CAPS Blog #1 - Whiteness

The late Martin Luther King, Jr once said, " I want to be the white man's brother, not brother-in-law"...  In the 1950's and the 1960's, our history books and ancestors have told us that African Americans had suffered oppression towards their race in schools and work places, simply for the color of their skin.  Children couldn't get an adequate education, let alone adults having decent jobs.  Dr. King spent his life serving the African American community and fighting the oppression that covered their community, and ultimately helped to shift the attitude that "blackness" was bad, and that many African Americans had the same dreams and goals of white people.  On the opposite spectrum, to understand the difficulty of the time, what does it mean to be white?  Applicably, scholars have learned that the main dimensions of whiteness (according to Ruth Frankenburg) include the following "1) normative race privilege, 2) a standpoint from which white people look at themselves, others and society; and 3) a set of cultural practices (often unnoticed and unnamed)." (Martin & Nakayama, 2012, p. 194)  To dive deeper into the idea of whiteness, I will discuss three satirical concepts about white people from the website, www.stuffwhitepeoplelike.com, including Vintage (#49), Girls with Bangs (#104), and Mad Men (#123).  Let's begin!

"There is an emerging perception that being white no longer mean automatic privilege, particularly as demographics change in the United States and as some whites perceive themselves to be in the minority."  (Martin & Nakayama, 2012, p. 194)...This idea the authors discuss is none more apparent than in our Hipster culture's love of vintage.   The article discusses how when white people hit their late teens and early 20's, many begin an obsession with vintage items to build "indie credibility" and gain attention from their "uniqueness" that their non American Eagle attire brings them.  Vintage lovers love perceiving themselves as the opposite of their college campus sorority sisters: they are white, but with a 60 year old rustic hutch to boot.

(It's like she's saying "I found these glasses in Drew Carey's dumpster!")

Girls who choose to wear their forehead length bangs swept to the side and straight down is a white way (according to stuffwhitepeoplelike.com) of seeing the world from a cooler perspective.  Getting bangs out of high school is the transition of a girl turning from a caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly.  White woman flock to their hair salons to receive this haircut, almost as much as they did when Jennifer Aniston cut her hair during Friends to create the "Rachel".  The cultural practice of getting bangs is not necessarily shared by other groups, such as black woman and Asian women.  Some core symbols of white individualism are viewed much less than others groups and minorities as being the right cultural choice.  (Martin & Nakayama, 2012, p. 197)  Black women won't get bangs unless Beyonce' does...who cares about what Jennifer Aniston thinks.

As a big fan of Mad Men myself, I can identify how easily the themes of the show tie into Frankenburg's dimensions of whiteness in American society.  We strive to be wanted and accepted, and to always reach for something better, and the white characters on the show stop at nothing less than to be the best...and smoke while doing it.  Many of the partners and copywriters see themselves as having normative race privilege.  The men think that they should have the best positions because of either their white family heritage, education, or looks.  They are placed in successful positions, and earn bonuses far too often to actually be believable as real life, and they see themselves as deserving.  The funniest thing to me though in comparison to Frankenburg's dimensions are their set of cultural practices.  Every main character drinks alcohol like they have a liver of gold.  It's not that they drink initially to get drunk all the time, it's just what they do...and then they become drunk along the way.  There are many elements of racism on the show.  In recent memory, I can only think of three black characters who have ever had lines on the show, only one of whom is a recurring character.  The black characters all work in entry level service positions; one as a nanny, one as an elevator operator, and one as a grocery attendant.  The lack of education, and personality in the black characters reinforces the stereotype that black people are dumb and can't amount to as much as a white person.  In the exception of Carla the nanny, the other black characters are subject to prejudice in their story lines.  One of the white main characters goes on a date with the grocery attendant, and his friends have a very negative attitude towards the seemingly sweet young woman, based on the color of her skin.  Prejudice was alive and present.

I feel like Weird Al's song "White and Nerdy" could be a cover video for stuffwhitepeoplelike.com for it's ability to parody the truth about how white people don't want to see themselves as.  Enjoy!

References:

Clander. (2008, February 3). #49 Vintage. Retrieved from Stuff White People Like: http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/02/03/49-vintage/

Clander. (2008, June 27). #104 Girls with Bangs. Retrieved from Stuff White People Like: http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/06/27/104-girls-with-bangs/

Clander. (2009, March 11). #123 Mad Men.  Retrieved from Stuff White People Like: http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2009/03/11/123-mad-men/

Martin, J.N., & Nakayama, T.K. (2012). Intercultural Communication in Contexts (6th edition). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill.