Hair Tales: Stories of Black Hair-i-tage by Liz Briggs

On February 22, 2019 I had the distinct pleasure of attending a featured performance in O’Leary Library entitled “Hair Tales: Stories of Black Hair-i-Tage”, an exploration into the relationships black women have with their hair. A documentary staged reading, “Hair Tales” starred creator, Christa Brown alongside Maritza Grooms, and Kesiah Bascom; three different, educated, black female friends, with three different distinct hairstyles, and compelling individual stories that translated directly to each one’s arrived-at style, and beautifully framed a dialogue of self-acceptance.

Figure 1: Martiza Grooms, Christa Brown, and Kesiah Bascom perform "Hair Tales." O'Leary Library, UMass Lowell, February 22, 2019

The performance was structured into various chapters of the women’s lives; childhood, role-models, adolescent self-expression to present-day, and a discussion of the future. Taking my seat, a few minutes after the first chapter “Hair Pains” began, I was instantly transported into the women’s tales of childhood, where each struggled to find a painless way to enjoy their hair. My own hair is very curly, and I could immediate empathize with their struggles to detangle, or sit patiently through painful brushings and braiding. I got the feeling that I was amongst friends as they laughed and sympathized while sharing tales of inept hairdressers, well-meaning relatives, and moments of sheer frustration where each wanted to cry out: “THIS IS MY HELL!”



As they moved into stories of adolescence, they spoke of trying on different styles to emulate their empowered female heroines: Lisa Bonét, Erykah Badu, Tracee Ellis Ross, Jill Scott, Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopez, and India Arie. It was not difficult to see how they were inspired by these women, each are famous for expressing their own features and strengths, as well as those which define them as part of a community of strong, black women.

Figure 2:The Free Soil Arts Collection was founded by Christa Brown and is an arts organization operating in the greater Merrimack Valley, Massachusetts

Moving into college years, each woman related a moment where they realized their hair is just as much a reflection and extension of their true selves, and they do not need approval in order to be powerful and fabulous. They segued beautifully from this point into a discussion about embracing oneself. Christa Brown spoke about beginning the Free Soil Collective, because she saw a need to create an outlet for underrepresented people to come together creatively, to express themselves and embolden others, especially in the Merrimack Valley and how rewarding the response from the community has been. Maritza Grooms spoke passionately about the young children she works with, and how she can see them watching her be comfortable within herself, allowing them to emulate her.

In her article “The Oppositional Gaze” bell hooks states, “Given the context of class exploitation, and racist and sexist domination, it has only been through resistance, struggle, reading, and looking 'against the grain,' that black women have been able to value our process of looking enough to publicly name it.”

Whether it be wearing their hair in curls, or braids, eschewing straightening- they’re young girls choosing for themselves their best path for self-expression, and the gratification that brings her. As the ladies finished up their performance, their final chapter was titled “Legacy” and each woman took a turn to address the audience and voice their hopes for themselves and the rest of the world; to be free in every way; to have a lack of fear; to engage in mindfulness; and most importantly, to remind yourself that perhaps you don’t know all the ways you’re being inspiring to others; you’re perfect the way you are. To close out the performance Christa, Maritza, and Kesiah all repeated as one a powerfully simple mantra:

“My hair is my crown.

I am the universe.

And my hair is mine.”

Works Cited

bell hooks. “The Oppositional Gaze.” The Feminism and Visual Culture Reader, 2003, pp. 94-105

Copyrights: What Can and Can't Be Used

Copyrights, as the book describes it in the literal sense, means "the right to copy". By this, it means that on any product, whether it be a book, movie, TV show, video game, or work of art, they have "the rights to distribute, produce, display, perform, create, and control derivative works based on the original." (Sturken 204)

Every piece of work has a copyright in order to prevent people from copying or stealing the authors' full work without their consent. As long as it has this symbol (©), any and all works made by a person or a corporation can not be copied by anyone else.

However, there are also cases where a work can be copied as long as they promote or add something new to the piece, like the character of Dracula or Sherlock Holmes over the years. If a person or persons are found violating this, it can lead to legal action, as the theft of another's intellectual property is a crime.

For the blog assignment, we ask that you find a piece of media (book, movie, work of art, etc.) that has violated the copyright of another piece of work or accused to have been violating a copyright.

Not every piece of work that has been filed for copyright infringement has to have violated the copyright, but have been claimed to have violated the copyright.

For our own example, we have decided to use a professional picture from a photographer named Lara Jade Coton, whose picture was copied from her Deviantart page and used without her consent as the cover of a pornographic film. Coton sued the film company for copyright infringement and received $130,000 in damages.

