bell hooks's Feminist Theory

bell hooks's Feminist Theory

• She doesn't use capital letters in her name, which is a personal choice that she makes because she doesn't like to define herself by her name. 
• It is centred around women and feminism. 
• Feminism is the struggle to end patriarchal oppression. To stop a society dominated by men.
• When looking at my texts I need to look for examples of trying to fight a patriarchal society. 
• She believes feminism is a political commitment- You need to be someone who is going out being active about feminism. 
• Women are not all discriminate against in the same way or to the same extent- Not all women can be put together. There are levels of which women are discriminated and oppression. We need to understand and appreciate these levels to understand what it is like for all women. 
• She says women are oppressed defiantly oppressed and discriminated against but Discrimination and oppression against a women vary depending on ethnicity and class. A women from one class may be more oppressed more than a women from another class. 
• I need to look at media texts and if I can establish that women are being treated in a patriarchal way or being oppressed or discriminated in someway, I need to think about if it has been related or liked to their ethnicity or class as well because this could mean I could use hooks's theory within my answer to illustrate my points. 

TV Drama 

Episode 1	Gender Theory/ Ethnicity Bell Hooks	Gender Theory SCREEN SHOT OF THEORY	Ethnicity/Nationality SCREEN SHOT OF THEORY
Carrie Mathieson	Carrie's character gives females a largely positive role model because she; works successfully in a masculine environment, and is strong and  intelligent. However, because she is white, American  and middle class her character/casting does not completely disrupt Hook's theory because she still shows that the media favours supporting the ideologies of a, 'White supremacist capitalist society,' the discriminates against 'otherness,' (Medhurst, 1998).
David Estes	David's character gives black males both a positive and negative role model because he; works in a high powered job and is the boss, this makes him intelligent and in power which goes against the stereotypical black man that works the worst job and is ruled by the white.
Nicholas Brody	Brody's character gives White men a mainly negative role model. Brody works for the forces, this could be seen as good as he is showing that he would support his country. After his return he shows to be a good father but all of this is put to one side as he shows to be a terrorist and has very violent tendencies.
Abu Nazir	Abu's character does not give a positive view on Islamic people. Abu would be classed as a very 'stereotypical terrorist' and so are many of the other terrorists in the season. This could be seen as very racist as he is also the main leader of the terrorist group.
Saul Berenson	Saul fits the theory almost perfectly, he is a straight, white, middle class man of high power. However his experiences have lead to him becoming a muslim which disrupts the theory. He is also very supportive of Carrie, this makes him a feminist.
Jessica Brody	Jessica's character gives females a negative role model because she; doesn't have a job, is pretty, stays at home with the children and can be easily dominated by her husband.
Narrative/themes
Mise-en-scene (locations/settings)

Feminism = a movement to end patriarchy sexism exploration and oppression.

Intersectionality- Social categories that overlap. (feminist theory can also be applied to other areas where oppression occurs e.g. race/ class/ sexuality/ ethnicity.

'Intersectionality refers to the intersections of, gender race, class and sexuality to create a, "white supremacist capitalist patriarchy,' (Hooks) whose ideas dominate media representations.

In short, like Marxism Hooks is arguing the media is controlled by, "straight, white, middle class males" (medhurst 1998) who normalise, "white supremacist capitalist patriarchy" to keep control. it can be argued therefore that the  media is racist, sexist, homophobic and classist at times.

Hooks argues that, "Black women should develop an oppositional gaze that refuses to identify with characters- the 'gaze' is political for Black Americans, as slaves were punished for looking at there white owners."

In short, Hooks is arguing Black women should 'stare' down media producers and demand fair representation/ positive role models in terms of, gender, race, class and sexuality.

How are representations of ethnicity constructed though media language in episode 1 season 1 of homelands.

Ethnicity: the fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition.


Representations of ethnicity in Homeland season 1 episode 1 are both positive and negative. The representation of ethnicity is presented by the producers of the show in specific ways to trigger different feeling and emotions from the audience.


Ethnicity is presented in homelands through the casting choices. The director of the CIA is David Estes who is a black American. He is shown to have power and be in control of many situations and of the CIA. The fact that he is a black man in control could be show to be very controversial. Many people as well as the American audience are racist so seeing this man in power of all of the white people may anger them. This would suggest that using a black man in power is showing more equality and teaching the audience about equality. An example of when Estes took charge and action over serious situations would be when we see Estes brief his team about a successful special forces strike on an enemy base in Afghanistan that killed 13 militants.


The terrorists in Homeland episode are seen to be all black such as Abu Nazir. We don't know as the audience yet that Brody is a terrorist so we can't assume that he is. As white ethnicity goes Brody does follow the white stereotypes. Brody has produced a nuclear family that seems to or should be perfect as he is very high up in his career and he has a lovely wife but we are never even led to think this as from the first scene that we see Brody's wife Jessica she is having sex with another man. Later on in the episode we then find out that this man is Brody's best friend. This relates to Brody's ethnicity as it goes against all of the American culture traditions of the typical family.