Week eight: Stereotype and the Ethics – Notes

-
Stereotypes and Ethics – Notes

  • Stereotypes and Cliche´: Both terms from printing that refer to techniques that facilitate the speed and lower the cost of production through the use of pre-set images or phrases. 
  • Will Eisner "In comics, stereotypes are drawn from commonly accepted physical characteristics associated with an occupation."
  • "Certain human characteristics are recognizable by physical appearance in each of the above, the reader evokes a message out of the stereotypical image in this where he shows Hitler youth as well as a bad guy having a back problem."

Jim Crow
Christy Minstrels
  • Stereotypes: Are not a metonymies (figures of speech, ex: i have a new set of wheels (i have a new car)) like most caricatures but are representation of idealized and character types that are not based on observation, but on previous representations. 
Jim Crow in Dumbo 1941
Robert Crumb
Matin Luther King by Ho Che Anderson
  • None of these stereotypes tell us anything about black people.
  • These stereotypes tell us a lot about the long history of white supremacy as a governing assumption in cultural production.
  • Stereotypical representations aren't really present in a narrative to enhance the readability of the narrative or to develop the characters.
  • Strategies of Representation to avoid Stereotypes:
    • Observation: forming a representation based on actual observation,  representation that reflect individuality instead of stereotype.
    • Iconic metonymy: reducing the info from an observed representation into a caricature.
    • Retaining the same level of caricature through all the representations in the narrative.
  • Jack Kirby
Jackie Ormes

panel from Beetle Bailey
  • He introduced a lack caricature and has the same level of caricatures as the others
Franklin from peanuts

Doonesbury comic black
Some other considerations
    • the position of the creator in relation to the representations. 
    • the centrality to marginally of the characters in relation to the narrative
    • active vs. passive qualities in the character represented
    • Conventions can de-emphasize certain issues. 
Robert Francis O'Rourke
"Irish Alcoholics"

  • The Magical African-American Friend
    • popularized by spike Lee 2001
    • the legend of bagger Vance
    • Rudy
    • the green mile
    • the noble savage closer to the earth
    • disables, a janitor
Alex Ross Obama
  • Bigot: a person who obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his/ her own opinions and prejudices; especially: one who regards or treats the members of a group with hate-red and intolerance. 
  • Gamergate: Anita Sarkeesian and feminist frequency tropes vs. women
    • trope overused becomes cliche´
    • Zoe Quinn #BurgersAndFries
    • Dina Abu Karam
    • Corolyn Pitt
    • Brianna Wu
    • Phil Fish - creator of Fez
  • Harassment and Doxing
    • "A few weeks ago our message board and general inbox were bombarded with demands we address something called the "GamerGate Scandal", posts written with the urgency and rage one would associate with, say, discovering that Chipotle burritos are made entirely from the meat of human babies. It's apparently a big deal in some circles, so we followed the links and read the piles of data presented, and had to stop and take a deep breath just to grasp it all. "Gentlemen," we said amid the stunned silence, "do you realize that if what they're saying is true, then this is still the most pointless fucking bullshit anyone has ever forced us to read?" – cracked.com
  • Comicsgate 
    • Marvel women who go for a celebratory trip at Ben & Jerry's celebrating "Fabulous Flo" Steinberg
    • Marvel Milkshakes July 28, 2017
    • New York Comic-con Oct 2017 at marvel breakfast for retailers a few peeved at declining sales, laid the blame on "black", "homo" and "freaking female" comics put out by marvel
    • Since 2015, marvel had a dramatically changed universe, in which the mantles of white straight male characters like Thor and Wolverine were handed to women and the hull had become an asian teenager. 
    • the "comicsgate" movement seems to stand for little more than less diversity among comic creators and characters.
    • in the end, comicsgate looks like little more than a reaction to an eroding of what is perceived as white, male privilege with economic arguments that are ignored
    • Captain marvel box office: as of march 18th 2019, $266 domestic, $760 million worldwide, over 2 weekend already the 13th most successful film.
  • Toxic masculinity: “This adherence to traditional masculine ideals and rigid gender roles is linked to increased incidences of depression and suicide in men and to violence against women, including sexual assault and domestic violence. This is toxic masculinity. It is a type of masculinity that tells men there is only one way to be a man and that man must be dominant, aggressive and devoid of any emotion. It is a type of masculinity that forces men to live within the constraints of rigid and narrow gender roles. It is a type of masculinity that harms women and men.”