A professional picture created by photographer Lara Jade Coton

The picture used as a cover for a pornographic film

Infographics: What They are and How to Use Them

Infographics give information in the form of visuals. People this day and age want to be given their information quickly and tend to scan over text and go straight to visuals. This is where infrographs come to play. There are many different types of infographics used in our society's media to “cut to the chase” of the important information. Below are five types of infographs discussed in the reading (Golombisky 162):

Terms to know:

Text boxes give bigger lists of information for the audience.

Maps give location markers geological information.

Sequences give step-by-step or timelines to inform.

Diagrams break down the image to give an in-depth description.

Charts and Graphs display numerical data and information.

For the assignment we are asking that you find an infograph of any type that portrays false or over exaggerated information. Identify what type of infograph it is and the aspect that make it that type. Analyze where it went wrong and why. Discuss how the audience may have reacted and the negative effect it could have on them. Then go to another students prompt and state your initial reaction of their example.

Our example:

Figure 1: Gun deaths in Florida, Florida Department
of Law Enforcement

This graph that was published by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement in February 2014. It is a plot graph that fits under the graphs and charts category of infographs. The information that is being portrayed is the number of firearm murders before and after the stand your ground law was enforced between 1990 and 2010. Visible the murders fluctuate throughout the years but looking at the starting number and ending number they aren’t too far off from one another. This outright contradicts the information being shown. The graph is also numbered incorrectly to try and trick the audience. Having the higher numbers at the bottom make some believe that the starting rate it already low.

Golombisky, Kim and Hagen, Rebecca. White Space Is Not Your Enemy. “Infographics: Maximum Information in Minimum Space.” Chapter 10, pgs 160-176.

Visual Cultural Critique: Theory and Analysis

Essay #2

This week we are focusing on Essay #2, the Visual Cultural Critique. This assignment is based on analyzing the cultural message and ideologies about difference and viewpoint on an artifact (Film, video game, show, commercial, etc.) of your choosing. While explaining how this specific artifact communicates its message or viewpoint, we will be using one of four different theories to frame our reading of our respective artifacts, in turn framing our essays based on one of these theories. These four theories are:

• Roland Barthes’ theory of denotative and connotative meanings

• Edward Said’s theory of Orientalism and the other

• Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze

• Bell hooks’ theory of the oppositional gaze

Theories

Roland Barthes’ Theory is based in the idea that all artifacts have two forms of meaning, connotative and denotative. Connotative meanings are deeper, ideological and subjective choices made by the creator of the artifact that represent some opinion or ideal, whereas denotative meaning is literal, explicit and objective meaning of said artifact. Studying the connotative vs. the denotative meaning of an artifact works well for this essay, as it could help to bolster your analysis of the meanings and viewpoints of the artifact.

Edward Said’s Theory is based more in the idea that many western artifacts, like movies and television shows, are obsessed with the idea of Orientalism and fear or perversion of the image of the “other”. Orientalism is a way of looking that emphasizes and distorts the differences between western and eastern peoples, typically Arab and Asian cultures, eastern media typically portraying these cultures as exotic or backwards compared to western culture. This ties in to the image of the “other”, or the way that we as a culture tend to shun or exaggerate the features of those outside of our own cultural bubble. This could be used in your essay as it works on many artifacts quite well, so well that it could even be the main topic of discussion, as we saw in class with the example of Aladdin and how even an old and “harmless” Disney movie proves the ideas of Said’s theory.

Mulvey’s and Hooks’ theories of the oppositional and the male gaze, respectively, work similarly, as Mulvey’s is an active response to Hooks’ original theory. Male Gaze as a theory suggests that in visual arts and in media women, and in many cases the entire world, are portrayed and depicted from a solely male perspective, and are by design intended to be looked at, pleasurably, by men, becoming no more than sexual objects. This gaze has three perspectives as well, the man behind the camera, the gaze of the protagonist, and the gaze of the viewer themselves, each of which should be analyzed to point out when and where the male gaze is being emphasized.

Oppositional gaze is the contrast to this, as Mulvey points out that Hooks’ theory only works in regards to white women, not women of color, as they are rarely the subject of male gaze in media, and black women are in turn constantly searching for a mirror to themselves in the media, as Hooks suggests that the white female figure is the sole target of the male gaze. These two theories could be used in tandem for the essay, perhaps pointing out how male gaze applies to an artifact while also seeing how Mulvey would critique this analysis with her oppositional gaze.

Prompt

Based on the Essay #2 assignment instructions and the theories listed above, and on the artifact you have chosen, please answer these discussion questions intended to get you talking about your essays and to start a dialogue about how to apply these theories effectively.

1.      What is the artifact you chose to analyze? Why? What about its themes, viewpoints, and ideals compelled you to write about it?

2.      What theory are you framing this artifact with, and why did you choose it over the other three possible options? What about your chosen theory fits well as a frame for your chosen artifact?

