bell hooks's "The Oppositional Gaze" and Jordan Peele's Get Out (2017)

[@jennahpavlova]

Thank you for the high quality video! You definitely deserve more views. This was a great film to use to discuss hooks' essay.

[@poplartreefilms5617]

Really really enjoyed this. Very thoughtful and insightful. Fine work Sir!!

[@saschanv]

Amazing work. Thank you very much for the elucidative interpretations.

[@HiLaToya]

This was soooooo good!

[@PumpkinCandleGetLit]

Thanks for this!

[@DanielCantonaGarrod]

how do you reckon you'd apply bell hooks theory to Do the Right Thing? Loving the videos by the way, very in-depth and definitely helping me along with my film essays!

[@filmandmediastudieschannel]

thanks - glad it's helpful. great question. how do _you_ think bell hooks's theory might apply to Do the Right Thing?

[@DanielCantonaGarrod]

@@filmandmediastudieschannel i'm not sure, but I saw she reviewed Girl 6 and If i was to guess this would be she would definitely mention the lack of representation of black women and how they're completely neglected from the plot, follow stereotypes and maybe how it's not really a black film as its dressed up for a white audience for them to somewhat understand his attempts to address racism, gentrification etc.

[@filmandmediastudieschannel]

@@DanielCantonaGarrod ah interesting take. Well, you're in luck. bell hooks is so prolific that she has in fact already published on essay on the film. check it out! dms213fall2015.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/counter-hegemonic-art-bell-hooks.pdf

[@John_Malka-tits]

Spike Lee is a male chauvanist.

[@nicolaspecorelli5207]

Love Bell Hooks

[@saf_saffy]

Thank-you for the excellent study. I love that Peele also plays with another oppositional gaze common to 'films about racism'™: the white hegemonic oppositional gaze where the white audience is invited to feel good about themselves because they're *not like* the bad racists or a "good" white person is inserted into the narrative as an audience surrogate if none was available historically. We don't get one here so part of the experience as a white person viewer is looking for the good guy to latch on to and finding it's the black protag and his black friend. The police car being a massive signifier to some audiences and not others. The layering goes deep, the hero is looking for recognition and representation when he seeks out the other black people and is unsettled when their gaze doesn't meet his and he does have experience being recognized by black people as a fellow across class lines.

[@filmandmediastudieschannel]

Yes! This is a fantastic point. The way Rose's character is designed is a testament to this. If I recall correclty, Allison Williams has said in interviews that when the film was out, fans (who were often white women) would sometimes ask to be reassured that Rose's character was actually not evil/bad like the rest of her family as the narrative had revealed. The fans seemed to have wanted some kind of extra-narrative exoneration for Rose's reveal near the end of the film - that she had been brainwashed, that she was pretending, etc. - suggesting that Rose as the white point of identification was so strong that some viewers concocted their own explanations to deny what the narrative depicted.