i think i have a thesis

The Boondocks mocks Nelson’s time periods by sarcastically exaggerating their presence within the show, attempting to combat the typical ways that blacks have been represented on television and catalyzing a new category of black representation which I will name Faux Assimilated Hybrid Minstrelsy. The Boondocks, which exemplifies this category, uses visual and linguistic patterns to display three distinct character types to portray African Americans: 1) Well Rounded black characters, 2) hyper-stereotypical black characters, and 3) white characters with stereotypically black traits. By juxtaposing well-rounded black characters––which were not seen in American media until Nelson’s fourth period (1944)––with stereotypical black characters and stereotypically black white characters, The Boondocks portrays a diverse representation of African Americans and in doing so, demonstrates the falsity of earlier representations of African Americans and suggests that the association of stereotypically black traits with black people is actually a fallacy.

Not an Outline

Argument:

In Aaron McGruder’s The Boondocks, African Americans are portrayed as both unique and rounded characters and as stereotypical caricatures. The viewer can often distinguish between a character’s unique portrayal and a character’s stereotypical portrayal by the character’s eyes, facial expressions, clothing, and speech. The characters within the boondocks mockingly fit into the traditional time period associated black caricatures but their intentional mockery adds a layer of social criticism to the portrayal of African Americans. Some critics think that The Boondocks not a positive force in African American representation. However, because The Boondocks mocks old character norms, and challenges frameworks of black representation, even though black people aren’t always portrayed in the best light, the diversity and uniqueness of their portrayal is a positive message to America that black people do not fit packaged nicely into caricatured roles.

Topic 1: The viewer can often distinguish between a character’s unique portrayal and a character’s stereotypical portrayal by the character’s eyes, facial expressions, clothing, and speech.

Key evidence 1: Eyes from Rhetorical Analysis II

Key evidence 2: Riley’s clothes vs. Dubois’s clothes

Key evidence 3: Speech patterns of the two white “ignorant niggas” (from Synthesis)

Topic 2: The characters within the boondocks mockingly fit into the traditional time period associated black caricatures

Key evidence 1: Angela Nelson’s Time periods (from Synthesis)

Key evidence 2: example time period characters from Nelson

Key evidence 3: Example boondocks characters

Key evidence 4: Characters that don’t fit the mold from The Boondocks

Topic 3: Some critics think that The Boondocks not a positive force in African American representation. They’re wrong. I think it is.

Key evidence 1: DeWayne Wickham’s article about the N word

Key evidence 2: Nancy C. Cornwell’s essay about Boondocks responses

Key evidence 3: Robert M. Entman’s essay about the effect on white viewers

Key evidence 4: Robert Ferguson’s essay showing how The Boondocks is misinterpreted as racist

Key evidence 5: Naomi Rockler’s and Roland Kelts’s international perspective

Dinner Party

I couldn't figure out how to upload my dinner party here so I just loaded it to telesis. Ms. Bates Please take a look at it if you get a chance. It's in the RAE folder called "Dinner Party."

Annotation of Nelson

Angela M.S. Nelson. “Black Situation Comedies and the Politics of Television Art.” Cultural Diversity and The U.S. Media. State University of New York Press, Albany, 1998. 79-87

Nelson argues that because American television programming is and always has been a result of contemporary American politics, the portrayal of African Americans on television is/has been a reflection of these racist politics and views. One of her claims is that “Blacks have appeared in the situation comedy [or sitcom] genre more than in any other television formula” (79). Therefore, she provides a timeline of Black sitcoms as examples of different ways Blacks have been portrayed. According to Nelson, the only reason that Black sitcoms are “Black” is because they have black performers even though the sitcoms do not necessarily “exhibit and African American worldview or a Black philosophy” (80). As evidence, Nelson describes the four time periods that scholar have developed to roughly describe black portrayal in television. Throughout the first three time periods, black portrayal was often a reflection of racist norms or expectations of white television executives and only in the last period did African Americans actually begin to play “rounder and fuller portrayals of Blacks” (85).

