Imagery and Culture SP2013: Good Hair vs. Bad Hair

Monday, March 25, 2013

Good Hair vs. Bad Hair

"Ugh, you should get a perm"

Discussing Curly Hair in Images

"There is something very sad to me about the fact that black women are constantly pressured to “relax” or straighten their hair. Personally, I find the afro completely amazing, and have always wanted one myself. It’s an impossible dream: I have thin, straight hair that I was constantly putting in rollers in high school, spraying and gelling and trying to tease it up into a big, beautiful pile of curls. It never quite worked, so whenever I saw a black man or woman with a big, beautiful afro, I couldn’t help but stare in appreciative silence. I mean, really: why would anyone want to change or tame their “nappy” hair, to iron it down and put chemicals in it? To make it more “white”?" - bell hooks

For my semester project I have chosen to focus attention on the media constructs and opinions dealing with curly, kinky hair versus straight/slightly wavy hair. If you turn on the television, skim the pages of a magazine, or search through the internet - women with luxurious straight hair is all you see. John Frida Frizz Ease, Bed Hair, Pantenne...all these companies market products for women/men with straight hair, but what about curly hair?

How many news anchors have curly hair? How many celebrities rock out their natural curls? The answer for both questions is: not many. Yet, those few anchors who do have curly hair subject it to intense ironing and spend hours trying to straighten their hair, and why? Because curly hair isn't perceived as beautiful but rather rebellious. Curly, in essence, is the bad hair while straight hair is the good hair.

Hair segregation is most prevalent in latino and black communities. One sibling might have curly hair while the other sibling might have straight hair, causing a rift between what might be perceived as beautiful.

While people might not think that hair isn't a big factor in the media, it truly is. Women and men (I'm looking at you Justin Timberlake) with curly hair spend time, energy and money in order to blend in with society as opposed to accepting how the hair on their head grows. It is with this that I intend on establishing a blog that will have articles, videos and discussions on ways in which WE can begin to change the media.

With my blog, I will upload video interviews, articles by other similar bloggers, and discussion points directed to a community of women with curly, kinky hair. I will use other social media tools to promote my blog and tag along the line of women who are beginning to demand that the media industry supply images of every type of woman - not just one.

As of now, my blog is set up on wordpress with no host. I'm currently trying to learn how to build an image for the blog, html isn't my strong point but I am learning it with the intent for this project. I also have made a schedule for intended posts for the month of april. I have established my mission statement and have organized the videos that I plan to produce within the next few weeks.

As far as research, I'm reading works by Melissa-Harris Perry as well as Bell Hooks. The links below are forums, websites, and videos I have read/watched in order to learn more about the origin of curly hair's bad reputation.

Resources:

http://etd.auburn.edu/etd/bitstream/handle/10415/1082/Bell_Monita_45.pdf
http://www.naturallycurly.com/curlreading/curlykids/7-books-for-curly-kids
http://articles.philly.com/2013-03-01/news/37354731_1_black-women-noliwe-rooks-hair
http://www.curlynikki.com/2012/03/msnbcs-melissa-harris-perry-on-her.html
http://www.curlynikki.com/2012/09/natural-hair-and-media.html
http://feminspire.com/why-cant-curly-hair-be-sexy-too/
www.youtube.com/watch?v=blX2YHdqUJA
Happy To Be Nappy by bell hooks
Sister Citizen by Melissa-Harris Perry

1 comment:

UnknownApril 9, 2013 at 9:03 PM
I have curly hair as well as all my sisters and love this idea, in my personal experience I find that having curly hair people think I am younger when it is curly and older when it is straight.
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FINAL PROJECTS

Please be prepared to present your projects to the class in approximately 5-7 minute presentations. Visuals are a must. Feel free to bring physical props and handouts if appropriate.

**You must create a POST for your final project - a link to your project, a summary, images and or videos. Please be sure to discuss how you plan to disseminate/distribute your project. You will present using/from your post - this will be much easier.

ALL projects are due on 4/23 on the blog including resource lists and summary. Print projects, papers, zines etc must be physically handed in to me on 4/23.

Checklist:

-summary on the blog along with images and any videos

-link to your project (including pdf projects)

-presentations (5-7 minutes) will be from your blog post or linked directly from the post PLEASE TEST THIS BEFORE ARRIVING IN CLASS

-print projects including papers must be handed in to me on 4/23

-I have invited guests to attend our final presentations.

__________________

Due 4/16 and 4/18

Group 9 presents 4/16

Filmaker Alana Kakoyiannis will be presenting her work to the class on 4/18. Please visit her site at http://sugarfootfilms.com/

and watch her Ted Talk here

WORK ON YOUR SEMESTER PROJECTS!! (DUE 4/23)

________________

Due 4/9 and 4/11

READING: Catherine Saulfield Art and Activism and Debra Zimmerman and Women Make Movies by Judith Redding and Victoria A. Brownworth

2 tweets on alternative media examples, criticism, success

Group 7 presents Tuesday 4/9

Group 8 presents Thursday 4/11

Post 3 due Thursday 4/11

Using references to the readings due for class, convey an understanding of ownership in the media industry - especially women and minorities. Research and discuss an alternative media organization or media source that is outside the mainstream message we have critiqued. Concentrate on messages that are counter to popular depictions or representations. The example can be local, national or international. Look to independent media in developing nations (newspapers for example) for interesting and inspiring examples. You can also choose to concentrate on a specific person. Be sure to explain the publication, film, project or online source in depth, explain it's origins and WHY it is successful or necessary as an alternative (to mainstream) media source.

