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A Country of Exclusion (Economic Examples (Brands and their Logos…

- - - - Black Panther
        
        Black Panther is considered to be a breakout movie for representation seeing as the cast is almost 100% black.
        
        Setting
        
        Wakanda, where the movie is set, is a technologically advanced and developed country hidden in Africa. The strength of a city in Africa helped break down stereotypes because when people think of Africa its not usually for their successes. Setting the story in Wakanda positioned the world and the rest of the country in need of help FROM the people of Wakanda instead of the other way around.
        
        Genre
        
        Black Panther not only being a superhero movie, but one that Marvel produced meant its representation and morals were more wide spread. Thousands of Marvel fans anticipate each new movie release, there was already a strong fan basis and people who would watch and be impacted by the movie. The fact that it's a superhero movie is also important because it shows that not all superheroes are white and in fact one of the more powerful ones now in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is black. This not only gives a role model and a superhero to look up to for young generations of black boys AND girls, but it also makes a positive stance against the underrepresentation of black people in movies and in major and diverse roles.
        
        Strong female characters and family ties
        
        Shuri is the King's little sister who is basically the brains behind Black Panther, she designs all of his technology. This representation of a young black woman working in a lab and successfully producing high-tech gadgets is inspiring. It's also admirable the relationship that the brother and sister have, they're clearly close and love each other.
        
        Okoye is the head of the King's security team which is composed 100% of female warriors like herself. She is featured winning many fights and fearlessly leading her team into battle.
        
        Nakia who the Kings is in love with is a spy and warrior for Wakanda and not only do we see her undercover, but also fighting along side the Black Panther.
        
        Conclusion
        
        Black Panther was a success in bringing major representation of the black community into the international spotlight. "Without question, the film holds a special significance for members of the African diaspora, but it also provides a glimmer of hope and inspiration for racial minorities across all backgrounds."
        
        Why Black Panther’s box office success matters
        
        In a capitalistic sense, the supply of super hero movies featuring black people as the lead character and to have all the characters be strong African people is extremely low. Black Panther filled this gap in representation, but it cannot stop there because now the demand is even greater! Audiences have gotten a taste of powerful representation and want more of it, especially for the younger generations and those who don't want their kids to grow up like they did, without seeing anyone like themselves on screen.
        
        Otherness
        
        As mentioned many times Black Panther's role in representation is astounding, but what this branch of the map is attempting to display is that it hasn't created a sense of otherness. In fact, one of the only white cast members works very closely with Black Panther and is seen sacrificing himself for the sake of Wakanda and the world. Initially there is a divide between Agent Ross and the people of Wakanda, but they help each other and the divide is bridged. This scene and aspect of the movie as well as the morals that the movie itself promotes creates a sense of togetherness instead of "otherness".
        
        On the other hand, the fact that 2018 was the first year that we saw this kind of all encompassing representation stands testament to the sense of "otherness" created in the US in the past. The utter lack of representation within Hollywood has been a reoccurring issue that Black Panther combats, but has not solved by ANY means.
        
        In a 2016 study by USC, titled "Inclusion or Invisibility? Comprehensive Annenberg Report on Diversity in Entertainment," they found just one-third of speaking characters were female (33.5 percent), despite the fact that women represent just over half the population in America. Just 28.3 percent of characters with dialogue were from non-white racial/ethnic groups, though such groups are nearly 40 percent of the U.S. population.
      - Crazy Rich Asians
        
        All Asian Cast
        
        This was the first movie in 26 years, since Joyluck Club was released in 1993, to feature an all asian cast. Asian representation in Hollywood in LONG overdue especially because asians make up almost 6% of the entire American population. The film has been celebrated for it's all asian cast and box office success.
        
        Criticisms
        
        Gender pay gap
        
        The recent exit of Adele Lim over her heavily decreased salary compared to similar male writers has tainted the work that Crazy Rich Asians has done for representation and in essence equality.
        
        Asians all portrayed as rich and extravagant
        
        The plot of Crazy Rich Asians is an interesting story about the elite of Singapore and their feelings towards Rachel Chu, the American girlfriend. The movie constantly shows lavish parties, sparkling gowns, expensive houses and cars and basically the riches of the upper-class. This representation of the majority of asians as rich can be seen as generating a stereotype and huge generalization of all asians being wealthy, which is not the case.
        
        Only certain types of asian heritage shown
        
        Ethnicity of Cast Members. Constance Wu-Taiwanese: Henry Golding-English-Malaysian: Gemma Chan-English-Chinese: Lisa Lu-Chinese-born: Awkwafina-Chinese and Korean: Michelle Yeoh-Han Chinese (Hokkien): Ken Jeong-Korean
        
        Some critics have pointed out that the cast is mainly light skinned and East Asian. The fact that the so called "landmark" movie for asian representation in Hollywood has only certain types of asians in the lead roles could be a testament to how the hype and high expectations of a movie could outshine it in actuality, but it's also an example of representative shortcomings.
        