This article is useful to me because it clearly defines and categorizes the time periods of black television and the types of television and comedy. With these definitions and sub-categories, Nelson provides me with the jargon to make my claim about my primary source as well as a temporal framework with which to place it. Nelson’s primary argument is valid and sound because it is a sub argument of the more general argument that television is a reflection of current affairs and politics. Therefore to dispute Nelson’s argument, one would have to dispute that America’s current political environment effects television programming. Nelson’s more specific argument that black portray on television has been racist and indicative of a subservient black class is valid because again, to dispute this one would have to dispute the fact that blacks were societally discriminated against. With this as a historical given, Nelson’s article simply gives a technical breakdown and cited examples of otherwise obvious claims.

· Quotation: …“However, more often than not, the cultural contexts of Black Americans are not explicitly evident in Black sitcoms, except when there is an emphasis on Black music, art, and literature as references and the use of Black language and Black verbal art forms.” (80).

This passage illustrates how the common definition of black sitcoms is not actually reflective of “blackness” but rather a pseudo definition that relates more to the races of the actors than to the implications and portrayals within the actual show.

· Paraphrase: Most black sitcoms during the third period were merely a fusion of the hybrid minstrelsy–– portraying blacks as subservient to whites––of the first period and the forced” black power rhetoric” packaged into cultural assimilation that was reflective of the second period. [Original: “The majority of Black sitcoms during this period presented an assimilated hybrid minstrel style by carrying over some of the same aural and visual qualities of hybrid minstrelsy while at the same time appropriating Black power rhetoric (Reid, 1993.” (85)]

This supports the claim I will be making that throughout most of television history, portrayals of African Americans has been racist and indicative of a subservient expectation of black in acting roles. This quote demonstrated how the third period of black television was not a positive development but rather just a combination of the flaws of the first period with the overcompensation of the second period.

Annotation of Nelson

Angela M.S. Nelson. “Black Situation Comedies and the Politics of Television Art.” Cultural Diversity and The U.S. Media. State University of New York Press, Albany, 1998. 79-87

Nelson argues that because American television programming is and always has been a result of contemporary American politics, the portrayal of African Americans on television is/has been a reflection of these racist politics and views.  One of her claims is that “Blacks have appeared in the situation comedy [or sitcom] genre more than in any other television formula” (79).  Therefore, she provides a timeline of Black sitcoms as examples of different ways Blacks have been portrayed.  According to Nelson, the only reason that Black sitcoms are “Black” is because they have black performers even though the sitcoms do not necessarily “exhibit and African American worldview or a Black philosophy” (80).  As evidence, Nelson describes the four time periods that scholar have developed to roughly describe black portrayal in television.  Throughout the first three time periods, black portrayal was often a reflection of racist norms or expectations of white television executives and only in the last period did African Americans actually begin to play “rounder and fuller portrayals of Blacks” (85).  

This article is useful to me because it clearly defines and categorizes the time periods of black television and the types of television and comedy.  With these definitions and sub-categories, Nelson provides me with the jargon to make my claim about my primary source as well as a temporal framework with which to place it.  Nelson’s primary argument is valid and sound because it is a sub argument of the more general argument that television is a reflection of current affairs and politics.  Therefore to dispute Nelson’s argument, one would have to dispute that America’s current political environment effects television programming.  Nelson’s more specific argument that black portray on television has been racist and indicative of a subservient black class is valid because again, to dispute this one would have to dispute the fact that blacks were societally discriminated against.  With this as a historical given, Nelson’s article simply gives a technical breakdown and cited examples of otherwise obvious claims. 

·    Quotation: …“However, more often than not, the cultural contexts of Black Americans are not explicitly evident in Black sitcoms, except when there is an emphasis on Black music, art, and literature as references and the use of Black language and Black verbal art forms.” (80).  

This passage illustrates how the common definition of black sitcoms is not actually reflective of “blackness” but rather a pseudo definition that relates more to the races of the actors than to the implications and portrayals within the actual show.

·         Paraphrase: Most black sitcoms during the third period were merely a fusion of the hybrid minstrelsy–– portraying blacks as subservient to whites––of the first period and the forced” black power rhetoric” packaged into cultural assimilation that was reflective of the second period.  [Original: “The majority of Black sitcoms during this period presented an assimilated hybrid minstrel style by carrying over some of the same aural and visual qualities of hybrid minstrelsy while at the same time appropriating Black power rhetoric (Reid, 1993.” (85)]  

This supports the claim I will be making that throughout most of television history, portrayals of African Americans has been racist and indicative of a subservient expectation of black in acting roles.  This quote demonstrated how the third period of black television was not a positive development but rather just a combination of the flaws of the first period with the overcompensation of the second period. 

