EastEnders (BBC)

EastEnders began as a flagship show for primetime weeknights on BBC1. The series started in 1985, and now runs four nights a week. It is one of the BBC’s most popular shows, and regularly nets between 7 and 13 million viewers each episode. The series is based in the East End of London, and centres around Albert Square, which contains a pub, a number of shops and cafes, a launderette and a pub, The Queen Vic. The buildings are as central to the story of the characters that own and disown them on a regular basis. Although there is no main character, the stories focus around a number of families in various different states (divorced, married, widowed, single-parent) and their everyday lives. Of the current six main families that dominant antics in “The Square” the Fowlers, the Mitchells, the Slaters, the Brannings, the Wickes’ and the Foxes, five are white. Once established families such as the Truemans (black) and the Ferreiras (Asian) were dispatched due to a lack of popularity or the sudden realization that the characters had no more “room to develop.”

American History X (Kaye: 1998)

Danny Vinyard, a white teenager with an interest in neo-Nazism, is asked to write a paper by his black teacher on older brother Derek, whom he idolizes. The paper will be called American History X. Displayed in black and white, which some commentators suggest allows for the white characters to look even whiter and almost “spiritual,” (Ware: 2002: Chicago) the film follows the story of Derek through Danny’s eyes.
When Derek Vinyard’s father is killed by a black drug dealer, he looks for someone to blame. He takes up Nazism and turns his feelings of resentment onto ethnic minorities. One night his younger brother Danny informs him that there is a “black guy” (a gang member) breaking into his car outside. Derek goes outside with his gun, shooting one carjacker and assaulted the other so violently he too dies. Derek is sentenced to three years in prison, (Danny adds: “It would have been life if I’d testified”) and finding the Aryan Brotherhood in jail does not stick to his strict principles he renounces his beliefs. They later rape him in the showers. By the time he returns the film takes the viewer back to the beginning, and Derek convinces Danny to give up Nazism. But as he goes to hand in the term paper Danny is shot by a black gang member who has heard about his beliefs. The film ends in his death.

The Black Dahlia (Ellroy: 1998)

On January 15 1947, B-movie actress Elizabeth Short was murdered mutilated and her bisected body was found abandoned near the famous Hollywood sign. This novel follows the story of an investigation that turned into an obsession to the two main detectives (Officer Bucky Bleichart and Office Lee Blanchard). After Lee’s disappearance, Bucky becomes the main character in the novel. It focuses on the story of Bucky’s obsession over Short’s death and the women he meets who look like her, and covers a number of years before the murder is finally solved (in reality the murderer was not caught).
Part of what has been termed Ellroy’s LA Quartet, the story of The Black Dahlia operates around the LA of the 1940s, dominated by a corrupt film industry and equally corrupt politics. Bucky also appears to operate within this world happily and casual racism towards criminals from ethnic minorities (beating up Mexicans and black people who confessed to the Dahlia murder) is never a problem. But it should be noted that the ultimate criminal, the upper class mother who murdered the Dahlia and the larger conspiracy surrounding her family (political wrangling and bad construction deals) are all white, and that Ellroy does not shy away from the fact the deadly criminal can be white.
Ultimately, despite Bucky identifying the killer, she is never brought to justice, as Bucky begins to feel sorry for her and at least sees her family get their comeuppance.

Culture and Identity: Compares three images of ‘whiteness’. What do the images suggest to you about the dominant discourses around ‘whiteness’?

The “image” of how whiteness is portrayed is vital. As Bonnett writes: “Everyone, whatever their skin colour, knows what it means to be white.” (2000:110) They are, whatever happens and however portrayed, the dominant images of the present day, surrounded by the media. This study will focus on three key media texts that all portray an image of whiteness. The first, EastEnders, (BBC) is a popular British soap set in a predominantly white community in London. The second, American History X (1998: Kaye), is the story of two brothers drawn into white supremacist, and the third example, The Black Dahlia, (1998: Warner Books) focuses on a white LAPD police officer’s investigation into the murder of a young white woman. Set in the 1940s, it operates within the framework of institutionalized racism. The texts will be analysed to assess the white identities they portray, and to work out the dominant discourses surrounding “whiteness” as a whole.

EastEnders (BBC)

EastEnders began in 1985, as the BBC’s flagship soap. Billed as “gritty realism,” its working class true-to-life depiction has been labelled a “significant moment in British cultural history.” (McNicholas: 2002:1) But despite its “realistic” nature, EastEnders main failing sits with the fact it does not truly stick to “realism” in terms of race. People from ethnic “minorities” make up 7% of the population, and in 1991, there were more than one million people, black people in London. (www.ons.co.uk). If this is the case, EastEnders is exploiting the image of the working class white man to an unrealistic degree as the strong male figure with a family to provide for, often through less than legal dealings. It is clear that the white family is dominant throughout EastEnders. The most prominent families, such as the Mitchells and the Fowlers are all white and mixed-race relationships are rare. However, this trend is currently changing with the introduction of the Foxes, a black family of a single mother and two daughters who have moved in with the Wickes’ as part of a mixed race relationship. Even so, the mother, Denise, (Diane Parish) is portrayed as having been abused in the past by her ex (white and dominant) partner, and is portrayed as weak for giving in to him. (Her comeuppance is when the former partner kidnaps their daughter) She has also been involved in a completely unrealistic storyline in which she believed she was the daughter of Patrick Trueman (Rudolph Walker), one of the few black men to live in Albert Square. With so many people in London of black origin, it is unlikely this would be true, even in the world of soap. Besides these storylines, which have hardly had the kind of build-up afforded to storylines given to white characters, black and Asian characters are largely obsolete in comparison with EastEnders are largely obsolete and instead focus on the dominant white image.
It is unclear why the programme focuses so strongly on the white, working class image, which the programme portrays as entrenched in the past and steeped in tradition, as Bonnett argues: “The working class took up whiteness…in response to the presence of non-white Britons,” (2000:38) whereas Feagin claims: “if a person is white and low-income/lower working class its not as great as it used to be.” (2001:197) This may be the key however, to establishing this image as a dominant discourse. Despite the fact the image of a working-class white man is aggressive, often family-orientated and with an element of “easy-criminality,” (white families in EastEnders have numerous dealings with the law) studies prove this character is now a rare breed, and bonnet goes so far as to say this has always been the case. EastEnders is after all soap, a formulaic programme. It would appear that in substantiating the myth of the “working class male,” the programme is in fact a stereotype which, like Albert Square itself, does not actually exist.

