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White: Essays on Race and Culture
by
Richard Dyer
White people are not literally or symbolically white; nor are they uniquely virtuous and pure. Racial imagery and racial representation are central to the organisation of the contemporary world but, while there are many studies of images of black and Asian people, whiteness is an invisible racial position. At the level of racial representation, whites are not of a certain ...more
Paperback, 284 pages
Published
August 5th 1997
by Routledge
(first published 1997)
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If you are a student of cultural studies, visual culture or race in America, you MUST read this book. There are a few books that change your life, that you remember reading and everything clicks. This was it for me. The book is wonderful. Not only does Dyer write clearly and with ease about such a complicated topic, but he provides nearly indisputable examples of the ways Western culture privileges whiteness - not only the hue but also the skin color.
Dyer deals with art, art history,...more
Dyer deals with art, art history,...more
Ooh I want to feel ashamed that I am white and privileged. Still new approaches to spot these falsities in the world. Swartzenegger is so wrong being superior as Conan the Barbarian. I wonder is this 13 years ago published book out dated or what additions could make. For example why in many cultures paler the better, expect in Western where tanned body means leisure.
This is just like when reading feminist books. Time to start spotting injustice!
This is just like when reading feminist books. Time to start spotting injustice!
malic
rated it
Recommends it for:
filmmakers / film theorists / grips and gaffers
Shelves:
film-theory
more than any other, this book inspired my Div III (aka senior thesis) at Hampshire, which was titled "The Rise of the White Heroine: Feminism and Racism at the Movies."
"White" looks critically at the representation of whiteness in popular culture, historically and presently. Specifically it goes into representations in the moving image, particularly Hollywood movies, and spends a great deal of time on the development of Hollywood lighting. Dyer explains how fi...more
"White" looks critically at the representation of whiteness in popular culture, historically and presently. Specifically it goes into representations in the moving image, particularly Hollywood movies, and spends a great deal of time on the development of Hollywood lighting. Dyer explains how fi...more
I started to read this book while I was in England. Unfortunately, I was unable to finish the book because I had to come back from my study abroad too quickly and I was having too much fun! In the first couple of chapters I was totally taken. This book does an amazing job at deconstructing the construction of whiteness.
I love Dyer's style, and I love how he incorporates so many different sources into his books - films, photographs, visual art, pop culture, literature, history, and more. This is another book that really earns the descriptions "challenging" and "thought-provoking."
Fascinating and very visual look at the way white people have created images of whiteness across the ages. Should be required reading for all, I think.
Hey everybody who was in Engl 662 or 666 or whatever it was? Remember when the bookstore turned these books upside down? Yeah. That was funny. We all felt really odd buying them.
That aside, this is a pretty good outline of "color" (in terms of gender/race issues) in text and film, although it misses a lot of important points and seems to focus more on photographs and lighting analysis than the theoretical implications. However, I think it's good as an overview text.
That aside, this is a pretty good outline of "color" (in terms of gender/race issues) in text and film, although it misses a lot of important points and seems to focus more on photographs and lighting analysis than the theoretical implications. However, I think it's good as an overview text.
This is media studies done right. Not only does Dyer consider race representations in film and media, but he also goes so far as to interrogate the racist aspects at work in the mechanics of film and photographic technology in capturing light and filming subjects -- he also even goes so far as to consider positive examples and solutions. One of my all-time faves.
Sometimes I just want to give Richard Dyer a big, sloppy kiss.
A great combination of media theory and Whiteness studies. Especially hones in on the aesthetics of Whiteness as an ideal idea.
I luv this dude! <3 <3
Cera Y
marked it as to-read
Iris
marked it as to-read
Recommended to Iris by:
Whiteness: Race, Sex, Representation course
Shelves:
nonfiction,
read-possibly
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Liberty June
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