Extra Credit: The Writing Center

On Wednesday I attended the Writing Center Workshop on Critical Analysis of a Secondary Source. The workshop began with a breakdown of things to pay attention to regarding a source. This reminded me of the lay of the land worksheet that Ms. Bates Gave us in class except it was much more detailed and grouped the questions into categories. The workshop leader gave us a handout with this information but the main points were to know information about the author and the intended audience, know the rhetorical situation that the source is discussing, and know the claims and evidence in the source. The workshop leader said that it was very important for the reader of your paper to be able to clearly tell the difference between your voice and the voice of your source. Therefore you have to know the aforementioned information in order to properly judge the source and dominate its argument within your paper.

One of the best ways to judge a source is by pinpointing its unstated assumptions. We went through an example of a newspaper article by David Bonetti in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch discussing Washington University architecture. This was helpful because it gave us a real situation where we could judge an article based on its assumptions. The most important thing we learned was how to respond to a source once we had judged it. As Lauren said in her blog, There are three basic ways to respond to sources: Disagree and explain why, Agree but with a difference, and to agree and disagree simultaneously.

This workshop will help me with my Synthesis essay and RAE because I now have practice close reading a secondary source and looking for ways to judge it. I am going to reread my source using the method in the workshop and now I have a template to respond to it. When I annotate my source this weekend, I will use the Workshop handout to respond to it and then base my argument upon that.

Lay of the Land Comment

I found that last assignment to be cumbersome and tedious. While I do think it is important to be aware of all of that information in order to analyze our secondary source, I think that I spent most of the assignment just copying over quotes and information about the author's credentials. I felt like more time was spend actually "doing" the assignment than was spent analyzing and learning the importance of the information. Since the goal of the assignment was to give us a better grasp of our secondary source, I believe that the assignment was a success. However, was there another means to that end? When the majority of time is spent on busy work, it makes the actual analysis feel almost arbitrary. This is not the message that an assignment designed to help should send you.

Lay of the Land: Cultural Diversity and the U.S. Media

Angela M.S. Nelson. “Black Situation Comedies and the Politics of Television Art.” Cultural Diversity and The U.S. Media. State University of New York Press, Albany, 1998

1) Is this a direct conversation or application source? (If you are unclear about the difference between the two, review the “Types of Sources” handout in the Student Handbook.)

This is an application source. The Boondocks Television show didn’t air until 2006 and the comic strip it was based on wasn’t published until 1999. This source was published in 1998, and therefore does not directly discuss either the Boondocks show or comic strip. This source is application source because it chronicles the development of black portrayal in media especially television comedy.

2) What are the author’s credentials in his or her field? (If you are unable to answer this question now with the book in hand, research the author after class—find their profile on a university’s faculty page, search for a self-authored website or a recently published interview, for example).

Editors:

“Yahya R. Kamalipour (Ph.D., University of Missouri-Columbia) is Professor of Mass Communications and director of graduate studies at the Department of Communication and Creative Arts, Purdue University Calumet, Hammond, IN. He has taught university courses at Oxford, England, and Tehran, Iran…board member of the Cultural Environment Movement,” (295)

“Theresa Carilli (PhD., Southern Illinois University) is an associate professor of Communication and Creative Arts at Purdue University Calumet…She has published a book of plas, Women as Lovers: Two Plays (Guernica Editions, 1996). Her work appears in [many famous publications],” (295)

Author:

“Angela M.S. Nelson is an assistant professor in the Department of Popular Culture at Bowling Green State University (Ohio) where she teaches courses on Black popular culture, popular music, television studies, and television situation comedy.” (299)

3) Does date of production affect its relevance to your primary source? If so, how?

As said in question one, the Boondocks Television show didn’t air until 2006 and the comic strip it was based on wasn’t published until 1999. This source was published in 1998, and therefore does not directly discuss either the Boondocks show or comic strip. However the fact that it is published in 1998 is relevant because it is still recent enough to have a historical perspective on the development of Black Situation comedies while still giving a contemporary perspective.