3.      Respond to one of your peer’s replies to the first 2 discussion questions. In this response point out which other of the 3 relevant theories would also work well to frame the analysis of the artifact chosen by your peer.

(Feel free to also add feedback on your peer’s analysis.)

The Male Gaze: Analyzing Visual Arts

Laura Mulvey, film theorist and feminist, published “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” in 1975. In this essay, Mulvey points out the dichotomy of power present in films. She presents the theory that women in film are merely objects that cater to the male gaze, saying

“Traditionally, the woman displayed has functioned on two levels: as erotic object for the characters within the screen story, and as erotic object for the spectator within the auditorium, with a shifting tension between the looks on either side of the screen” (Mulvey, 838).

Rather than the female character being a developing aspect of the film, she is relative to the male protagonist of the story as a symbol of how she develops him as a character. Mulvey quotes Budd Boetticher stating,

“What counts is what the heroine provokes, or rather what she represents. She is the one, or rather she is the love or fear she inspires in the hero, or else the concern he feels for her, who makes him act the way he does. In herself the woman has not the slightest importance” (Mulvey, 837)

Mulvey explains that women are primarily in films as an object of viewing pleasure for the male protagonists, in which women’s bodies, style, and sexuality cater to the fantasy of men. She further theorizes that men watching films (spectators) identify with the male protagonist in the films. The spectator projects himself onto the protagonist, and therefore identifies with the erotic events that occur in the film. Through technical aspects that shape the diegesis, he is able to possess the woman in the same way as the protagonist.

There are differences between the Bechdel Test and Mulvey’s theory. The Bechdel test only requires three simple questions: 1. Does it include at least two women? 2. Do these women talk to each other...? 3. About other subjects besides men? Mulvey’s theory discusses more of how women are perceived as objects in the male perspective. The male gaze is how the visual arts and literature depict women from a masculine point of view.

Figure 1: 'The Rule' from Dykes to Watch Out For, Alison Bechdel and Liz Wallace 

Terms to know

Phallocentrism: developed by Freud as the penis as a central element to organization of the social world→ “castration” of women as a natural aspect that informs our culture

Voyeurism: The practice of gaining sexual pleasure from watching others engaged in intimate behaviors. In the extreme becomes perversion, “Peeping Tom”.

Scopophilia: Pleasure at looking at another person as an erotic object.

Diegesis: A sphere or world in which narrated events and other elements occur.

Assignment:

After reading the comic, find a movie that does not pass the Bechdel test, preferably one that was made in the past ten years. How does the movie fit into Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze and spectatorship? How might gender representation in cinema translate to reaffirmations of patriarchy in our everyday lives?

Our Example:

Figure 2: The Avengers movie poster, Walt Disney Studio Motion Pictures

One example we found of a recent movie that does not pass the Bechdel test was The Avengers (2013). This was a Marvel movie made in the past ten years with three named female characters: Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow), Pepper Potts, and Agent Maria Hill. For reference, there are double that amount of named male characters just in the film poster we found. However, none of these characters speak to each other at any point in the film, therefore failing the Bechdel test. Each female character is attached to a male protagonist: Black Widow- Hawkeye (in later films Captain America), Pepper Potts- Iron Man, Agent Maria Hill - Nick Fury. Each woman has a companion which informs their character, makes them relevant to the story line, and demonstrates their worth as they provide love, companionship, or act as the sexy sidekick. It is also interesting to note that in each pairing, the man is the leader of the relationship. We found this to be problematic, given the fact that there are so few representations of female superheroes, or women being seen as strong and capable in any capacity in cinema. In such a high profile movie and franchise, it is disappointing to know that young boys are being taught that girls function as sexy sidekicks rather than heroines in their own right, and that girls are being taught that they should look to a man to save them, and that their worth is in their roles as passive, supporting girlfriends, sidekicks, and employees.

The Practices of Looking

Practices of Looking

This week we are examining the practices of looking, and how 
photographs make use of power dynamics to alter the way we
 process an image. Philosopher Jacques Derrida has argued that 
all binary oppositions are encoded with values and concepts of power, 
superiority, and worth. Racism and sexism both both play a part in 
concepts of dominance and superiority, and we see examples of this 
everyday in advertising and commercials.

The gaze, as described by our textbook is imperative to the power 
dynamics we establish:

“The gaze, whether institutional or individual, thus helps to establish 
relationships of power. The act of looking is commonly regarded as 
awarding more power to the person who is looking than to the person 
who is the object of the look.” (Sturken 111)

Edward Said emphasized the idea that Asian culture is subject to 
being falsely represented because of how dominant their culture 
and history has been. In contemporary popular culture we constantly 
see Arab men depicted as terrorists, and Asian women being highly 
sexualized.