        “It is diverse when you look at it in the scope and context of Hollywood, which is predominantly white, but in terms of representing all of Asians and Asian Americans, it doesn’t hit that mark. It is a very specific story to a specific enclave, and even within that enclave, a specific class of that enclave.” said Nancy Wang Yuen, chair of Biola University’s sociology department.
        
        Conclusion
        
        Cast Of ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ On The Importance Of Diversity
        
        While the expectations for an all asian movie were high and one movie cannot possibly represent all asians, Crazy Rich Asians is a beacon for asian representation inside of Hollywood. It's received critical acclaim for acting, best comedy, set design, and costume design, so the success of it is also a good indicator of how desperate audiences have been for fresh perspectives and a greater breadth of representation.
        
        Similar to Black Panther, the supply of asian representative films is extremely low and now the demand is even higher since Crazy Rich Asians has brought even more awareness to the lack of representation and diversity within Hollywood. In a capitalistic sense, Romantic Comedies are usually crowd pleasers and the producers recognized that it was time for more asian representation across all genres, so they took advantage not only to make money but to also make a statement about the need for representation.
        
        Another parallel to Black Panther is the fact that it took 25 years after the first film of all asian cast for this to recreated is a testament to the faults within Hollywood and its influential ability to create a sense of "otherness". In an abstract sense, the fact that this movie was so groundbreaking is another example of how the history of the US has been exclusionary.
      - The Princess and the Frog
        
        Tiana was a groundbreaking character in the Disney franchise seeing as she is the first African American princess! The movie was released in 2009 and had a gross revenue of 267.05 million dollars .
        
        Now for the 23.5 million black females living and growing up in America, they had a Disney Princess that looked like them and they could dress up as. Of course, since the movie was groundbreaking in the idea it had high expectation set upon handling Tatiana's culture , language and physical attributes.
        
        Criticisms: Unfortunately, before the movie was even released the movie was under attack ...for good reasons.
        
        The Prince is voice by a light skinned Brazilian man, which drew criticism “Disney obviously doesn’t think a black man is worthy of the title of prince,” Angela Bronner Helm “His hair and features are decidedly non-black. This has left many in the community shaking their head in befuddlement and even rage.”
        
        The setting of New Orleans is also intensely scrutinized due to the history of discrimination within the South . More specifically New Orleans has a brutal history of racism including the New Orleans Massacre in 1866 when 286 people were killed and 46 were wounded. Disney's choice to set the movie in this city and brings pits history and is seen as a insensitive choice.
        
        While it cause for celebration that Disney has finally chosen to showcase an African American princess, the fact that she is on screen as a frog for the majority of the time is questionable.As well as the fact that Tatiana's best friend is a RICH WHITE girl who while being kind and helpful to Tatiana is still yet another example of white upper class.
        
        Conclusion
        
        Disney's doesn't have the best history of representation in their films, with racist aspects in Dumbo, The Jungle Book and Mulan, and I'm sure they were trying to chip away at that with this film.
        
        In 2009, Obama was became the first black president of the United States of America which was a groundbreaking and record setting event. Disney also joined this wave of representation and provided millions of young black girls a princess of their own.
        
        In regards to creating a sense of "otherness" this movie is symbolic of powerful and pretty black women, but also has issues with keeping Tatiana inside the lines of certain stereotypes. By promoting these stereotypes, like working a minimum wage job, Disney does build a sense of "otherness" and keeping racial groups, specifically African Americans, within certain boundaries.
      - Hidden Figures
        
        Breaking Down Racial and Gender Stereotypes
        
        Set in the early 1960's in the South during the Space Race against Russia, three black women working at NASA and their pivotal roles in helping the USA into outer space are featured. In the 1960's racial discrimination was still a large part of America due to the fact that segregation was STILL legal. The film features these insanely smart women who broke down racial stereotypes by proving they are just as smart (if not more so) than their white male counterparts
        
        Although this isn't a princes or superhero movie, it gave African American girls strong female leaders to look up to. These strong characters need to be more in the spotlight and not solely conformed to small Hollywood parts.
        
        The fact that the movie was BASED ON A TRUE STORY and that Hollywood decided to highlight it and it becoming a major success (with 236 million dollars in gross revenue) is a step in the right direction for black representation. Audiences appreciated the fact that these women are real and historic testaments to the falsity of stereotypes.
        
