Sports and Ethnicity

Sports are significant to African Americans for many reasons. Like anyone else, sports are a way to express emotion and be competitive. Additionally, sports are a method to stay out of trouble and vehicle out of financial distress. Many African Americans see the opportunities that sports present and take full advantage. One hollywood film that stuck with me was Remember the Titans. The way African Americans were treated in that film seemed like a true portrayal of what occurred at the time. The team was able to overcome the constant racism and ultimately come together as a team.

Like Hoop Dreams, not too much was sugar coated. Sports might be damaging African Americans. More often than not professional sports are dominated by African Americans. In some sense it's preserving the myth of race, but these athletes are becoming scholastic role models that are changing the way people think about African Americans.

Real Women

The commercial I chose to examine was the "Greatness"fathead commercial featuring NFL linebacker Clay Matthews. There are countless blow up pictures of Clay in various poses, ranging from sack celebrations to actual modeling photos. Personally, I found it hilarious. But it does pose a problem with gender identities and relations. For instance, it reinforces the notion that men must be masculine creatures with huge bodies that everyone will want to have a life-size poster of. It also shows Clay in his "man cave" when he wants to see greatness. Young people are influenced by almost everything around them. Commercials like these embed the thought that men must be these emotionless humans while women are the ones in the kitchen making dinner. This creates a world in which people are afraid to deviate from the norm. But hey, I'd be a stay at home dad any day of the week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHfRR5c1yNo