Performing Trauma: Antoine and Kelly Dodson
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=294kqqdiveA
We all know too well the easiest way to get on television is to either have something tragic happen or to be tragic. It is clear in almost every reality show on television from The Real Housewives Series to The Bad Girls Club to Jersey Shore that we as a world are desperate for three things more than most; for people to either fear us, feel sorry for us, or to laugh at us. And perhaps now that we have the technology available to share our every waking emotion, we’ve lost some of the things that were once cherished, like secrecy. Unfortunately, it seems all of tv world is suffering from a serious case of Munchausen’s Syndrome.
Recently, there have been numerous posts about Antoine and Kelly Dodson and how they fought off a rapist. The news story, taking place in Hunstville, Alabama has resulted in numerous viral videos of remixed songs mocking Antoine’s gay patois and featuring his family members stomping about seemingly outraged at the occurrence. Of course there are many political underpinnings. How safe is communal housing? How “typical” is it for poor women to be sexually assaulted? Do poor black people even expect cops to intervene? Should certain kinds of people be allowed on television? I get it. This video points to so many issues but it also points to the problem we face as a world hyper-exposed to reality tv drama, where trauma and bad behavior are commonplace. We have become desensitized to suffering. At the very least, we have developed a more rigid expectation of what “real” pain should look like.Those of us who are able to look beyond the “Bed Intruder Song” and our own internalized homophobia continue to ask the important questions about Kelly and Antoine. Are they receiving trauma counseling? Is there increased police patrol? Has this happened to anyone else in the community? And while these questions should continue to be asked, I can’t help but wonder if the seriousness of the event may have been lost in the various new posts of Antoine and Kelli Dodson seemingly celebrating their newfound fame. It appears they are “reliving” the trauma for the cameras, new outfits, new nails, and highlights to boot.
Unfortunately, in many places it is commonplace for women to be raped and assaulted and for even the women themselves to not have any idea they have undergone something terribly inhumane, but I can’t help but think Kelly and Antoine are reaching for 15 minutes on this one. With all the high reality show ratings, facebook posts, tweets, and random viral videos of people falling and fighting, it is clear the audience has some responsibility but does the victim have any?
I feel as if it is sad what happened to these individuals, and when things are put on the big screen or small, when media is showing reality it is also pushing a stereo type, a label. Whether they label the pain, or stereotype the crime, who it happens to, etc. These labels cause us to trust them, they replace the thing itself, this wasn’t an attempted crime on kelly, it was another poor community where things happen. That wasn’t Antoine, it was just a modern age step-an-fetch it, who wasn’t playing the role, but living the stereotype and then you get used to the stereotype, the lable, it becomes the reality and this is how u get desensitized. That’s not someone who needs help, someone who made mistakes like you, someone hungry, it’s just another bum begging for change like the rest, like the stereotype, who cares. I see it all the time. This method of thinking causes us to further create labels, disregard experiences that can’t be labeled, boxed, or expressed in words, thus never fixing the issues until finally the problem is your life, is your experience, until you are on television, or some screen perpetuating someones created label because no one can see anything else. Fix the problems from the source.
I feel as if it is sad what happened to these individuals, and when things are put on the big screen or small, when media is showing reality it is also pushing a stereo type, a label. Whether they label the pain, or stereotype the crime, who it happens to, etc. These labels cause us to trust them, they replace the thing itself, this wasn’t an attempted crime on kelly, it was another poor community where things happen. That wasn’t Antoine, it was just a modern age step-an-fetch it, who wasn’t playing the role, but living the stereotype and then you get used to the stereotype, the lable, it becomes the reality and this is how u get desensitized. That’s not someone who needs help, someone who made mistakes like you, someone hungry, it’s just another bum begging for change like the rest, like the stereotype, who cares. I see it all the time. This method of thinking causes us to further create labels, disregard experiences that can’t be labeled, boxed, or expressed in words, thus never fixing the issues until finally the problem is your life, is your experience, until you are on television, or some screen perpetuating someones created label because no one can see anything else. Fix the problems from the source.
What ever happened to shame? And please don’t misunderstand me here. I’m not talking about feeling ashamed of being a victim of a serious crime. I’m talking about the kind of shame that would hopefully make you question the things you say and the image you portray on television. Although the editing team at the news studio bear some responsibility in that one too. There’s also the kind of shame that would tell you that being a part of the mass production and sale (see facebook store) of sound bites from what was supposed to be a tragic private incident is just not okay. They have turned something so tragic (themselves included) into a public spectacle. Shame, shame, shame.
What ever happened to shame? And please don’t misunderstand me here. I’m not talking about feeling ashamed of being a victim of a serious crime. I’m talking about the kind of shame that would hopefully make you question the things you say and the image you portray on television. Although the editing team at the news studio bear some responsibility in that one too. There’s also the kind of shame that would tell you that being a part of the mass production and sale (see facebook store) of sound bites from what was supposed to be a tragic private incident is just not okay. They have turned something so tragic (themselves included) into a public spectacle. Shame, shame, shame.
@charles. i agree with your point that stereotypes on “reality” television come to replace even our own knowledge of what is real.
@t. i can’t say i agree anything about the situation should be private. i used the word “secrecy” poorly. i was trying to highlight the capriciousness with which we share things. i didn’t mean to suggest that a rape victim or any kind of victim should keep quiet. i do agree there should be some shame or discomfort in selling shirts about rape but you know many people would say “don’t knock the hustle.”
@charles. i agree with your point that stereotypes on “reality” television come to replace even our own knowledge of what is real.
@t. i can’t say i agree anything about the situation should be private. i used the word “secrecy” poorly. i was trying to highlight the capriciousness with which we share things. i didn’t mean to suggest that a rape victim or any kind of victim should keep quiet. i do agree there should be some shame or discomfort in selling shirts about rape but you know many people would say “don’t knock the hustle.”
A lot of those questions are answered in this NPR story.
Antoine Dodson: Riding YouTube Out Of The ‘Hood’
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129381037&ft=1&f=1048
A lot of those questions are answered in this NPR story.
Antoine Dodson: Riding YouTube Out Of The ‘Hood’
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129381037&ft=1&f=1048
thanks for this. what are your thoughts?
thanks for this. what are your thoughts?