Today's lessons

Today we began looking at Gramsci's Theory of Hegemony and how representations of ethnic minority groups with a particular focus on young black men are controlled through the media.

We looked at the narratives of Bullet Boy and Kidulthood and found that they both told tragic tales of young black men seeking to escape a cycle of violence and crime in order to become morally responsible beings. We found that the narratives ultimately thwarted that aambition as they were pulled back to the world of violence and became themselves the final victim. This narrative appears to offer us a realistic portrayal of urban life for young black men, seeking to show that morality is not absent from their world. However, we found that the tragic outcomes at the end of both films support the stereotypical representation of black men as being both violent and self-descuctive; that they are seemingly unable to break free from the very representation that they seek to oppose. One question that we didn't answer was whether the film makers intentions are to expose the tragedy of young black males in our society or to reinforce that stereotype for the mass audience?

We did ask the question; who is responsible for peddling these negative representations and what the purpose of them is? It would be good to see if you can answer that question here on the blog and present it in the form of a PEE. If anyone wants to also have a crack at the other question above. I'd be interested to know wat you think.

The Homework for Friday is to read and make notes on the Reena Mistry essay, highlighting key passages and exploring the issues thrown up by the essay. have something on paper to prove that you have been thinking about this.

Next lesson will take the form of an unseeen test or assessment which we will Peer mark in class.