Dines, Gender, Race, and Class in Media, 5e
SAGE Publications, 2018
Part III: Reading Media Texts Critically
Test Bank
Multiple Choice
1. As Stuart Hall suggests with his theory of articulation, ______.
A. there is no necessary link between economics and class
B. there is a link between income and political alignment
C. economics is entirely dependent on class, race, and income
D. there must be a link between economics and class
2. Class awareness is a(n) __________, produced in a political sense only when
individual experiences are articulated as a “political force,” enabling subjects to enter
the stage as historical agents.
A. political force
B. economic foundation
C. power device
D. social construct
3. According to the author, Jon Stewart can operate stealthily by ______.
A. engaging audiences with news information and political commentary
B. feigning ignorance and constantly insisting that The Daily Show is only for laughs
C. pretending he is not aware of the effect The Daily Show has
D. feigning understanding and insisting that The Daily Show is only for news information
4. Many scholars posit some version of accessible, public, substantive, rational
conversations among numerous and diverse participants as the prerequisite for a(n)
______.
A. subversive dictatorship
B. healthy patriarchy
C. anarchy
D. healthy democracy
5. __________ are a loose collection of media activists who are rebelling against the
hegemony of the messages promoting global capitalism.
A. Muckrakers
B. Culture jammers
C. Authoritarians
D. Feminists
6. Jonathan Gray (2003) suggests that The Simpsons has turned on its family sitcom
brethren, situating its action within ______.
A. an anti-suburb that is depicted as racist, isolationist, and homophobic
B. a suburb that is depicted as utopian, welcoming, and open-minded
C. a town that is obsolete, worn, and close to expiration
D. an anti-suburb that is depicted as xenophobic, provincial, and narrow-minded
7. Brilliantly parodying the traditional family sitcom neighborhood, The Simpsons’ town
of Springfield ______.
A. is clearly a metaphor for Washington, D.C., politics
B. satirizes and challenges rather than extols the American Dream
C. challenges the ideas of the normal “nuclear family”
D. forgoes progressivism and reverts to older ideals of family values
8. Ellen DeGeneres escapes being such a “convenient screen” for hate-mongers or
bearing the responsibility of being a spokesperson for all of gay America, while she still
maintains a televisibility of queer identity. She does this through which methods?
A. She performs queerness through stand-up comedy and through the ritual action of
her interview sequence.
B. She performs gender expression through what implicitly “exceeds” her stand–up
jokes and sit-down talk.
C. She performs queerness through what implicitly “exceeds” her stand-up jokes and
sit-down talk and, physically, through the ritual action of her daily dance sequence.
D. She sometimes expresses queerness through the ritual action of her daily dance
sequence but often comes across as gender-neutral.
9. Speaking her mind about what should now be said, or not said, about her sexuality,
Ellen successfully encodes the media ritual of dancing, later to appear on Ellen as
______.
A. a performance of queerness that expresses meaning where words have been found
to fail
B. a performance of celebrity identity that downplays meaning where words have shown
too much expression
C. a rehearsal of physical expression that shows comprehension where words have not
shown understanding
D. an act of queerness that reveals authentic individual values, while failing to use
words shows an ability to communicate nonverbally
10. Acting similarly as a facilitator for straight women in their fantasies, DeGeneres’s
play act has a distinct difference from Rosie O’Donnell’s: ______.
A. DeGeneres’s queerness is a secret—a secret the audience is aware of—and she
plays on this knowledge to make her interaction entertaining
B. DeGeneres’s homosexuality is not a secret and she openly expresses herself on her
show, which makes the show bland, but fun
C. DeGeneres’s homosexuality is a known secret—a secret the audience knows in an
iconic way—and she trades on this knowledge to make her interaction funny
D. DeGeneres’s dance routine is an expected part of the show—a part the audience
knows in an iconic way—and she performs with this knowledge to make her dance
engaging and even more iconic
11. As the author makes clear, The Jim Rome Show reflects ______.
A. a discomfort with modern radio shows and how they are presented
B. a growing cultural trend in the United States—sports talk radio
C. a nostalgia for the radio programs of the past, which leads to a generally older
audience
D. a disinterest in radio as an entertainment source, with fewer and fewer listeners each
year
12. Rome’s in-group language and his unique interaction (or lack thereof) make his
radio show distinctive. His “survival of the fittest” format is responsible for ______.