4) Who is the author’s audience? Don’t go for the bland “general” or “academic.” The audience for most scholarly sources is academic, just as the audience for non-scholarly sources is often general. Instead, search the introduction and/or first chapter for clues about the intended audience.

The intended audience of this book is the media and/or those affected by the media. “The papers in this book point to the responsibility the mass media have to facilitate cultural awareness and understanding.” This book categorizes the cultural problems of the media and attempts to offer solutions to these various problems. This books goal is to be a “wake-up call to the American mass media to reevaluate their social responsibilities, to realize their crucial role in American society, and to balance their portrayals of cultural groups.” (xxi)

5) If it is a direct secondary source, does the source extensively or marginally cover your cultural object? If it is a applied secondary source, how will you relate it to your cultural object?

As said in question 1, this source is application source because it chronicles the development of black portrayal in media especially television comedy. This article will primarily help me because it categorizes and explains black comedies into three sub-genres: “domcoms (domestic comedies), actcoms (action comedies), and dramedies (dramatic comedies).” This is helpful because The Boondocks falls into all three of these categories at different points. In addition, the article offers a temporal framework to analyze black comedies. Since my primary source came into existence after the time periods described, I can use this secondary source to compare and contract my new-age source to the older black sitcoms.

6) What discipline (ie. psychology, media studies, women’s studies) is the secondary source part of and how does this inform the kinds of analysis/questions it asks of its primary source?

This is a cross-disciplinary source including media studies focusing on comedy, cultural studies, African American studies, and ethnic minority studies. Since it is cross disciplinary in nature, it may not be as in depth with some concepts but the source is useful because it looks at the nature of black comedies from a multidimensional perspective which is what I will need to do to thoroughly analyze my primary source.

7) Which claims do you find most/least persuasive and why?

One of the most persuasive claims is that Black sitcoms often were not actually “Black” because they did not exhibit any actual Black opinions or philosophy. Rather, they were just considered black comedies because the actors were black and used black vernacular which was supposed to imply a black perspective on situations. However, in actuality, there was no cultural context evident in many of these sitcoms and therefore they should not actually be considered “black comedies.” (80) This claim is very persuasive

Early On: Locating Secondary Sources

Bring the most recently published book you’ve located on your secondary source to class with you. Try to find one that has been published in the last seven years.

Step I. Use the Library of Congress Subject Headings to locate more sources.

In Class: Look at the subject headings listed on the bibliographic information page. In the space below, write down the phrases seem most related to your RAE.

Afro-Americans in mass media

Mass media and race relations––United States

United Status––Race Relations

For Homework:

1. Pull up the book in the university catalog. Scroll down to the related subject headings and browse them. OR type in one of the subject headings that you listed above into a Subject Headings search.

2. On your REA Blog, provide the subject heading that lead you to locating a new book (s). Give the MLA citation information for the new book(s) you located.

Unfortunately, the library search is down so I am unable to search the catalog right now. I’ll search it tomorrow under the subject “African Americans in mass media” which is a derivation of one of my subjects from the library of congress.

Step II. Use the Legwork in the Introduction.

In Class: The introduction or first chapter of a book often reviews the previous scholarship done in the field. Scan these pages of your book and note the titles they give. You may also find this information in the foot- or endnotes for the chapter.

List quotations from the source that state what those sources mean and how they fit into the argument. Give page numbers.

New Source #1 located in context:

Howard Winant. Racial Formation in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1980s. New York, 1994.

“As demonstrated by studies that ask for rankings of ethnic groups, Blacks are generally the most vulnerable, though this varies somewhat by locale and circumstance. Moreover, as Winant³ points out, unlike Whites, African Americans have little control over society’s group identification of them; most are visibly marked as African Americans, and most Whites are hyperconscious of each individual’s racial membership.” (Entman, The Black Image in the White Mind pg. xiii)

New Source #2 located in context:

Donald Bogle. Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies & Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films. New York, 1989

“Growing beyond the myths of genetic racial hierarchy, the current culture rejects the most overt claims of Black inferiority––and this ironically cultivates White impatience and hostility. / The contrast becomes clear when we compare Hollywood’s submissive, jolly Black mammies and uncles of the 1930s or 1940s⁴ with the aggressive Black characters in such films of the 1990s as Independence Day or Jerry Maguire,” (Entman, The Black Image in the White Mind pg. 3)”

For Homework: Check out at least one book that you discovered in Step I or Step II. Write a brief summary 5-or-so sentence summary of the source. Next, describe how it will be useful for your project.