You can choose to concentrate on news media, independent film or a number of new media examples. Be original, dig. Find something inspiring that we need to know about - if we don't already.

6+ paragraphs. Images and links. Please do extensive research beyond what we have read in class and cite your findings appropriately.

____________________

Due 4/2 and 4/4

READINGS online:

FreePress Media Ownership Policy

http://conference.freepress.net/ownership/chart

Media Ownership Fact Sheet - NOW

http://www.now.org/issues/media/women_in_media_facts.html"

Diversity in Media Ownership & Employment

http://www.civilrights.org/media/ownership/

WATCH:

Reel Girls Media Consolidation

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=reelgrrls#play/uploads/27/VZ01mj0IdTQ

Group 7 presents

*Post 3 only due 4/11

____________________

Due 3/23 and 3/25

no readings

Midterm proposals presentations

Checklist for your midterm project pitch:

-proposal summary on the blog along with images and any videos to help illustrate your idea/pitch

-your summary must make mention of the form your project will take as well as message and audience.

-mini presentations (2 minutes) will be from your blog post or linked directly from the post PLEASE TEST THIS BEFORE ARRIVING IN CLASS

-proposals must be handed in to me with resource list/bibliography in addition to preparing the above for the mini presentations.

-students will be asked to comment on your proposal post with feedback on your pitch/proposal

_____________________

SPRING BREAK!! No classes 3/19 and 3/21

_____________________

Due 3/12

READING: Animating Youth: the Disneyfication of Children’s Culture online here.

Group 5 presents (late)

Due 3/14

No new reading

Post 2 due

Using all of your readings, class discussions and additional research develop a short essay addressing advertising images and the sexism, racism and power hierarchies found in so many of these. What is the purpose of these images? What unintended effects might these pervasive images have or reflect? Is popular culture found in these? Learned? Critiqued? In addition to this analysis find or construct an alternative to these mainstream images and explain why it is different. Carefully draw out advertising strategies and goals and provide alternative paths for the industry or alternative anti-advertising messages.

5-6 paragraphs. Include citations of the readings in your post, images and links to relevant resources.

two tweets

Group 6 presents

______________

Due 3/5
READING: Jean Kilbourne Cutting Girls Down to Size, Naomi Wolf Culture

Due 3/7
READINGS: Gloria Steinem, Sex, Lies and Advertising, Anthony Cortese Constructed Bodies, Deconstructing Ads Sexism in Advertising

Group 5 presents

*If you have not handed in a project proposal, please do so by 3/5 - midterm presentations will be after Spring Break so get to work!

Also due printed and handed in: another round of quotes from the readings. Compile quotes and questions from the readings due 2/26, 2/28, 3/5, 3/7. This time add a reaction or interpretation for each quote.

two tweets

_______________
Due 2/26

READINGS: Judith Butler Performative Acts and Gender Construction and bell hooks Understanding Patriarchy and Feminist Manhood

Group 4 presents

Due 2/28

READINGS: Michael Kimmel, Introduction: Misframing Men

**Project topics handed in:

One or two paragraphs explaining your chosen topic, area of research, and the medium the project will likely take. Also include some inspirational examples (similar to what you would like to create) and explain your possible message and your intended audience. This may change slightly, but the sooner you begin working on your research and production, the sooner you will be on your way to the finished project. Try to work out your decision making in the submission of this topic proposal. Formal project proposals, including research and draft of the project for midterm presentations (to the class and on the blog) are due 3/26.

___________________

2/19 NO CLASS - enjoy the day off :)

Due 2/21

READINGS: Susan Douglas, Where the Girls Are, bell hooks, The Oppositional Gaze, and John Berger, Ways of Seeing Ch2-3

Please type up your notes: quotes and questions from each reading due 2/12, 2/14 and 2/21 have these ready to hand in to me in class on 2/21. Use the extra time to catch up on the readings. Go back and look at the videos too.

___________________

Due 2/12

POST 1

Referring to the all FIVE readings we have reviewed so far (see readings listed below), please define and explain the following terms: power, hegemony, sexism, the gaze, object, pedagogy, popular culture, spectacle, ways of looking, representation, consumer/consumption. Use examples from each of the readings to explain some of these key terms, how they relate to each other and to media and image-making. ~6-8 paragraphs. Be sure to include links and images.

READINGS: bell hooks Representations of Whiteness in the Black Imagination and Stuart Hall from Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices Ch 4 (the chapter is in 4 parts on Blackboard)

Group 1 presents

Due 12/14

READINGS: Melissa Harris-Perry Crooked Room

Group 2 presents

_________________

Due 2/5
READINGS: Gustave LeBon, Introduction, The Crowd on Blackboard

Tweets: two tweets shared with #imgcult2013

Due 2/7
READINGS:
Guy Debord, Society of the Spectacle (Chapter1) online at:
http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/debord/1.htm

____________
Due 1/29

Mini POST: intro paragraph, image and link

READINGS: John Berger, Ways of Seeing Ch 7 and Viewing Guide to bell hooks Cultural Criticism and Transformation both on Blackboard

Due 1/31

Tweets: two tweets shared with #imgcult2013 (every week)

READINGS: Barbara Kruger, Remote Control, Arts and Leisures and Lucy Lippard, Doubletake on Blackboard

______________________

Due 1/24

_________________________

Twitter hashtag: #imgcult2013

Link to Syllabus

Links to online videos from class screenings

Readings on the syllabus refer to readings that can be found on the class Blackboard site or linked here. All readings due for each class (often additional readings to the ones listed on the syllabus) will be listed here each week. Please check here regularly.