Just Looking ...

In the last two classes we have been discussing issues such as race, history, and political economy with specific attention to, at least last class, black and white relations in America. During these classes I constantly find myself thinking about the show 30 Rock (created by Tina Fey). Now, my love for Alec Baldwin aside, I feel that this show does a really good job of addressing the stereotypes - from blondes, Black-Americans, Irish-Americans, corporations etc. - that arise from history and political economy. And does so in an extremely humorous way. Many of the episodes highlight stereotypical PERCEPTIONS of Black-Americans. I should note that show addresses (and in MANY ways REINFORCES) the way stereotypes are ingrained in society and draws attention to what Prof Kalmar was saying: that these stereotypes are more a part of us than we may like to admit due to the fact that have been deeply ingrained into our society/culture. For example, in one episode Liz Lemon (Fey) is suspicious that Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan), a Black-American media star, might be illiterate due to his refusal to read scripts or cue cards. Even though Tracy is literate he pretends not to be in order to lessen his work load and schedule. When Tracy is eventually confronted on the issue, he tells Liz that she has shown "the subtle racism of lowered expectations". He then tells her that "Bing Crosby" said that. Liz corrects Tracy by telling him that it was "Bill Cosby" who said that, at which point Tracy calls her a racist. So, while the show addresses subtle aspects of racism it concurrently works to reinforces race stereotypes. It is an extremely funny show - to which my description has done no justice - and I highly recommend watching it.

Here is a link to some clips of the show on youtube.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4Dj28PhHfeI