The Source I chose emerged from Step II and is a book by Donald Bogle that examines the stereotypical roles that black actors and actresses were pigeon-holed into as cinema developed. Bogle asserts that the roles black actors were stereotyped into generally fall into the categories of Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, & Bucks. Furthermore, Bogle argues that not only were these the roles that black actors were traditionally stereotyped into but they continued to exist and in fact still exist as the general roles that black actors fill today. Although some black actors have been able to transcend these stereotypes within their role, many must still succumb to these stereotypes in order to get famous or gain employment. Bogle implies that America has not developed as much as it may seem because we are still locked into the stereotypes of the 1940s and 1950s.

Donald Bogle. Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies & Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films. New York, 1989

Secondary Source 5

My fifth secondary source is a book written by Robert M. Entman and Andrew Rojecki analyzing how portrayals of African Americans in mass media affect and influence the common perception of African Americans by white people. The book examines how the white mind works and how it is influenced by culture and media in general. It then delves into a broader discussion of stereotypes and black power in the news and on Prime-Time Television and how that influences the white perception of black people. The book also discusses representations of race in advertisements and movies.

Robert M. Entman and Andrew Rojecki, The Black Image in the White Mind, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2000.

Secondary Source 4

My fourth secondary source is a book written by Robert Ferguson examining the representations of race in the media. The book begins with theories on race representations in general and then builds upon those theories to make claims about race in media culture. Ferguson uses case study examples to make claims about the “anti-racist” tendencies of the media and the normalizations of racial stereotypes resulting from “popular ideological support” in mainstream culture. An interesting reason that I chose this source is that it was written in England. I believe that an international perspective on race relations will add a larger context for my examination of race relations in America.

Robert Ferguson, Representing ‘Race’, Oxford University Press, New York, 1998

Secondary Source 3

My third secondary source is a compilation book edited by Yahya R. Kamalipour and Theresa Carilli examining how the culture of global society in influenced and impacted by portrayals of diverse populations in various forms of media. I will be focusing on different sections within this book including the minority portrayal in cartoons, black comedy, and ethnic humor. The section discussing minority portrayal of cartoons compares modern and early representations of ethnic minorities in newsprint and other cartoons. The section on black comedy chronicles how black situational comedy has developed through different periods: “hybrid minstrelsy, assimilationism, assimilated hybrid minstrelsy, and simultaneity and diversification” (81). The section on ethic humor discusses how group identity is established through various forms of “in-group” vs. “out-group” humor (135).

Yahya R. Kamalipour and Theresa Carilli, Cultural Diversity and The U.S. Media, State University of New York Press, Albany, 1998

Secondary Source 2

My second secondary source is an article by DeWayne Wickham responding to the controversial Martin Luther King Jr. episode of The Boondocks in which the civil rights leader return to speak to black people and in his disgust, uses the N-word. The article argues that McGruder crosses the line and that Martin Luther King Jr. would never have used the N-word in a speech addressing black people. Wickham compares the use of the N-word to other pejorative words such as “kike” and “wetback” in order to make a point that the word should not be used, especially by icons such as Martin Luther King Jr. In addition, Wickham states that this is a “dangerous gambit” for a mixed race audience who may miss the greater point of the episode and rather get hung up on the N-word.

DeWayne Wickham, “'Boondocks' steps over line in its treatment of King,” USA TODAY, January 31, 2006, Pg. 11A

Secondary Source 1

My first Secondary Source is an Article by Naomi Rockler from a volume about Studies of Media. The article documents a study comparing two cartoons that focus on African Americans in middle class life: Jumpstart and The Boondocks. Rockler proposes that Eurpoean Americans enjoyed Jumpstart better because of its lack of focus on raical issues while African Amreicans, although critical, enjoyed the Boondocks better because of it's more accurate representation of African American issues. To account for this discrepancy, the rest of the artical chronicals a study conducted by Rockler to analyze the "terministic screens" that people use by which to view these cartoons. She concludes that both European Americans and African Americans interpret these cartoons through a lense of relevancy.



