With regards to this article, I agree and disagree on certain
levels pertaining to racism in video games. I have been playing
video games since the Nintendo days and I have noticed many
stereotypes in video games that Evan has pointed out. Although
Evan feels that all black characters are subject to stereotypes,
there are bunches of game characters that I believe are not
under this category and are in fact very ambitious characters.
For example, Lee Everett from the Walking Dead: Season
1 game, Captain Anderson from the Mass Effect
Trilogy, Franklin from Grand Theft Auto V and Sgt. Johnson
from the Halo series. The problem I have with Evan's critique is
the fact that he is judging black characters based on how they
act and look, something that society does to members of the
visible minority in the real world. Majority of the characters
that are in question may seem stereotypical at first but if you
delve deeper into their character you start to realize that there is
depth behind that person rather than just big muscles and a loud
mouth. In my opinion, whenever I play a video game I can care
less what the race of my character is and I look more towards
their development as a character and the story that it is telling.
Many "gamers" share this same opinion from research I have
done and even in the comment section of this article. I get the
notion that he is looking for a character that is "white" but the
problem is whenever a black character is given the same
characteristics as a white character, they are not well received
and are made fun of for being "white washed". There seems to
be a double standard with how black characters are portrayed
and is also something that will unfortunately never be able to
appease to everyone due to the fact that everyone shares a
different opinion on how certain types of characters should be
portrayed.

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The Social Construction of "Race"
As our discussions have revealed over the past few weeks,
negative or stereotypical representation in media
has real consequences. Such representations not only reflect but
also reinforce the marginality of minority
groups. Thus, it follows that the political empowerment of
subordinate groups in society--such as women,
youth, people with disabilities, gays and lesbians, the poor--
depends in part on changing the way these
groups are represented.
How can we think about the issues of representation and
empowerment in relation to racial minorities? First,
we need to gain a better understanding of the social
construction of racial and ethnic identity.
Ethnicity
'Ethnicity' and 'race' are linked but distinct categories. Ethnicity
is a broad social category that addresses
one’s perceived membership in a larger group based on an
attachment to an actual or possible homeland, its
cultural heritage, belief system, political history, language,
myths, customs, manners, food, literature, sport, art
or architectural style. Ethnic affiliations are acknowledged and

parodied in films such as My Big Fat Greek
Wedding and Mambo Italiano. Like race, the concept of
ethnicity has been used to discriminate against
groups based on stereotypical perceptions of their common
attitudes or attributes.
Race
Race is a constructed category that is widely used to distinguish
among various groups of human beings
based on inherited biological or physical characteristics (such
as skin colour or facial features). Although
seemingly a neutral descriptive tool, race has functioned
historically as a way to draw spurious connections
between specific physical characteristics and the possession of
certain behavioural traits assumed to be
shared by all members of the race. Biological definitions of race
are often falsely linked to mental
characteristics or used to justify social inequalities. The idea of
race is therefore inseparable from the
discriminatory attitude and practices of racism.
Where Do Racial Hierarchies Come From?
We have not “always” believed that people break down into
distinct racial categories. During the “Age of
Exploration,” as Western explorers came in contact with people
from new worlds, Western “intellectuals” began

devising the “race” concept. It became widely popular in the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as the West
sought to justify its colonial and imperial expansion.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0259446/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0330602/
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Social Evolutionism and the Construction of Race
The theory of social evolution describes the evolution of society
as one of increasing complexity from a state
of relative simplicity to a state of increasing complexity
through differentiation and specialization--from Primitive
to Modern. According to this theory, Western cultures fit into
the definition of "complexity" as they introduced
industrialization through science and technology into society
such that it lead to increasing division of labour,
the growth of cities, urbanization, etc.
Herbert Spencer
At the same time (early 1900’s) a functionalist-type theory was
developed by a British Sociologist named
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) that "scientifically" established a
hierarchy of races and their potential for social
advancement. Like other functionalists, Spencer advocated

