Race, Class, Gender and Sexuality in Cinema

Have you ever finished watching a movie and continued thinking about the underlying meaning of it? Have you ever considered the idea that the movie’s purpose is not to strictly entertain? Of course we have….If you have never felt this way, then you need to go re-watch EVERY SINGLE movie! Hollywood is full of very smart, very educated and very opinionated people. I think it is safe to say that one does not put all of their efforts into the creation of a movie just to recieve a paycheck. These people are passionate about these movies and they have motives in making them.

**Quick side note: I LOVE MOVIES. I do not want you think that I am a media hater. Oh no, quite the opposite. Movies are amazing! They can make a bad day good, make a grown man cry, keep a child smiling, and entice average Joes to become heros!

BUT….

There is no such thing as “a perfectly clear and innocent” movie, book, advertisement or even TV commercial (not even Lion King). No matter what, these forms of mass media contain some sort of underlying message in them. They are not put there by accident either. These “subliminal” messages are put in place in order to persuade the audience of something. Now, this something could be a number of things. There is never a time that we can watch tv, listen to the radio, read the newspaper or browse the internet without someone (individual or business) trying to convince us of something. I dare you to try.

Now, I know what you are thinking…what does this have to do with race, class and sexuality in cinema? And why are you blogging about it?…..Let me tell you…..

I am a senior at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. One of my final classes to graduate happens to be titled, “Race, Class, Gender and Sexuality in Cinema.” When I initially signed up for this class, I thought we would watch old movies and write 10 page papers analyzing them. Not far from the truth actually. BUT it is WAY more fun and interesting than that!

My professor, Phil Gordon happens to be an incredibly opinionated liberal in the heart of conservative happy valley, Utah. He does not believe in a “conventional” teaching style. ((He is ANYTHING but conventional))

Phil thinks that communication (my major) is changing dramatically very quickly. He thinks that writing papers and making poster boards are becoming a thing of the past. Hence, the blog. In a sense, blogging is an online journal….that everyone can see. Since social media is taking over, we might as well get on the wagon and join in. It does not make any sense to put all of your hard work into a 10 page paper that just the teacher sees. Why not blog it and bounce back ideas with other people on the subject? It makes sense to me, although at first made me uncomfortable when he proposed this blogging idea.

ANYWAYS….enough about Phil, and more about MOVIES! In this blog, I am going to share my insights that I find, as well as my fellow students, after we watch movies. I know this sounds boring and uneducational since it is just a melting pot of ideas and opinions….BUT, I promise, doing this will help you think out of the box!<—which I think we could all afford to do a little.

Race, class, gender and sexuality are a group words that we hear every day and do not really think about. At least, I don’t. But individually these words come with infinite amounts of meaning! For example…have you ever thought about what race or sexual orientation Scar from Lion king is? I bet not, in your mind he is just a fictional, animated villain who wants to kill Mufasa…I bet nobody put any real thought into who is going to do his voice and what his lines really mean….Wrong.

I am going to use this blog as my own personal writing pad of ideas, thoughts, opinions, and feelings about different films. I am going to refer to movies that are both extremely popular and well-known and movies that are underground and independently produced.

If you have never heard of or seen the movie, I suggest taking the time to watch it and gather your own opinions. I would love to hear them and bounce them off of my class!

Also, if you have any movies that you think that I should watch and write about, let me know. Suggestions are welcome. Enjoy 🙂

-Chels