Assignment: Tropes versus...

Purpose In the introduction to her latest Tropes versus series, Feminist Frequency creator Anita Sarkeesian explains, This project will examine the tropes, plot devices, and patterns most commonly associated with women in video games rom a systemic, !ig"picture perspective# This series will include critical analysis o many !eloved games and characters, !ut remem!er that it is !oth possi!le and necessary to simultaneously enjoy media while also !eing critical o its more pro!lematic or pernicious aspects# $or this assignment, we will !e ollowing Sarkeesian%s example and examine the tropes, plot devices, and patterns most commonly associated with racial representation in ilm# &esources Required viewing' Anita Sarkeesian, Tropes vs# (omen in )ames# Feminist Frequency. http'**www# eminist re+uency#com*,-./*-/*damsel"in"distress"part".* &ecommended reading' &ace Tropes# TV Tropes# http'**tvtropes#org*pmwiki*pmwiki#php*0ain*&aceTropes Topic This assignment asks you to consider the use o racial tropes in ilm, television, literature, and games in a way that attends to the potential pro!lems o racial representation in 1#S# media# The we!site TV Tropes 2tvtropes#org3 provides a simple de inition o trope that will !e important to consider or this assignment' a trope is a conceptual igure o speech, a storytelling shorthand or a concept that the audience will recogni4e and understand instantly# A!ove all, a trope is a convention# It can !e a plot trick, a setup, a narrative structure, a character type# The +uestion or this assignment is' why might tropes !e pro!lematic5 $or one, the use o storytelling shorthand in ilm, television, literature, and games, especially when dealing with matters o race, can lead to gross oversimpli ications and the reproduction o long"standing racist stereotypes and !elie s a!out particular groups# 6n the one hand, this might suggest that the only way many ilmmakers and studios think their audiences will !e a!le to recogni4e and understand ethnic minority characters is through oversimpli ied representations that expose undamental misunderstandings a!out particular groups that o ten reduce characters rom these groups to one or two dimensional su!jects rather than complex and ully leshed"out people while simultaneously relying upon out"dated views that seem to mark raciali4ed su!jects in ilm, literature, television, and games as ro4en in time# 6n the other hand, i this is not the case, what the use o racial tropes suggests is that these ideas are so deeply engrained in our minds that we are not even aware o the negative implications o these stock characteri4ations# In the majority o cases when we are presented with tropes, we are presented with stock characters, and while tropes can extend !eyond race 2or class or gender3, when race comes into play, tropes tend to !orrow heavily rom an American and 7uropean racist imaginary which suggests that any notion o progress over time in relation to race and racism must !e reconsidered# (hat do we make o characters such as the mammy, a maternal and sometimes eisty !lack emale character that !orrows rom stereotypes o older emale house" slaves and servant"nannies8 the magical negro, a supporting character that o ten appears out o nowhere to assist a white protagonist in reaching his or her potential, and as one critic has noted, is in antali4ing and o ensive !ecause it suggests !lack excellence is so shocking it can only come rom a source that is supernatural8 the noble savage, a representation o 9ative Americans, native A ricans, and other indigenous, o tentimes tri!al people that dates !ack to the 7uropean age o exploration and coloni4ation8 or even more contemporary tropes o Asians and Asian Americans such as the kung fu master/wise monk and the lotus blossom/dragon lady5 Also, what do we make o tropes involving whiteness such as the white savior, which at times appears in relation to other raciali4ed tropes, and what role does this particular trope play in potentially alleviating or even inspiring eelings o guilt in audiences5 &ather than a list o tropes and the stereotypes that in orm them, you will !e asked to put these tropes and stereotypes in conversation with a larger argument a!out (:;, despite the act that we so o ten claim that we live in a post"racial or color!lind society, these orms o representation not only continue to exist !ut continue to retain widespread popularity !oth among the producers A9< consumers o these narratives 2consider the success o =ames >ameron%s Avatar and the Twilight ranchise, which are !rimming with tropes3# Anita

