Immigration and Pop Culture

Immigration and Pop Culture

In reading the Introduction to Immigration and Pop Culture, I could not help but to reflect on the article Jewish Gangster Masquerade. The chapter describes the gangster flicks of the 1930s and how they depicted Italian and Jewish Gangs and that the films were popular for many during the era of the Great Depression. Other films made during this era were made for escapist reasons, but that these films were marketed particularly because of their realism. Whose reality were they really depicting? In one sense, it allow some to feel a certain affinitiy or pride at being portrayed as tough, intimidating. For others, it attributed negative stereotypes as gangsters were also portrayed as menaces to society.
As I was reading the article, I could not stop reflecting on my own and my friends’ experiences with the gangster films of today. I grew up in a predominately Latino community that included African Americans, Asians. It was considered vital that you have seen Scarface (with Al Pacino) and the Godfather, and that many of the males in my neigborhood wanted to emulate the power that Michale Corleone(?) had in the movie. In fact, for many of my friends that I still have in the neighborhood, Scarface is their all-time favorite movie. I began to think that that the appeal of these types of movies was not the violence depicted, but that because the power the gangs had. The gangs really did not have to relinquish their ethnic identity, but in fact portrayed them as being proud of it.
Although the goal of the real life gangsters was to attain a type of acceptance and respect into society, whether it be their own or the mass society of the city in which they lived, for my classmates, it was the power and intimidation that they gravitated to most, to have people answer to you, not the other way around.

Cultural Capital lesson plan

What's in your Brain? A study of cultural capital

Start by having student list topics they feel they have the most
knowledge about. It could be related to a place, such as a
neigborhood or region of the city.A hobby, such as hip hop music,
sport, or knitting.Or part of their identity,
such as religion or ethnic heritage.   Then have them pick one
of these topics to reflect in-depth about. What do they know
about this topic? Why do they feel they are experts at this topic?

Students would research about their chosen topic.
Where did it originate?Is there any variation or
diffusion or variations within this topic. Students would
then create an poster that would inform others about their
topics and provide historical context as to how this topic
has changed or evolved over the years. They are to use visual evidence
such as  photos or  drawings to illustrate their poster as well as
their reflective piece to explain why they chose that topic.
Another option would be to have them create a short
powerpoint or imovie.

Have we (women) evolved?

In viewing videos from Avril Lavinge, Lil Kim and Fiona Apple, their songs were in a way for them to flip the tables on maybe what was considered traditional male territory in terms of song topic. The topics of cheating, disappointment and sex empowerment were now being written from their own perspectives.
The song "Criminal" by Fiona Apple is the about a women who uses a man, "just because I can", which is not something women are not taught growing up how to be. After all, aren't we supposed to be caring and nuturing...yet on guard, because it is expected that maybe our men will cheat on us? Not the other way around? Lil Kim raps about achieving sexual satisfaction and sexually dominating men, yet uses her sexuality as a marketing tool in ways that leave little to the imagination. Avril sings about disappointment about a broken relationship, but also shifting the blame to her ex, so the title Happy Ending is meant to be an irony.

At the time that these songs and videos came out, they were thought to be ground-breaking or revolutionary in someway..expressing how they really felt or what they really wanted, but you do see some very traditional male expressions still taking place in the cinema/video aspects of their music.
The women are portrayed in the male perspective, even if their songs sing about having the upper hand in the male/female relationships. They are still objects to watch, to be seductive to the viewer, and objectified. Some is intentional, either done by the approval of the artist, but I do feel that their message of female "empowerment" gets lost in their videos. You end up looking at innocent looking faces, heavily made up, body parts featured that are appealing to male viewers.

In Lil Kims video, you even have a "Barbie" factory in which Lil Kim's images are place on Barbie bodies. Lynn Spigel essay "Welcome to the Dream House", Spigel mentions that female collectors of the Barbie doll use the minature world of Barbie to make authoritive statements about themselves (Spigel 325). Lil Kim's "How Many Licks?" video is an explicit example about this. She raps about how she expects her male sexual partners to satisfy her, yet she markets her self as a flavor to be experienced, in three different types.