Course Description

At the core of the course is the question how feminism has become a demonized and ridiculed “F-word” in an age when issues of gender and sexuality are at the center of constant, often explosive political debates. These debates often connect media representation and political representation but tend to do so in simplistic ways that bypass or distort decades of sophisticated feminist theory and practice. We will trace back such representations through the decades around case studies that encompass film, video, television and new media practices. The case studies come from the United States and beyond, taking into full account the global interconnectedness of media production and consumption as well as the transnational travel of feminist ideas. The main goal of the course is to evaluate how useful feminist thinking is to understanding the relays between media and political representation; and to develop a lasting critical apparatus to analyzing the politics of gender and sexuality in the media.


Sunday, October 27, 2013

The Exploitation of Class Disparity in Here Comes Honey Boo Boo

I was incredibly uncomfortable watching Here Comes Honey Boo Boo in class last Monday. Not because I found the content particularly horrifying, but at the fact that I found myself giggling at the absurdity of the lives depicted on screen. I heard snorts from around the room when Honey Boo Boo would say something particularly amusing or when the family participated in the Redneck Olympics. Only when I realized that the show kept using a shot of train tracks to cut from commercial back to the show did I begin to check my reactions.

There is a definite separation between an "us" and "them" happening in this show as is depicted by the train track. They literally live on the other side of the tracks. i.e. Are socially and economically inferior. We watch and marvel at their way of life that is so distinct from our own. When was the last time any of us went to an auction to buy food and other necessities? Do we ask the etiquette teacher if it's okay to fart at the table? There's even a pregnant teenager thrown in to boot. Skeggs, Thumim, and Wood made a discovery in their research on people who watch reality television: the people watching think of the families on the screen as benefiting from the show economically. Their future is brighter because of it (pg.18). In other words, we watch and laugh at these people, but can rest peacefully because they make a profit off of it in the end.

The issue with this lies in the fact that it creates a larger fraction between people based on economic, social, and cultural identity. When does the family ever make a point of saying they're American? I heard the word "redneck" more than any other identity during the show. They even scoff at the idea of etiquette lessons because that would mean an imitation of a higher economic / social class. We, as the audience, put them into their place and then laugh when they attempt to rise up.

...or the trick could be on me and the family knows exactly what they're doing, effectively making this show the greatest master plan I have ever seen.

-Victoria
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