This popular video posted by AJ+ discussing white fragility in the workplace is a great piece of media to analyze. As a media scholar this video gives me various theories and concepts that are talked about in the book. One outstanding theory is the Political Attitude that is featured in critical media studies. The video points out that white people have more privilege than those of color, and by using satire they emphasize the power structure in our society today. The comedic approach to white sensitivity to racial topics, sets up a political attitude for the entire video.
Another aspect of the video that is included in the book is the social justice perspective. By poking fun of white fragility from being called a racist, an awareness of inequalities faced in the workplace by people of color is added. The point of the video is to make white people understand that being labeled a racist isn't as hurtful as the oppression people of color go through daily. To put a term equal to systematic oppression faced by non white people is invalid. The video makes this point across by adding comedy to the subject. By making the audience laugh it will exaggerate just how ridiculous white fragility is.
While I did find this video to be informative and enjoyable to watch, I do feel that the comedic style of the show makes it easier to watch for many about this topic but also feel that the comedic style makes the topic of discussion less important and can be seen as laughing matter since the video gives their views on the topic using comedy, which may not be the true way that they feel about the topic and only want the laugh or the views.
ReplyDeleteI love Newsbroke. I met Francesca Fiorentini in passing once when she came to my workplace! That aside, I actually don't think the comedic approach lessens the seriousness of the topic of white privilege. Satire is usually meant to be both funny and force you to really think. This definitely tackles culture and I think we could go really ham with analysis on this video. Some examples could be, the exotification of black people's hair or stereotyping someone who is not Mexican and labelling them as Mexican based on appearance.
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