I drink and I know things, overcoming what you are born into.

This was a tough one. I don't watch a lot of TV and couldn't think of a stereotype defying character from anything other than an animated film. Though he's not necessarily another race or ethnicity, Tyrion Lannister from Game of Thrones is "other." Though physically he id depicted differently in the show vs the book, the accomplishments remain the same. This is more astonishing if you are familiar with the books. Tyrion is a little person, a person with dwarfism. In the time of Game of Thrones, I imagine not many of his kind lived, and those that did, did not lead lives anyone would envy. Tyrion was fortunate to be born to a wealthy, powerful family. Still, little people at the time were thought to be stupid, inept, and were often the jesters and the butt of jokes. Tyrion was useless on the battlefield but he was not stupid. He spent much of his time drunk and in brothels, but also had a sharp mind. He read constantly and knew everything going on, as he was often ignored. He had a good heart and won the love of a beautiful woman and a place of power none would have thought possible.

This video is a compilation of his best moments. WARNING: These clips contain R rated content. 
A character to compare him to, or more contrast, is Loc Dog from Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood. According to the stereotypes, he was exactly the perfect example of a young inner-city black man. If Tyrion had become who everyone thought he was, he would have been one of the jesters/players at Geoffrey's wedding. He would have become a bumbling idiot. Though at times, much to his advantage, many characters perceived him as such. Though I do believe his name alone at times won him favor, and saved his life, his own good deeds and effort also led to his successes.

It's Saul Goodman

Jimmy McGill better known as Saul Goodman is a fictional character played by Bob Odenkik in the hit television series Breaking bad as well as its prequel Better Call Saul. Jimmy McGill was not always the crooked lawyer who helped drug dealers, he was once a talented lawyer working at a well reprised law firm HHM, he then left eventually starting his own firm in the field of elderly law. Throughout the show Better Call Saul it shows the slow diminishment of his character from Jimmy, being a sweet and sympathetic guy who helped the elderly to a crook, Saul, who now bends the rules of the law to help drug dealers. 

Saul Goodman is far from your typical lawyer. He is a conniving peddler of the law who takes whatever shortcut possible to help his low-life clients. He is a professional in the art of manipulation making sure his clients are viewed like angels and the prosecutors look like fools. He will rig trials making it impossible for his clients to lose, he even planted a cell phone battery on his own brother to win a case. Saul is a complex man living a double life between the law and the lawlessness. 

The traits of Saul Goodman stray far from our typical view of lawyers in today's society. It has been stereotyped that a lawyer is usually a white male who shows characteristics of professionalism as well as the appreciation for the law. It relates to the topics of module 5 in many ways one way is the example of an alien invasion. “Aliens are the ultimate “Other” and because we are unhindered by a real-life example (that is, we have yet to encounter real aliens), we freely show these intelligent beings as barbaric as possible (yes, there are alien films that present positive examples, but they are largely outnumbered by hostile aliens)”(Eaton 5).  It is automatically assumed that aliens will be hostile just like how lawyers are assumed to be good.  

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UTiaYmUwzdRPSslicvQf32AHEUvUobYDk-tWDi3FPbU/edit#

After watching the damsel in distress part:1 tropes versus women in video games, The video speaks, for the most part on the way women are portrayed in video games, of course. She starts on speaking about a woman character by the name of Crystal who was a hero but unfortunately, we were never able to play the game because it wasn't the final draft we could say. The game is at its final draft and has been played but they have been some major changes. One being that Crystal, the female character is now no longer the main hero, but she is now the damsel in distress stuck in an ice crystal who needs to be saved by the new hero whom which is a man.

Crystal is in a different outfit which is much skimpier than when she was the main hero. 

This video has influenced my thinking on the particular area she was discussing in many different ways. One being that, woman and cultures I seem to be as weak physically, weak emotionally, although not so much weak mentally. These traits can Portray woman to be helpless, which plays a big part in the damsel in distress. And it is now known in my eyes, that women are in fact being 'robbed' at the chance to be heroes.

Module 6 Example: The Straw Feminist

Prompt

For this week, I'd like you to watch another video from Feminist Frequency.  You can pick from any of the videos at the links listed below. I encourage you to look at a video that is related to something you like or may have some interest in.  

Video lists to choose from:

• Season 4 - 2012
• Season 3 - 2011
• Season 2 - 2010
• Season 1 - 2009
• Feminist Frequency Reviews
• Tropes vs Women in Video Games
• Tropes vs. Women (2011)

In watching the video, pay attention to the criticism and critique that the creator offers up and the reasons why she makes such an argument.  Provide the following in your post:

1. The name of the video and a link to the video OR embed the video if you can figure out how to do it (Hint: it entails clicking on the icon in the edit bar that looks like a clapperboard).
2. A summary explanation of what the video covers (1 detailed paragraph)
3. A discussion about how it has influenced your thinking on the particular area she is discussing and if so, how it has impacted how you for other forms of related popular culture.  (1 paragraph)
4. How does the criticism relate to some of the academic materials that we have explored in this course?   (1 paragraph)   

Please keep in mind when watching this video and other content of feminist theory, this particular line of thinking from Caroline Siede: 

Criticism doesn't necessarily make it "bad'--rather, it's a way of meaningfully engaging with a text for understanding the ways it impacts us.  Criticism doesn't necessarily denote a simply "good/bad" dynamic, but rather, helps us to understand the ways texts can be understood.

