Tupac and The Black Single Mother

For my research paper in English 102 I needed to select a cultural artifact, such as a movie, television program, or a song and identify a myth pertaining to social identity. The artifact that I have chosen to do this research paper on is the song “Dear Mama” by Tupac. The song “Dear Mama” from Tupac’s album Me Against the World depicts the struggles of the single black mother. The song also addresses his attempt as a young black man to escape poverty and cope with the lack of a father in his life. I will be analyzing different aspects of the artifact and how they relate to social identity.

The aspects of the artifact that I will be analyzing are the lyrics, music video and the album art. The lyrics Tupac uses in his song paint a picture of the black single mother and her struggles. Race is obviously an aspect of the stereotypical black single mother. Another social aspect of the black single mother is class. The class of the single mother as described by Tupac is the lower class. Despite the fact that she works hard to try and support her family she also needs welfare in order to get by. This is evidence by his quote “a poor single mother on welfare tell me how you did it”. Another aspect of social identity of the black single mother that the song addresses is gender. The black single mother is gendered as both feminine and masculine because as well as being her children’s mother she also has to be their father in a way.  

One of the sources I found for my research paper is “A Homegrown Revoultionary”?: Tupac Shakur and the Legacy of the Black Panther Party by Kara Keeling. This journal article is about Tupac’s mothers involvement in the Black Panther Party. The Black Panther party is a black militant organization. Just one month befor Tupac was born his mother Afeni Shakur was acquitted of charges that she was involved in a Black Panther plot to bomb public places in New York City.  The article mentions how Afeni Shakur struggled with drug addiction like other former members of the Black Panther Party.

Another Source that I found is Tupac Shakur: Understanding the Identity formation of Hyper-Masculinity of a Popular Hip-Hop Artist by Derek Iwamoto. Iwamoto discussed the hyper-masculine violent image of Tupac and other rappers of the time.  Iwamoto mentions that in Tupac’s songs “Keep Ya Head Up” and “Dear Mama” he acknowledges his mother’s love and tenderness as well as her commitment to raise him right. Iwamoto also states that “Tupac knew that the stigmatization and preconceived notions about people on welfare are generally based on myth”. According to Iwamoto mothers on welfare are subjected to the “stereotype of the lazy, careless (black) welfare queen. Tupac knew this was not the case as he watched his mother work hard and struggle to get by. His mother needed the additional assistance because she could not get by without it.

In my paper I am going to take what Iwamoto said about the Welfare Queen stereotype and apply it to the lyrics of the song “Dear Mama”. This stereotype is related to the social identity aspects of race, class, and gender. In this stereotype the welfare queen is assumed to be black. The welfare queen is perceived to be a member of the lower class. The social identity of gender is also deeply entrenched in the myth of the welfare queen because in order to be a queen one must be female.

The Mythical Terrorist

September 11^th, 2001 was a day that changed America. That morning terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center towers in New York City by crashing hijacked airplanes into the towers. Another hijacked plane crashed into the Pentagon in Washington D.C. There was a fourth plane that crashed into a field in Pennsylvania when passengers attempted to overtake the plane from the terrorists. On September 16^th 2001 Dick Cheney was interviewed by Tim Russert at Camp David. On September 20^th 2001 President George W. Bush gave a speech to congress about the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Both the president and the Vice President created a mythical terrorist in their responses to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. One facet of social identity at work in this myth is race.

It is clear that the mythical terrorist portrayed as a certain race. The terrorist according to Bush and Cheney are Arab and Islamic extremists. Both Bush and Cheney stress that the enemy is not Muslims or Arabs. George Bush said that “The enemy of America is not our many Muslim friends; it is not our many Arab friends”.  Dick Cheney stated that “this is by no means a war against Islam. We’ve got a great many Arab Americans, for example, who are first class, loyal American citizens” The fact that they stress that not ALL Arabs and Muslims are the enemy suggests that the stereotypical terrorist is an Arab and a Muslim.

Dick Cheney refers to the terrorists as barbarians. Cheney said “I think the world will understand what we have here are a group of barbarians, that threaten all of us”. A barbarian refers to somebody that is uncivilized and unintelligent. Barbarians are cruel and insensitive to others.

