Why representation matters in popular media.

The issue of representation is important in popular media yet it is problematic, divided on the basis that media does not affect real life decisions which makes the issue seem irrelevant. It has often been pointed out that on screen violence is not enacted out despite viewing numerous films portraying destruction of life and property. The commonsensical appeal of this claim might seem obvious yet representation is not an issue of imitation nor is it of mere inclusion.

Fictional worlds created by mass media are often thought of as unreal and devoid of the social context in which they are created. This claim often makes the issue of representation seem absurd. If popular media is only a means of entertainment then accurate portrayals are seen as hindering the plot. This could not be further from the truth creating fictional characters is a deliberate act on the part of the creators it is far from accidental.

The challenge to create fair and ethical representation comes from feminist, postcolonial, queer, disability rights theorists demanding the same right to a be treated with dignity. The influence representation has on our understanding of the world should not be underestimated. Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche in her now famous speech cautions us against the ‘danger of a single story’, as an African woman studying in the west being constantly thought of as a starving African of charity advertisements brought to light how the entire continent was viewed. Similarly other individuals of minority groups have encountered negative stereotyping through their representation. In light of this evidence it would be futile to argue that representation does not matter or have an influence.   

A large section of popular media plays into easy tropes, black men dying first, stalking a woman till she says yes, LGBTQ people looking and behaving in an awkward promiscuous manner. These aren’t part of a few exceptional films or comics this the majority of mainstream media. While the entertainment value of these stories is not being questioned the intention and underlying prejudice is. Theorists such as bell hooks and Stuart Hall question the intent of the fantasy being portrayed. Questioning representation and the fantasy they are meant to convey is at the heart of the issue. To bell hooks choices made by directors, artists, writers and photographers are important. Choice which has been reduced to the personal is (re)politicised by hooks who claims choice are not made in isolation but are a product of racial political, historic and economic forces.  Neoliberal ideology would have us think otherwise. The physical screen then takes on the projection of our fantasies which as hooks points out fulfil our desires. Sexual, racial and economic exploitation on screen are indicative of how we are limited in our imaginations. A good example of this would be the show sense8, which has been critiqued on the grounds that it does injustice to minority characters. Similarly comic books take on a similar trope a white, able bodied man with a past trauma saves the world. The appeal of the genre must not be underestimated. These are popular and even cultural landmarks to dismantle the assumptions on which they stand on would seem counterproductive. We are used to a certain narrative one in which there are heroes and villains, damsels in distress, where the guy gets the girl. The comfort found in popular narratives in indicative of why alternative cinema is still a small-scale industry.

Restoring the order of things a popular narrative does not challenge preconceived notions of society around us. Prejudices and violence in our everyday life are projected onto the screen and vice versa. The process works both ways. Take James Bond for instance a fictional spy whose is often seen as unprofessional to people who work in this field. Bond is British, upper class, well-spoken, intelligent, heterosexual cisgender. His life is glamorous he kills foreign villains who threaten the British way of life and manages to find women who are attracted to him. Bond represents a strong heterosexual male desire. His actions are a glamourised version of foreign policy which has systematically destroyed lives. When contextualised the same characters seem disturbing and almost villainous.

Popular media is rooted in trade, economic forces that govern its production and propagation must not be forgotten.

An urgent economy slices through   protocols of entertainment and opens onto a critique of ‘trade’ and of commercial imperatives that drive the Culture Industry. Where frequency of representation cannot annul the complicity of critics, the self declared impresarios of distraction, the purveyors of content, the advocates of lyrical and sonic seduction and the facilitators of fabulous ‘flavours of transnational capital’, all owe a great deal to the multicultural trick that sells exotica as race relations and visibility as redress. John Hutnyk

Producing commercially viable entertainment is a priority which had lead to either ignoring ‘alternative stories’ or adapting them in such a manner that they scarcely resemble their origins. 

In her now iconic graphic novel Dykes to Watch Out For Alison Bechdel has two unnamed characters talk about the kind of films they would like to watch. The strip titled ‘The Rule’ has now come to be known as the Bechdel Test. Consisting of three rules

1 It has to have at least two women in it,

2 Who talk to each other and,

3 About something besides a man.

While this test was never meant to be a serious commentary on representation, nevertheless when used a lot of Hollywood films failed to pass these criteria. Other minority groups to monitor the treatment they receive on screen have adapted the test accordingly.

Representation is not just the mere inclusion of minority characters, a vague understanding of political correctness it is an ethical stance to treat fictional characters with dignity. 

Footnote: The Rule aka Bechdel Test

(Fair use for educational purposes image retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dykes_to_Watch_Out_For_%28Bechdel_test_origin%29.jpg )

The full strip is available online from Bechdel’s personal Flickr stream (Bechdel, 1985). 

