bell hooks' lesson on being an enlightened witness

bell hooks film teaches us to watch films critically by explicitly showing viewers of the film ways in which pop culture overcomes our senses. She is able to pull out examples such as Spike Jones' so called failure as a film maker and not only debunk the lies created by the media but also interpret the larger social message being delivered by that lie. hooks then takes her analysis a step further and postulates the motivations and payoffs of perpetuating those false social messages. So in the example of Spike Lee, hooks points out that even though the box office has declared Spike Lee a success, critics and commentators insist on dubbing him a failure. Spike Lee is juxtaposed with Woody Allen, who has had box office flop after flop and yet is still hailed as a mega star of American film making. She offers these two film makers as an example of the "white supremacist, capitalist, patriarchy" because Spike Lee is being defamed in the public eye (although his films hold the truth) because he is black whereas Woody Allen is allowed greater success because he is white.
In analyzing pop culture bell hooks first interprets what the message is that the media outlet is attempting to deliver, she then carefully dissects the media to reveal the message that is actually delivered. In the end, she also exposes the motivations, as well as the pay offs for delivering the hidden message. She also pays special attention to covert ways that media tricks the consumer into thinking they are consuming one thing while really they are consuming another. It is through this lesson that hooks allows the viewer to realize that there is more going on during the consumption of films (or other media) than entertainment.
As enlightened witnesses, viewers are more knowledgeable of the messages that they are receiving. The viewer/consumer is able to interpret messages of representation in a more critical way rather than as simply entertainment. In a class such as queer cinema, being an enlightened witness to representation will be useful when attempting to interpret empowering vs. degrading images/messages in films. As hooks pointed out in her film, oftentimes images that are purported to be empowering have the opposite effect when critically evaluated.