Rockler, Naomi (2002) 'Race, whiteness, "lightness," and relevance: African American and European American interpretations of Jump Start and The Boondocks', Critical Studies in Media Communication, 19:4, 398 - 418

Five Minutes of Fame in Class Handout

Big Claim: Once black people enter the realm of a “Nigga Moment,” they no longer have control of their destinies but rather become pawns controlled by the self destructing cycle that ultimately results in a battle that cannot be won.

Sight becomes a limitation for black people who cannot see the bigger perspective.

· “He knows my every move, yet he cannot see”

· “As my mind tries to make sense of the impossible, he’s turned my sight into a liability.”

· Huey is destined to lose the fight, because he has choose to fight an unbeatable foe

When observed from the outside, a “Nigga moment” appears absolutely ridiculous and embarrassing for everyone involved. However, when trapped within, it seems like the only option

· “A private Nigga moment shames you. A public nigga moment shames the whole race”

· “You know, we could all be reading a book right now”

The only way to win is by not fighting, by not letting the “Nigga Moment” control you

· “Granddad the only way to win is not to fight.”

· Stinkmeaner actually was not the blind samurai but rather a blind old man who had gotten lucky. Now because he and granddad got controlled by the “Nigga moment,” stink meaner was killed.

The Boondocks - Grandad's Fight

"Blind Samurai"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3hVapJbft4&feature=related


"Grandad's Actual Fight"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wxzx3jB_jXY

3) Looking back at Audition

Before my one-on-one meeting, I was completely torn between my two sources. I felt that the two sources were equally as interesting but discussed different content. “The Beautiful Struggle” portrayed the connection between the individual struggle and communal struggle of black people living in the ghetto. “The Boondocks” portrayed the cycle of self destruction that black people find themselves caught in. After my one-on-one and during my 15 minute auditions I realized that the reason I was completely torn between the two sources is because both sources were actually saying the same thing. Although they used different methods, both sources were displaying the struggle of black people as a result of the lack of positive options that they have. Either as a cycle that black people get locked in, or a structured social inequality, black people have to struggle to make the best of the bad options that they are given.

If anything, this realization only makes it more difficult to choose between sources. Now, not only are they equally interesting, but they also break down to the same social message. Since, I feel that I could analyze and write about each one, I am unsure how to decide. Perhaps I should choose the source that is easier to analyze. I feel like the album closer lends itself to rhetorical analysis because it is mostly text based. However, the television show has more content to analyze because there are more dimensions of activity taking place. If anyone has any idea on how to decide, please let me know.

2) Audition

Talib Kweli Beautiful Struggle

One of the key songs on the album is track 7, “Around My Way,” featuring singer/songwriter, John Legend. The song begins with John Legend singing the chorus. The chorus focuses on the sadness of the hood, as it speaks about “corners filled with sorrow,” and “streets filled with pain.” Since these words are the first descriptive words of the song immediately following the opening repeated line, “Around my way,” the song begins with a sad overtone. The words “sorrow” and “pain” are both negative feelings. Pain is a physical negative while sorrow is an emotional negative. Since a city system is composed mainly of cross hatching streets, joining at corners, this implies that the city is mostly a negative place to live. “All the streets are filled with pain.” At the intersection of pain, lies sorrow, a more abstract pain of the soul. Since pain and sorrow are seemingly ubiquitous in this place described, a tone of loneliness and isolation is presented. Nothing exists except pain, and sorrow, therefore there is nothing to live for. This opening chorus begs the question, why continue living when all that exists is pain and sorrow? For people living in the ghetto, the options are all bad. When one has to choose between pain and sorrow, there is not much to live for.

