Intro Lecture Definitions of key terms 08 30 2012 Race Social Construct people made up this idea of someone being called black white red yellow the assumption of difference based on real or imagined physical characteristics believing someone is inferior or superior to you by taking in the physical characteristics NOT a biological fact based on assumptions Problems with defining race Until 100 years ago African American was given to anyone 1 16 the blood of an African No big deal until power comes in Birth of a Nation actor in black face in 1915 blacks considered so inferior they couldn t even represent themselves in film Ethnicity Ethnic group group of people who have something s in common agree they share this thing ethnic groups can have one thing in common or several Nativism Disliking someone because they are from another country or culture or of a different ethnicity Nationality Where you were born used to also mean citizenship 100 years ago US came out with passports declaring citizenship What do we do with the info from these terms The Other different in some way clothes physical characteristics Build racial and Ethnic hierarchy Base initial reactions on looks but they slide up and down the etc hierarchy History of Immigration who comes why and what happens The movements waves of Immigration First movement The formative wave 1607 1830 first people from England allegedly came here set up informal and formal laws of how the country would work called formative because they first formed and populated the country second largest influx of people are africans Second movement First Wave 1830 1880 third movement Second wave last movement unnamed Why do immigrants leave Unemployment war famine education lack of freedoms Most immigrants that come here don t want to come here forced to come by situation Why wouldn t immigrants want to come here See how we treat immigrants brainwashed by their government It s got to get better no other options easy to get yourself into the Why do they come to the US American dream How immigrants fit in What the US wants them to do Assimilation when you as an immigrant come to a new country and give up all of your former culture and adopt the new culture learn the language attend the churches wear the clothes What immigrants do Acculturation accept you re in a new country try to adopt some of the culture as much as possible but maintain who you are two cultures in one person maybe learn English still speak home language keeping your religion Assimilation is a process takes time sometimes fast or slow When you re young assimilate faster if you live in an ethnic enclave you tend to retain more of your culture longer un assimilate able learns English dresses how we want them to eats right right religion but we won t let them assimilate because of how they look 1609 1960s Anglo Conformity basically complete assimilation White skin used to mean specifically an English individual not just white people Wanted and sometimes demanded in our policies for people to assimilate in a certain way or we would get rid of them But in 1960 s with all the movements civil rights women s movement Hispanic movement homosexual movement Cultural pluralism accepting immigrants are different and being happy that they re different liking what it does to America 1980 s to present Conformity demand for assimilating leads to nativism and xenophobia a fear of the other Immigrants live under xenophobia all the time Why use Film Film helped shape American beliefs values and behaviors Film shapes our idea of who a race or ethnicity is We know who blacks and Hispanics are from the movies and magazines Even if they re negative We define Americans in movies even globally Before the 1960 s we were thought to all be like John Wayne now we project an image of a Yuppie We have several divisions Gender race class ethnicity and region Film is an artifact or historical artifact telling us about the people that made the film and the time period the film was produced Tells more about the people that MADE the film than the people about the people IN the film Most of our films were very anti communism but the best way we showed our anxieties about communism through horror films The volume of horror films produced tell about the real fear we faced to Records the look and mood of the time the anxieties and tensions of the film When you watch the film look at what the movie says about those who made it read Dr Robbin s notes Formative wave White Anglo Saxon Protestants or English WASPs Definition of the English NOT people from England Perhaps WASP White color of their skin Anglo Saxon a reference to the major two tribes of England Important to remember Protestant because the people who recently switch after Henry VIII are very fanatic NOT Homogenous Main groups Anglos Saxons both from Germany and mixed with Gaelic tribes celts from the north and France Also have Picts and Britons light skinned blonde Normans from Normandy French Romans Even Vikings particularly from Norway redhaired lots of Freckles They are going to become white to differentiate from the blacks Poor England under a lot of wars with Elizabeth went Bankrupt at Elizabeth s death English move to colonize American because everyone else is doing it England was cautious coming over in 1600 let all the other countries deal with all the problems then when profitable head over but the crown has no money to pay the explorers Queen Elizabeth came up with the idea that people can pay for their own colonies and whatever they find is theirs England is the only country that did things that way Problems in England Unemployment natural disasters and Two different types of English groups in America Southern colonies have one reason to set up and northern colonies with another reason to set up African immigrants agricultural workers move south but other imigr Jamestown 1607 Why did the English Colonize Nothing else to do and they need money Primogeniture only the first born son can inherit property Not the upper class because of money but because you have land and the landed are related to royalty No one else in Europe with zillions of dollars if not related to royalty can t have land And only the eldest son gets that land Growing up a gentleman a Person who doesn t work with their hands They have white hands covered in gloves no callus no hangnails Stand around and be smart Second and third sons are raised to be gentleman but probably aren t going to be
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