Mest 4 xmas Task 3

The Birth of a Nation (premiered with the title The Clansman) is a 1915 silent film directed by D. W. Griffith. Set during and after the American Civil War, the film was based onThomas Dixon's The Clansman, a novel and play.

The Birth of a Nation was the highest-grossing film of its day, and is noted for its innovative camera techniques and narrative achievements. It has provoked great controversy for promoting white supremacy and positively portraying the "knights" (male members) of the Ku Klux Klan as heroes.

The first scene shown in the movie is of a black man tied up, his clothing is very torn and he is surrounded by white men. This connotes the power of white supremacy, and the fact that black people then were slaves. Whereas compared to crash, black people are shown to be strong. For example when one of the black characters releases a set of immigrants and gives them money. The film itself follows two halves, post civil war and the introductions of african americans into america.

In Griffith’s version of the postwar era, all blacks who aren’t “faithful souls” team up with carpetbaggers from the North to loot, pillage, and degrade the time-honored traditions of Southern culture. The film follows two main families the Stonemans who live in the north and the Camerons who live in the south and own a plantation of black slaves. This shows a division between the north and south as later on in the movie Austin Stoneman is shown to be a champion of black equality in the south.

During the film there is a cut of two years, and a scene is shown of a black group storming the Camerons house. Again this shows blacks in a negative way, which to a certain extent we can also see in the movie crash.

One President Lincoln is shot, Austin Stoneman and other radical congressmen punish the south for succession (withdrawing from an organisation) Stoneman has a proteage called Silas Lynch, who is shown as a "mulatto", a person with one white and one black parent. They go to the south to observe what has been going on, one there at the election whites are shown being turned away while blacks stuff the ballot boxes. The newly elected black legislature passes laws requiring white civilians to salute black officers and allowing mixed-race marriages.

Ben Cameron is inspired to see white children scaring blacks by throwing bed sheets over them acting as ghosts, this is when he comes up with the plan to make the KKK.

Gus, a former slave proposes to Flora, who is scared by him and runs away. He chases after her aggressively and his actions are shown to be very quick, eg proposing to her. She jumps to her death, as she did not want to be touched by him. Ben finds her and the KKK hunt Gus down, kill him and leave his body on Lynch's door. This shows the KKK in a positive way as they were protecting white supremacy.

When Austin Stoneman is gone, Lynch tries to force her to marry him, and disguised klansmen see her situation and get reinforcements. The klan are shown saving her along with killing many black militia. Again this reinforces the representation of blacks being bad and represents the KKK very positively. Lynch's men are trying to get in the hut where the Camerons were hiding but they are killed by the Klan and the Camerons are saved. The film ends with the KKK celebrating on the street as they manage to stop blacks from voting and disarm the blacks.

Has the representation changed??

Yes and No. In crash we see that an innocent black man has been shot by a white police officer as he was reaching for his pocket. This shows the innocence of the black passenger and represents the policeman negatively as he thought he was reaching for a gun, which is a stereotype. This shows how the representation may have changed, as in A birth of a nation, black characters are shown rioting and trying to force marriages, which result in the KKK killing them and representing the Klan positively.

However, Matt Dillon plays a crooked police man who is touching a black female inappropriately, while her husband does nothing. This shows his power over them and links to the white supremacy in a birth of a nation, as many blacks are shown as slaves to the white man. The representation of the other links to this as in both films blacks are shown to be feminine. eg dancing for their masters in a birth of a nation.

Mest 4 xmas task 2

The Cinema Book, Pam Cook, London, The British Film Institute

"Whiteness is constructed as the norm"

"Such films conventionally oppose the chasity and virginity of white womanhood to the vitality and sexuality of the black women" p361

"Lola young argues convincingly that white and black film makers find it hard to challenge stereotypical images of black women"

These quotes can both be linked to my critical investigation, one states how whiteness is the norm, which is clearly seen in the movie crash.

For example the scene when the police officer is checking the female for any harmful weapons, he does this

very inappropriately however the husband of the female does nothing. This also links to hegemony.

Also the second quote will link, as there are many black females represented in the movie, very stereotypically.

Creeber, Glen (2004) Fifty Key Television Programs New York: Edward Arnold

"Presenting a successful, middle class, African American family, clearly believing in parental authority, male primacy, old fashioned

sexual morales and respect for elders, The Cosby Show." p179

Again this links with my critical investigation, as it shows multiculturalism in a very famous show. However with this quote we can see that

they are not being stereotyped a typical african american family, and are actually going against stereotypical ideologies.

For example a representation of the other is being untrustworthy, but here the family believes in parental authority.