Sarkeesian%s Tropes versus (omen in ?ideogames should !e thought o , to some extent, as a model or the critical analysis I expect rom you with this assignment# (atch that video and try to understand how she utili4es evidence in support o her analysis# (hile she uses 0A9; examples, in part, to make clear how common the tropes she examines are, you will !e limited to two or three examples, and should attempt to ocus on 697 or the majority o your essay# In other words, you will use two to three examples as a means o esta!lishing prevalence, !ut direct the !runt o your analysis toward one o the texts in order to provide a detailed, nuanced, and ocused analysis and avoid overgenerali4ation# ;ou will also want to avoid oversimpli ied market !ased arguments# Such arguments typically suggest that racial tropes exist !ecause there is a market or them# This approach o ten makes the mistake o assuming that audiences play a direct role in in luencing character representations 2and when we consider writer"directors like =ames >ameron, who is more than capa!le o ignoring the input o his ans and who is ar more concerned with !ringing his own vision to the screen, this argument holds signi icantly less credi!ility3, or perhaps even more importantly, ails to assess the audience itsel as holding pro!lematic views regarding race# In addition, it also suggests that i consumers want something, that makes the persistence o these tropes somehow okay# A more critical approach would not only +uestion market logics 2who controls the market5 a ter all, the market does not consist solely o consumers !ut also producers3 !ut also re+uire some introspection so that we ask ourselves why we enjoy seeing these scenarios play out in movies, television shows, novels, and games time and again# Another way o approaching this is to ask how tropes might rei y a particular view o the world and the people who inha!it it that aligns with our own and the extent to which this rei ication allows us to remain uncritically ignorant when it comes to matters o race !oth in the 1#S# and around the world# It is, o course, also incredi!ly important 96T to attri!ute the popularity o these tropes with any actual views that people might hold, at least not rom the outset8 that is, it is o ten easy or us to slip into a tone suggesting that we, as authors o essays that critically examine tropes, are more enlightened than the audiences who watch these movies, who we might argue !elieve that these tropes are re lective o reality# (riting Task A ter care ully considering your chosen movie2s3, respond to the ollowing prompt in a @"A page thesis"driven essay' dentify a trope !or tropes" involving race in your selected film!s". #hat problems of racial representation does your trope pose$ #hat does the popularity of this trope suggest about our !popular" culture and society with regard to issues of race$ %uggestions $or the purposes o this assignment, you will !e drawing primarily rom ilm reviews and opinion articles rom newspapers and maga4ines 2online sources are ine3, though at least &'( of your sources must be an academic book or )ournal article that ela!orates upon the trope# *Trope+ may not be the best search term for research purposes. ,ou will probably want to use more refined and informed search terms such as *'oble %avage,+ *-ammy,+ *#hite %avior,+ etc. . whatever movie/s you are considering. ;ou should also do some initial research regarding your trope# 6nce again, while you are 96T allowed to cite (ikipedia, it can !e a great resource in getting you started# There will !e (ikipedia entries or a majority o the tropes I have listed !elow, and many o them not only have endnote citations o sources !ut also have Further Reading sections# <o not simply choose the irst source on any list# Book through the lists and try to identi y at least C sources that you think might !e use ul# This will !e your irst homework assignment# (atch your ilm or television show, play your video game, or read your !ook care ully# ;ou may need to provide +uotes rom those texts 2with video games, this will !e di icult, as there is rarely a way to replay a speci ic moment as you would with a movie or show3 and your +uotes 01ST !e .--D accurateE

/ossible Topics This list is not intended to be comprehensive and have intentionally left out possible primary sources in order to force you to think about and find them on your own. f you have any difficulties you -0%T e1 mail me no later than #ednesday, -arch 23 by 4/- for assistance. #hite %avior 'oble %avage -ammy -agical 'egro Arab/-uslim Terrorist (vil Africans and nnocent African 5ictims 6ung fu master/nin)a/samurai !select one" 7otus 8lossoms and 9ragon 7adies !select one" I should note that while the a!ove tropes pertain speci ically to >:A&A>T7&S in ilms, you are more than welcome to pursue racial tropes that speak to other aspects o representation 2see the list at the !ottom o the &ace Tropes page noted in the &esources section o the prompt handout or more3# $or those o you interested in pursuing what may !e somewhat more di icult and challenging essay topics' ;ou might consider tropes such as the =apan"i ication or >hinese"i ication o the world 2or galaxy3 in science iction, !ut you will need to consider them in light o historical context# $or example, representations o a uture where =apanese culture is the dominant glo!al culture in science iction ilms such as Bladerunner were in ormed !y associations during the F-s in particular o =apan%s perceived technological rise and superiority over other nations with a possi!le uture# Bikewise, the portrayal o >hinese culture as the dominant culture as can !e seen in sci" i narratives such as =oss (hedon%s short"lived T? series Firefly was in ormed !y >hina%s economic rise in the earlier part o the ,.st century# In !oth cases, you might ask why predominantly (estern science iction relied upon these particular cultures as a means o representing the uture, and the ways in which orientalism might play a signi icant role in decisions to represent the uture in this way# That is, i the uture in science iction is o ten portrayed as oreign"!ut" amiliar 2why might this !e53, then how do orientalist tropes help to esta!lish that conceit5 2See :omay Ging, Lost in Translation: rientalism! "ro#ection! and the $nigmatic %ignifier# <urham' <uke 1niversity Press, ,-.-, or (endy :ui Gyong >hun, &ontrol and Freedom: "ower and "aranoia in the Age of Fi'er ptics# >am!ridge, 0ass# H Bondon' 0IT Press, ,--I#3 Another relatively popular trope ound in science iction is the one"race conceit# This trope o ten assumes a uture wherein racial mixture has resulted in the creation o a single race, an idea derived rom an o tentimes pro!lematic contemporary racial politics, in order to represent a particular kind o utopian society# 2$or more on why this trope is a pro!lem, see Bauren Jerlant%s The $ace o America and the State o 7mergency, in The (ueen of America )oes to *ashington &ity# <urham' <uke 1niversity Press, .KKA#3