Progress Report: Second/Third Meetings

Interesting discussion on 28 Feb. meeting re: the 'Mapping Stupidity' article. We considered how the stupidity/intelligence binary configures various relationships touched on in the article, especially the valency of the North/Southern USA, via such examples as Sweet Home Alabama and 'My Name is Earl,' as well as the Bush/Clinton/Forrest Gump paradigms. We also emphasised how for those with marginalised identities the strategy of 'playing stupid' is much more problematic. From there, we considered what was at stake in validations of Barack Obama's inexperience (notably by Robert de Niro) and in antifeminist contructions of Hillary Clinton.
In terms of future work, we identified the following as interesting directions to follow:
1. The ideologies brought to bear in pro- and anti-Hillary Clinton discourses, especially but not only in terms of the experience/inexperience issue in the Obama/Clinton campaign.
2. The possibly different ways in which Hollywood 'stupid white male' films (Waynes World, Bill and Ted, American Pie, etc.) are viewed and reviewed in the UK as opposed to in the US. Do British viewers, for example, tend to see these films as evidence of a general US 'stupidity'?
Russell and Philippa agreed to investigate these respectively and post their findings. John could you either add a third interest, or contribute to these?
thanks
JD