“Orientalism, describing the tendencies of westerners who have fetished, 
mythologized, and feared the cultures, lands, and peoples of Asia and 
the Middle East.” (Sturken 113)

The textbook focuses mainly on paintings to represent Orientalism, 
and many paintings of the past contained sexist and orientalist views. 
One such genre of art widely recognized as masterpieces in history is 
the female nude.

An image of the female body does not necessarily exist to present a 
power dynamic but in many European pieces, the female is viewed while 
the artist and the collector is the viewer.  This is shown in the example of the  
The Colonial Harem in the book.  The image represents the colonial gaze 
and the objectification of the women by the colonial power.  “In the book  
The Colonial Harem, Malek Alloula shows that the figure of the harem woman
was invoked in France as a visual and Literary icon of female sexual submission 
among painters and photographers enmeshed in the broader tradition of 
Orientalism in arts and sciences.” (Sturken 116)

These concepts and values are embedded into many of the images we 
view today.  According to Roland Barthes, “Historical meanings are 
reproduced in the codes and conventions we use, whether producers 
intend these meanings to be there or not.  And whether any given spectator 
explicitly notices them or not.”

For this week, please find a photograph, advertisement, or painting 
that displays some sort of power dynamic and explain how it functions. 
These could be gender related, wealth, race, etc. What was the image 
used for and how did they use Orientalism and/or the gaze to express 
that purpose?  

In this example, male dominance plays a large role in the advertisement. 
The woman is positioned under the man to show that the man is in control, 
and there are multiple men positioned around the woman looking down on her. 
When looking for examples, think about the position of the actors and how that 
could contribute to a possible power dynamic.

Dolce and Gabbana Advertisement

Myth of the Photographic Truth

This week we learned about visual culture and photography. Photographs influence us greatly and we are exposed to them constantly. They can cause us to feel deep emotions and elicit memories. People spend hours each day on social media sites such as Instagram, which floods them with visual images.

However, this can become problematic. Photographs are often accepted as objective representations of the real world, especially when presented in mass media. This brings us to the problem: the myth of photographic truth. Photography “always involves some degree of subjective choice through selection, framing, and personalization (Sturken, 16). The simultaneous objective and subjective nature of photographs is the center of much debate.  

Below is a YouTube video of Ruben Salvadori’s TED Talk on this issue. One quote stands out:

“We are extremely visual beings to the point that more than half of our brain’s computational power is that it can decide. We’re designed to rely heavily on our eyes because they are the doors to which we make sense of the world and we’re convinced that seeing is believing” (Youtube 1:14 mark).

Roland Barthes touches upon the concept on how photographs have denotative and connotative meanings. Photographs may not be the representation of reality, instead they can be signifying the total opposite. Denotative meanings “...refer to its literal, explicit meaning,” and give an apparent objective representation (Struken, 20). On the other end, connotative meanings “...are informed by the cultural and historical contexts of the image and its viewers’ lived, felt knowledge of those circumstances” (Struken, 20).

“Roland Barthes once wrote that photographs always indicate a kind of mortality, evoking death in the moments in which they seem to stop time” (Struken,18). This quote in depth is talking about the power in which the photographs have over people and how it is affectionate because, it triggers the emotions of the audience. Barthes argues that the Photographic Truth is a myth, due to cultural and contextual factors.

For your task, please find a popular, historically significant photograph. First, identify the denotative meaning of this photograph and what parts of the photograph would be considered objective. Next, identify the connotative meaning of the photograph and what parts would be considered subjective choices made by the photographer.

For example, below is a photograph of police brutality protester Ieshia Evans meeting police officers to be arrested following Philando Castile’s death in 2016. The denotative meaning of this photograph could be exactly the description you just read. This is objective because there is no denying that the police were approaching Ieshia Evans at the time that the photograph was taken. When discussing the connotative meaning, we could talk about the timing, as police brutality was just beginning to be addressed and protests were rampant throughout America. We could talk about symbolism in a calm woman of color with her arms out being approached by two seemingly frantic white police officers in full riot gear. As for subjective choices made by the photographer, we could talk about the angle of the photograph, which shows us the line of police officers behind the officers, while Evans stands apparently alone.

Ieshia Evans being approached by officers. (Laurent).

Laurent, Olivier. “Ieshia Evans: Meet the Photographer Behind Baton Rouge                     Photo.” Time, Time, 12 July 2016, time.com/4403635/ieshia-evans-jonathan-bachman-baton-rouge/.

Salvadori, Ruben. "Photos Don't Lie. Or Do They? | Ruben Salvadori | Tedxdornbirn". Youtube, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYJA4Ae3bDc. Accessed 22 Feb 2019.

Sturken, Marita, and Lisa Cartwright. Practices Of Looking : An Introduction To Visual Culture. 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, 2017, pp. 16-20.