The terrorist that was specifically mentioned by both Bush and Cheney was Osama Bin Laden.  Osama Bin Laden is the person that comes to mind when most Americans picture the terrorist. Bin Laden is an Arab man with a long disheveled beard that wears a turban, and robes. For a period of time after 9/11 and perhaps still many Americans were distrusting of and hateful towards anybody that fit this image. There was a belief that anybody that wore a turban on an airplane after 9/11 was going to try to hijack the plan. After 9/11 many Arab Americans and Muslims were subject to hate crimes because they fit the stereotype of what a terrorist should be.

The mythical terrorist as constructed after 9/11 is always a Muslim man. Bush and Cheney tried to stress that not all Muslims are the enemy. Bush stated that “The terrorists practice a fringe form of Islamic extremism that has been rejected by Muslim scholars and the vast majority of Muslim clerics, a fringe movement that perverts the peaceful teachings of Islam”. Cheney shared similar sentiments as the President “The President has been very clear, and it would be a huge mistake for we as Americans that this represents some kind of – or should lead us to some kind of commendation of Islam. It’s clearly not the case. This is a perversion, if you will, of some of these religious beliefs by an extremist group. We have extremists associated with, you know, every imaginable religion in the world.” The president and vice president also state that the Islamic extremist group Al-Qaeda were responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks

The stereotypical terrorist is an Arab man. This man is an Islamic extremist. The mythical terrorist wear’s robes, a turban and have long scraggly beards. He also lives in a cave. The mythical terrorist doesn't own a television or a computer. This is clearly dis-proven by this blog post. The Norway terrorist attacks in 2011 also contradict the mythical terrorist.

Racial Stereotypes in The Longest Yard

            In Living Color: Race and American Culture by Michael Omi explores racism and racial stereotypes in American popular culture.  One of the stereotypes that Omi mentions is a stereotype of black men being physically strong but dimwitted. Omi supported his claim of this racially stereotype with a quote from Al Campanis former vice president of player personnel for the Los Angeles Dodgers on why there were not black managers in baseball at the time, “I truly believe that (blacks) may not have some of the necessities to be, let’s say field manager or perhaps a general manager.” Campanis argued “They are gifted with great musculature and various other things. They’re fleet of foot. And this is why there are a lot of black major league ball players. Now as far as having the background to become club presidents,or presidents of a bank. I don’t know.” This racial stereotype has been played out time and time again in movies and television shows. The stereotype of the physically strong but dimwitted black man is displayed in the 2005 remake of The Longest Yard.

            In The Longest Yard former professional quarterback Paul Crewe is sentenced to jail time for drunk driving and belligerent behavior. Upon his arrival at the correctional facility Crewe learns that the warden has a semi-pro football team. The players on this football team are former college football players that became prison guards to play for the team. The warden pulled some strings to get Crewe sent to his prison with hopes that Crewe could help make his football team better. Crewe  tells the warden that in college they would have a “warmup game” against inferior competition to get the teams confidence higher. The Warden likes this idea and makes Crewe assemble a team of prisoners to face the guards in a game to raise the guards’ confidence.

The character in The Longest Yard that embodies the physically strong dimwitted black man is Switowski. Switowski is played by former MMA fighter Bob Sapp. Switowski is 7 feet tall and incredibly strong. The first time that we are introduced to Switowski he is lifting a bleacher filled with other prisoners. After witnessing his strength, Paul Crewe and his best friend Caretaker recruit Switowski to join their football team. When Crewe and Caretaker are recruiting Switowski it is fairly evident that he is not very intelligent. Switowski’s intelligence level and mannerisms are very similar to those of a child. When they are recruiting Switowski for the team it is revealed that he doesn’t know how to read. Switowki asks Crewe and Caretaker “Will you teach me to football?” The two men agree to teach Switowski “to football” and join the team, he becomes so excited and happy that he gives Caretaker a hug and lifts him right of the ground with ease.  Switowski is portrayed as a very childlike character throughout the movie. Switowski speaks in a very child like uneducated manner. During football practice Switowski is kicked in the helmet by a teammate which breaks his nose. Switowski starts crying and yells “He brokeded my nose!” he then tells Crewe “I don’t wanna play anymore.” Crowe is able to calm Switowski down and reset his nose. After Caretaker tells Switowski his nose looks like a young Michael Jackson’s he exclaims “I love little Michael!” In this situation Switowski’s mood quickly shifted from crying and upset to happy and excited, like a young child. In one scene Switowski is eating cake with his hands like a child would do at their birthday party.

