Streaming Media

Submission Date

7-24-2015

Document Type

Paper

Department

Media & Communication Studies

Faculty Mentor

Jennifer Fleeger

Project Description

Have you ever watched, and possibly laughed, at videos of Blacks fighting? You’re not the only one. Worldstarhiphop.com was created in 2005; it is an online hub for “everything” in regards to hip hop culture. This includes sports highlights and new rap artists as well as “crazy fights” mainly between Black people. The videos are primarily made by Blacks and exploited by many. The purpose of this project is to investigate the attraction society has to the behavior of black youth. There are many things that contribute to this phenomenon of violence occurring among black youth. I have chosen to focus on the issue that these fights are being recorded and distributed. The power the cameramen have is not only their camera but their presence. Because they are present when these actions occur they could stop it, instead they use their power of presence to record it and post it for others to see. This has been turned into a type of spectacle that I have found is the result of a long history of spectacle abuse in which minorities were forced to be represented as inferior to Whites and Europeans. What allowed Blacks to believe this type of performance was entertaining and acceptable? After studying the many forms of forced representation of minorities through museums, human zoos and world fairs, it is clear Blacks were taught how they should represent themselves.

Comments

Presented during the 17th Annual Summer Fellows Symposium, July 24, 2015 at Ursinus College.

The streaming video on this page was created in conjunction with the written paper available for download.

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