Search

The movie 'Girl 6' by Spike Lee explores the power of the human desire to seduce, which can result in serious consequences. The film attempts a technical experimentation on cinematography but fails to completely exploit the objectification of women in a positive manner. The movie focuses not merely on sexuality but also on the desire for unconditional attention. The film makes evident the ways black males use sports to create a space for shaping a separate identity, while black women still lack a domain to express their emotions freely.

The women's movement has the greatest impact on concepts regarding mental health. The idea of 'personal is political' involves self-recovery from the oppressive socialization of women and men in the patriarchal system through feminist therapy. This type of therapy looks at the sexist system as the source of the problem instead of the person. There are still gaps in feminism that must be addressed, however. One of these is the lack of strategies that would help the feminist female and male survive in the still patriarchal milieu they live in.

There is a danger that discussions of and by women on being against war would perpetuate essentialist stereotype. It should be made clear that women are against war not on the basis of biological determinism, but as a political choice. The idea that all women are naturally against war is also misleading because there are women who hold the values of militarism, racism, cultural imperialism and other forms of domination as a means of social control. As a political stance, being anti-war takes a transformation at the level of the psyche, changing from a state of passive acceptance to active resistance.

Spike Lee's film 'Crooklyn' goes against the norm of portraying black life and death as violent and meaningless and deals with the emotional side of death in black life. However, the film, which deals with black subjectivity and black cultures, becomes stereotyped in the end. It also portrays the effect of death on female lives, while males escape unaffected. The film features two contrasting female characters, a glamorous woman and a conventional ten-year-old girl, who become sexist/racist stereotypes.

TRUE FICTION: KILLERS ROMANCE DOGS GEEK CHIC GARY INDIANA Like O. J. Simpson and Newt Gingrich, Quentin Tarantino has become one of those cosmically disseminated mirages that even the most [...]

'Kids' stands out as a fictional portrayal of teenage nihilistic hedonism replete with racist, sexist, and misogynist overtures. The film reflects the reactionary elements in white capitalist consumer culture, shocking people who are disturbed to see white kids following vernacular street culture. 'Kids' focuses on masculinity and male sexuality prompted by patriarchical attitudes. Its appeal lies in the voyeuristic pleasure adults derive from viewing unrestrained adolescent sexuality. Despite its transgressive nature, 'Kids' is hardly subversive and hence offers no progressive alternatives.

The basketball documentary 'Hoop Dreams,' which portrays the exploitation of black males by the coaches and scouts, attracts the audience as it assures that the underprivileged can rise in their life. 'Hoop Dreams' avoids stereotypical portrayal of black mothers but the presentation of father-son relationship is stereotypical and negative. The rivalry between the two leading characters of the documentary subtly portrays the concept of competition, which is omnipresent in the American society.

It used to be that feminism was a total woman thang. Outside of the nice white girls who filled women's-studies classes because they wanted to learn to be bad, everyone [...]

During the winter months, trapped by a dreadful flu, I buried myself deep in red flannel and tiger balm, sipped endless cups of cold-and-flu tea, and read Genius in Disguise, [...]

A Certain Lack of Coherence: Writings on Art and Cultural Politics, by Jimmie Durham, ed. Jean Fisher. London: Kala Press, 1993. 255 pp. 18 illustrations. $18.95. An insightful essay is [...]

Critical vigilance is always the starting point in Barbara Kruger's writing. Since most of the pieces in this collection of her essays from over the years are really short, Kruger [...]

No recent essay collection has made me laugh as much as Ice T's The Ice Opinion. I didn't count how many times I read passages of it aloud to anyone [...]

bell hooks on Spike Lee's Malcolm X Shortly after the assassination at the Audubon Ballroom, Bayard Rustin predicted that 'white America, not the Negro people, will determine Malcolm X's fate [...]

Female black students, who reject feminist writings, deprive themselves of intellectual growth necessary to counter prejudice against women. Most black women are skeptical about feminist thought because they have a misconception that feminism caters to the needs of only white women and it does not serve black women at all. Blinded by racial distinctions, they are denying themselves the knowledge that will widen their perspective about womanhood.

Blue is not my color. It haunts me, chases me, a ghost running through my dreams--tormenting. The shade of trauma, hands touching me against my will, fragments of horrors; my [...]

Lorna Simpson's photograph Waterbearer was reproduced in 1987 in one of the early issues of B Culture, a progressive black newspaper of arts and culture that was fresh beyond all [...]