Assignment:
Essay is required and must be 750 words or more in length.
How to structure this essay:
In a short introductory paragraph, explain the issues concerning authenticity and/or how colorblindness is affecting the racial dynamics of hip-hop cultural adoption or appropriation. Quote from BOTH the Performing Blackness article AND the Color-Blind Ideology readings (required).
After your explanation, write a thesis for your essay addressing the prompt below:
Compare and contrast two of the following films: La Haine, Feel the Noise, 8 Mile and/or Bringing Down the House. Discuss how differing communities align or do not align with U.S. racial issues and African American hip-hop culture. Be specific in terms of the movies you have chosen and be detailed, starting with a thesis. Explain exactly how the movie maintains either detachment or connection with black concerns. Consider how use of hip hop aesthetics infer authenticity. Consider the choice to use the aesthetics. Justify your reasonings throughout your paper by comparing characters, situations, mise en scene, etc. as appropriate. Explain why this does or does not matter in our contemporary world.
Here are some ideas that you can consider. With 8-mile, explain what B-Rabbit means at the end of the film when he says he must go another way. With Bringing Down the House, consider how stereotypes are reinforced or challenged. With La Haine, explain what works, for whom and why? With Feel the Noise, there are at least three communities involved in hip hop. How are they different? How are they the same? What are the filmmakers suggesting about each group? You can pick other aspects or mix and match.
In this assignment, you must use at least one new academic article that you find on your own in addition to the ones mentioned above.
Remember these films are NOT reality nor is this essay about denying the reality that people of different races or groups exchange musical influences. The point of the essay is to look at what happens or does not happen when hip hop culture moves away from original communities. Your job is to use academic writings and your own interpretations to produce an essay that analyzes words, themes, mise-en-scene as they project beliefs. Note this paper must be uploaded into the dropbox as well as posted here.
Readings:
1. Color-Blind Ideology and the Cultural Appropriation of Hip-Hop
By Jason Rodriquez
2. Performing blackness, forming whiteness: Linguistic minstrelsy in Hollywood film
By Mary Bucholtz and Qiuana Lopez