• Sanders, John, The Film Genre Book (2009) Auteur Leighton Buzzard
• Bignell, Jonathan (2004) An Introduction To Media Studies, London: Routledge p122

"The way in which an individuals actions are determined is by social class, economic position and ideologies of gender or race"

This is linked as i can analyse how different characters are shown and how their actions are determined by their ethnicity.

For example i can compare how 2 different characters actions are determined, eg the white cop and the Spanish locksmith.

Sanders. John The Film Genre Book

"Crash is a dramatic movie, exploring the representations of race and ethnicity with a variety of techniques" p130

With this quote i can emphasise the different techniques used in the film itself, eg lighting and camera shots, aswel as

linking to theorists. In order to help explain the different representations and the glamorization of ethnic diversity.

The Cinema Book, Pam Cook and Mieke Bernick, London, The British Film Institute Pg 361

"it is difficult to think about whiteness, because it is often revealed as absence or emptiness"

"Because whiteness is constructed as the norm, it is unmarked, yet it can represent everything.

This property of whiteness is the source of its representational power." (Dyer 1988/1993)

These quotes link as they show what it is that gives whiteness its power in the films. The fact that it can be anything, shows they can do anything, and not be represented in a bad way. For example when the KKK kill gus, or when Matt Dillon inappropriately touches a black female.

Television Stuides The Key Concepts, Bernadette Casey Neil Casey Ben Calvert Liam Frech and Justin Lewis, Routledge, London Pg 191

"lack of minority ethnic workers in the television industry, since one of the problems with fighting stereotypes is gaining access to the machinery that produces the images."

This can be linked to SHEP as it is a common trait, the fact that there isn't many minorities creating the representations of themselves, it is the institution which has a lack of these minorities.

"Marx argued that the ruling class could impose their values and ideas on the rest of the population because of their privileged or political position". pg 117

This can be linked to the film director in the movie crash. He is shown to be a director in control of the representations he is making, however as the institution is run by upper class white men, they make him change some of the characters to a more stereotypical black role, whereas he tried to fight against the stereotype in the film he was directing.

Critical Investigation Quotes and Books.

To What Extent Is Ethnic Diversity and Multiculturalism Ultimately Celebrated In Contemporary Hollywood Movies, With Particular Reference To "Crash".

• Hartley, John (2002) Communication, Culture and Media Studies London: Routledge
• Creeber, Glen (2004) Fifty Key Television Programs New York: Edward Arnold

"Presenting a successful, middle class, African American family, clearly believing in parental authority, male primacy, old fashioned sexual morales and respect for elders, The Cosby Show." p179

• Gerrard, Jones (1992) Honey I'm Home Sitcoms, selling the American dream, New York: St Martins Press.
• Pam Cook and Miere Bernick. The Cinema Book, London: The British Film Institute.

"Whiteness is constructed as the norm"

"Such films conventionally oppose the chasity and virginity of white womanhood to the vitality and sexuality of the black women" p361

"Lola young argues convincingly that white and black film makers find it hard to challenge stereotypical images of black women"

• Sanders, John, The Film Genre Book (2009) Auteur Leighton Buzzard
• Bignell, Jonathan (2004) An Introduction To Media Studies, London: Routledge p122

"The way in which an individuals actions are determined is by social class, economic position and ideologies of gender or race"

• D, Buckingham (1987) Public Secrets Eastenders and its audience London p56

"black and asian characters in eastenders can be critisised of carrying stereotypical roles"

• D, Buckingham, (1996) Moving Images, Understanding Children's Emotional Responses o Television" Manchester: Manchester University Press

"The crucial question is not wether eastenders black characters are realistic, but how the serial invites it's viewers to make sense of questions of ethnicity"

• Sanders. John The Film Genre Book

"Crash is a dramatic movie, exploring the representations of race and ethnicity with a variety of techniques" p130

Current Google Insights trends: Michelle Obama, Tiger Woods

The name of Michelle Obama is the top trending topic on Google Insights on November 30.

Searches for America's first lady, Michelle Obama, peaked on November 25 after searches for the term "Michelle Obama" on Google Image Search returned an image of Michelle Obama morphed with an ape as the top result.

The term continues to rise in search popularity as people heatedly debate Google's search results. Some suggest Google is responsible for promoting hatred and racism by including the image in its results while others claim removing offensive search results would restrict free speech and would promote an "internet dictatorship."

Professional golfer, Tiger Woods, was involved in a car accident on November 27, driving search queries for his name into the second place on Google Insights' list on November 30.

