They are savages, savages, barely even human.” This shows that even though “humans” and Indians
are people, we are not the same species.
They aren’t worth the same value as us.
I think these are the reasons why the edits on the American Indian took
out technology and tried to keep the same view that we have had. We don’t want to think differently than we
have in the past. It seems, we will
always, whether it’s right or not, view them as “savages”.
I personally was very surprised at first to find that many of the Native American photographs were altered, but then after really thinking about it, it makes sense. Maybe if we make them out as savages, it makes what Americas historically have done to them more tolerable. "Hey, they are just savages, who cares if we killed and took their land." We dehumanize them to clear our own consciouses.
ReplyDeleteAs your clips show we have preserved this view of Native Americans in our own culture. We preserve these views of them in order to further keep them from even slim possibilities of integration into American culture. One of the last sentences from the article got me thinking..."The problem of misrepresentation of groups who have little power to control their own images is a widespread one." We can certainly look at the representation of Native Americas as a from of power and control. Misrepresentation affects Native Americans in terms of resources, stereotypes, and even economically. It is actually kind of frightening to think about. If you control someone's image, essentially you can control their lives.
It was astonishing to me at first as well, but I agree with Jessica and Morgan that we must take into perspective of the time period when analyzing things such as the pictures of Native Americans. With this idea of dehumanizing people to make an excuse for our actions, I believe it still happens today. For example, in comparison to how we used to view the Native Americans as "savages" or these blood thirsty killers, today we view many middle eastern people as terrorists who constantly want to inflict harm on others. Clearly in both examples, regardless of the time period, the change of perception by the concurring society allows them to partake in actions (e.g. taking land or controlling oil) that would not previously be as acceptable. I hope that there could be a solution to this problem, but I am very pessimistic about this whole idea. Clearly from the images and articles, the overall theme is to not believe everything you see and hear.
ReplyDeleteMorgan, honestly I loved this piece so much for a few reasons, including our modern view of culture and how it has shifted due to the social media boom. The part I enjoyed most, however, were the clips and the thought process that came after watching them and reading your summary about them. Peter Pan and Pocahontas were movies from our childhood that I actually enjoyed, and I personally never thought about anything being wrong with these scenes when I watched them back then. Society and people in general can do that to you, ingrain thoughts in the heads of vulnerable people, so that they may not even realize how it might alter their perspective as they become get older, or as the same topic keeps recurring.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that Americans, as well as others, always want to find somewhere to point the finger. Jessica said it perfectly in her comment: "Maybe if we make them out as savages, it makes what Americas historically have done to them more tolerable. "Hey, they are just savages, who cares if we killed and took their land." We dehumanize them to clear our own consciouses."
In concluding, I think Lisa Wade did made a great point about applying the same critical eye to representations of marginalized people today, such as Arabs and Italian Americans. It is a great point, because overall I think we are so quick to believe and preach whatever we hear about any group of people, like the Native Americans and Arabs, or believing that the same case goes for the ENTIRE group. Not true. It is just another way to keep the real truth hidden.