I need div-ed remedial lessons

[mothwing]

"The majority of people are white, so what's wrong with them being on billboards in the majority of cases?"

A work/friend of mine recently showed her class extracts from Blue Eyed and subsequently discussed a scene in it in which a billboard with a good-looking white, middle-aged and obviously affluent couple are shown. Pretty much unanimously, the class came to the above conclusion. Now, statistically this seems to be true, but srsly. We'd like them to knoy what's problematic about that statement, but are at a loss on how to achieve that. What I could come up with on the fly was:

1.) To ask them if they think that these billboards should show people who represent the national average of what people look like (I'm assuming here that that'll not be a very good-looking, affluent, elderly white couple) and why this isn't on it if they want the majority represented.

2.) To ask why there has to be a couple at all on this product, and if this product is only for white married elderly people.

Basically to make clear that this is a constructed norm and make them think of ways in which this is harmful - because what happens if you don't belong to that norm? Maybe also showing them quote by Adrienne Rich might help a bit, too: 

"When those who have the power to name and to socially construct reality choose not to see you or hear you ... when someone with the authority of a teacher, say, describes the world and you are not in it, there is a moment of psychic disequilibrium, as if you looked in the mirror and saw nothing. It takes some strength of soul—and not just individual strength, but collective understanding—to resist this void, this non-being, into which you are thrust, and to stand up, demanding to be seen and heard."

So yeah, grasping a straws here.

Help, oh wise flist?

Comments

[cranky--crocus.livejournal.com]

If you're grasping at straws, those straws seem mighty big and useful for me. Reading that quote gave me chills. I'm afraid I don't know what else to say! Hopefully someone else will have some ideas. (: For now I'm going to put this post in my memories!

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

The quote is great, isn't it? I love it, though I'm not a big fan of Adrienne Rich in general, as she's really transphobic.

[tetleythesecond]

That's a great quote. I'm copying and saving it because it expresses the dilemma really well.

I'm not a teacher and don't know how old these kids are, but might the quote not be a tad advanced for them? Actually, I'd find it interesting to hear what they come up with among themselves in answer to question 1, which is open and may not give them the feeling that you're aiming for a specific answer. Might make for an interesting discussion. (Back when I was young, we did a lot of that and it always worked because we were a very temperamental lot.) But if they collectively veer off the mark after some discussion, perhaps the quote might serve as an eye-opener. (Though if I were the teacher, I'd probably wonder if they'd draw too many conclusions about myself -- not the queerness bit but how I feel about it. But that may just be me.)

The question of billboards reminds me of a dilemma I've often discussed with lesbian feminist friends. On the one hand, it is true that advertising shapes our ideas of the norm and the desirable. On the other hands, some friends of mine say that they're not fighting for being expressly invited to buy Jacobs, Iglu, Jack Wolfskin or the like. Personally, I prefer visibility even when it's on billboards to invisibly staying true to my dogma, but I can see the point.

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

I love that quote, even though the author has issues. I've been looking for a way to include that in class somehow for ages, and this might be perfect. I'd say that yes, it's difficult to grasp both language-wise and content-wise, if you've never faced any oppression, but I think that students in year 11 ought to be able to pull it off if you give them some of the words.

I'm curious what people'd come up with for #1, too, though I think that if they've really never thought about this, this might not get very far, and then yes, the quote might help, but then someone is bound to go, "But it's just advertising, you don't have to take it seriously!", at which point you'd have to expand the topic to the general inequality in media representation, and for that it'd be handy to have some more magazines ready. Hm. Also, there's always the Privilege List (http://www.uakron.edu/centers/conflict/docs/whitepriv.pdf) (which is far too hard for them, language-wise, of course), but I've had students who are really slow to grasp why that might be problematic, too, so there just doesn't seem to be an easy way.

Personally, I prefer visibility even when it's on billboards to invisibly staying true to my dogma, but I can see the point.
Yeah, it's difficult, because while ads aim to meet norms, they also reinforce them, so it's dangerous either way not to be included and therefore targeted in ads, I think.

[ysilme]

Not an easy question. And when I think back of my classmates in the Mittel- and Oberstufe (upper levels; I suppose High-School similar) and how much I was the odd one out and how unpopular with my care and interest for anything outside the norm, for anti-racism and anti-whatever and raising awareness... - then I would say (without actual experience, of course) you need to make things easily understandable to get the point across to the average pupil.
Perhaps it will work well with examples.

Just an idea: have them find out how billboards would look if they would represent something leaving them more or less totally out. Have them probably creating some like this - with collages or something. And then ask them how they would feel, if all billboards they ever saw were representing a norm they wouldn't fit into in any way...

Of course, I really have no idea if this could work at all...

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Oooh I like your idea, having students make racist decisions themselves, then call them out on it to drive home the point usually works best. Like, "Why did you choose the white supermodel for your cover? Is something wrong with the black supermodel? And what about this non-supermodel hispanic person? Why not choose them?"
Ooor you could also have them compare billboards and ask them towards whom they think this product is marketed. I'd imagine that they'd end up thinking that products picturing minorities in their ads would be marketed towards minorities specifically, while products depicting white people are targeted towards everybody. The problem with that is that people always go, "But it's just advertising! I don't take it seriously, either!", so this might have limited success.

[ysilme]

You are right, of course, this argument always comes. I once read a very wise answer to that argument, but typically, I can't remember it nor have I an idea where to look for it. It was very good in re: why we get influenced by by advertisement, whether we pay attention or not. The whole problem in a nutshell, it was...

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

That sure sounds very helpful, and should you ever remember or find it again, please do share. :)