overview of paper

Christina Figueroa

A little background on my final paper: I intend to write about the television show Black.White and its effect on society. I am planning on exploring typical stereotypes for both blacks and whites and question why those two races are predominant. I would also like to investigate the show’s role in re-affirming those stereotypes as opposed to breaking down barriers. By looking at the show’s intended purpose and the actual effect it is having on viewers, we will be able to discuss how and why stereotypes remain. I’d also like to talk about the innocent people in the show – the people that are befriended by the “undercover” races. Some questions I’d like to raise include – how will these people be affected by the knowledge that their friendship was sought out in an experiment – not because of their personality; rather their skin color. Also, how will these create a dislike for the opposite race – knowing that they were fooled into friendship and used for the sake of America’s entertainment? Also, how are the families that are participating in the experiment affected psychologically? Is race based on color of skin or is it more than that? How can these families experience different cultures based on skin color – wouldn’t they need the actual experience of growing up within a community?
By looking at how the innocent people are affected, I’d like to go into the show Joe Schmoe. This show was a set-up that tricked one man into believing it was a reality show. By looking at this show and how it affected the man who was the butt of the joke, we can explore Lakeoff’s definition of apologies. The people involved in the show apologized for hurting ‘Joe Schmoe’ but was it sincere? As well as the black.white families – are their apologies sincere to those they tricked or did they feel it was the proper thing to do. If they truly were sorry, would they have agreed to the experiment?
I’d like to attempt to conduct a similar experiment on Kutztown’s campus to see how people react towards difference races, based on those results, I’ll explore deeper into the way race plays into treatment and advancement. I do not want this paper to be a paper dealing with race issues; primarily, rather I’d like to see how society embraces “blacks” and “whites” based on their attitudes and behaviors. I’m interested to see if people react differently to someone who is black but acts white, as opposed to someone who is white but acts black.
Also, I’d like to attempt to define “blackness” and “whiteness,” if that is even possible.
ps. - sorry there are no fancy links. =-/