Representation Questioning What You Are Looking At

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Questioning What You Are Looking At
Representation as a concept and as a practices is a wide topic and one that draws from the various elements of portrayal of the cultures and racial prejudices in the society. One needs not go too far to understand the way that different races are represented; just looking at the social media is enough to show a glaring truth. Media is a strong platform for campaigning and driving social precepts. It is a platform for those with an agenda to drive such as racial profiling. It is has been used a conditioning tool where the African Americans and other minority races are created as second class citizens. There is an element of white supremacy that has been advocated over the years using the media platforms.
There is power in looking and being a spectator as Hooks explains in her essay of the year 1992. In the essay, The Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators, Hook is able to bring out the element of the white supremacy and the discrimination that is shown on the African Americans (Maloney et al.). She further points out that African Americans have the right off and on the screen to gaze. Primarily, in the slavery days, most of the masters did not allow their slaves to look at them. Gazing was considered one of the ways that African American slaves were being rebellious to their masters. As such, it was considered an offense that punishable to look at your master or even other whites in way that suggested gazing (Maloney et al.).
There is an important lesson that is to be picked from the essay where the viewers have to realize their power to review the various pieces of media that is presented to them. The gaze is one of the ways that one is able to look at the media that they are interacting with and give a critical review as to whether they feel there is a correct representation of their culture. This is crucial as it allows the viewer’s to interact with the media from a deeper approach where they can (Stuart, Evans, and Nixon). Looking at the contexts that are given by Stuart, Evans, and Nixon, the African Americans are represented in a manner that is direct indication of the discriminatory and abusive portrayal of the race compared to the white. Images are a powerful illustrator of what the society thinks of the African Americans. The element of comparing them to the gorillas comes out strongly. There are instances where, African American athletes females are said to look like ...