The search terms with the most significant growth worldwide in the last seven days as measured by Google Insights, recorded on November 30 at 9:30 AM GMT are:

1. michelle obama (+3,950%)
2. tiger woods (+1,500%)
3. adam lambert (+1,000%)
4. black friday deals (+550%)
5. black friday (+200%)
6. google wave (+120%)
7. best buy (+100%)
8. black friday 2009 (+80%)
9. walmart (+60%)
10. target (+60%)

Robert Fisk: Reasons for Alec Collett's death remain buried in Bekaa

It's amazing what a body can do. Back in 1986, after Alec Collett's corpse was videoed swinging from a noose – we had to assume this gruesome piece of cinema showed him, for his face was covered – the Lebanese concluded that the British freelance journalist was killed in revenge for Margaret Thatcher's decision to allow Ronald Reagan to air-raid Libya from airbases in the UK. That's what his killers had told us. Three other hostages – an American librarian and two British teachers – met similar fates shortly after the American aircraft had attacked Tripoli and Benghazi, killing scores of civilians including Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's adopted daughter.

But this week, with the help of British intelligence agents – and why they should have been involved, no one, of course, has explained – Collett's body has been recovered in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. And praise has been heaped upon the British as well as the Lebanese government by UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon. So one British Government lets the Americans use British bases to kill Libyans – and another British Government laps up the gratitude of the UN for digging up the victim's body.

The details of Collett's original 1985 kidnapping were almost mundane. He was writing about the suffering of Palestinian refugees in UN camps and was returning to Beirut one March afternoon when he was stopped by armed men close to a checkpoint of the Shia Muslim Amal movement (whose boss is now, quite by chance, the speaker of the Lebanese parliament). Collett's sin appears to have been simple: he was carrying two passports, in one of which was an Israeli stamp – because he had also been visiting refugee camps in the occupied territories.

Teachers Face Institutional racist claims

Black and minority ethnic teachers face an "endemic culture of institutional racism" in schools, research found today.

About half of BME teachers say they have faced discrimination during their careers, according to a study by Manchester University and Education Data Surveys.

And seven in ten BME teachers and school heads believe it is harder for BME teachers to gain leaderships jobs in schools.

The study examined the experiences of more than 500 BME teachers working in state schools in England to analyse how discrimination affected their careers and chances of getting senior posts.

It concluded that the majority of BME teachers did not believe that the teaching profession was inclusive.

"Foremost, and most worrying, it is clear that the incidence of discrimination reported by BME teachers and leaders within the school system is indicative of an endemic culture of institutional racism," it said.

The findings show that male BME teachers cite discrimination as the greatest barrier to their leadership ambitions. Among women it was the sixth biggest barrier.

Almost two thirds (65%) of African teachers said they had been discriminated against, compared with two fifths (40%) of Pakistani teachers and a third (34%) of Indian and Caribbean teachers.

Four fifths of those questioned said they were "very" or "reasonably" ambitious, according to the report, which was commissioned by the National College for Leadership of Schools and Children's Services and the NASUWT teaching union and first reported in the Times educational Supplement (TES) today.

The biggest barrier to promotion for both men and women was workload.

Steve Munby, chief executive of the National College, said: "While there is no doubt that some of those sampled had experienced discrimination, which is obviously unacceptable, this does not mean that the system is institutionally racist.

"Although discrimination on the grounds of race was cited by all as in the top ten barriers to achieving career aspirations, workload and confidence were the first and second most cited barriers overall."

NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates said: "This report reveals the true extent of the problem of racism and discrimination which, regrettably, is still all too pervasive in our schools.

"Systematic ethnic monitoring at local authority and national levels must be undertaken to enable BME teachers' career paths to be tracked and the barriers to their progress on the leadership scale to be identified and removed.

"This research is an important start in unlocking the way in which discrimination operates and should help in identifying what needs to be done to create greater fairness and transparency in the way that teachers' skills and potential are recognised and rewarded.

"Institutional discrimination must not be allowed to flourish. It is robbing the schools of too many talented and dedicated teachers and potential leaders."

A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said: "It is absolutely unacceptable for any teacher to be discriminated against because of their race, age, gender or religion - there's no place for it in any workplace. Local authorities and employers must deal with it by law - no ifs or buts.

"We know there is more to do to break down the barriers stopping black and minority ethnic teachers from achieving their full potential, as the report highlights.

"That is why we are, through the National College, developing training programmes to support promising BME teachers develop leadership skills and encourage them into leadership roles. With Ofsted, we have set up a scheme for BME school leaders to shadow Ofsted inspectors to help boost confidence and increase aspiration to progress to headship."