Film & TV Analysis - Chapter 12

Identity politics
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Terms in this set (41)
Identity politics
Social and political arguments based on some (often essentialized) shared group marker, such as race, gender, or sexuality; more recent thinking about this often seeks to problematize or deconstruct those very categories and binaries inherent within them
Strategic essentialism
When a cultural group overlooks or downplays its own internal differences in order to express a unified critical mass of voices needed to achieve certain goals or effect social change
Image analysis
One of the first ways that minority groups began to critique mainstream representations of themselves; looking through a body of texts to identify underlying patterns of representation and/or stereotypes
Stereotype
A simplified image or trope that reduces any given social group's diversity and complexity onto superficial markers, often derogatory, that come to represent the entire group in some readers' minds
Tom
Stereotype of a black man as a servile house slave or menial worker
Coon
Stereotype of an African American man as a bumbling, uneducated fool
Mammy
Stereotype of an African American female as an overweight, asexual house slave or nanny, dedicated to raising white children and/or helping white people
Mulatto
Outmoded term used to refer to people of mixed racial status; in Donald Bogle's formulation, these people in Western culture tend to be female and are often sources of tragedy for those who interact with her
Buck
Stereotype of the black male as an aggressive, hypersexual threat
Deconstructive genre film
A film that may look like it belongs to a classical genre, but whose thematic myth subverts or inverts that of the classical genre, as in "anti-Westerns" like Little Big Man (1970) or McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
Critical race theoryBroadly, an academic discipline exploring how white supremacy pervades Western culture, and how it might be countered or undoneInterdisciplinaryThe sharing of ideas and methods across differing academic disciplinesJudith ButlerFeminist philosopher known for her work on gender and performativityPerformativityModel of identity based on doing rather than being; as theorized by Judith Butler, identity arises from the acts and behaviors we perform, and is thus always in fluxCultural fictionsTerm meant to problematize the popular narratives a society tells itself about itselfRacialismContinued use of the term "race" as if it were a meaningful biological category, and not a socio-cultural label in need of deconstructionPost-racialTerm used by some (often white, right-wing) commentators to suggest or argue that race and racism no longer play a part in Western politicsHybridityBroadly, a mixture; in contemporary cultural criticism, the term refers to how human identities are always mixtures of various elements (racial and otherwise)IntersectionalityA term used to emphasize how identity is a composite thing, made up of various aspects of social difference (race, class, gender, etc.), all of which combine within individuals in unique and interdependent waysWestern imperialismBroadly, the conquering, colonization, and/or economic exploitation by European nations of vast regions of the globe throughout much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuryColonialismThe practice of settling in and taking control over another country or region of the globe for the goals of economic exploitation and cultural expansionPostcolonial theoryInterdisciplinary academic field that explores the legacy (and ongoing effects) of imperialism and colonialismNeo-colonialismControl of a region or nation not through military force or direct political rule, but rather through economic policies and cultural imperialism; the critique of this is an important part of postcolonial studiesCultural imperialismThe domination of other nations or regions not through colonialism or violence, but through the dissemination of cultural artifacts (texts) that represent and normalize the dominance of one culture over anotherEconomic underdevelopmentTerm referring to the depleted wealth and shattered infrastructure of nations that have been colonized, their wealth and resources having primarily benefited only the colonizing nationFrantz FanonFrench Caribbean psychiatrist and cultural theorist whose writings in the 1950s helped form the bases for post- and neo-colonial theoryDouble consciousnessTerm coined by early African American race theorist W. E. B. Du Bois (1868-1963) referring to how the psyches of black people are split between a central sense of the true (African) self versus a sense of how one is seen within racist, white cultureFirst WorldTerm coined in the post-World War II era, used to refer to the Western bloc nations (and often former colonialists) who practice capitalismSecond WorldTerm coined in the post-World War II era used to refer to the communist bloc nations, primarily China, the USSR, and its satellite nations in Eastern EuropeThird WorldTerm coined in the post-World War II era used to refer to all nations not identified as First World or Second World, including formerly colonized regions of Africa, Central and South America, and portions of the Middle EastThird CinemaTerm coined in the post-World War II era, used to refer to a sort of agitprop (agitation and propaganda) cinema designed to educate and engage its viewers in the political struggle against neo-colonial exploitationFourth WorldTerm coined in response to the "Three World" model to acknowledge the indigenous populations within First, Second, or Third World nationsMicro-regionA term used in contemporary thinking about global cultures, it refers to an area within a national border that maintains a culture distinct from its larger national one; examples include the Basque Country within SpainMacro-regionA term used in contemporary thinking about global cultures, it refers to an area that encompasses many nations that are nonetheless united through similar cultural expressions such as language; the Spanish-speaking diaspora might be considered this when studying Spanish language mediaDiasporaThe spread of a culture across time and space as it incorporates new elements or loses older onesOrientalismTheory developed by Edward Said that suggests the West constructs a fantasy version of the East out of its own repressed desiresEdward SaidEgyptian neo-colonial theorist who coined the term and concept of OrientalismGlocalPortmanteau word combining global and local, referring to a perspective that is simultaneously international and localLesbian feminist separatismSocio-political movement of the 1970s in which many lesbians isolated themselves from gay male culture as well as mainstream feminism, neither of which they felt addressed their concernsRiot grrlBroad term referring to the underground punk feminist movement of the 1990s, addressing the concerns of young women through music, zines, and other forms of political activismPostfeminismJournalistic term of the twenty-first century that suggests the concerns of second wave feminism have been addressed and rectified; this discourse often focuses on the alleged choices open to middle class white women (eliding issues of race, ethnicity, sexuality, class, etc.)