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Famous writer, critic, theorist, educator
Over 30 books, plus articles and docs
Born Gloria Jean Watkins (1952) Hopkinsville, KY
Father was janitorial custodian, mother homemaker
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B.A. Stanford, English
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M.A. Wisconsin Madison, English
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Ph.D. U.C. Santa Cruz, Literature
BELL HOOKS
Critical Thinking
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What is “critical thinking,” and why does bell hooks
value it?
She believes it's necessary for individuals--of all
classes--to understand themselves and their worlds
and to solve their problems.
Transformation = critical thinking + reading/writing
Freedom and justice are linked to mass based literacy.
How so?
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“Major radical interruption” of thought happens with
books, not movies? Do you agree or disagree?
Why does bell hooks use movies as examples in her
critiques of culture?
She says popular culture is our primary pedagogical
site—it's where we learn about ourselves and our
world.
What does she mean when she says our minds are
being “colonized,” and we need to “decolonized?”
What is “motivated representation?”
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Filmmakers and other media producers make
conscious choices about every detail of a film.
What choices do we find them making and
why? Examples?
Disney defining for children what it means to
be a “man” or “woman.”
Backlashes on feminism through degrading
portrayals of women
“The only color is green” implies there can be
no moral context for any of our choices in a
capitalist society.
“white supremacist capitalist patriarchy”
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Why does bell hooks coin this term (in 1989)?
She believes these are “interlocking systems of
colonization” and that we can't understand our world
if we are looking through only one lens
What is her criticism of the term “racism” and why
does she prefer using the term “white supremacy?”
“Racism” keeps white people at the center of
discussion (you're a “racist”), whereas “white
supremacy” evokes a political world that we can all
frame ourselves in relationship to
Example: Her sister being demeaned by her
grandmother for having nappy hair
being an “enlightened witness”
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What does she mean by this term?
Being critically vigilant
Hoop Dreams
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What was bell hooks’ critique of this
film?
Reflects as much about the filmmakers
as the people in the story (that’s always
the case)
The filmmakers have a message they
want to get out: American Idealism
Upbeat ending was the thrill: It did not
indict the American Dream for its
corruption; instead, it said this dream
can give your life meaning.
The guy who decides to make
education his priority is marginalized
by the filmmakers.
O.J. Simpson Media Coverage
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What was bell hooks’ critique of this
media coverage?
The case was already situated as a
spectacle.
The spectacle was already constructed
in a racial essentialist design.
There was no way to participate in the
event (e.g., write or speak about it)
without contributing to that spectacle;
there was no way to give a more
complex accounting of the event.
Domestic violence is one way
patriarchy reaffirms and perpetuates
itself. But this was seen as purely racial.
Madonna
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What was bell hooks’ critique of Madonna?
She claimed to be breaking new ground
from feminist perspectives.
But she was also wiling to “turn that trick” of
playing to sexist and racist sentiments, in
order to reinvent herself, make money, etc.
“Black men are the most sexist men on the
planet” (yet, her white husband had beaten
her up)
Q: Wasn’t she always turning that trick of
sexism and racism before?
And speaking of gender performance . . .
Hollywood’s “Blackness”
Mostly fabricated by white people (e.g., “Waiting to Exhale”).
Black filmmakers criticized or thought to just “not get it.”
Spike Lee as a “failed filmmaker” (various critics have said this), whereas Woody
Allen goes unquestioned.
Rap: What does she say about it?
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The only kind of rap music that gets in the news is
misogynistic, so it comes to typify “black music.”
Why do we demand that rap be “more moral” than
other kinds of music?
“America is obsessed with transgression” (it’s
perceived as radical), and “blackness is a
comodified form of transgression.” White culture isn’t
exotic or edgy enough.
The racist, sexist stereotypes get reproduced (the hot
pussy, the slut, etc.)
Capitalism is driving racism just as it’s driving sexism.
“When rape and assault become the defining
aspects of erotic exchange between black females
and males,” that cultural fallout becomes much
greater than any wealth an individual or corporation
can acquire.
“Is rap authentic?” What does she say?
“It is already nothing you can speak about as
indigenous. It is no longer in that marginalized
location. It is authentic to what it is.”
QUESTIONS?