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Summary

Throughout this page I discuss A Different World, The Help, as well as an educational social media page focusing on educating white people in particular, called ATTN: White People.

I review the societal implications of each media type, as well as the impact they had on previous and current history. We see time pieces such as A Different World and The Help, in which the perspective of African-American individuals is highlighted and shown in ways that were not typical of that time, and which resonated with people on personal levels to individuals who were African-American, and gave perspective to white individuals as well.

To conclude, this page gives an analysis of multiple media types along with social issues that impacted them within the each storyline and topic.

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Social Media Post, ATTN: White People

Attention White people is an Instagram page that focuses on sharing and educating people on racial issues through the paradigm of a white individual. This page not only has a link full of resources, but through colorful imagery and posts, it allows people to learn about racial issues affecting other communities in an easily digestible manner.

This page posts about current issues happening within our own society, as well as historical events that have happened in the past. This page also has a coordinating blog page that has more links, recommendations of films and other media, educational information, as well as organizations and people to follow.

This page is more informative than it is sharing perspectives of others, but through the sharing of resources and information it empowers others to educate themselves on their own to create their own opinions and ideas based on what they have learned. I will say however, that there is some biases shown within the writing and information shown, as it has a somewhat accusatory tone towards white people, which is somewhat expected as it is a page that is geared towards white people who are looking to educate themselves and take accountability along the way.

Attn: White People, is a blog that aims to give those searching for resources and information in order to educate themselves on racial issues they may be naive to on their own. This is a good beginner's resource for someone looking for easily digestble information and resources, but I would also do your own research and follow original links of information in order to gain a more objective picture of events and such before blindly following the writings of others.

Personally, I found this blog very helpful at pointing me in the direction of information if I was curious about a subject, and with them having a blog as well as an Instagram page, I was able to exhuast all information from their blog, as well as viewing images on my own social media feed.

I also found that with following this page, I was able to find other pages similar, or that had similar topics/focuses that allowed me to broaden my education on topics concerning BIPOC individuals as a result. I think that through this assignment I have opened up my own mind to following more activist or educational pages as they make it quick and easy to learn about racial topics as well as easily digestible.

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Film Post: The Help

The Help follows Viola Davis (Aibileen), a black woman working for a prominent white family in the South. Throughout the movie we see the struggle Aibileen has between working for the upper class white women, and her role in an inferior position within the household. Skeeter played by Emma Stone, is a white woman coming back to her hometown to interview and hear the stories of black women working for prominent white families, and Aibileen is the only woman who agrees to be interviewed, and is also working for Skeeter's best friend. In class as well as in other previous classes we see the cognitive dissonance between the social norms for the time, racial issues, and how those all interact with each other.

This movie showed on a very personal level the harshness and struggle that black women specifically as they wanted to help support their families, but didn't have much education, thus they went to jobs such as caretaking and housekeeping to provide an income for their families.

This show represents racial and ethnic identities through it's transparency with what Aibileen endures in her job as well as the kindness and love she shows for the child that she looks after. This movie showed the complexity of an African-American woman during this time, not only as a worker, but a mother, wife, caretaker, caring woman, where there may not have been such complexity depicted within a time piece such as this in previous years.

Taylor, T. (2011). The Help. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

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TV Post: A Different World

A Different World follows Whitley, Kim, Jaleesa, and the rest of Hillman College as they deal with the struggle to find their identity while trying not to fail Calculus. In the many seasons A Different World aired for, they covered many social issues such as sexual assault, race, class, as well as the HIV/AIDS epidemiology, issues that other shows at the time strayed away from. Throughout the show we see the students struggle with issues that we have discussed throughout this semester such as visibility in the media. Throughout class we discuss topics such as the Harlem Renaissance when African-American cinematographers and photographers began to flourish in Harlem, New York. This new lens that showed African-American’s through their own perspective and lens reflects the same perspective throughout A Different World where the lives on black campuses and universities and interactions between characters are shown from the perspective of the students on campus, not an outside perspective on their interactions and social lives. This visibility given by A Different World gave audience members and viewers a chance to feel relatability in mainstream media during a time that the visibility of African-American’s in media was slim. In a time where shows like Saved by the Bell were around showing the perspective of teenagers in a predominantly white high school, A Different World, allowed viewers who may not be able to relate to the previous show due to cultural differences, a chance to feel seen in mainstream media.

This show represents racial and ethnic identities throughout the show by showing the intersection between being a young adult and finding who you are with being an African-American in college and how all of those intricacies impact one and other. This show gives us conversations regarding universities and the impact that education has on an individual. Throughout history African-American individuals fought for the right to go to university and gain an education. The systems in place for universities had been made solely for the white male, thus throughout the show there is a conversation to be had about the accessibility and acceptance that colleges and universities have for multicultural individuals who may be placed at a disadvantage due to systemic racism.

Falcon, Ellen, director. 1988-1993. A Different World. Amazon Prime.