The film 8 Mile, directed by Curtis Hanson, is the typical American story of struggle and the eventual overcoming of obstacles and evil. Upon closer look, the film is arguably a socioeconomic and racial discourse. It focuses on the ascension of Marshall Mathers into the rap industry, previously dominated by African-American males. Rabbit’s race, gender, and class, all contribute to his identity and the meaning of the film, as well as contributing to Eminem’s image. Several themes are defined through the movie’s underlying discourse of race and class: the commodification of black culture, racial opposition, “passing”, cross-cultural bonding, white heroism and white masculinity, the reversal of white privilege into a disadvantage, and …show more content…
The film starts with a black screen before Eminem’s white face appears. Jimmy lives on the opposite side of 8 Mile Road, which separates him from the urban blacks, and makes him a privileged suburban white. His mission in this movie to cross that literal and psychological border (8 Mile Road) and become accepted as a rapper despite his skin color. It is argued that Rabbit’s character is a tourist who ventures into black culture, and on the way, masters their art and dominates their industry (Jennings 2008). Therefore, Eminem, and the director Curtis Hutton, white people writing about an African-American dominated industry, have now commodified the culture (Jennings 2008). This translates to Eminem’s career and his success in the industry. But Eminem’s success is ultimately due to his ability to encompass the characteristics of black culture while maintaining his position as a white male: “affiliations with black masculinity provide cultural acceptance and authenticity, which fuel his entry into hip-hop culture. White masculinity provides mobility, ambivalence from white audiences, and commercial success” (Dawkins 465). Therefore by “walking” the spaces between black and white masculinity and never committing to one, he masters the industry. Somehow he uses both racial characterizations as privileges (Dawkins 464-465).
According to Eric King Watts, Eminem uses his passage into a “dark” or black world (the
Eminem is an iconic figure that millions of people recognize around the world for over decades now. Not only for his music but the pure controversy that his music includes. Many people see him as a politically incorrect artist who lacks awareness of his word choice which ultimately leads him to controversy. Throughout my essay, I will give some insight into the life of Eminem, some examples of his controversial lyrics, and the different points of view people have on him.
As soon as I read the prompt for this journal, the recent movie Get Out immediately popped into my head. As an avid cinephile, I was quick anxiously awaiting the release of the film. The wait was well worth it, as Jordan Peele’s Get Out exceeded all of my expectations and is certainly one of my favorite movies for the time being. What makes this movie so tremendous is the portrayal of race. Media is extremely influential in our beliefs, and film is no exception. Get Out approaches the sensitive topic of racism in current society, but with an extremely unique twist that provokes thoughtfulness. It is difficult to fully explain without completely spoiling the film, but the way the struggle between race and class is portrayed is both horrifying and eye-opening.
Black pathologies include characteristics such as rising rates of poverty and crime, selling of drugs, and being unemployed. It appears that some elements of Jay Z’s biography fit this “tangle of black pathology” stereotype. Jay Z was born into poverty, and his father left his family when Jay Z was younger; the idea of poverty and of the father figure leaving are black stereotypes. Jay Z would also go on to become a hustler, selling drugs to others in his community. Some might argue that the actions blacks undertake result in characteristics such as unemployment. However, there are also several aspects of Jay Z’s biography that do not fit the “tangle of black pathology” stereotypes. Today, Jay Z is a very successful man who escaped poverty.
This paper analyzes Tupac Shakur's best Hits (1998) to reveal: 1) Shakur's talk utilizes three african american social qualities (the oral tradition, An diunital orientation, Furthermore spirituality), which further characterizes the exceptional aspects that contain african american discourse; 2) The point when translating Shakur's message through the lens for african american social values, as much best Hits works Concerning illustration An musical personal history that constructs character What's more gives a voice for the dark young society. Provided for these two findings, Shakur extends the social qualities that underlie african american talk will develop a message that is additional complex, enlightened, Also reflective over what has
Since its inception, hip-hop has depended heavily on the talent of black pioneers and white artist who respected the art form and the rules of engagement. Unlike G-Eazy and Mike Stud, Eminem was introduced into the hip-hop scene by one of hip-hop’s pioneers, Dr. Dre. Eminem and his team understood that it was necessary to have the approval, or the street credit to step into the rap game. Hence he was accepted into the hip-hop culture. We must understand that the hip hop culture does not exclude people based on ethnicity. This is because the main ideology of hip hop is one of solidarity and equality for all.