Dines, Gender, Race, and Class in Media, 5e
SAGE Publications, 2018
A. the public’s perception of Rome as a political outsider
B. the show’s reputation as a center for pop culture entertainment
C. the public’s idea of the show as a sports–centric “boys club”
D. the show’s reputation as the sports version of hate-speech radio
13. Rome’s show, although it may be influenced by traditional gay and lesbian identity
politics, is ______.
A. not a queer space
B. welcoming to queer audiences but attracts a less diverse audience
C. an openly queer space
D. open to queer audiences but alienates Black and Asian audiences
14. The show Duck Dynasty discursively configures rednecks as authentically
masculine and yuppies as feminine, which therefore implies the superiority of the former
over the latter in this patriarchal context. Although the term yuppies commonly refers to
young (White) urban professionals, family patriarch Phil Robertson applies the term to
______.
A. people of color or nonconforming gender identities
B. anyone who does not embrace his lifestyle of hunting and fishing
C. only young urban professionals as the term is intended
D. people who live in urban areas
15. According to the article, rural or “redneck” masculinity is considered ______.
A. the least authentic form because it is too far removed from mainstream culture
B. only partially authentic because it does not always include many aspects that some
consider “masculine”
C. authentic but only as far as the individual person is concerned
D. the most authentic in current mainstream U.S. discourse because it is commonly
associated with “real men”
16. The normalization of maleness and Whiteness contributes to these working-class
subjects being constructed as ___________, which lends itself to hegemonic narratives
Dines, Gender, Race, and Class in Media, 5e
SAGE Publications, 2018
of rugged individualism, the suppression of class consciousness, and the maintenance
of White male supremacy.
A. neutral individuals
B. authentic individuals
C. masculine figures
D. nonconforming personalities
17. According to Kitwana, when it comes to the mainstream and commercial portrayal of
rap music and its stars, what is often highlighted are those aspects of rap that reinforce
______.
A. negative ideas of class politics
B. aspects of society that are often not discussed
C. negative stereotypes about Blacks
D. positive aspects of musical diversity
18. The majority of resistance against misogyny and violence in rap music thus far has
been constructed as a “gendered” issue, instead of a civil rights agenda. By denying the
possibilities of empowerment for both Black men and women in rap, we ignore the
______.
A. political nature
B. economic opportunities
C. social obligations
D. cultural commentary
19. It is evident that the most prevalent images of Black womanhood in rap are not of
successful, assertive, female rappers, but instead, of near naked, unrealistic, back-up
dancers used to enforce the masculinity and sexual prowess of those male rappers for
whom they dance. In formulating a critical dialogue about rap music and feminism, what
does the author say we must ask?
A. Whose womanhood is being oppressed by entertainment, and is this oppression
limited to music?
B. What kind of femininity is being sought by audiences, and what is being seen in the
public sphere?
C. Whose Black womanhood is being brought to the public sphere and is this
womanhood truly female defined?
Dines, Gender, Race, and Class in Media, 5e
SAGE Publications, 2018
D. Are Black women being brought to the public sphere authentically, and are they
represented thoroughly?
20. The most obvious and significant change in media comes from the proliferation of
_________ that has/have fragmented the means of content production and distribution
once controlled by a handful of multinational corporations.
A. digital technologies
B. Internet platforms
C. electronic news
D. print media
21. The activist voice that social media and digital technologies amplify pushes profit–
centered media institutions to pay attention to ______.
A. pop culture, entertainment news, and celebrity updates
B. representations of minorities in television and film
C. challenges of politics, campaigns, and global politics
D. issues of police brutality, mass incarceration, and the white supremacist criminal
justice system
22. As the author makes clear, it is crucial to not fall victim to ______.
A. media propaganda and political ideologies
B. technological determinism and accept the myth of the digital panacea
C. authoritarian rhetoric and utopian ideologies
D. none of these
True/False
1. In the United States, women’s mass entry into the workforce is often attributed to the
second wave of the women’s movement.