Switowski’s size and brute physical strength make him a very important player on the team. Swikowski is easily the strongest player on the football team. During the game when one of the guards is talking trash to one of Switowski’s teammates. Switowski’s teammate tells him the racist things that the guard had said earlier in the movie and Switowski becomes enraged. On the next play Switowski hits the guard so hard that the guard shits his pants.

Switowski is a perfect representation of the stereotypical physically strong yet dimwitted black man. The Longest Yard is not the only movie that employs the stereotype. Another movie that relayed on this stereotype was the Green Mile. This is just one of the many racial stereotypes that are prevalent in American  popular culture.

The Beauty Myth

            This advertisement for Covergirl is a perfect representation of The Beauty Myth as described by Naomi Wolf in The Beauty Myth. According to Wolf what we as a society would consider beautiful is in fact just a cultural myth. In our society women strive to achieve an idealized beauty.  This advertisement for Covergirl featuring Taylor Swift is a good representation of the beauty myth because it covers all facets of the beauty myth. It is a make-up advertisement and it features Taylor Swift, who is young, skinny and beautiful.

            What is considered beautiful in our society today is not the same as what is considered beautiful in the past. Marilyn Monroe who was believed to be one of the most beautiful women in the world would be considered chubby in today’s society. This is evident by comparing Marilyn Monroe to one of the current supermodels Gisele Bundchen. It is evident that being skinny is valued much more in the modern representation of beauty than it was fifty years ago. Wolf stated in The Beauty Myth that “thirty-three thousand American women told researchers that they would rather lose ten to fifteen pounds than achieve any other goal. Knowing this it is obvious why a company attempting to sell a beauty product would choose a skinny woman like Taylor Swift to promote their product.

            Taylor Swift is also young which contributes to her beauty according to the beauty myth. Wolf states that “Youth and (until recently) virginity have been “beautiful” in women since they stand for experiential and sexual ignorance.” Youth and innocence are both a part of Taylor Swift’s public image. She even has released a single which is named Innocent. Wolf believes that “Aging in women is “unbeautiful” since women grow more powerful with time, and since the links between generations of women must always be newly broken: Older women fear younger ones, young women fear old, and the beauty myth truncates for all the female lifespan.” The reason that woman become more powerful as they grow older is the same reason anybody becomes more powerful as they age, they accumulate more money. If you need any more of an indication of how hard women try to fight aging next time you are at the super market take a look at how many anti-aging creams there are in the make-up aisle.

            The biggest reason that this advertisement represents the beauty myth is the fact that it is attempting to sell women beauty products. This advertisement is made to make women believe that if they buy these Covergirl products that they will become more beautiful.  Wolf states that “beauty is a currency system like the gold standard. Like any economy it is determined by politics, and in the modern age in the West it is the last best belief system that keeps male dominance intact.” By saying this Wolf is implying that the beauty myth keeps women from overcoming male dominance because they remain in competition with one another in attempts to become more beautiful.

            Beauty products like the ones featured in this advertisement are hugely important to the success and stability of the United States economy. In The Beauty Myth Naomi Wolf gives figures of the amount of money spent on beauty that are quite astounding “…powerful industries – the $33-billion-a-year diet industry, the $20-billion cosmetics industry, the $300-million cosmetic surgery industry, and the $7-billion dollar pornography industry-have arisen from the capital made out of unconscious anxieties, and are in turn able, through their influence on mass culture, to use, stimulate, and reinforce the hallucination in a rising economic spiral.” The beauty industry and in turn the beauty myth are clearly a part of the back bone of the American economy. If the beauty product industry were to be removed from the economy it would completely collapse. The beauty myth is an important part not only of American culture but of the economy as well.

