Mass Media Impact - Pop Culture and Race, Ethnicity

Evaluate: Mass Media Impact

Evaluation Title: Pop Culture and Race, Ethnicity, Sexual Morality, and Gender

Bell hooks (nee Gloria Jean Watkins) is a professor and social activist who has written about feminism and popular culture.  For this assignment you will watch bell hooks’ views on Cultural Criticism and Transformation in the video and read the accompanying  extended transcriptLinks to an external site. . (Note: there are several very difficult subjects discussed, and visual examples from movies are used to support these examples; more examples are used to further explore each of these themes throughout the remainder of this video.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQUuHFKP-9s

Your essay should include some discussion of the following questions:

1. Do you agree or disagree with hooks’ views?  Support your position.

2. Does mass media promote images of equality by leveling racial, ethnic, and gender differences or do they promote inequality through exclusion and exaggeration of difference?

3. Does mass media reinforce the viewpoints of white, male, corporate culture or does mass allow for the authentic expression of racial, ethnic, and sexual identity?  Give examples to support your position

Specifications: 

Submit an 800-1000 word essay addressing the questions above. 

In your essay:

· Be sure to structure your essay with an introduction paragraph that includes a thesis statement, well-organized supporting paragraphs, and a conclusion that reiterates the main points of your argument. 

· Your argument should be supported by reputable research cited in APA format both in the body of the paper and in your references section.

Reference

ChallengingMedia. (2006, October 3).  bell hooks: Cultural criticism & transformation [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQUuHFKP-9s