Star Trek: Shining a Light On Public Issues
Media can and has been used in many different ways to educate people in regards to social issues and public opinions; now whether or not the media is able to effectively portray these issues and educate the public correctly is an entirely different story. If I were to analyze the Star Trek episode that was shown in class, I would deduce that it did not effectively discuss the issues in regards to racism/xenophobia.
In my opinion, the topic itself was hidden under strained acting and awkward special effects to be taken seriously. While a TV viewer can see that there is a problem between the Horta and the humans, they wouldn’t actively jump to the conclusion that there’s racism/xenophobia going on.
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The cast is placed in the distant future off the planet earth. The audience goes and watches said show to be entertained; Although some part of the audience do always watch the show to be educated. It would be hard for a person to make a direct correlation between the events of the show to racism and xenophobia. Logically thinking, if a human is presented with a creature that could potentially kill it, the most rational response would be to try to kill the creature instead The idea itself plays with the fact that the smartest way to deal with a potentially hazardous situation would be to either run or fight the creature. When watching the episode I felt that the show was prolonging the suspense against the creature, and the miners should have just hunted down the creature before it killed anymore …show more content…
By making their unbiased message clear then it would be harder to be able to twist words and get the wrong message out. The setting of the episode would have fit the message that is going to be conveyed. If the message is going to be on how xenophobia is not only harmful to the person being prejudiced against, but the entire marginalized group, then a normal everyday setting would be adequate, since people we interact with on a daily basis could be xenophobic. Expanding on this thought, if the show portrayed someone getting harassed or bullied just because he or she looks different, at the end of the day communication would help the bully realize that they were afraid for no reason whatsoever. This would allow anyone who is watching the episode to put one and two together. Not disregarding the fact that they might be prejudiced in their own way and they might want to take steps to change that. Since most people tend to imitate what they see on the television to some degree. This could also be applied to topics such as racism and sexism, but of course, each of the episodes would need to be tailored for each specific social issue that is going to be discussed. Since not every episode should be the exact same thing just with different characters because the world doesn’t necessarily work that
This movie has all the prejudice and stereotype that could happen between different races. But they do not show how they used to feel before and how they feel after encountering to different races until they crashing in to them.
In order to identify how the mainstream media perpetuates racism, we must first understand its...
Allowing racist attitudes to flourish in modern television is only turning back time. If things
At its release, D. W. Griffith’s 1915 film The Birth of a Nation was regarded as a revolutionary and masterful piece of cinema. It was heralded as one of the greatest films ever made for the next fifty years, and is still revered by some for its amazing visuals and ground-breaking cinematic techniques. But these praises, some of which may be well deserved, obscure the film’s blatantly racist and offensive content in the minds of many viewers. Some of the most egregious aspects of The Birth of a Nation’s deeply rooted racism are expressed through the contrasting characters of Silas Lynch and Ben Cameron.
This movie does provoke a dialogue on race that, according to author and journalist Jeff Chang, "has been anathema to Hollywood after 9/11." During the first viewing of
This short video demonstrates everyday scenarios. The video takes the State Farm Insurance commercial and adds a twist to it. It starts with a white man and black man in an office having a normal conversation. The white man starts making racist comments without realizing it. The black man naturally points out the white mans offensive comments and the white man becomes uncomfortable and scared. The white man then panics and sings “Oops I was racist black guy come here” (“Dear White People”). He sings the words in the style of the State Farm Insurance Jingle and a well dressed black man appears only to back up the white man by saying the white mans comments were not meant to be racist. After the “Racism Agent” argues for the white mans case the black man agrees the white man was all right and the agent disappears. This video is clearly parody because of the State Farm Insurance jingle and the commercial concept. From the man singing the jingle his own way, to the “Racism Agent” showing up to meet the needs of the white man, it is exactly the same. This video is undoubtedly a horatian piece because it is extremely laughable. It also demonstrates how people can be racist by saying simple things without even realizing it. This also demonstrates that people should be more careful about what they say and how they say it. The message in the video needs to register in people’s minds not only because the video is funny but because of how the video is
Racism is a problem that the American people have grappled with since colonial times. The 1960's saw the rise of Martin Luther King, Jr and Malcolm X, who not only influenced the civil rights movement but attempted to solve the problem of racism in this country. On February 16, 1965, Malcolm X gave a speech called Not Just An American Problem, but a World Problem. In his speech he provides a theory on the relationship between media and racism called image making which still has validity today. On first reading, Malcolm's tone is angry and his theory on image making sounds absurd. He states: They (racists) use the press to get public opinion on their side. . . this is a science called image making. they hold you in check through this science of imagery. They even make you look down upon yourself, by giving you a bad image of yourself. Some of our own Black people who have eaten this image themselves and digested it -- until they themselves don't want to live in the Black community. Yet, current television programming seems to favor this idea. Local news programs continue to show colored communities as dangerous and gang-infested. They continually rely on the reports of these areas for the bulk of their news and overlook the positive images that residents of these areas try to create. For example, KNTV news continually reports on the thefts and shootings in East San Jose but does not make an effort to show how residents are dealing with these situations.
