In approximately 500 words, analyze how the episode you’ve selected draws upon universalizing and minoritizing discourses of race, sexuality, and/or gender.

For my television episode I chose to watch the Office, episode 2, season 1. The episode is called “diversity day”, for those of you who have not watched the office, it is just that, an office and all the people in the office have little quirks and it is a comedy of some social, political, racial subjects. Most of the show is just comedy, making fun of certain types of people, although sometimes it can be quite offensive.
Minoritizing discourses occur when the norm is the only thing that is important, it shows that differences are bad and there is a lot of exclusion of different groups. Universalizing discourses on the other hand, include everyone, just like Mr. Brown wants to do in the episode. Meanings of groups are always changing and the ways people of a group define themselves may be different.
The man from corporate, Mr. Brown is in the office to talk about diversity, there is a big show about making sure to pay attention to the minorities, even though he may not always talk to them. The show also makes sure to pan to certain people of those races and nationalities so we see their reaction.
Dwight makes a point to mention that he doesn’t want to include homosexuals, because a lot of races are intolerant of homosexuals. Why that is important, it may make reference to him being queer, or being offended and intolerant himself.
The main conflict of the show is about Michael reenacting a joke of Chris Rocks. The joke offended a lot of people and it is supposed to be a southern, uneducated black person.
Michael also takes offense to a black man, Mr. Brown leading a diversity group that is only needed due to the comments Michael makes on a day to day basic. He decides that Mr. Brown didn’t do enough, and insulted everyone, so he decides to have a diversity session himself.
Michael makes a fool of himself and hurts one of the girls feelings. She is Indian-American and he makes gestures and uses accents that seem to belittle her, to treat her in a manner that shows a lot of ignorance. Michael doesn’t understand her culture, she may have grown up in America and may not even celebrate the customs of her heritage, he uses a minoritizing discourse to make him superior, a white male.
The entire show is taking race, gender and a little sexuality. Mostly race, but Michael also makes himself superior as a man to everyone else. He tells Pam to “get real” to toughen up and when Pam is forces to make a stereotype about Asian she says that they are bad drivers, Dwight yells “awww man! Am I a woman!”. There is a complete disregard of women as major forces in the work environment.
The entire show is funny, and offensive at the same time. Michael is the main culprit, but other people in other episodes do similar things. It is part of the show, to make people laugh, but some people outside of the norm, may take it at face value.

Blog #2

--How does the media engage with the idea of the gendered, racialized, and/or internalized gaze (PowerPoint)? Does it also structure a particular gaze, or way of looking, at bodies regarding sexuality?

--How does the media engage (explicitly or implicitly) with ideas surrounding body size (thinness, excess, fatness, etc.)?

--Is consumerism either explicitly or implicitly called upon/referred to as a way of means of maintaining or achieving hegemonic beauty ideals?

As fashion ads go, they usually contain some sexual desire or intention. This ad though everyone is mostly clothed, shows one man with 2 women draped over him. The fashion ads today try to show women and men in the advertised clothes in what is supposed to be an everyday occurance for them, the model. Bordo talks about “objectification”, women being mere objects for men, or for the audience. Of course men might desire to be idolized by women, to have their sexual objects displayed for them, or so the fashion ads show.

This ad for instance shows two women laying submissively out for the man. He looks straight at the camera with a look in his eye, maybe of desire or of control. The women who have a lot of eye makeup on, look “caught in the act”. The women have both a submissive gaze, though not toward the male figure. We could also look at Sex and the City, though the women in this image are shown as mostly passive, they may be the ones in control. We talked about shopping for the right man, and getting the man based on pleasing visual qualities, these women are playing games to get the man that is good looking, fit, and handsome (Power Point #8).

There is not a question of the fact that these models were chosen because they are thin. There is a sex appeal toward people of thinner size and of course the clothing must fit well. The one woman, on the left is wearing a bikini styled top, showing off her small chest and flat stomach. The other woman’s upper body is clothed, but her legs are the focus of her body. Bordo says, “Because these images use bodies to sell surface adornments (such as clothing, jewelry and footwear), the images are taken to be advertising, at most, a certain “look” or style of appearance” (Never Just Pictures p.458). The ad is perfect for people who want to be skinny, who feel like they must fit the norm. They are all white, all tanned, they have a ruff look to them, again like they have been caught.

I could see many people who view this ad going out to buy these clothes, to look like this, and to be desired. Most people want to be looked at, to be acknowledged and desired in some way or another. This ad puts the norms on display. In shape, tanned skin, very thin, dress sexy, be desired; these are the things that the fashion companies expect the audience to want, to sell their clothes by using sex as their main focus. As Bordo says, that gazes tell us about what our culture values and make us desire the norms presented (also in Power Point #6).

Fashion advertisements make the ideals, the norms in a somewhat natural perspective to make ever person feel that they too can be the one in the picture. However, many people take the photo to the extreme, causing medical problems and spending money on clothes that are out of their price range. Thinking that if you buy a pair of jeans, a specific brand of shoes, then you will be a higher class or more desired. The audience who sees these photos will feel obligated to perform to the norms that society has given us, because it is difficult to look at a picture and just think of it as a picture.

Bordo, Susan. (1997). “Never Just Pictures” Twightlight Zones: The Hidden life of Cultural Images from Plato to OJ. University of California Press.

Robertson, Lindsey. “The Body and the Gendered Gaze.” July 12, 2010

Robertson, Lindsey. “Sex and the City.” July 19, 2010