American History X (1998: Kaye)

In terms of “whiteness” as a dominant discourse, American History X conforms to the most common stereotype. As Feagin claims: “white supremacists seem to be the only group that has articulated an explicit and highly developed ideology of whiteness.” (2001:191) In other words, of the examples used here, rather than using whiteness as an “invisible,” where characters act a certain way despite being white, the main character in American History X acts his way because he is white. (Hall: 1997: 306) Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton) affirms that his hatred of people from ethnic minorities comes from the black drug dealer that killed his father, and believes that the “blacktion” of education covering the chequered and painful history of ethnic minorities is turning the population soft. Derek feels that black people are to blame for everything, and supports Feagin’s claim that “white supremacists like skinheads and Klan members present themselves as victims” (2001:199). This starts to shatter the dominant white male image of the supremacist not as someone to be feared, but someone to be pitied. This is something the main character affirms to his brother after he returns from prison and renounces neo-Nazism. And it is this; ultimately, that is the most dominant image of whiteness in American History X. Not the image of the hero, or of the oppressor, but of the down-trodden victim, an image that is reinforced by the “white-trash” nature of the family who are clearly low income and lower class. Indeed that pity appears to come full circle when Danny, the younger brother, is shot by a black gang member in a school toilet. Perhaps if the film had been set in an upper class, more suburban area, the portrayal of a white and violent neo-Nazi would be more shocking in terms of the dominant discourse. Instead, the characters of Derek and Danny are portrayed as too weak to handle their own deep-rooted issues without transposing them onto someone of a different race.

The Black Dahlia (Ellroy: 1998: Warner Books)

Part of Ellroy’s LA quartet, the novelist attempts to give “real” portrayal of LA in the 1940s and 50s, and has stated that he aims to make the racism in his novels “a casual attribute rather than a defining characteristic.”
(www.notesinthemargin.org) Despite the fact the novel is primarily the story of the murder of a white woman murdered by another white woman (in itself a fantasy – the real murderer was never caught) the white characters are defined by their treatment of the black characters depicted as background subject in the novel. When Officer Bucky Bleichart is assigned to Newton Street (quickly dubbed “niggertown”) he sets about assaulting every dominant black male in the area to demand respect from his fellow white officers. He quickly succeeds and it becomes clear that violence through black characters is seen as acceptable, as well as dubbing them “niggers and coons” without complaint. But in the case of this white discourse, it is seen as acceptable because the black characters are deemed lower class people without a second thought. This supports Feagin’s claim that Bleichart, like many white people, “see themselves as ‘not racist’ and ‘as good people’ while enforcing black derogatory stereotypes.'” (2001: 187) Bleichart does not see himself as racist, such labels are reserved for skinheads created in discourse such as American History X. It is worth noting that the novel is set in an era when stereotypes of black people as unintelligent, lazy and inclined to crime were still enforced, nearly 100 years after slavery was abolished in the state. As Feagin claims: “Blaming African-Americans for their own poverty has been a characteristic white opinion for decades.” (2001:189) Ultimately, Bleichart is displayed at the climax of the novel as the “white hero.” He settles down to a happy ending with a white wife and a white child, but refrains from persecuting the white middle class murderer of a white lower class woman because the murderer has had a less than happy life. He is displayed as a hero with a heart, despite the fact he beats people from a different race (assumed to be criminals – it is often proved they are not) to build upon his image as the white oppressor. Of the texts displayed in this study, The Black Dahlia portrays its white image as heroic as opposed to defeatist or victimized. Although the white characters display good traits, it is the discourse of their defeat and aggression against black people that defines them as respected by their peers.
The three selected texts display very specific images of whiteness. The first, EastEnders, portrays the image of the white working class man that no longer truly exists, at least in the east end of London. The second draws on the dominant and violent stereotype of white supremacies, and The Black Dahlia focuses on the image of the white man as the oppressive hero. In terms if what this tells us, it is worth noting that EastEnders is a popular TV serial, with viewers ranging between 7 million and 13 million on a regular basis. (www.wikipedia.com) American History X took £12, 353,801 at the worldwide box office (www.boxofficemojo.com) and The Black Dahlia has sold 43 million copies. (Lengel, The Arizona Republic, 12/05/06) In other words they all appear to be popular, and particularly in the last two examples cannot help but be popular due to the portrayal of popular images of whiteness in the text. But although they portray dominant white images, the tide is turning within media texts. Films such as Pulp Fiction (1994: Tarantino) and Jungle Fever (1991: Lee) go to lengths to display whiteness not as dominant discourse, but as stupid, poor, “white trash” while the black character’s discourse is far more dominantly featured and respected. Gormley claims that these films now illustrate “the instability of the white cultural identity” (2005:132). It would appear that although white discourse is popular, the featured texts rely heavily on stereotypes as figures to be dissected and mocked. “Whiteness” as a discourse is developing all the time. The new white cultural identity no longer fits into these stereotypes, but rebels against them to the point of de-stabilizing the dominant discourse completely.