The Boondocks

Episode 4 of season 1 of “The Boondocks” opens with a scene illustrating the concept of a “Nigga Moment.” The scene opens with a partially cloudy bright sky and closes in towards a cityscape looking over a river with sailboats gliding downstream. There is soft piano music playing in the background that acquires a tambourine beat and a snare at the scene shifts in on a walking stoplight that shifts from red to green. The music and scenery reflect a serene tone of calmness and peace. At the green light, white people begin walking across the street and everything is busy yet still peaceful. Two gangster-looking black males then walk across the street and collide shoulders, knocking the headphones off of one man, and causing the other to drop the object he was holding. Immediately the music stops and the shoulder collision is repeated three times in a row. The atmosphere is no longer peaceful and all sense of calmness has ceased. At this moment when the two black males collide, the scene only focuses on their faces, leaving the rest of the city to the background. There is no peace, no calm, no safety, only the moment that the two men have found themselves caught in. Now that the men are caught in this “Nigga Moment,” they have only two choices back down and lost their respect or kill each other.

1) Patterns

Talib Kweli Beautiful Struggle

The Revolution, navigation, rising up, “I try,” “beautiful struggle”

Personal and communal struggle, religion, pointless struggle, beautiful, religion dying

Church, personal relationship with god, personal struggle, relationship expectations

Where is spiritual guidance

“Around my way,” limited choices pimp = reverend, niggas = American, role reversals

A description, “let me paint a picture,” “Ghetto Show” the aesthetization of the ghetto

The Boondocks

“Nigga Moment,” “Grandfather’s fight,” cycle of self destruction, trapped in the cycle

“blind leading the blind,” “stupid killing the blind,” two old men

Anime, cartoon, different from other black cartoons, animation is a fight, child violence

Parenthesis, break in flow, “nigga moment” 3 terms, child narration, self awareness,

lack of self control, locked in to a decsion

after carefully listening to the blackstar album and subsequently listening to another talib kweli album entitled The beautiful struggle, I decided that the beautiful struggle is a better cultural object. Although the album itself may not have as many cultural implications, the lyrics of the individual songs speak to me on another level. Therefore, my two cultural objects are now narrowed down to either the beautiful struggle or the boondocks.

My Other Primary Source is the rap album, BlackStar, by Talib Kweli and Mos Def. This is the first mainstream album put out by either artist. Both artists previously were underground artists and this album catalyzed their emersion into the mainstream. It is an incredible album because the lyrics have the skillful creativity and rebelliousness of underground rap but the production is of a high quality mainstream standard.

One of my primary sources is the television series, The Boondocks. This is one of the only cartoon series that primarily portrays black people with a special focus on the world through the lens of two black children. The witty social criticism mixed with a running commentary on black America makes this show incredibly entertaining. It was based off of a comic strip with I would definitely use as a secondary source.

My other primary source is a chain necklace with a Jewish star hanging from it. The necklace was a present for my bar-mitzvah and I subsequently purchased the Jewish star to hang from it. The Jewish star is a reflection of my Jewish identity and I wear it proudly to display my Jewish roots. It connects my to a 6000 year legacy of people who ceaselessly overcome the odds.

One of my primary sources is a pair of Air force ones. Air force Ones are Nike basketball shoes that were some of the earliest basketball shoes made by the company. Recently they regained popularity and new versions of the classic shoe were released in a variety of alternative shapes and sizes. It is important to me because it lets me know that my sneakers are reflective of a legacy of urban basketball footwear. In addition, they are extra fly.

Blog 1: Interview

I interviewed a student whose primary source was a film entitled “Last King of Scotland.” His film had cultural and social implications as well as critique. He recommended that I find a cultural source that also had implications and critique. This is a given level of interpretation that can catalyze further analysis. He suggested that after I find the significance of this first level of implications, I should ask “what is the next level of significance?” I should look for a source with many levels of interpretation and analysis. Some other advice he gave me was to talk to my instructor a lot and go to the writing center a lot. When talking about the semester long project, my interviewee had some seemingly obvious advice. He said to take all the small activities leading up to the research paper very seriously. Often the assignments are small enough to bullshit. However, if I take them seriously, it will make the research paper easier in the end. Another obstacle he had was a change for his original plan. Because of the constraints of the assignments, he couldn’t do what he had originally planned. His advice was to carefully analyze the cultural text before choosing the paper topic. He said “let the cultural text speak to you.” He also recommended being open about secondary sources, paying special attention to the source in the synthesis essay.