Text Analysis #1 - Grade: A PDF

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Content Analysis of media using concepts learned from readings and in class....

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Shelby DeGroote Africology 369 Text Analysis #1 I chose to analyze Season 1, Episode 3 of the show Queer Eye which is a makeover reality show where five gay men, dubbed the ‘Fab 5’, makeover one man’s appearance and life in every episode. The episode I chose to analyze, titled “Dega Don’t” centers on Cory, a white, 36year-old man, who is a former marine and now a police officer in Georgia. The ‘Fab 5’ is made up of three white men, one middle-eastern man, and one black man. Throughout the episode, the producers have made sure to pair up Karamo, the one black member of the ‘Fab 5’, with Cory, no doubt in order to encourage them have the conversation about the conflict between African Americans and police officers in America today. I can see why the producers would see this as a natural pairing to generate interesting content, as Karamo has the intersectionality of not only being a black man, but also a gay man, while Cory is seemingly the opposite, as a white man, who is straight. This ideology is very relevant in today’s media, the conversation and controversy surrounding Black Lives Matter, placing importance on giving black people a voice, which they have not had for so long. I argue this show attempts to present a fair and optimistic view on this topic, but perhaps gives Cory, the white police officer, too much credit and perhaps not enough skepticism. Cory is immediately framed as an overweight, Nascar-loving redneck, and because of this, the spreading activation theory causes me to assume he is likely a racist, conservative, Trump supporter (the two latter of which are proven to be true). To me, Cory almost perfectly fulfills the stereotype of the American Southern Redneck, which I am positive was a goal for the producers, in order to create an episode with an interesting social commentary. In his

introduction, Cory even acknowledges this, saying that his friend, “felt I was the biggest redneck he’s ever seen,” which shows that Cory has encountered and possibly accepted this forced identity, which is a social construction of reality. Less than five minutes into the episode, the ‘Fab 5’ are pulled over by a police officer while Karamo is driving, which I am sure was no coincidence. Karamo is immediately very uncomfortable and nervous, while one of the other ‘Fab 5’ exclaims about the cop, “He’s like what’s going on in here? There’s some colored folk up in here!” In a very serious demeanor both audibly and visually Karamo comments on being pulled over, likely referencing the idea of ‘driving while black’, which we have discussed in class: “I’m very aware of this type of cop. The question is, is what we were pulled over for.” When the police officer tells Karamo to step out of the car, the other members of the ‘Fab 5’ defend Karamo and don’t want him to get out of the car. Because of the time and place we live in now, and the schema most viewers would form in their minds surrounding this situation, the viewer is primed to understand why the other members of the ‘Fab 5’ are so concerned about their black friend getting out of the car at the command of a white police officer in the deep south. And because the audience has not been let in on the fact that this whole police stop is actually a set-up to introduce the man who nominated Cory for the show, we become concerned as well, sharing in the anxiety. This is, as is the show’s goal, entertaining in a way, making us feel the same suspense that the ‘Fab 5’ also feel. When the officer reveals the surprise, the middle-eastern member of the ‘Fab 5’ yells, only somewhat jokingly, “You can’t do that to brown people!” and Karamo remarks about Cory, with apparent apprehension: “He’s a cop too? We did not know that.” This sets up the whole situation of a black gay man being charged with making over a white, male police officer, creating an atmosphere within the episode that feels uneasy, and as we see continuing into the episode, takes

on the role of having a narrative where both a black man and white police officer have a conversation about ‘Black Lives Matter’ and related issues. When the Fab 5 arrive at Cory’s home, they go through his entire house and speak to Cory’s wife, Jennifer, and form many conclusions about who he is as a person. Many of these observations even further frame Cory as a ‘redneck’, who doesn’t exactly value his wife, as his wife explains how they met: “We just met at a club and he came up and slapped my ass, love at first sight!” and Cory also explains that for a date they’ll go to a dinner then “walk around a Walmart or sporting goods store,” which Karamo reacts to incredulously, further exaggerating the differences between the two. Karamo asks Cory if he has ever taken his wife to an art gallery or museum, to which Cory responds that he’s “never been to one of those” in his entire life. This shows me that the show is also framing Cory as an uncultured and ignorant man when compared to the worldly ‘Fab 5’, especially when you consider that the general viewer for this show is likely to be more liberal in their politics.

