White Privilege: The “everyday, invisible, subtle cultural and social practices, ideas and codes that discursively secure the power and privilege of white people” the “discursive processes through which whiteness secures its normalized cultural dominance.” (Gorham, 1999; Shome, 1996)
Clip 15:20-16:22 In this clip, the two FBI agents go to a café for breakfast and the waitress tells them that there will be a little bit of a wait for a table. Agent Ward sees a couple spots open at a table but it is in the “colored” section. He goes to sit there anyway but Agent Andersen does not follow. While he is sitting there the whole café, white and black, are shocked by his actions. In this clip Ward is trying to eliminate the ideology of segregation and white privilege, which is very much prevalent in the south.
Ethnocentrism: “Our people are better than your people.” In other words, belief that one’s own culture, nation, or ethnicity is superior to all others.
Clip- 57:26-57:48 In this clip, the businessman, Clayton Townley, is shown saying how he and his fellow
Mississippian folks should not accept any type of a minority in this country. The clip reinforces ethnocentrism because the dominant believe in the south at that time was an Anglo-Saxon democracy. Townley tells the reporters that his belief is the only right way.
Patriarchy: “[A]ny kind of group organization in which males hold dominant power and determine what part females shall and shall not play, and in which capabilities assigned to women are relegated” to domestic realms and excluded from political realms (Dow, 1996).Clip- 85:55-87:43 In this clip, Clayton Townley is at a “political” campaign meeting and he was telling his followers that Mississippi had dealt with segregation and was successful with it. The clip reinforces ethnocentrism because Townley again is saying how his culture in the south has it the right way and the “Hoover Boys” up north do not know how keeps black in a separate part of society and still be successful. The Mississippians were resistant to change their dominant ideology which had been in place before then for hundreds of years.
Clip- 92:52-93:47 In this clip, Deputy Pell is told to go home and take care of business at home. The sheriff has found out that Pell’s wife told FBI Agent Andersen all the information he needed to know about the murder. She was the reason Pell’s alibi did not work. When Pell goes home he beats his wife, almost until she dies. The clip reinforces patriarchy because the male has all the power and control over his wife. But if you really look into the clip even though Mrs. Pell was beaten, she had the control over her husband because she was the only one who could challenge his alibi. Therefore, the subtext of the clip challenges patriarchy.
