Do either of the following (a or b):

a.

Read “Hegemony in Black and White: (Opens PDF document) Interracial Buddy Films and the New Racism” by B. Lee Artz.

Then watch Get Hard (directed by Etan Cohen, 2015).

Finally, write an essay in which you assess the extent to which Get Hard perpetuates “the new racism” as defined by Artz in his analysis of interracial buddy films.

b.

Read “Vivacious Vixens and Scintillating Super Hotties: (Opens PDF document) Deconstructing the Superheroine” by Richard J. Gray.

Then watch Avengers 2: Age of Ultron (directed by Joss Whedon, 2015).

Finally, write an essay in which you assess the extent to which Gray’s argument applies to Scarlett Johansson’s character, Black Widow.

For whichever article you choose, your critique needs to take into account the complexity of the author’s definition (Artz’s definition of “the new racism” or Gray’s definition of a superheroine’s “hotness”). It also needs to support your thesis with a close reading of specific scenes from the film.

Citations:

Artz, B. Lee. 1998. “Hegemony in Black and White: Interracial Buddy Films and the New Racism.” In Cultural Diversity and the U.S. Media, edited by Yahya R. Kamalipour and Theresa Carilli, 67-79. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Gray, Richard J. 2011. “Vivacious Vixens and Scintillating Super Hotties: Deconstructing the Superheroine.” In The 21st Century Superhero: Essays on Gender, Genre and Globalization in Film, edited by Richard J. Gray and Betty Kaklamanidou, 75-93. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.

For this assignment, you do not need to consult the course material, nor do you need to consult secondary sources. You do not need to include the film in your Works Cited page; however, you do need to include the article in a Works Cited page and to cite it properly throughout your paper. Use your preferred citation style (MLA, APA, or Chicago, and footnotes, endnotes, or in-text citations).