no subject

[lotesse]

Hey guys, I'm having one of those moments when I want to transport my Internet Knowledge (tm) into academic writing and am trying to find apt sources and/or research keywords but can't. Somebody's got to be writing about that thing that happens with tearjerker portrayals and racism, where the tactics of representational sympathy demand the display of a sad-but-deserving victim who can't be too weird or political or angry, and so the whole thing ends up reinforcing kyriarchy overall, right? What do you call that?

Comments

[staranise]

Sounds in line with the academic writing I've seen on the need for oppressed groups to always be grateful, so "gratitude" might be a keyword?

[executrix]

"Not exactly a haven for the brothers"? I forget which one of the Scream movies it was where the black cameraman explained that the sympathetic black character always dies exactly 50 minutes in.

[lannamichaels]

You mean sort of being the Good Victim, or that kind of thing? The victim has to be Good, meaning fitting into X Y and Z, so they aren't the Dangerous Other. Somewhat related to Deserving Poor?

Actually, TV Tropes might have something on this...

[lotesse]

Yes, but I need it for non-Internet stuff! TV Tropes totally knows, but I need, like, a citable academic source. This is the worst part of acafandom: trying to reverse-engineer knowledge bases.

[lotesse]

but what if it's a 40-minute tv show, huh? huh? /irritating overprecision

I know this stuff from pop culture a la Scream, but I'm trying to drag the idea back to my academic lair, as it were.

[lotesse]

Oooh, thank you so much, that might work. I keep trying "sympathy problem" and getting scholarship on Adam Smith.

[lannamichaels]

Sorry, I don't know academia sources. :( Last time I've had to, I mostly just hit up Google Scholar. I just searched for "media images of minorities victims" and a bunch came up, so maybe that engine could help?

[princessofgeeks]

Deserving poor? Deserving victim? Puritanism?

[anthimeria]

Seriously, WHY ARE YOU NOT COMING TO WISCON?? THERE IS STILL TIME. YOU CAN SPLIT A ROOM WITH ELENA AND I.

You would love it, is what I'm saying.

Also I have no idea what the word is for that concept, but my first thoughts were in line with princessofgeek's, above (deserving).

[lotesse]

sorry bb, got family stuff this week. WE SHOULD PLAN ON NEXT YEAR THOUGH. also because my childhood bff just bought a house downtown madison, so.

[anthimeria]

Good luck with family stuff. *hugs* NEXT YEAR.