After hearing the hilarious descriptions of the Sharkeisha battle in class, I was looking forward to watching this video, and I unfortunately am disappointed. Not only is this video not funny, but it also raises questions as to what our society finds funny within the boundaries of certain genders and racial groups.
This video enforces racist African American and female stereotypes and allows for the viewers to laugh at the struggles and pain of others. Would this video be as funny if it were white men or women fighting? More than likely not. We would probably find the violence more horrifying. As a white viewer, I may feel sense of distance due to my skin color and lack of experience and knowledge in this culture. Even the unique name Sharkeisha can distance many people from the situation by not being able to relate. If her name had been Elizabeth or Kate, this video would not be as funny because these are more relatable names and brings the pain a little closer to home. Due to superiority theory, some viewers may not only be laughing at the actions occurring on screen, but also at the image of others who do not look like them acting aggressive and fighting over something we do not completely understand.
Sharkeisha’s actions portrayed a negative black female stereotype that is far too common nowadays. This image of a young black woman eager to fight is often portrayed in the media. An angry black women are often written in or publicized in televisions shows and films like The Real Housewives of Atlanta. This frequent image of black women in the media and on the internet only makes it harder for African American women to express their opinions of frustration because they can be seen as too aggressive or “sassy” because of this stereotype.
We should condone Sharkeisha’s actions, but we should also not support the people who shared this and made racist and flippant comments about Sharkeisha. Videos like these may only be a few seconds long, but can have a massive impact on our views of the world.
It's hard to believe, as you point out, that some of the glee people have in watching the Sharkeisha video is not based on laughing at what they perceive to be confirmation that a certain negative stereotype is really true--that people do live up to their own stereotypes. It's possible I think to laugh for other reasons, but this is clearly part of some of the response.
ReplyDeleteI would agree that a lot of people find Sharkeisha funny because it reinforces their negative perceptions of black people. In the context of racism, this is something that would reinforce a lot of the stereotypes against the black community: conflict, violence, and how we're entertained by it. But I personally think it has more to do with classism than racism. We can talk about Sharkeisha and Shovel Girl in the same vein, even though Sharkeisha was black and Shovel Girl is white. I think that the videos are more related through stereotypes of the "lower class" or "ghetto" and "white trash" because we have the perception that people who fall in that category we assign them to work problems out with their fists instead of rational discussion.
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