Bell Hooks's Eating The Other details for us the many ways that big media, through its various branches, has instilled in people a longing to become the Other. We have become so alienated in our efforts to live in a rapidly changing society that this "longing for the primitive" controls the way we read pleasure.
Marketing has altered it's original idea of "selling the sizzle, not the steak" by playing on viewers sexual fears and fantasies. In this very personal method, marketing has created the "commodification of difference". This creates problems for several reasons. When our entertainment society is highly dependent on advertising in order to function, that means that we are viewing advertising on a massive scale and on a daily basis. I really enjoyed the inclusion of the quotes from Lorraine Hansberry play Les Blancs, particularly Tshembe's lines. I think they contain an honest and accurate description of how race is used as a device for control and domination.
Ultimately I feel like this essay, more-so than the other essays we've ready, illustrates the need to read texts critically. It's painfully obvious given the amount of hyper-sexualized advertising and the millions of internet websites dedicated to pornography that we are a people very confused about their sexual identities. I could instantly relate to the way Bell described white youths talking and seemingly "shopping for sexual partners", because I know guys that act in a similar manner. I think that even beyond the boundaries of racism, the subject of pleasure must be approached critically. We should be concerned with what we consider pleasurable and understand why we find certain texts (especially if they have racially dominating undertones) pleasurable. Failure to do so will only result in more confusion on the subject, during a time where some clarity is desperately needed.
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I think that you have a good understanding of bell hooks. It shows that you have reached a point in your critical thinking where you genuinly realize the need for the rest of society to think from our critical perspective. Great! :)
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