            The Taylor Swift Covergirl advertisement not only represents the beauty myth but is part of something much larger. This single advertisement is a part of the American identity. It is a part of a billion dollar industry based on improving the way women look and making them feel more beautiful. This Covergirl advertisement is the beauty myth.

Tom Brady Stetson Cologne

            New England Patriots quarter back Tom Brady was recently featured in an advertisement campaign to support Stetson Cologne. In this blog I will be analyzing one of these advertisements. Many facets of this advertisement fit into the stereotypes of gender outlined by Aaron Devor in Gender Role Behaviors and Attitudes.

            In the Stetson advertisement I selected Tom Brady is sitting behind the wheel of a vintage convertible with red interior gazing stoically at the camera with a woman’s arms draped around him. In the background there are trees and what appears to be a country road although it is hard to tell as the camera is focused in the car on Brady. In the advertisement all that is seen of her are her arms and her smile. Brady is wearing a black shirt with the sleeve rolled up and holding on to the steering wheel of the car. Brady has a slight beard as if he hasn’t shaved in a day or two which gives him a more masculine rugged look. In the lower left hand corner the only words in the ad read Stetson Cologne Starring Tom Brady with the Stetson logo Incorporated into it.

            This advertisement makes good use of the stereotypes outlined by Aaron Devor to emphasize the masculinity of Tom Brady. As soon as you look at the advertisement you are immediately drawn to the Stoic Facial expression of Tom Brady. Brady is not smiling in the advertisement according to Devor smiling gives the appearance of femininity. The stubble on Tom Brady’s face adds to the aura of masculinity in this advertisement. Brady’s posture is also very masculine. He is leaning back in the driver’s seat of the car with his arm stretched out over the steering wheel. Brady’s knee is also propped up. Brady is taking up as much space possible which according to Devor makes one appear more masculine. Brady’s upper body is emphasized in this advertisement as the only part of Brady’s lower body that is visible is a small portion of his leg. It appears in this advertisement that Tom Brady is certainly not lacking confidence. He is behind the wheel of a car has a woman draped around him. His facial expression exudes confidence. The dominant figure in this advertisement is definitely Tom Brady. The woman in this advertisement is unrecognizable because all you see of her is her lips and her arms. The fact that Tom Brady is Professional Football player adds to the masculinity of this advertisement. The use of color in the advertisement has a clear effect on the manliness of this advertisement. The advertisement does not feature colors that would be regarded as feminine colors. Brady is wearing a black shirt and driving a car with dark red interior. It is not a coincidence that they chose these colors for the advertisement. For example the advertisement would have a much more feminine feel if Brady was wearing a pink shirt driving a car with a pink interior.

The woman in this advertisement also conforms to the stereotypes and role of gender highlighted by Aaron Devor. The woman in this advertisement appears to be very feminine. The viewer has no idea what the woman is wearing because all you can see of her is her bare arms and a small portion of her face.  From the small portion of her face that we are able to see it is clear that she is smiling. The fact that she is smiling is feminine and a sign of appeasement. The woman appears to be nurturing to Tom Brady although not in a maternal way. She appears to just be there for whatever need or service Brady might want from her. Her arm is draped over and down Brady’s torso and is cut out by the bottom of the advertisement leaving the viewer to wonder where her hand is. I found it interesting that she is in the back seat of the car behind Brady with her arm draped over him opposed to sitting next to him. This positioning makes her appear to be subordinate to him as opposed to being his equal. I also believe that so little of her shown to intentionally make her appear interchangeable. She could easily be switched with another model and it would be difficult for anybody to tell the difference.

            It is clear that this advertisement is targeting men as there audience. Through use of stereotypes about gender this advertisement has a very masculine feel to it. The people at Stetson clearly want to have product associated with masculinity. I feel that Tom Brady was a good choice to represent their product in order to achieve this goal.

            

The most sexist commercial ever made?

            Is this the most sexist commercial ever made? To promote their newest product Dr. Pepper Ten the marketing department at Dr. Pepper decided to go with the catchphrase “It’s Not for Women”.  If you go by the amount of dislikes and the comments on YouTube it may be one of the most controversial commercials ever made.

