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Racism In Hairspray

1335 Words6 Pages

Media is a powerful tool in our society that defines and dictates how people should view, think, and act on a wide range of topics, including racism. In the 2007 version of Hairspray, the movie confronts a few issues facing society during the 1960’s. The belief in this movie is that recognizing the different color of someone’s skin on television is a change society does not need. The racial influence and impact on society is still determined by the media, even in today’s times. Right after the Civil Rights Act of 1960 allowing African Americans the right to vote, African Americans throughout the United States were still perceived as being inferior to white Americans. As if nothing had changed and segregation was still in place, Hairspray …show more content…

When the shooting became national news, George Zimmerman was put on trial. The media tried to create friction between races, including NBC which “got caught editing police evidence in their news broadcasts in the Trayvon Martin shooting in hopes of triggering a race war within the United States” (Seraphim). Most media outlets create lies or stretch the truth in order to make money, make a name for themselves, or to sell a story, which is exactly what happened in Trayvon Martin’s case. After George Zimmerman was not going to be prosecuted, media began to spread the decision and their thoughts of the case very quickly, which led to a lot of backlash. George Zimmerman was eventually put on trial for a second time and charged with murder. In 2014 an African American teenager named Michael Brown, was shot in Ferguson, Missouri. Now with a white police officer killing an unarmed black teenager, the media was all over the case. MSNBC and NBP used members of the Ku Klux Klan and the New Black Panthers to create more friction between races by using the two groups as generalizing how black and white Americans think. This another prime example in recent years showing how media continues to promote racial tension and get a rise out of people, especially by using white police officers that shot and killed black

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Summary Of The Film 'Color Adjustment' By Marlon Riggs

477 Words | 2 Pages

In Marlon Riggs’ 1992 documentary film titled Color Adjustment, Riggs, the Emmy winning producer of Ethnic Notions, continues his studies of prejudice in television. The documentary film looks at the years between 1948 and 1988 to analyze how over a 40 year period, race relations are viewed through the lens of prime time entertainment. The film examined many of television’s stereotypes and mythes and how they changed over the years. The one hour and twenty-two minute documentary is narrated by Ruby Dee, the American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and civil rights activist.

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Ever been accused of manslaughter or been called a racist? Well George Zimmerman has, in the Trayvon Martin case. Many people do believe that George Zimmerman is a racist and a murderer. Opinions and facts are all a big part of this case. Obviously George Zimmerman did kill Trayvon Martin, but he still has pleaded not guilty.

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The Shooting Of Trayvon Martin By George Zimmerman

882 Words | 4 Pages

In February 2012 a racial war began. This war was fueled by the bias in the coverage from news broadcasters. This war brought grief, destruction, and unbalance in society. The shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman created unrest in the nation mainly because of the coverage by different popular news broadcasters. This tragedy stretched far beyond a shooting, but became a racial matter.

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Stonewall Riots Rhetorical Analysis

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For example, to an objective viewer, the Kent State University shootings during the Vietnam War clearly dichotomizes the guardsmen and the four students. Selective media coverage tends to show the most radical events in the course of an issue’s arc. Often, broadcast media covers Black Lives Matter and other protests that include or are perpetuated by violent disturbances, while overlooking civil meetings, speeches, and demonstrations. Broadcast media is also often restricted to out-of-context sound bites from certain speeches or conferences when covering them, leaving the public to research for themselves what exactly occurred. To an extent, civil disobedience exposes the bias of the media.

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Newspaper Slant Case

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Why does this have to be a news slant case? Does #BlackLivesMatter need to be a violent protest? Why can’t police stop killing these victims and just punish them in other ways? How can we stop this act of killing and actually have a meaning to #BlackLivesMatter, where they don’t kill Blacks because they truly matter, like everyone else. The limitations to #BlackLivesMatter is that even though many people consider this an important matter, many Journalists’ might be biased and slant it in their own way.

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Summary On Blacklivesmatter: Epistemic Positioning

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In the article, #BlackLivesMatter: Epistemic Positioning, Challenges, and Possibilities author Catherine L. Langford and Montené Speight explained a major social media campaign known as “#BlackLivesMatter”. The movement started after the acquittal of George Zimmerman shooting death of Trayvon Martin in July 2013. The hashtag didn’t start trending or gaining social awareness until multiple violent acts towards black individuals were committed by law enforcement. #BlackLivesMatter represents theories and aims that constitute to historical and contemporary shaming towards African Americans. The hashtag is an attempt to spread social awareness from the actions of habitual violence against all African Americans in America.

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Is Martin Luther King Jr Used In Letter From Birmingham Jail

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Hairspray Analysis

810 Words | 4 Pages

Hairspray the Movie’s Social Messages In the 1988 version of Hairspray the movie directed by John Waters, focuses primarily on the political and social issue of segregation of the African Americans from Caucasians in Baltimore, Maryland during the early 1960’s. The focal issue was the lack of everyday integration of television shows, as African Americans were not allowed to join the white dancers on “The Corny Collins Show” except for the last Thursday of every month known as“Negro Day”. Although the main female protagonist Tracy Turnblad fought for integration throughout the movie, she also established the importance of self-acceptance when it comes to body image. This message is prominent in the story through Tracy’s ongoing acceptance of

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“It's not hard to understand a person; it's hard to listen without bias” (Criss Jami, Killosophy). Media and its bias play a significant role in the novel THE HATE YOU GIVE by Angie Thomas as it showcases the horror and tragedies of black communities: The media shows how biased Khalil’s death is, how it brings negative national attention and how. The traumatic events in the novel THE HATE YOU GIVE by Angie Thomas are identical to real-life scenarios that happen daily in black communities. Media speaks about how difficult it is for black communities to try to get their voices heard due to the lack of information and representation about what truly happens. Media is biased and helps to form negative opinions towards black communities.

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995 Words | 4 Pages

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1179 Words | 5 Pages

While, amongst peers, young men may take the stereotype of “thug” to be a badge of honor, the same stereotype applied from figures of authority can have disastrous results. Eyewitnesses to the Michael Brown shooting interpreted the event much in line with “trained observers” of the brawl at the masquerade ball. The stereotype of police brutality on young men of color lead to witnesses testifying to have seen Michael Brown was shot in the back with “hands up don’t shoot.” Even though this narrative was contrary to forensic evidence, it did not stop the media from further perpetuating the story and reinforcing the stereotypes.

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1587 Words | 7 Pages

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