ritual and visual representation of women

I’ve been thinking about understanding the concept of “ritual” as a means of essentializing and exploitation – and how visual economies, such as those depicted in film and TV, use these to perpetuate dominant narratives about choice, stereotypes, and “human nature.”  Rituals are basically glorified routines, or routines that garner meaning over an extended period of time and are then adopted by groups of people.  Because they can be absorbed into preexisting social structures/groups/identities, they gain an air of being naturalized or having existed prior to their recognition or discovery by an outsider.  This evokes Lacan’s understanding of language, and how we are born into sign systems without true consent.  Though as Derrida would argue, meaning does not preexist language rather, language prescribes meaning.  So getting back to the idea of ritual, I think a lot of times these simple routines get elevated to become traditional or ritual, when identified by a non-participant as something “other” that they cannot articulate understanding for. 

This is dangerous, because cultural practices are often categorized as traditional as a means of gaining shallow understanding, and then expunging those routines.  For example, as we saw in Sankofa, many practices and routines of the slaves on the Lafayette Plantation were prescribed by white landowners as “tradition” brought from overseas.  This gave them reason to exclude foreign/different practices on the basis that they were bringing “barbaric” slaves into modernity; i.e., white cultural practices.  These xenophobic tendencies racialized and othered what could have been acknowledged as new, African-American ritual as a part of the cultural fabric of the U.S. (as we can see later on the historical timeline with things like religious incorporation of gospel music and whatnot in the south).  However, this ignorance of the slave-owners sent many of these traditions into hiding, further isolating them as belonging to a specific race, and mythologizing tradition as something that interfered with Christian beliefs as well. 

I wonder if today with filmic representations of women in the dominant narrative structure are guilty of similarly essentializing.  Perhaps these representations (that are abundant and widespread) perpetuate xenophobic frameworks by othering woman, and what can be understood as her “traditions” and rituals.  Feminist theory often criticizes the Western understanding of motherhood as an essentializing mythology that arguably removes men from the entire process and shifts dynamics of responsibility and parenthood.  As I’ve been sick in bed this week, I’ve had plenty of time to catch up with my not-so-guilty indulgences in reality TV.  These, which function under the guise of being “real,” definitely indulge cultural frameworks/perceptions of women – especially shows like The Real Housewives.  They further expand the gap between what is normalized as being “feminine” by nature, the traditions we assume belong to women, and how these understandings play into political debates about women’s capability to advocate/care for their own bodies. These thoughts are informed by feminist scholarship that tries to grapple with the understanding that yes, some experiences/oppressions are shared by women universally because they are women, but that it is also necessary to not perpetuate one narrative of femininity via one cultural perspective. Not really sure where I’m going with this, if anyone has any thoughts…..