Grinner, "Hip-Hop Sees No Color"
Having been previously educated on SCWAAMP, I had my assumptions as to how Leslie Grinner was going to exploit this tool in her example with the film Save the Last Dance. I keyed on the basics immediately: troubled, broken black family, all heterosexual relationships, attractive and physically able characters. I almost wish I had read the first paragraph, re-watched the movie, and then finished the article to see what I additionally could have picked up on before reading her examples to see if my take, or reaction to her ideas, would be any different. It has been awhile since I have watched it and I think even still if I were to sit down and analyze it, it would be interesting to see what else I can grasp from it.
I don’t know if it is because I always try to see the glass half full, but I found myself writing little side note comments lightening her harshness toward the attempt made by the producers to show at least an interracial relationship for once. I know there are others, I remember watching Corrina Corrina, and The Body Guard growing up but Save the Last Dance came out when I was a freshman in high school. A prime targeted age to get wrapped up in the stereotypes this film portrayed. However, one remark I had in the very first paragraph, Grinner states “…we learn about Black women’s sexuality or Black men’s materialism through the representations presented to us…”. Maybe if you have never been encountered with a Black person, then maybe I can accept her claim. But, realistically, I think it is safe to say that the majority has their own experiences and perceptions to go off of and not solely constructs their opinions and bias’s from what they see through the media. It really bothered me the way she presented that opinion of hers. I do understand what she is getting at but at the same time, to a reader who is unfamiliar with power of persuasion media has, I feel like she is at fault of the very idea she is defying.
Now, Grinner goes on later to say, “Being able to identify the dominant ideologies present in media, and the ways in which we buy into those ideologies, provides us with a way to either consciously conform to or actively resist them.” This statement was the most powerful quote throughout the whole article. My sisters love watching movies with me for reason stemming from this. I always want to make sure they are as educated and aware of media’s mind games as I can assist them in being. It is important, and I find fun, to be ahead of producers and their tactics and be able to watch something while viewing and reading it at the same time.
Without a doubt I believe that it is important to be aware of how SCWAAMP can be depicted through ways of the media. However, the way Grinner goes about addressing her take is cold and made me resent her comments the further I read. Every aspect she brought up I could understand how it could be taken that way, but it bothered me to wonder if she was trying too hard or over analyzing it. I found myself questioning her, and my own thoughts, on whether or not she is dwelling on the past. This movie at least made progress in its presentation of an interracial relationship... I guess now I seem naive. But when progression gets beat down, it makes me wonder if anything will ever be good enough.
