Hypotheses
In
“Over
9 Billion Dead Served,”
Clips are presented as visual testimonials in support of research
findings within eleven chapters that sequentially support the following eleven hypotheses:
1)
Stereotypes of Nazis and Arabs are used to dehumanize those who are
subsequently killed.
2)
Stereotypes of ugly, masked, and invisible are used to dehumanize those
who are subsequently killed.
3)
Stereotypes of “blackness” are used to dehumanize those who are
subsequently killed.
4)
Americans see billions more deaths and murders than is commonly
recognized.
5)
Males are much more likely to be killed and are less likely to be missed
6)
Deaths and murders are frequently joked about and celebrated.
7)
Actor action frequently suggests death but shows survival in “comic
coyote” scenes.
8)
Actors are often brought back to life better than new as “Holy
Ghosts”
9)
Actors are often brought back to life as good as new through
“Resurrections”
10)
Human deaths are often ignored while machines are loved.
11)
Movies are capable of portraying life and death plausibly and
sensitively.
Note: The above hypotheses
are derived from analysis of the 25
Most Successful Films in U.S. box office history.
Note # 2: Some people whom
have emailed me have correctly noted that these hypotheses contain nothing about
frequently maligned Asian peoples. In
“Forrest Gump,” which features battle scenes from the war against the
Vietnamese, the “enemy” remains invisible as per hypothesis # 2.
Otherwise, there are relatively few Asians in these 25 films.
With the exception of “Dances with Wolves,” there are very few Native
Americans either. (By, the way, in
my opinion what made Dances With Wolves a great and successful film was its
characterization of Native Americans as real human beings with real languages
and complex cultures, which has, of course, been the case for the last 10,000
years or so.) Anyway, a lack of
hypotheses relative to these groups is not meant to indicate that they have or
are being treated well by Hollywood; it merely means that either:
(a) such stereotypes were
not supported by this non-random sample or (b) such contentions are supported by
this sample and I just didn’t see it, or (c) other.
Chapters
1) “Killing
Nazis and Arabs”
2) “Killing
the Ugly, Masked, and
3) “Walking
While Black”
4) “Incidents
of Mass Destruction”
5) “Gender
Skewing Mortality”
6) “Joking
about Death and Murder”
7) “Comic
Coyotes”
8) “Holy
Ghosts”
9) “Resurrections”
10) Displacing
Compassion by
11) “Good
Grief”
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copyright Not the Enemy Media 2002