The Year In Pictures (2007) - Vanity Fair

This Vanity Fair "2007: The Year in Photos" shows actors/comedians/musicians Eddie Murphy and Jamie Foxx with beautiful singer Beyonce in a shared picture for their 2007 movie Dreamgirls. As many people already know, Eddie Murphy is the least successful out of the three when it comes to his music career. With one notable song called "Party All The Time" in 1985 that was written and produced by Rick James. He began his career as a very successful comedian turned actor, and it was all down hill from there. Similarly, Jamie Foxx shared the same career path. However, Jamie Foxx ended up winning an Oscar for his roll as Ray charles in the 2004 movie Ray. Beyonce Knowles has also had a great deal of success in her career, winning five grammy awards in 2004 alone.

So the question you might be asking is, why is Eddie Murphy there? He never played a serious roll before, and his 2002 movie The Adventures of Pluto Nash cost $120 million dollars to make and it only grossed about $7 million dollars total. I believe that the same way Harold Innis said that ideas move from the periphery to the center, when the idea sells out, it moves back out to the periphery. For example, when a new actor or comedian first hits it big, he is coming from the periphery, because he is fresh and new, and he is moving into the center.


However, if the enterainer loses his control of the fame and "freshness" he will sell out and remain in the center for a while. This is precisely what happened to Eddie Murphy. He made a few movies which did very well in the theaters. Yet, later on Eddie was pulled over by a police officer with a transvestite prostitute in his car. When asked why the prostitute was in his car, he replied "I'm married with three children. I'm not going to be out there screwing hookers off the street or anything like that. I'm just being a nice guy... I was being a good Samaritan. It's not the first hooker I've helped out. I've seen hookers on corners... and I'll pull over... and they'll go, Oh you're Eddie Murphy, oh my God, and I'll empty my wallet out to help"... (NNDB)



Shortly after that Eddie Murphy disappeared from the entertainment scene for a while and only appearing as a voice actor in the animated movie Shrek. This was basically his move away from the center and back in the periphery. This way, it is possible to make a comeback. An entertainer must move back to the periphery so that he can come back with a fresh look and attitude in order to be accepted back by the public. Therefore, the promotional picture for the movie Dreamgirls above is the perfect comeback for Eddie Murphy with a "matured" character, and rocking the same old smile.

Sevigny, Alexandre. "Minerva's Owl." Communication Studies 1A03. Hamilton, Ontario, Canada: McMaster University Custom Courseware Production Services, 2004. 1-16.

Morals, Mormons and Mitt

What, you ask? Well, "Morals, Mormons and Mitt" is a National Post article following the journalist Allen Abel and his encounter with Mormons concerning the upcoming election. He met a black mormon woman named Monica Lauren Robinson who shared her story with him and declared that neither she or her fellow mormons would vote for Mitt Romney just because he is a mormon himself. When Monica was asked who she was voting for she replied "I guess I'll have to figure that out soon,". They were also angry at the fact that his religion has been recieving so much attention from the media while other candidates have not.


Let us look at McLuhan's theory of media of a minute. Media extends and amplifies the senses, increasing the relative importance of that sense. For example, the Wheel being an extension of the leg. Another example is clothing being an extension of our skin. Thus, the theory of media being the extension of our bodies and of who we are can lead to stereotypes. In Mitt Romney's Case, him being a mormon is an extension of who he is and therefore he is subject to stereotypes and sometimes criticism. This is a very interesing video that I found on youtube of McLuhan's theory.



Being a muslim, I have noticed that whenever a criminal on television happens to be a muslim, the media seems to emphasize that fact, and if the criminal was not a muslim, their faith would not be mentioned. Now that could be extremely dangerous, it could spark anger within the group that is being stereotyped. When it comes to the mormons, if Mitt Romney is not elected because of his religion, there are sure to be many complaints from the people of his faith. However, when looking at the bigger religions like Islam, it could cause far more complaints and anger towards the west. When a large group of people is seen as violent by the west, it does not mean that those individuals are particularly more violent or aggressive than everyone else; it is an alert or a signal that those individuals have been mistreated. For the muslims in particular, they have been physically harmed (wars, bombs etc.) and they have also been mentally or psychologically harmed through the media. It has affected the muslim people's social lives and how they are perceived by the world. I will leave you with a short documentary on youtube that gives a glimpse of muslim and Arab Stereotypes.



Sevigny, Alexandre. "The Medium Is the Message." Communication Studies 1A03. Hamilton, Ontario, Canada: McMaster University Custom Courseware Production Services, 2004. 23-30.