  • Philosophers of the Alt Right
    • Julius Ecola anti egalitarian, anti liberal, anti democratic, conservative revolutionary movement
    • Alexander Dugin the foundations of geopolitics vision of a vast Russian dominated eurasian empire
    • Patriarchy vs. Matriarchy
    • Competition vs. Cooperation
    • Nationalism vs. Internationalism
    • Exclusion vs. Inclusion
    • Facism vs Democracy
    • Power vs. Perceived weakness
    • Fatherland vs. Motherland
    • You are either master or slave
  • Men's Power Movement:
    • how can there be a men's power movement that doesn't embrace all modes of being "man"?
    • privilege means default status
    • whiteness remains the cultural default
    • whiteness studies: "A central tenet of whiteness studies is a reading of history and its effects on the present that is inspired by postmodernism and historicism, in which the very concept of racial superiority is said to have been socially constructed in order to justify discrimination against non-white. Whiteness is considered normal and neutral, therefore, to name whiteness means that one identifies whiteness as a rhetorical construction which can be dissected to unearth its values and beliefs. Major areas of research in whiteness studies include the nature of white privilege and white identity, the historical process by which a white racial identity was created, the relation of culture to white identity, and possible processes of social change as they affect white identity." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiteness_studies
    • Virtual reality implications
      • image and objectification
        • are out fantasies focused more on individuals or on stereotypes, subjects or objects?
        • the more stereotypes out fantasies are represented, the easier we can objectify the subjects of them. 
      • Stereotype and intimacy
        • intimacy requires specificity and individuality. One can't be intimate with a stereotype.
        • more virtual interactivity seems to require more individually of representation. the more individually the more potential for intimacy.
      • Stereotypes abet violence
        • violence is easiest to perpetrate on stereotypes 

    In my opinion, the use of stereotypes in comics aren't such a bad thing to a certain extent. I mean if it's racism there is a certain extent to that. Comics are different from animations because in a comic it is one or two people working on it (which can be one or two white people) compared to an animation which are multiple people, including creative director, director, writer, producer, and so so many more people. So, if it is a white person writing jokes about black people, especially in a stereotypical and rude way, I think that it shouldn't be allowed. Possibly in the past it has been allowed, but things like being a slave owner was allowed in the past, does it mean that since it was okay back then then it should be okay now? NO! Of course not!! But, if someone is making a stereotype about a fat person, and saying they're heavy and making a slight joke about that sort of thing I think it is okay. I think especially in this day and age, people tend to get very very touchy about subjects, and we are at the day and age of 'labeling' which personally I hate, because I really don't like having to explain myself.





    Comments

    Post a Comment

    Popular posts from this blog

    The Arrival - Shaun Tan

    -
    The Arrival Shaun Tan The Arrival  by Shaun Tan is a very interesting story, told in a comic. The reason why this works so well, is because although Tan does not use any descriptions or any of the characters speaking to one another. This comic worked particularity well because it was very cinematic as well as animatic. Going scene by scene, and sometimes as detailed as frame by frame. In a sense, it can be seen as a silent film – they usually did not have to have dialogue between the characters, it was all inaudible. The majority of how this story worked out was as the saying goes, ‘actions speak louder than words’. So, whenever you’d go to the next frame it would be in a very sequential way of looking at how the story is being played out. Tan even shows the characters in a very close up scale, showing the emotions on their faces and how they react with each other as well as the environment around them. Even the way that Tan would illustrate the...
    Read more

    Week nine: Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

    -
    Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi Persepolis is about a girl's childhood and adulthood of growing up in Iran during the Islamic revolution which came out in France. I didn't read the novel first, it's interesting, I actually watched the animation of it about three years ago. It's interesting because the graphic novel is non-fiction and brings out the life of how the author's childhood was – especially being in black and white, I thought that it gave the book the essence of the time of when she was a kid, as well as the environment and the event that was taking place during that time. I linked with this because although I did not personally go through it, I had family members and people I knew who went through the same things the author went through at this time. Such as, repression, warfare and loss. Because I grew up in the Middle East, but in a country that did not go through such tough circumstances such as Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Egypt, Libya and Oman. There ha...
    Read more

    Understanding Comics - Scott McCloud

    -
    Understanding Comics  Scott McCloud  I really enjoyed Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics  because I used to read comics as a kid as well, but I too asked the same questions as this comic had in it. I loved how this comic was very successful by explaining as well as questioning comics as a comic medium itself, to make it more interesting. There were many topics discussed in this comic and explaining the fact that we can use each panel to our advantage to tell stories in immense detail even with just a couple of panels. McCloud discussed the different aspects of storytelling through symbolism, the exchange of information and visual imagery. It's great how he explains how classic comics have a certain structure to them as well as analyzing how those structures can be tested and changed. He also touches bases on both fiction and non-fictional concepts through the comics and how they have symbolic elements that help create these works. In this comic he shows these id...
    Read more