Digital blackface the repackaging of the black masculine image /

by Green, Joshua Lumpkin.

Digital Blackface: The Repackaging of the Black Masculine Image By Joshua L. Green In this post-civil right era, race and ethnicity have taken on more visual rhetorical styles that carry implicit meanings concerning race class and gender. Nowhere is this more evident than in media and mainstream popular culture, where ethnicity is inextricably linked to consumer culture. This post-civil rights information age society consistently repackages the domineering messages that reinforce stereotypes and normative ideologies that oppress sub-altern groups (women, people of color, homosexuals, and people of lower economic status). Through our technological development, representations of the ethnic ‘Other’ have shifted from ‘performing’ ethnicity to ‘being’ the ethnic other. This analysis examines new gaming technologies and the impact the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has on the player’s perception of black masculinity. This analysis critically analyzes the audience demographic, semiotic codes, cultural context, literary text, and social debates surrounding the game. Ultimately, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas presents whole new type of animal, more dangerous and more pervasive than the negative representations of African-Americans on television. This is a critical analysis of not just the culture that created it but also the culture that consumes it. Digital Blackface: The Repackaging of the Black Masculine Image A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Miami University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts Department of Communication By Joshua L. Green Miami University Oxford, Ohio 2006 Advisor: Reader: Reader: Dr. David Sholle Dr. Kathy German Dr. Ron Scott