The Media Narrative and Culture

This isn't a new Idea.  I personally like to hear people who are funnier than I am talk about it.  The idea is that media, any media, controls us by presenting news as a story, and that story is all we're going to hear about.  Ever.  Oh, yeah, and this.

I think I can present this argument in the study of a single person, namely, John Singleton.

This dude.  As seen in an expertly taken picture by Bobak Ha'Eri.

John Singleton is a director.  And he's a pretty good one, or he was, I guess.  The point is that he made two movies in the early nineties called Boyz n the Hood and Higher Learning.  I submit that these movies as evidence for the danger of the single story.

Boyz is an awesome movie.  Singleton takes time to create characters and give each of them specific desires and motives, and each is different (Except for in the first half, when he's just doing Stand by Me).  The point is that I come away from that movie not feeling like I understand the culture of urban LA because its so complex.  This complexity is a mixture of poverty, social pressures, and competing personalities.  It seems real because Its taken from life, and is subtle and honestly crafted after Singleton's own experiences.

However, when Singleton tried to reclaim that same feeling with Higher Learning a few years later. Here Singleton actively drafted from stereotypes and crammed them together like a toddler playing with brown Scultpty clay and cat poop.  All the white people are Nazis, or Lesbians.  Last time I checked, I really didn't identify with either.  He's got THE Black athlete and THE Black stoner, so kudos for simplifying your own race, John.

No cowboys?  huh.  What about a pirate?  Where's their representation?

The movie, then comes up short.  Its not believable.  I don't know if its because of the blatant mixing of bad characters or the blatant mixing of stupid stereotypes of different ethnicities, but it didn't work.

Why, God? Why?

I think its because we, as culturally biased people, don't understand one another.  I know, I know, its simplistic, but I think its true.  Worst of all, we think we do.

Maybe someday we can all back up, look at the world, and collectively shrug.  And then the golden age of World peace can begin.



Cowboy Photo by Matthew Trump copyright 2004.  For funnier raging at the media visit Fatboy Roberts' Blog here.