... supremacist gang, to rioting in an Asian owned grocery store, to finally brutally murdering someone. We observe as family ties become increasingly strained in every way, the viewer can easily conclude that Derek’s racism as well as his eventual influence on his younger brother ultimately contributed to their own downfall. As controversial as this movie maybe for the offensive language and brutal violence, it is a movie that deserves to be seen, and even discussed. It really provides insight into some factors within society that cannot be contained by the law or even deterred by even the harshest punishments. Even though American society is becoming more modernized as time goes by in terms of tolerance, racism will unfortunately always be prevalent in society and inevitably it will also lead some individuals to violently express their distorted mentalities.
In the Star Trek video, there are a couple relationships that come into play from start to finish. The relationship starts with two peoples that are beamed aboard the Enterprise. The two different sets of people are called the Ornarans, and the Breccians. The two Ornarans are named Tijon and Romas and they are both men, while the two Breccians are Sobi and Langor. Sobi is a man and Langor is a woman. At first, cargo is transported onto the ship and then the people are second to aboard. The Ornarans and Breccians are conflicting over who will get the cargo. The Ornarans are in desperate need of what is in the cargo. Medicine is the main need the Ornarans are wanting, claiming that it is theirs and that their people are in a plague. Sobi and Langor say that the cargo belongs to them. They create the medicine and trade it with the Ornarans to help benefit them. There is a big struggle between the two, fighting for what is right for them.
The first issue that I will be focusing on is how much prejudice was seen in the whole
Patience is an essential element in communication. Without it, we cannot communicate effectively. In fact, many problems occur due to a lack of effective communication. I felt really connected to this episode because I don’t always communicate well, and the characters had the same difficulty. In this episode of Star Trek, Captain Picard struggles to communicate with the Tamarians, but since he remains calm and continues to act with patience, he is eventually able to learn some of their language, and as a result, is able to comfort their leader as he dies. If Captain Picard had not been patient, he could have created unnecessary hostility between two parties. In order to communicate, patience is imperative.
After the release of Rabbit Proof Fence, many `politically right' white Australians tried to promote that the film was based on myth and misunderstanding but in facet is not as the film itself promotes the openness of racism. Racism was not only a problem is Australia but throughout the world and is continuing to stay a problem, even in our own backyard. The racism between the white Australians and the Aborigines is quite similar to the racism shown in schools and even in parliament here in New Zealand between the Maori and Europeans, or once again between the `white' and the `black'.
Media has become a major part of our lives. Indeed it has shape the way we perceive other races. Minority races such as Latinos, African American, Native American and Asians are being misrepresented in media. Media has a huge impact on race, by presenting race stereotypes media is telling us that certain races behave a particular way which shapes the way society sees them and in many times the way they see themselves. We tend to believe everything media says about us and other races without questioning if it is actually true.
The use of media has always been very tactical and representative of a statement or purpose. The issue of race has always been a topic of immaculate exploration through different forms of media. Mediated topics such as race, gender, and class have always been topics represented in the media as a form of oppression. The widely use of media surrounds the globe extensively as the public is bombarded with media daily. There are many different types of media that circulates the public making it widely available to anyone. Media can hold an immense amount of power as it can distort the manner in which people understand the world. In our society the media creates the dominant ideology that is to be followed for centuries in the classifications of race, gender, and class. Media can be a powerful tool to use to display a message which, is how “…the media also resorts to sensationalism whereby it invents new forms of menace” (Welch, Price and Yankey 36). Media makers and contributors take advantage of the high power that it possesses and begin to display messages of ideologies that represent only one dominant race or gender. It became to be known as the “dominant ideology of white supremacy” for many and all (Hazell and Clarke 6).
Media is used by dominant powers to spread their ideological beliefs and to help maintain social control. Althusser (1971) explains that, as an ideological state apparatus, media doesn’t use pressure as a way to bind society together under one dominant ideology, but instead uses the will of the people to make them accept the dominant ideology. However, media is also used as a way for people to challenge the dominant ideology. Newspapers, for example, will have articles that openly criticise and oppose the dominant ideology for what it is, whilst at the same time providing perspectives and opinions on different ideologies (such as feminism) that society can believe in. Although these alternate ideological perspectives exist, they are usually overlooked and only ever reach small audiences. Ideology can also help us understand the media because of the way in which it distributes ideology. A lot of different types of media, such as film and TV; reflect different ideologies, though we are not always aware that they are doing so. An example of this would be action/adventure films, which shows that using force or violence to solve problems is acceptable and reflects upon certain ideologies. This helps us to understand the media because the ideology that is reflected in these films is capable of reaching big audiences through the use of TV and film, thus allowing for it to become a more common belief within