        Throughout the film it deals with America's history of "otherness" and how these three women and their unmentioned colleagues made major dents in stereotypes of the day. The movie is a testament to media's ability to promote or attack stereotypes and is a positive example of the latter.
    - - (#)OscarsSoWhite became a popular hashtag after the nominations for the 2016 Oscars were announced due to the extreme lack of representation among the nominees.
      - This case study of the Oscars in particular is important to acknowledge how the lack of representation within the film industry is shocking and still very much an issue. The academy award is a highly coveted award and is the dream of many actors and actresses, but to be excluded year after year due to the color of you skin or heritage is devastating.
        
        This is a prime example of how the film industry and America as a whole generates the idea of "otherness". People of color aren't included in the consideration for esteemed awards for their hard work. The film industry is extremely influential and if it isn't actually representative of the country's population, it can create negative and detrimental ideas through its audiences.
- - - - Since 1889, Aunt Jemima has been the face of pancake mix and other baking products.
        
        Similar to the Uncle Ben brand, the black woman featured on the boxes is referred to as "Aunt" because in the 1800's it wasn't seem fit to call African Americans Mr. or Mrs. as that would elevate their social status.
        
        Also similar to the Uncle Ben brand, Aunt Jemima received an update to her appearance. The headscarf disapeared and was replaced with a string of pearls to bring the logo into modern times.
        
        "In Southern lore, mammies were matronly black female domestics who doted on the white families they served and cherished their role as subordinates. She was smiling, obese, and wore a headscarf fit for a servant."
    - - "Uncle Ben" has been the face of Mars' rice brand since 1946 when it was named after a rice farmer in Texas who was known for his superior rice crops.
        
        "Uncle" likely derives from the practice of whites addressing elderly African Americans as "uncle" and "aunt" during segregation because the titles "Mr." and "Mrs." were deemed unsuitable for blacks, who were regarded as inferior."
        
        In 2007, the head company Mars gave their brand a "facelift" and from then on, Uncle Ben wasn't a rice farmer, he was featured in a suit and bowtie as part of the board of directors. This was a way for the company to bring their outdated logo into the modern times. But it can't be forgotten that the brand has racist roots.
    - - As shown in the picture, the brand's logo features a Native American woman kneeling and holding a tray of butter.
        
        The position of kneeling makes her look submissive and as if she is serving the butter to the customer. The women is commonly referred to as the "Indian Maiden" and has been on the company's products since 1928. The Land O Lands company is based in Minnesota which is historically the land of the Hiawatha and Minnehaha.
        
        "In recent years, writers such as H. Mathew Barkhausen III, who is of Cherokee and Tuscarora descent, have called the image of the Land O' Lakes maiden stereotypical. She wears two braids in her hair, a headdress, and an animal skin frock with beaded embroidery. Also, for some, the maiden's serene countenance erases the suffering indigenous peoples have experienced in the United States."
    - - Kansas City Chiefs
        
        The Kansas City NFL team is facing the same issue as the Washington D.C. seeing as both of their names have roots in Native American history.
        
        "It is difficult to ignore that -- despite Kansas City's official mascot being the K.C. Wolf -- Chiefs fans often cheer on their team in Native American headdresses and perform the Tomahawk chop after impressive plays."
      - The long time mascot of the NFL's and Washington D.C.'s football team has clearly discriminatory roots. The term redskin was originally used as a slur against Native Americans and to have it be incorporated in one of the US's biggest corporations has intense implications.
        
        "The NFL—by far the richest sports league in the world—generates close to $15 billion in revenue, with teams worth an average $2.5 billion."
        
        Many attempts have been made to change the mascots of the Washington D.C.and Kansas City teams but seeing as they're still the mascot, they've failed. This can mainly be attributed to the amount of investment already placed into the team's brand by not just the NFl but companies across the country and in the current capitalistic system, money=power.
        
        The NFL's refusal to change the mascot is a major example of the US and in this case, capitalism's ability to create a sense of "otherness" . What's worse is that by showing Native American's as mascots, it draw a connection between this group of people and pets /animals. This has terrible repercussions by creating stereotypes and gross generalizations .
  - - - Full Commercial
      - Ashton Kutcher was seen in brown face makeup portraying an Indian man named Raj for a pop chips commercial which received backlash, especially from the Bollywood community.
    - - In the photo, a white woman is seen aggressively holding a black woman's face with the words "White is coming". This was an ad for the new PSP white version, but was receipted well due to its intense imagery and clear racist overtones.
    - - The ad depicts a white man with his arms crossed standing over 6 black males in the runners position with the words above his head saying "Multiple computing performance and maximize the power of your employees".
      - The fact that it's a white man, presumably the boss, presiding over black men hunched in submission is evidently a racist statement and hard to look at.
    - - In today's capitalistic society, companies have MASSIVE influence over the social norms and when they promote stereotypes and racial discrimination such as this, it normalizes and almost promotes the behavior. Advertisements are literally meant to sell you something and in these examples they seem to sell you an idea...the idea of "otherness". By displaying this racist behavior companies are choosing to divide society along these racial lines.