            The commercial is full of stereotypes about gender and masculinity in particular. Dr. Pepper’s marketing department is out to prove the manliness of Dr. Pepper Ten. The commercial begins as if it is some kind of action movie with a man running through the jungle surrounded by laser blasts with a gun in his hand. He turns to the camera and says “Hey ladies enjoying the film? Of course not because this is our movie”. This statement is stereotypical implying that women would not enjoy watching an action movie. Saying this is “our” movie also implies that all men enjoy action movies. The main character then punches a snake, jumps of a cliff and lands in a car. When in the car he grabs a Dr. Pepper Ten describes how it’s “our” drink and has ten manly calories and all 23 Dr. Pepper flavors. The main character again uses the word “our” when describing the soda implying that it belongs to men. Throughout this entire sequence the main character is being chased by men riding motorcycles. He crunches the can in his hand throws it behind his back and springing a trap that stops the bad guys in their tracks. As the commercial comes to a close the main character tells any women who may be watching that they “can keep the romantic comedies and lady drinks”. After this statement the commercial ends with the following statement Dr. Pepper Ten, It’s Not for Women.

            I think that it abundantly clear who the target demographic for this commercial is.  This commercial is clearly aimed towards men even stating that it’s not for women in case there was any confusion. It’s as if the main character came straight out of an action film. I believe that the people at Dr. Pepper are trying to push the manliness of Dr. Pepper Ten because of the negative stigma that many men often associate with diet soda. By using this marketing strategy Dr. Pepper might also be attempting a reverse psychology of sorts on women who may be slightly more inclined to try the soda after being told it’s not for them. I think the people at Dr. Pepper assumed that there would be no problem getting women to drink a soda with ten calories so they instead shifted their focus toward selling their product to men.

            As I had previously stated this commercial is full of stereotypes about gender and masculinity in particular. The commercial starts with the stereotypical assumption that all men would enjoy an action movie. By the same token the fine folks at Dr. Pepper also made the sweeping generalization that women would not enjoy watching any action film.  The commercial makes other generalizations with the liberal use of the word “our”. The commercial refers to the pretend movie in the commercial as “our” movie and that Dr. Pepper Ten is “our” soda. By using the word “our” Dr. Pepper Ten creates a sense of community through this product. Some men might feel as if they would be more readily accepted by other men somehow by drinking Dr. Pepper Ten as opposed to another diet soda that has no calories. Another stereotypical assumption made by this commercial is the viewing of romantic comedies. This commercial assumes that all women enjoy watching romantic comedies. This assumption simply isn’t true as there are many women that can’t stand romantic comedies just as there are many men that don’t enjoy action movies. The commercial is also stereotypical in implying that watching romantic comedies is unmanly. Just because watching romantic comedies doesn’t fit with the masculine rugged perception that has been built as the perception of masculinity in popular culture doesn’t necessarily mean it is unmanly for men to enjoy these movies. I am sure that there are many men who enjoy romantic comedies as much or more than action movies. Does this make them any less masculine? Another stereotype used in this commercial is the “girly drink”. Why is it that drinking a certain type of drink makes a man less masculine than if he had selected a different drink? We all participate in and believe in these stereotypes to a certain extent. We are led to believe that man drinking a beer is much more masculine than one who is drinking a Mike’s hard lemonade at a party for example. These drinks have gotten the girly drink label so men avoid them in an attempt to affirm their manliness. Everyday men make choices in an attempt to confirm their manliness based on perceptions built by popular culture on what it means to be manly.

            This leads me back to my original question is Dr. Pepper Ten sexist? In the politically correct world we live in the commercial does come off as sexist. If you type in Dr. Pepper Ten Sexist on YouTube there are more than ten videos of people complaining about how sexist the Dr. Pepper Ten commercial is. As of the time this was written 2,095 people disliked this video on YouTube opposed to only 1,531 likes. The comments section of the video is also full of arguments about whether the commercial is sexist. On one hand there are people saying that the commercial is so sexist that Dr. Pepper should be sued for it. On the other hand there other people saying that the commercial was a joke and to take it as such so stop complaining. Which side is right?