Eminem was one of the first single white rappers to stand out and started to complete tear down that wall that was separating whites and blacks in the Hip-Hop and rap genre. However, it wasn’t just a walk in the park for Marshall Mathers. As a young child, he spent a lot of his underprivileged childhood going back and forth from his rural hometown to the urban area of Detroit. He had an early dip into the Rap culture where he was assembling his own lyrics at the age of 14. At such of a young age, he dealt with many family troubles mostly being a drug abusing parent and
Marshall Bruce Mathers III, better known as Eminem, entered the underground rap music scene in the early 90’s as a complete ‘outsider’. Having grown up in a lower middle-class household, in a
The film essentially describes Trump’s perfect America. As history progressed, more black people came to the realization that this is a problem that needs to be stopped, the white privilege may seem like forever existing based on how the world is run today. In today’s society, black people are seen as “bad guys” due to crimes committed, fight outbreaks, and guns. They are not the ones to blame as white people supremacy is what caused the behaviour to start occurring. Black people are well aware of the thoughts and people whites see them as, they are seen as poor, and uneducated. Black and white people in North American see racism completely different due to the direct racial discrimination black people have to face. There is an evident change
In this song, Eminem not only uses his power as an artist to make his audience know what’s happening in the US, but he also makes sure that people understand what it might feel like for someone who’s different. Eminem touched on white supremacist and how it causes impacts on minority groups especially African Americans.
Whiteness as the modus operandi becomes a central place of questioning that music and specifically Hip Hop and Rap help put into question. Questioning of Whiteness through these genres of music help reveal the co-constitutive nature of music and ideology. My goals within this paper are not an attempt to explore musicality or the power of music; rather, I am interested in how ideology becomes constituted within lyrics and what they reveal about the intersections of identity, authenticity, Whiteness, and race. Within these intersections is where we are able to see meaning be negotiated, and through communication we are able to explore how different meanings get constituted as hegemonic. Nakayama and Krizek offer us a starting point for
Through prism performance, poetry, music and art, Race Is The Place, underlie the different ways to look at one of the most social issues in American, which is known as racism. During the film, my heart was aching because racial and racist stereotype was displayed or promoted through the media. It opens my heart and mind of how racism is perpetuated in our society. I find that the way the performers, artist and comedians discussed racial identity made it easier for me to think about racism because each performer, artist and comedian express themselves by speaking the truth of how racism is still an issue in America. What make it easier for me to think about racism and stereotype was the use of poetry, hilarious comic and humor through the
> The sociological perspective is described as seeing the general in the particular. In this essay I will attempt to apply the sociological perspective to analyze song lyrics from the first verse of the song My Block by Tupac Shakur (see appendix for lyrics). Tupac (1971-1996) is the most famous gangster rap artist of all times. He was well known for his lyrics and their ability to express the grief of the Black community. He was an advocate for Black rights and very much against the societal system and class societies. Many say he exaggerated the conditions under which the Black community and the lower class were in because he was a wealthy man rapping about suppression. To other’s he was part of the
Eminem complains that, “Every interview I do is like, your lyrics are deadly, man, they’re violent and misogynistic; or black this, white that” (Wiener 61). Eminem’s construction of authenticity is clearly portended through appraisal of race and, or violent misogyny as thematic features. Most of his work is seemingly directed towards his dominant white hip-hop audience. Some of this work includes his announcements of his being white and his view of violence and conflict against women. Eminem is clearly an authentic gangsta rapper due to his heightened hatred that is more seriously acclaimed than the rappers before
After watching this movie I am quite proud of how far we have come with racial prejudice and segregation. In the film, I noticed many times that the African Americans were treated differently than the whites and that is not okay. Some examples of this included the coffee container that Katherine had to pour her coffee out of, the water fountain only blacks used, the library that Dorothy was kicked out of for being black, the bathroom she Katharine always ran to, and that the whole NASA campus was segregated. How unjust for Katherine to have to run half a mile just to go to the bathroom! This was portrayed especially well by adding rain to add to the “torrent” of emotion that this scene produced. However, where there is darkness this film sheds
In this film they depict the melting pot in the United States. The movie itself was filled with racism it clearly discriminated against whites and African-Americans in a different perspective showing that all whites and African Americans have a simulate basis to all anti-immigrants and Hispanics. Most American citizens are against illegals immigration and most of the Americans don't approve of illegal immigrants jumping over to their country illegally being rewarded for their “criminal behavior” with jobs, medicare, and food stamps. In the film they try to imply that Mexico is not a poor country, who supposedly has the fifth richest economy in the world. Americans wonder why taxpayers should be even helping out Mexicans.