Media Magazine

    Media Magazine   

     https://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/media-magazine/articles/16889

Odd Future, Stranger Past - Issues of Representation in Contemporary Hip-Hop

·         Association of young black males; traditionally masculine, unemotional, aggressive, violent and often misogynistic.

·         This stereotype grew from the rise of gangster rap in the late 1980s, most notably through artists such as N.W.A

·         flaunted their criminal backgrounds and took a confrontational approach to authority

·         that group focused on racial inequality and promoting black culture as a way of life

·         This representation remained the dominant stereotype throughout the 1990s and 2000s

·         Common conventions of hip-hop videos and publicity images for the period include:

·         a fixation on money and wealth, shown through diamond jewellery, expensive cars and flaunted cash

·         male sexual dominance, with women framed as objects and denied any agency or their own gaze

·         images of crime and violence, referenced in lyrics, video narratives and shown through mise-en-scène

·         self-aggrandisement, shown through body language and reinforced with low-angle shots and close-ups

·         during the period portray young black men as aspiring to wealth, rather than professional or intellectual success;

·         arguably the genre exploits extremely negative stereotypes of young black men

·         reinforcing archaic ideas about inner-city youth and discouraging the audience - also largely young black men

·         However, this trend appears to be shifting, or at least becoming more complex, in the modern era

·         This could be due to the success of Kanye West;

·         Often vulnerable, emotional and conflicted in his lyrics.

·         experiences at university, his Christianity, his interest in fashion

     https://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/media-magazine/articles/16057

     Representation in rap

·         Lucy Johnson explores the construction and representation of rapper 50 Cent.

·         50 is sexist, misogynistic, materialistic, arrogant and a proponent of violence as a solution to the many problems he comes across in the 'Ghetto'.

·         50's success is predicated on certain ideas about 'blackness' and the black male in particular

·         The difficulty is learning to see beyond the supposed veracity of 50 Cent's persona

·         a survivor of the Ghetto, shot at nine times, a former crack dealer who recounts his adventures in his songs

·         You need to show that you are able to separate the representation of Gangsta Rap,

·         You need to be aware of the fact that although certain record bosses and music stars involved with Gangsta Rap have indeed been involved in criminality

https://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/media-magazine/articles/16789

Ghetto Culture (Historical Text)

·         The narrative, cinematography and use of music are all clearly influenced by American independent films such as Boyz N the Hood and film-makers such as Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee.

·         The American 'hood' film sub-genre often has a character that is trying to reject a life of crime and escape the trappings of the 'hood'

·         These representations of young black males are life-affirming and positive.

·         However, other characters confirm the more negative stereotypes of youths from ethnic minorities e.g city of god

·         For example, Lil Ze in City of God and Hubert in La Haine are both drug dealers. Lil Ze is a typical crime film villain;

·         Followed by his subsequent decline and death. He is violent and psychotic, with no remorse for his actions or sympathy for his victims.

·         He is a cocaine dealer, rapist and gang leader; out of control, hungry for power and desperate to control the favela

·         City of God's focus is mainly on black youths. The favelas were initially created to house freed slaves, and therefore black people are massively over-represented in this setting.

·         The representation of the police in both films is almost entirely negative

·         They sell guns to gangsters, shoot suspects on sight (including an innocent youth on his way to school), steal money and drugs from dealers and are never seen helping anyone. The police representation …
Black Ink - Black Press in Britain
https://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/media-magazine/articles/16203

•       Black culture'? Using this terminology to define people with a little colour plays into the idea that they are from one homogenous jelly-mould with no variation in language, 
•      North America has many more Black publications. Indeed some find their way onto our shores, most notably Essence and Ebony lifestyle magazines, with music magazines such as Vibe following

  https://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/media-magazine/articles/16094
    The Wire - American dream as nightmare

•     The Wire is set in Baltimore, a port city on the Eastern seaboard of the US. It is a city with huge problems of unemployment, gang-related violence and drug addiction.
•      The central conflict is typically generic in that it focuses on the police and the drug gangs.
•      That said it attempts to present a view of all the central protagonists which avoids lazy generalisations and stereotypes.
•      The police are portrayed in a variety of ways. For the most part they are certainly not seen as heroes. 
•      They attack and beat up suspects in custody and they are driven, not by a moral duty to protect the public, but by an obsessive need to beat the gangs.
•       The street is also represented by characters that turn previous representations of gang members on their head.
•      Unlike many other American shows The Wire has a predominately black cast, reflecting Baltimore's demographic. This in itself marks a key difference from a number of other generic texts.
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