Many other instances confirming Cory’s political

affiliations follow, such as in a rather humorous scene when Karamo discovers a ‘Make America Great Again’ and wears it, exclaiming: “I don’t think any black person has ever worn this hat.” The ‘Fab 5’ also find a Trump/Pence yard sign in Cory’s garage, which Karamo picks up, to which Cory bellows, “You touched it! You touched it!” in a rather immature and childish manner. Yet again, they show Karamo commenting on his view of the police when the white members of the ‘Fab 5’ are playing with Cory’s cop car, setting off the sirens and using the loudspeaker, while Karamo is seen as far as possible away from the cop car, saying “I’ve had enough trauma with cop cars,” but they do not specify if he’s talking about getting pulled over earlier in the day or whether he has prior negative experiences with police officers. Throughout this introduction, to Cody and his life, and even the rest of the episode, all members of the ‘Fab 5’ make indirect

jabs at Cory, whether for his seeming disinterest in helping his wife with ‘domestic’ duties, or about his overall ‘Redneck Republican-ness’, which is nothing less than what I would have expected, as the ‘Fab 5’ is filled with rather fashionable, opinionated and flamboyantly gay men, which is a stereotype of gay men within itself. The ‘Fab 5’s apprehension is perhaps best seen when Cory says that he is going to be “receptive to anything that’s gonna make me better,” to which one of the Fab 5 responds, “I don’t think you are, but let’s do it anyways,” which to me shows a certain amount of prejudice towards Cory, or rather what they feel he represents, on the ‘Fab 5’s part. In the most interesting scene of the episode, just Karamo and Cody are placed in the car together on a long drive home from Atlanta. This is so obviously set up by the producers in order to finally force Karamo and Cory to have the conversation about their seemingly opposite viewpoints and lifestyles. The conversation starts out innocently enough, Karamo commenting that he doesn’t understand the fascination surrounding Nascar, and Cory likens it to Basketball in order to explain it, which to me is an interesting choice of sport that Cory chooses. This could be explained by the cognitive accessibility theory, as Cory appears to have used a ‘mental shortcut’ to make the social judgment that Karamo could understand a reference to basketball, because he is black, and further a tall black man. Their conversation then dissolves into a montage of the men finding surprising commonalities in their lives, such as being raised similarly, Cory recollecting that “if there was time to watch TV, there was time to go work in the yard,” to which Karamo agrees and shares that he was raised the same way. Cory adds that he grew up listening to the Wu-Tang Clan and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, both of which are important musical groups in African American culture, and thus shows that Cory is either trying to connect further with Karamo, or perhaps he is just trying to ‘get points’ with the audience and Karamo, since because

of his stereotype as a Redneck, it would be unexpected of him to have knowledge of those musical groups, courtesy of priming. When they start talking about the nitty gritty issues, Karamo explains the fear he felt when he was pulled over by Cory’s friend at the beginning of the episode: “When Henry pulled us over, I immediately-I started freaking out. I really thought that this was gonna be the incident where I was gonna get dragged out of the car.” To me, the most emotional and personal part of the episode is when Karamo goes on to explain that his son has also been primed to fear police officers: “My son did not want to get his license because he was scared that he was gonna get pulled over and shot by a cop.” During most of this exchange, Cory appears to be silent with nothing to comment on what Karamo is explaining to him, which I am not sure if this is how it was edited or if that is what actually happened, and to be honest I’m not sure if this was intended to frame Cory as a receptive, listening ear, or as a white man that feels uncomfortable to voice his opinion on the matter (and being filmed might have something to do with that). However when Karamo explains that he doesn’t want black people to be stereotyped, “to get lumped into being criminals—“ Cory interrupts him and finally shares his opinion, saying: “—just the same way police officers don’t wanna be lumped into being the bad guy. I get stereotyped because of the 10 percent of cops that get excessive, or, you know, killing a black guy that didn’t need to have deadly force used upon him.” Cory sharing this opinion shows us where he stands on the matter, at least as much as he is willing to admit he feels, and also shows us again that he is aware of the way he may be stereotyped. The fact that he is a real person on a reality show, I think, really affects what he is willing to say about his opinion surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement. I think in a rather smart move he takes a pragmatic and neutral stance on the issue, and further explains his opinion: “Black Lives Matter, they weren’t able to be heard, and

neither were the police officers…everybody wants to talk but nobody wants to listen,” showing that Cory does understand that there are two sides to the issue to be heard. However this subject is very complicated and is an issue which I could probably write a whole other paper on, regarding whether or not police officers should actually have much of a say on Black Lives Matter, as it is about black lives mattering, not ‘#bluelivesmatter’. Karamo acknowledges the fact that, “a conversation with one police officer and one gay guy is gonna solve any problems,” but that it is important that he be open to this conversation with Cory, that he wants Cory to learn from him, and he wants to learn from Cory. I do think that ‘Queer Eye’ is very self-aware of the statement it is making, about starting, or maybe just taking part in, the conversation around Black Lives Matter and police violence against African Americans. This episode of this show does play into several stereotypes, which I have discussed, and it makes an effort to talk about the issues it has deemed important. As such, ‘Queer Eye’ plays into the broader media conversation, with its own transmission of what it thinks society values, and presents it in a way it thinks its audience will accept and feel comfortable with, through an entertaining platform....