differentiation and integration as the means by
which societies develop and modernize. He saw society as an
organism that through societal evolution grew to
varying degrees of complexity. However, for Spencer the
driving mechanism behind societal evolution is
competitive struggle. He compared human societies to animal
species and argued that they develop through a
competition for resources where the strongest survive. Spencer
himself coined the phrase "survival of the
fittest."
Spencer made the connection between society and race by
theorizing that so-called simpler societies reflect
simpler races, i.e. that non-western societies that do not show a
potential for science, rationality, or industry
(features of western modernization) are lower on the
evolutionary ladder. Spencer did not conside r that
societies develop differently and not always in the same
direction.
His theory came at a time of global expansion where many non-
western cultures were being encountered and
hence were being studied by anthropologists, who used western
standards to evaluate many cultures.
Racial Hierarchy
Out of social evolutionism came a racial hierarchy that situated

the white race at the top because of their
complex societies and simpler societies beneath them in a
ranking order. This hierarchy confirmed the
"natural" order of things where whites because of their
supposed "evolutionary supremacy" were considered
naturally endowed for dominance. Spencer’s theory acquired
much acceptance by scientists and colonizers
alike and informed everything from race policies such as
segregation to immigration policy up to the 1960s in
most western countries. For example, Australia only ended its
“white only” immigration policy in the late 1960s,
just about the same time that First Nations people in Canada
were first permitted to vote in federal elections.
"Types and Development of Man," a poster exhibited at the
1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, reflected the era's
widespread enthusiasm for the concept of racial hierarchies. It
was part of an emerging discourse arguing that
humankind could be ranked on the basis of race and nationality.
http://publications.newberry.org/frontiertoheartland/items/show/
274
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Forms of Racism
Racism takes on a number of forms, among them:
(1) v iole nt assault
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(2) institutionalize d racism (exercised, for example, through
poor provision in education, healthcare,
housing, and/or discrimination and unequal pay in the
workplace)
(3) The e xpre ssion of “common se nse ” attitude s base d on
une xamine d and pre judice d
assumptions (even of the kind that appear to make a positive
statement, as in “blacks are good dancers”).
Forms of popular culture, such as sitcoms and stand-up comics,
play a role in reinforcing such taken-for-
granted attitudes by naturalizing or making them permissible.
(4) Cultural racism (which ignores that racial inequality is not a
product of centuries of white supremacist
ideology; instead, it assumes that racial suffering is a product of
a racial minority group's own subculture)

Reading
Read "Arabs and Muslims in the Media after 9/11:
Representational Strategies for a 'Postrace'
Era" by Evelyn Alsultany.
In this article, the author refers to another form of racism, one
in which the United States uses
sympathetic portrayals of Arabs and Muslims on television and
in Hollywood films in order to make
the country seem progressive and non-racist. Note the use of
scare quotes around "Postrace" in
the article's title.
"Positive representations of Arabs and Muslims," Alsultany
writes, "have helped form a new kind of
racism, one that projects antiracism and multiculturalism on the
surface but simultaneously
produces the logics and affects necessary to legitimize racist
policies and practices. It is no longer
the case that the otheris explicitly demonized to justify war or
injustice. Now the other is portrayed
sympathetically in order to project the United States as an
enlightened country that has entered a
postrace era" (162).
What does Alsultany mean? Do you agree with her argument?

The Perils of Ignoring Institutionalized Racism
In our culture, when we talk about racism, we usually focus on
individual acts of racism (e.g. when a white
person commits a racist act or makes a racist statement). We
tend to ignore institutionalized racism, which
cannot be conceived as an individual act.
According to Henry Giroux and Susan Searls Giroux, this is a
problem because "When the conditions that
produce racist exclusions--paid for in the hard currency of hard
suffering--are rendered invisible . . . politics
and social responsibility dissolve either into privatized guilt
(one feels bad and helpless) or disdain (victims
become responsible for their own plight)" (Popping Culture,
Pearson, 168).
When it comes to institutionalized racism, Giroux and Giroux
note, we must pay attention to
the dramatic impact of racism on individuals and families
marginalized by class and color,
particularly the incarceration of extraordinary numbers of young
black and brown male prisoners
and the growth of the prison-industrial complex; a spiraling
health crisis that excludes large
numbers of minorities from health insurance or adequate

