Remeka draft submission

29 Jan Remeka draft submission

Posted at 20:02h in Journalism Project, Level 6 by Washington

Index

  • Article draft
  • Project layout
  • Interviews and schedule
  • Interview questions
  • Research

 

My project is about colourism and how it effects our lives. I want to create 3x3minute videos each focussing on a smaller section of colourism within a 1500-word article explaining this form of prejudice. The piece is aimed at people of colour particularly the black community but is able to reach multiple audiences.

 

 

Draft article – need to add statistics and show clear research.

 

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, you have more than likely heard the term “Colourism” being used, but what exactly does it mean? And where has the word come from?

Colourism is the discrimination of darker skinned people of colour whilst simultaneously praising and uplifting their lighter skinned counterparts. Seen across many cultures and races of ethnic minorities There are many reasons these prejudices exist, stemming back centuries to slavery and colonisation. As the Europeans conquered lands “whiteness” became a symbol of power and the closer you were in complexion to being white the higher your position in society. Jumping forward to modern day society lighter complexions are still subconsciously seen as better and that sentiment is seen throughout mass media.

In America, the blueprint for a successful black television show will have a darker skinned black male lead with a light skinned or mixed-race co-star and love interest whilst the supporting cast will undoubtedly have a dark-skinned woman who is loud, bitter and obnoxious. Bollywood films cast light skinned female stars as they are deemed more attractive. Asian such as K-pop and J-pop are full of stars who dabble in skin bleaching as well as cosmetic surgery to appear whiter. In the Caribbean skin bleaching creams are easily attainable with praise from your peers when you have reached a desired lighter complexion and even musicians singing about how much they have elevated since lightening their skin.

Colourism is all around us, through these videos I aim to show the impact on childhood, relationships and body image. I drew inspiration from the Clark doll experiment and recreated it amongst other things to see how early signs of colourism is exhibited in children, based on cultural aspects of not.

 

*Part 1 here*

 

During childhood the idea that lighter is better, it is ingrained into culture as we grow up but what’s next? With these prejudices instilled in us from an early age we develop “preferences” for partners and use those to choose prospective partners. Our favourite celebrity and social media couples often include a black male partnered with a light skinned or racially ambiguous girl. The main examples we can see is within the hip-hop music industry in America and the UK rap scene. Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, Waka Flocka and Tammy Rivera, Mariah Carey and Nick Canon, Jhus and Loz to name a few. Is it strictly love that attracted them or does complexion have a part to play? I spoke with both men and women to get an insight into the minds of the public as well as creating my own survey to see if everything added up. We all believe that you have no choice in who you fall in love with but how true is that?

 

*Part 2 here*

 

But what happens to those who don’t get picked? To the women who are written off before they have a chance to speak just because of the negative perception bestowed upon them? Does mental health and self-image deteriorate due to the negative way society treats you? When your natural beauty doesn’t come close to the standards of beauty socially accepted, where does that leave you? Does the negative criticism of society contribute to low self-esteem in darker skinned women and people in general?

 

*Part 3 here*

 

So, colourism. There is no positive side to it and unfortunately it is just the way society is set up. Over time and with ore awareness it is possible for things to change. For now, though, this is just the world we live in.

 

 

Project Layout

Part 1- Childhood

When do we start comparing complexions and believing “light is right”?

Intro– 10-20 seconds (set up theme)

Case study– children from 3-10 GV’s, school, playing together

Solo interviews– 60-90 seconds

Examples– 1 minute,

  • video of kids comparing black and white dolls
  • little girls saying they’re twins because similar birthdays
  • little boy’s same hair cut “can’t tell them apart”-

Expert– 1minute, why/how these ideas and stereotypes are created

-how we move forward and change this in future

Outro-10-20 seconds round up link to next segment.

 

 

Part 2- Relationships

Does your complexion play a role in relationship eligibility?

Intro-20-30 seconds, montage of YouTube videos “who would you prefer”

Voice over-20-30 seconds, introduce topic and back story

Case study-60-90 seconds,

  • Interview men and women
  • What do you look for in a partner?
  • What does your ideal partner look like?
  • Is it important?

Survey– relay stats from survey I created

Expert- 60 seconds

  • Why we choose to date certain people
  • What impacts choices
  • Positive/negative repercussions
  • Society impact

Outro-20 seconds, round up section link to next

 

 

Part 3-body image and self-love

Do societies negative critics of darker skin create low self-esteem and effect mental health?

Intro– 10-20 seconds, set up theme, link to previous video

Case study– 90-120 seconds

  • Experiences growing up
  • How culture impacts outlook

Clips/Montage- 20-30 seconds

  • Growing up darker
  • Examples of cultural colourism
  • Offensive language/terms/opinions

Expert-90 seconds

  • What criticizing complexions does to an individual?
  • When what the world sees is negative do you look at yourself negatively too?

Outro– 20-30 seconds, round up video and entire film

Possibly 60 seconds to conclude everything

 

 

Interviews and schedule

 

Kids– interviewed all kids based off of “Clark doll interview”-26/01/19

Need to do a follow up more detailed interview with the two older children

Mariama Julie– small youtuber, arranged an interview for 21/01/19 but she stopped replying so never happened

Kishtan Powlett– discussing Interview availability, potentially happening on 02/02/19 need confirmation

Eithaar Al Barwani-Agreed to a skype/facetime interview due to distance 02/02/19 or 03/02/19 waiting for confirmation

Krishanthi Jayakumar- gave her a brief of my project, waiting for her to reply

Shirley Anne Tate– Emailed for expert interview, declined 11/12/18

 

  1. Gillburn, Kehinde Andrews, V. Ware, J. Solomos, I.G. Law– said no to being expert interviews.

 

Interview Questions

Men

  1. Describe your ideal partner
  2. Are you attracted to women of other complexions? Why?
  3. Do you think the media accurately reflects dark skinned women?
  4. What (is any) influenced your choice in partner?
  5. What qualities do you look for in a partner?

 

Women

  1. When did you notice colourism?
  2. Did you always know the name for it?
  3. What are your personal experiences with it?
  4. Has it effected dating and potential jobs? How?
  5. What are your hopes for the future?
  6. Describe your ideal partner
  7. Do you think the media accurately reflects dark skinned women?

 

Kids

  1. Who do you think is the prettiest person in the world? Why?
  2. Do you think you’re pretty?
  3. Has anyone made you feel bad about being black/ your skin colour?
  4. Do you think one skin colour is better than another?
  5. Have you made fun of someone with darker skin? Why?
  6. Are boys meant to date a certain type of girl?
  7. Do pretty girls look ta certain way? Do you look that way?
  8. What makes a boy good looking?

Research

Clark Doll experiment

 

Colourism info

 

Skin bleaching

 

Montage clips

 

 

Unedited clips and section 2 intro

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1wDp2kZxGcnugqYzxlT5Nm7_uvllGRU9k

 

 

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Washington
remekawashington@gmail.com