Reference:

Adichie, C.N.(2009) The Danger of  a single story.  http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en

hooks, b. (2014) Are You Still a Slave?. Universities & Education Event Tue May, 6 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJk0hNROvz

hooks, b. 1996. Reel to reel: Race, sex, and class at the movies, New York: Routledge

Hutnyk , J .(2000). Critique of exotica: music, politics, and the culture industry. London : Pluto Press.

Wainaina, B  How to Write about Africa http://granta.com/how-to-write-about-africa/

A little bit of summer

Anachronism and the film

Rey Chow’s work has inspired me to watch Chinese cinema. The issues she brings up about the presentation of gender and history. Mainstream Chinese films are enjoyable, they are shot aesthetically and feature lovely costumes and actors. However there is a problem of representation in these films. As someone who watches films to substantiate academic arguments representation becomes a vital issue in understanding the mindset of the director and also of the audience.

Mainstream films are enjoyable primarily because they pander to our expectations.  Take for instance Red Cliff released in 200 by Director John Woo who openly acknowledged he took liberties with historical accounts to make the story appeal to a modern audience. This film is one of many historical dramas to misrepresent history. While the artist does have a choice in the production of their art it is important to understand which choices they make and why. China has a long history, one which it is very proud of yet watching these films is gives the viewer very little information about history but appeals to their expectations. Perhaps this obsession with presenting a comfortable view of history is tied to what Rachel Dwyer has to say about Indian cinemas use of history in film.

“Hindi cinema interprets Indian history, telling stories about the nation – whether under threat or victorious; about sexuality and gender, looking at great figures of the past, implying a contrast with the present; and other such themes, rather than trying to represent accurately the given historical moment. The past is used then as a heterotopia, or another place, more often than a heterochronia, or different time. It is then used to tell us more about the present than the present itself can.”

Both Indian and Chinese cinema seem to present history in a manner that is convenient to telling truths about the present. This is a deliberate attempt to domesticate history to tame it to our convenience. 

Postscript: While I have critiqued Asian cinema for its use of anachronism I do not exempt Hollywood for its deliberate omission of minority characters

Reference:

Dwyer, R. (2010) ‘Bollywood’s India: Hindi cinema as a guide to modern India.’

Asian Affairs, 41(3) pp. 381-398.

Inspired by Persian art

The floral patterns of these vases and tiles have inspired me to paint in  the bright blues and greens. 

Mancstercon 2015 - Independent comic con

As someone who has attended this convention every year I recommend this highly you will not be disappointed  

Here is a link to their website Mancstercon

From their website - MancsterCon is a voluntarily run organisation dedicated to bringing together the best of the independent sequential art scene in the North West. We organise seminars, artist meet ups and an annual convention through which we aim to highlight new talent in comics, illustration, animation and games.

MancsterCon 2015 will be held on 29th August at the University of Salford, Media City Campus. Tickets are available to buy  here. Send any further enquiries tomancstercon@gmail.com.

Mancstercon 2015

MancsterCon is a voluntarily run organisation dedicated to bringing together the best of the independent sequential art scene in the North West. We organise seminars, artist meet ups and an annual convention through which we aim to highlight new talent in comics, illustration, animation and games.

MancsterCon 2015 will be held on 29th August at the University of Salford, Media City Campus. Tickets are available to buy here. Send any further enquiries tomancstercon@gmail.com.

Manchester Community Cohesion anti-hate crime event

For Manchester Sparkle

When nation, gender and madness collide

In all my years of studying Psychology I am always struck by how mental illness is often the first explanation that is ascribed to most behaviour. The history leading up to the formal diagnosis is often forgotten. creating disorder is more social process than a clinical one. I have challenged notions of biology before however my stance is best summed up by Richard Bentall- "Throughout the history of psychiatry, the idea that schizophrenia and related conditions are genetic diseases has been treated as an axiom, rather than a hypothesis."  

Here is the abstract I am presenting at the Psychology of Women's Section Conference 

Mental disorders are increasingly being looked at through clinical framework. The production of mental disorders is dependant upon social and historical factors. Location and gender interact with each other to produce disorders which are sometimes given a clinical status. Diagnosis in India is not merely dependent on clinical classifications. Women’s alcohol and drug consumption is tied to their sexuality, tethered to nationalistic discourse about ideal Indian femininity.

Women’s alcohol and drug use is often viewed as an anti national/maternal resistance leading to public violence. Bollywood films are a source of data to observe how cinematic violence often mirrors everyday violence against women and vice versa. Examining discourse in films and incidents of gender violence arguments of western corruption, representations of  ‘deviant’ women are used on screen as tropes to caution against trespassing the boundaries of national decorum.   Nationalism, gender and madness collide to create clinical disorders and social strategies of control. 