medical care; crumbling city
infrastructures; segregated housing; soaring unemployment
among youth of color; exorbitant
school drop-out rates among black and Latino youth coupled
with the realities of failing schools
more generally; and deepening inequalities of incomes and
wealth between blacks and whites.
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Cultural Racism in the Case of Trayvon Martin
Shortly after the jury announced its verdict in the trial of
George Zimmerman, U.S. President Barack Obama
gave an impromptu speech, in which he said that “Trayvon
Martin could've been me, 35 years ago." And yet .
. . several conservative members of the media attacked Obama
for his remarks. In their attacks, Fox News
hosts Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity perpetuated cultural
racism. As Salon columnist Joan Walsh put it,
An unusually crazed, agitated O’Reilly declared that the plight
of black America “has nothing to
do with slavery. It has everything to do with you Hollywood
people and you derelict parents…

Race hustlers and the grievance industry,” he went on, “have
intimidated the so-called
‘conversation,’ turning any v alid criticism of African-Ame
rican culture into charge s of
racial bias,” leaving African-Americans to “fend for themselves
in violent neighborhoods.” I can’t
wait to hear the ignorant O’Reilly generalize more about
“African American culture.”
. . .
Sean Hannity may be the worst of all, using the president’s
saying he could have been Trayvon
Martin 35 years ago to smear both Martin and Obama with drug
charges. “Is that the president
admitting that I guess because what, he was part of the Choom
Gang and he smoke d pot
and he did a little blow — I’m not sure how to interpret
because we know that Trayvon had
been smoking pot that night.”
Incredibly, a case in which a young, unarmed teenager was
fatally shot by a stalker became an opportunity for
commentators to reinforce prejudicial stereotypes of African-
American men. A columnist at The National
Review shared with his (white) readers the advice his father
once gave him: “When you go to San Francisco,

be careful if a group of black youths approaches you.”
Whiteness as Invisible Non-identity
Until recently, in countries such as Canada, the U.S., and
Australia, where the majority of the invader and
settler populations has been European-descended, whiteness has
been defined implicitly as an invisible non-
identity. In other words, the dominance of whiteness has gone
unexamined because it is not named as such.
Not mentioning a distinguishing characteristic like whiteness
implies that it is just ordinary, the norm. As a
result, non-whiteness is framed in this binary opposition as
difference/deviation from the norm.
Consider, for instance, why book publishers would use the
image of a white person in order to market a
novel featuring a black character. Or why several Hunger
Games fans would take to Twitter to complain that
the film adaptation cast black actors in the roles of Rue and
Thresh. In these cases, being "white" is seen as
an invisible non-identity (i.e. as "normal"), whereas "non-
whiteness" is visible and a basic part of one's social
identity.
"Eating the Other"
In "Eating the Other," the influential social theorist bell hooks
argues that representations of racial Otherness

(i.e. non-whiteness) "sustain a romantic fantasy of the
'primitive' and the concrete search for a real primitive
paradise" (370).
In the article, hooks describes dominant white attitudes toward
whiteness and non-whiteness. What does it
mean to be white? What does it mean to be non-white?
According to the mainstream media, whiteness is
bland and boring. In contrast, as hooks writes, "non-white
people [seem to have] more life experience, [are]
more worldly, sensual, and sexual because they [are] different”
(368). These claims about whiteness and non-
whiteness are myths; i.e. they are cultural constructions.
Popular culture, however, presents them as natural
facts. Moreover, it encourages white people to overcome their
blandness by engaging with “the Other,” who
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YLWRlxGnzI
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/354122/facing-facts-
about-race-victor-davis-hanson
http://www.salon.com/life/broadsheet/feature/2010/01/19/cover
_whitewashing/index.html
http://jezebel.com/5896408/racist-hunger-games-fans-dont-care-
how-much-money-the-movie-made
https://de.ryerson.ca/DE_courses/uploadedFiles/6052_Arts/CSO
C202/Modules/Module_00/eating%20the%20other.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_hooks