Relevant Tags: Feminism, gender, sex, sexuality

Example: The Straw Feminist

This video takes on the cliche of the "Straw Feminist" in popular culture.  This cliche is often used to present an extreme (and largely non-existent) version of feminism where the feminist is presented as man-hating, aggressive and in some cases as Sarkeesian points out, villainous.  She draws on several different examples from television and comics, but of course, this is a version that is found in many different places within popular culture.  The point that resonates with me is that the straw feminist is often used as a contrast to smart, strong, and funny women, making the false dichotomy that a feminist cannot be such things.  She shows that many of these shows and our culture at large disregard feminism, often with the assumption that somehow gender equality has been achieved.  

I rather appreciated this video because Sarkeesian hits upon something I see too often and that is the disassociation between women who believe in equality and somehow the belief that that isn't what feminism is.  I also find myself eye-rolling as much as Sarkeesian whenever I see popular culture invoke this cliche of a feminist who is hateful of men, angry, and aggressive.  Every feminist I know (and I know hundreds) is so far from these images that you would think such depictions were from Bizarro world.  This reminds me of the Emma Watson's conversation with Malala Yousafzai, the Nobel Peace Prizer winner and what feminism actually means.  

What I find valuable about Sarkeesian's videos and this one, in particular, is how her critical eye about the presentation of women and feminists, in particular, brings us back to The Male Gaze. Even as feminism is made increasingly present in pop culture, there's still a sense of making the feminist (regardless of their gender) into a spectacle for derision by offering them up in a very simplistic manner.

Master of Representation

Aziz Ansari's Netflix original series, Master of None, premiered in 2015 to rave reviews from critics and general audiences alike. In the show, Ansari plays a 30-year-old actor named Dev who is struggling to find satisfaction amid post-modern ennui in New York City. Episodes touch on a variety of subjects, from Plan B, to street harassment, to the lack of ethnic diversity in television casting.

 

 A particularly striking episode comes in the form of Parents, wherein Dev and his friend Brian take their first-generation immigrant parents out to dinner in an effort to bond with them. They use this opportunity to ask their parents about their unique experience as immigrants, like what life was like when they first came to New York. Their mothers bond over an early fear of answering the telephone because of their heavily accented English. This is interesting because it acknowledges the differences in each individual's immigration experience while also highlighting similarities that people from totally different cultural backgrounds may encounter. Both Dev and Brian find it difficult to make time for their parents because of their busy lives, and because of the deep generational divide between parent and offspring. Dev's parents are from India, and Brian's parents are from China, so they all come from cultures much more conservative than modern-day America, providing different sets of frustrations for the parents and the children. This dynamic is especially authentic and effective because Ansari's real-life Indian immigrant parents play his parents in the episode.

Dev is an important, complex character who juggles his own identity as a modern American with his familial roots. Most notably, Dev is not constricted by any Indian stereotypes seen in commercials, film, and television (taxi driver, IT tech, etc.) Brian and his parents show that, contrary to the 1942 Superman clip that depicts little to no difference in its Japanese characters, Eastern Asian people have identities unique to their ethnic background and personalities. Master Of None is a wonderful show that tells the rich stories of people so often overlooked by television.

The African American Cowboy

A famous aspect of American culture is the myths of the taming of our wild west. Another famous although less fortunate aspect of our culture would be our spoiled past with the slave trade. When combined these two faucets of American culture make for quite the breaking of stereotypes. DJango: Unchained, a film by Quentin Tarantino is a breaker of such stereotypes.

In the mythological American West most cowboys were white men, sometimes you would have an occasional Mexican or Native American, but the majority of the heroes of the wile west had pale skin.

Django turned that all around. As a former slave he becomes a bounty hunter, hunting down white men for the bounties placed on their heads. Instead of him being the one running from the white man, he is the one chasing them down. An ironic scene in the movie is when Django is hunting down a group of brothers who are hiding out on a plantation. Well Django takes the opertunity to show one of the brother just how much the leather whip hurts. He turns the tables on slavery and takes charge.

Django is doubly surprising because he is an African American cowboy. The towns people are all shocked and confused when they see him riding about on top of a horse. At the plantation they visited, the owner even mentioned that it was illegal for a black man to ride a horse. Django didn't care, he was a cowboy and he had earned his freedom. He had just as much a right to be a top a horse as any man.

Spike Lee, the director of Bamboozled, would probably appreciate the originality of Django. He would like how the character strikes back against his oppressors and how he does not get used. Django fights against his suppressors and a society that sees him as a lesser. Django does not give up although the odds are against him, he keeps moving on because he must accomplish his goal and free his wife from the same oppression he so luckily escaped. Django is the image of a strong black man far from the bumbling buffoonery of minstrelsy, Spike Lee would definitely approve with pride.