mainstream culture Category Archives
How Much Is Your Name Worth?
Published on 26 Sep 2006 at 1:28 pm.
13 Comments.
Filed under racism, academia, mainstream culture.
This’ll be a repeat for those of you who’ve read Levitt and Dubner’s brilliant pop-economics bestseller Freakonomics, but since a relevant line of research contained therein was recently featured on ABC’s 20/20 I figured I’d post about it anyway. The book relates the scholarly work of Harvard econ professor Roland Fryer, Jr. on the commonality […]
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Racially deconstructing Dragon Ball Z
Published on 20 Sep 2006 at 10:09 pm.
11 Comments.
Filed under racism, mainstream culture, television.
For those of you who don’t know, Dragon Ball Z is a long-running popular anime series, heralded by some as the “the greatest action cartoon ever made.” Written and drawn by Japanese manga artist, Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball Z became insanely popular in the United States during the late 90s, early 2000s. If you haven’t heard […]
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A Girl Like Me
Published on 4 Sep 2006 at 10:16 pm.
8 Comments.
Filed under women's issues/feminism, mainstream culture.
A mass email list I’m a part of finally rooted something of value. It appears that a 16 year old girl by the name of Kiri Davis has directed a movie for the Sixth Annual Movies That Matter Film Festival, entitled “A Girl Like Me“. Her movie presents the issues regarding race, images, standards and […]
Slackademics
Published on 31 Aug 2006 at 6:54 pm.
1 Comment.
Filed under mainstream culture, fashion.
Well, no one’s posted all week–I’m busy trying to prep for my upcoming move to Seattle, so I have an excuse. To follow up on Pierce’s post about the $15 kicks, here’s an NYT piece on the advent of “black style” in the high-fashion world and black designers’ place in its pecking order. Digressing a […]
Say it Loud - I’m On “Survivor” and I’m Proud
Published on 23 Aug 2006 at 2:20 pm.
9 Comments.
Filed under mainstream culture, television, entertainment.
Here’s a story to go into the “Huh?” file. CBS announced this morning that its flagship reality show “Survivor,” will divide this season’s competitors (tribes) based on race. The four tribes will be comprised of Whites, African-Americans, Asian-Americans and Hispanic-Americans.
What could possibly go right with this?
At first glance, it appears that this format could cultivate a […]
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Closer to Greenlight?
Published on 5 Aug 2006 at 2:21 pm.
5 Comments.
Filed under mainstream culture, entertainment.
One of the common complaints among African-American filmmakers in Hollywood seems to be that there is not a black Hollywood executive with the ability to greenlight a project. Spike Lee was quoted in Complex magazine as saying:
You go to any studio, the (only) black guy you are going to see is the guy at […]
NY Times slams Museum of African Diaspora
Published on 27 Jul 2006 at 7:13 pm.
10 Comments.
Filed under racism, black culture, mainstream culture.
Last Thursday’s New York Times featured an article critiquing the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco. The article, entitled Anecdotal Evidence Of Homesick Mankind(written by Edward Rothstein), pretty much blasts the museum and its innovative exhibits, disregarding the gougeous architecture and downplaying the museum’s most provocative display -an enormous mural of an African Child, constructed of thousands of smaller pictures- descrbing it […]
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Nursery Racism?
Published on 25 Jul 2006 at 12:28 am.
6 Comments.
Filed under racism, mainstream culture.
How long does it take for the unsavory origins lurking under many of our most well-known cultural artifacts to dissipate? Do they ever?
Until today I remained blissfully unaware of the backstory behind “Eenie Meanie Minie Moe,” that seemingly-random-but-actually-predetermined nugget of doggerel many of us used on the school playground to choose between two […]
An Unlikely Advocate for the Underground
Published on 19 Jul 2006 at 10:56 pm.
4 Comments.
Filed under black culture, mainstream culture.
Today’s edition of Marketplace (on NPR) profiled Wendy Day, the unlikely founder of the hip-hop advocacy organization Rap Coalition. She works to educate young MCs and producers about the often insidious rules that govern the hip-hop business, shops promising young talent to major labels, makes sure they get fair deals if and when they get […]
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Apparently the N-Word Is Family-Friendly . . . Who Knew?
Published on 16 Jul 2006 at 6:22 pm.
2 Comments.
Filed under racism, ridiculousness, mainstream culture.
Caught a disturbing tidbit this afternoon in a report from NPR’s weekly media-criticism program On the Media about Cleanflicks, a Utah company that until July 6th trafficked in sanitized versions of wide-release Hollywood films. (Listen to the entire piece here.) A little background: Cleanflicks had been re-editing such violent and profanity-laced fare as Training Day, […]
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