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are “Other” on account of their racialized social positions.
Referring to a group of white men whom she overhead
discussing their sexual conquests with non-white
women, hooks writes,
Getting a bit of the Other, in this case engaging in sexual
encounters with non-white females, was
considered a ritual of transcendence, a movement out into a
world of difference that would
transform, an acceptable rite of passage. The direct objective
was not simply to sexually possess
the Other; it was to be changed in some way by the encounter.
(368)
According to hooks, this mindset marks a break from the racism
that has resulted in violence and
discrimination acted upon blacks. Nevertheless, it treats blacks
as objects, not as subjects, and makes “black
culture and black life backdrop, scenery for narratives that
essentially focus on white people” (374).
Consider, for instance, the following images from the 2013
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue:
A critique of these images is not intended to single out the

editors, photographers, or models, nor is to imply
that they have acted out of malice. We are instead concerned
with problematic media trends, in this case the
pervasiveness of "eating the other."
As you examine these photos, bear in mind why hooks sees
"eating the other" as a problem:
When race and ethnicity become commodified as resources for
pleasure, the culture of specific
groups, as well as the bodies of individuals, can be seen as
constituting an alternative
playground where members of dominating races, genders, sexual
practices affirm their power-
over in intimate relations with the Other. (367)
At the feminist blog Jezebel, Dodai Stewart critiques the SI
images taken in Namibia (the top two images).
"Africa has long been portrayed as a place of uncivilized,
primitive people," she writes, "despite the fact that it
is a very diverse continent with an epic diaspora and considered
the birthplace of civilization. From Morocco to
http://jezebel.com/5983737/sports-illustrated-swimsuit-issue-
goes-to-7-continents-finds-exotic-people-to-use-as-props
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Côte d'Ivoire to Ethiopia to Egypt and Nigeria, no one African
country is like another. But these shots tap into
the West's past obsession/fetishization with so-called savages,
jungle comics and the like. Again: In a visit to
seven continents, this image is what Sports Illustrated is using
to represent the continent of Africa. A model
holding a fucking spear."
The photographs of Kate Upton in Australia,
however, had "no people-props," Stewart
notes. "Australians probably aren't exotic
enough? The photo shoots done in the
Bahamas and Chile had no people-props
either. In Antartica, Kate Upton was joined by
penguins. Black man, Chinese man, penguins."
Discussion
Watch the video for "We Can't Stop" by Miley Cyrus:
Then read "Miley Cyrus Needs to Take an African American
Studies Class," an interview with Akil

Houston by Wilbert L. Cooper. Do you agree with Houston's
observation that the video "continues
a long tradition of what bell hooks might refer to as 'eating the
other'"?
Popular Culture and Representations of Race
White perspectives are dominant in the media
in terms of both political representation (who
owns and is making media content) and
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symbolic representation (who is shown in
positive or negative roles on film and TV
screens). Racialized groups are either
mostly ignored or stereotyped, for example, as
the Black criminal, the Latin Lover, the Asian
kung fu master or the sinister Arab. The
existence of genres helps to perpetuate these
stereotypes.

Reading
Read "Teaching Resistance: The Racial Politics of Mass Media"
by bell hooks.
A few caveats to note as you read: (1) bell hooks published this
chapter (an excerpt from her book
Killing Rage) in 1995. At the time of her writing, as she notes,
there were no studies that had
looked "at the role mass media have played since 1960 in
perpetuating and maintaining the
values of white supremacy" or of studies that "have examined
the role television has played in
teaching white viewers that racism no longer exists." Although
a number of such studies have
since been undertaken, her writings remain central to the study
of popular culture and highly
relevant to contemporary debates surrounding media
representation and racism. (2) At the time of
her writing, only Hattie McDaniel and Sidney Poitier had won
Oscars for lead acting, and that
Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker, and Halle
Berry have since won Oscars for their
leading roles. (3) hooks acknowledges that there are many films