Some weather is truly sobering. 

Not trans enough’ how the standard trans gender model gives in to cisgenderism

Here is an abstract of a paper that will be presented at manchester Sparkle and at the Psychology of Women's Section Conference. 

This paper challenges notions of what makes a good transgender person. In recent years the community has turned to more cisnormative ideals of gender to gain acceptance and often remain safe. The critique is not of specific people but how the transgender community is subjected to sexism, transphobia which is internalised and manifested in various ways.

This paper is going to be presented at the Psychology of Women's Conference. Here is a link to the program.

This is the abstract 

Not trans enough’ how the standard trans gender model gives in to cisgenderism – Pauline Sometimes and Sonia Soans

Abstract –

Amongst the LGBTQI community there are narratives of the ‘good trans’ person which alienate parts of the community that fail to identify according to the binary model of gender. Standard narratives about gender identity include transition from birth assigned gender and eventual hormone therapy and/or surgery. It is assumed that there is a strong desire to pass in cisgender society

Non-binary and bigendered individuals are often seen as confused and insufficiently transgender. Traditionalist views of what it entails to be transgender divides a community that is marginalised and creates a scramble for power and identification with ones oppressors. Attempting to restrict the transgender spectrum within a binary model imposed by cisgender society marginalises and excludes the most vulnerable members of society. Methodology is based upon lived experience of one of the co-authors supplemented with information published by transgender support organisations and social media postings by transgender, bigender and non-binary individuals.

Keywords: Transgender, Bigender, ‘oppositional sexism’

A free and open talk based on this paper will be given at Manchester Sparkle. For details consult the poster below 

White Boy Dangerous: The Mythology That Surrounds White Male Violence

My latest article on Charleston Murders

White Boy Dangerous: The Mythology That Surrounds White Male Violence

Irises

This is a painting I made recently inspired by irises growing in the Royal Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh. The painting has been sprayed with silver and gold paint which hasn't been picked up in the  first image. 

                      

                       

And here is the photograph that inspired it all

Sonia Soans on Critical Psychology by Ragged University

Here is a podcast interview I did with Alex Dunedin of Ragged University. I have attempted to summarise nearly seven years of my work in an hour. 

@sparkleweekend in Manchester Cathedral

Sparkle is the national annual transgender festival celebrated in Manchester. It is like pride though much smaller and but packed with interesting activities and information and free. A friend of mine in conjunction with ManchesterCathedral has organised this event. It is Sunday morning service followed by cake, coffee and conversation. The service is free to attend and open to everyone. We are hoping transgender people and their allies can find a safe  worship space in the heart of Manchester. 

It's a very, very mad world..

And I find it kinda funny

I find it kinda sad

The dreams in which I'm dying

Are the best I've ever had

I find it hard to tell you

I find it hard to take

When people run in circles

It's a very, very mad world, mad world- Tears for Fears

If you are in Edinburgh and crave something cerebral I recommend the Mad World Exhibition at St Margaret’s Place. A wonderful free exhibition with meaningful artwork that will make you ponder about the mental health system. Amongst the many things I did over the weekend this made the biggest impact on me.

The exhibition is the perfect place to learn about activism in the radical mental health field for the last thirty years. Abuse in the mental health system is an idea that perhaps not emphasised upon enough this exhibition does just that. It invites the viewer to ponder over the stories of those who have used mental health services, been abused and are now challenging what it means to go through this system.

It was wonderful to see copies of Asylum magazine from the 1980’s; some of the issues raised then are still relevant today. Mental illness is still stigmatised in our society, fears about mentally ill people still colour our judgment. This exhibition helps dispel those notions calling the viewer to listen to stories of people who are more than the labels that were assigned to them.

The lovely Alex Dunedin is more than happy to sit you down and talk about this subject passionately. Sharing his inspiration behind this exhibition and the possibility of more to come. 

I was interviewed at the exhibition and here is the  free podcast interview with Sonia Soans

Here are some photographs of the exhibition.

Summer Pasta

This is a simple pasta recipe that is good cold and can be cooked in advance. It goes well with lots of vegetables and can

Boil pasta in hot salted water till al dente.

chop an onion and sauté in a hot pan with a little oil. I like to brown the onions to bring out their sweetness and add depth the pasta 

 

Chop a few mushrooms and add them to a buttered pan sauté till brown.

Drain the pasta well and while it is still hot add olive oil and butter, mix well. 

Add the vegetables mix well.

The sauce is easy to make. Add fresh chopped mint leaves, plain yogurt, salt black pepper, a little nutmeg and other spices you like. I like to add a little lime zest and a few drops of lime juice. Mix well and serve.