that do challenge racist
assumptions. Her point is that these films tend to be
marginalized and overshadowed by
mainstream fare.
Pay attention to how her argument relates to the point raised
earlier that, in our culture, we tend to
ignore institutionalized racism:
By socializing white and black citizens in the United States to
think of racism in
personal terms, individuals could think of it as having more to
do with inherent
prejudicial feelings than with a consciously mapped-out strategy
of domination that
was systematically maintained. (108)
Discussion
Take a look at Complex Gaming's "The 10 Most Racist Video
Games." Do you agree with critics
such as Kotaku's Evan Narcisse (recommended reading, not
required) who say that video games
http://www.complex.com/video-games/2012/06/the-10-most-
racist-video-games/donkey-kong
http://kotaku.com/5897227/come-on-video-games-lets-see-
some-black-people-im-not-embarrassed-by

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too often rely on black stereotypes? Narcisse notes that video
games rely heavily on such
stereotypes as the "hot-tempered thug rapper," "loud black
soldiers who only know how to yell,"
and "spear-carrying primitives."
Genre
As a term, genre goes back to earliest cinema and was seen as a
way of organizing films according to type.
With the impact in the late 1800s of new technologies, which
made popular entertainment more accessible,
the need arose to classify mass culture when targeting different
audiences. The term is now used to
categorize film, TV shows, video games, music, literature, etc.
Genre is more than mere generic cataloguing. It does not refer
just to a film or TV type but to spectator
expectation and hypothesis (speculation about how the film will
end). Genres also act as vehicles for stars. But
stars, too, act as vehicles for genres. We recall the genre and
the star, and we expect certain roles and are
usually gratified (e.g. Whoopi Goldberg or Chris Rock in
comedies, Jet Li or Jackie Chan in kung fu films,

Harrison Ford or Bruce Willis in action films).
Discussion
Take a close look at the April 2008 cover of Vogue magazine
featuring basketball star Lebron
James and supermodel Gisele Bündchen.
Do you agree with critics such as ESPN's
Jemele Hill (recommended reading, not
required) that the cover falls into a long history
of presenting "black athletes . . . as angry,
overly aggressive and overly sexual"? Consider
similarities between the Vogue cover and movie
posters like King Kong.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=hill/080320
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Please Note
In "Teaching Resistance: The Racial Politics of Mass Media,"
bell hooks describes a number of

narrative strategies that serve to conceal the realities of racial
oppression. These
include integrationist representational strategies and
affirmationist representational
strategies. While these strategies are positive insofar as they
tend to avoid overt stereotypes, they
nevertheless imply, false ly, that we have moved into a post-
racial society.
Integrationist
Representational
Strategies
These strategies, embodied in films like Guess
Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), serve
metaphorically to invite blacks into mainstream
white society on the strength of the reassuring
message that "they" are "just like" us. This
strategy has been used less often in relation to
representation of gays and lesbians and
people with a disability.
Affirmationist Representational Strategies
These strategies use essentialist black identities stereotypes, to
challenge the mainstream.
Blaxploitation films are an example. More recent versions of
this strategy, such as that embodied
in the 1980s TV series The Cosby Show, represent blacks
succeeding in white society through

their own efforts, but in a way that plays down the history and
ongoing reality of discrimination, as
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well as a politics of resistance. A related genre is the biracial
buddy film (examples include Pulp
Fiction, Lethal Weapon 1, 2, 3 & 4, White Men Can't Jump, and
The Shawshank Redemption).
These films reinforce the binary opposition of whiteness and
blackness--making it seem as if a
person's identity cannot in any way transcend his or her racial
identity. On a more positive note,
they also highlight the possibility of overcoming racial barriers
through individual tolerance,
understanding and sometimes humour
Video
Watch Blacking Up: Hip-Hop's Remix of Race and Identity
(2010), available on reserve and via
streaming video. (Backup link here.) Throughout the
documentary, the talking heads express
conflicting attitudes towards hip-hop and the racial identities

associated with it. What opinions do
you agree/disagree with most? Why?
http://www.veoh.com/watch/v432018717yDx32sc
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xysr1m_b-
u_news#.UWG8mL8v9xE