AAS 2224

To say this class was a disappointment would be an understatement. Professor Shutt constantly refuses to understand her Black students’ views on the media she teaches. She frequently attempts to correct them and explains the way she thinks the media should be interpreted. She has said the n-word (and has done so multiple times in other semesters) and though she appeared to try to be better, she has ultimately refused to be accountable. She also used her class as a captive audience virtually every time we met, playing extremely racist films/clips like Birth of a Nation and Scrub Me Mama With a Boogie Beat with no warning and then forcing us to talk about them, only to deny her Black students’ opinions. A significant portion of our syllabus seemed to consist of violent trauma porn and Black pain, and sometimes full or nearly full class periods were dedicated to showing it. She would often cite real life examples when discussing racism in media - which is not a problem in itself, except for the way she went about it. For example, regarding the accusations against Fairfax: she told us repeatedly that they could be fake, given the history of false accusations against Black men - and completely ignoring that his accuser was a Black woman and denying the entirely separate history this involves, and deliberately ignoring how Black women are frequent victims of abuse and rarely believed. She additionally said that women were the primary perpetuators of the patriarchy, further demonstrating a complete lack of understating of history and power structures. Her analyses of the examined media were superficial at best, rarely going beyond simply stating that something is racist or harmful. Her own engagement with the material is, ironically, done through a painfully white lens, and she affords a startlingly amount of sympathy to the creators of this media. Perhaps even more disturbingly, Professor Shutt is not only a white AAS professor, but has also held a high-level position at the Carter G. Woodson Institute - a fact which students have criticized given her consistently racist behavior. It is worrisome to know that a white professor can maintain such positions and yet fail so horrendously in understanding the very media she teaches. Her anonymous feedback was turned off on Collab, leaving no room for students who felt concerned or unsafe to talk in person or by email to discuss these issues.

It is telling that Lisa Shutt can continue this behavior as an AAS professor and work with the Carter G. Woodson Institute, and yet two Black professors cannot get tenure.

This is an awesome class. Professor Shutt is really nice and its an engaging class with interesting material. You do have to do the readings/watch the movies because there is a reading quiz every week and they count for 25% of your grade. If you watch the movies, you'll get an easy A in this section but you will fail all the reading quizzes if you try to just read summaries. The films are actually interesting so it's not bad. Highly recommend this course

This class is not all that it is cracked up to be. If you have to take it for a requirement by all means go ahead but otherwise I DO NOT RECOMMEND IT. Lisa Shutt isn't a good professor. The class is supposed to be about how the US media portrays black people through a white lens and students having a discussion about how damaging and problematic that system is. However, Professor Shutt has an extreme amount of privilege that she hasn't examined and so the class is literally talking about how the US media (a white majority) portrays black people, then a few black students in the class talk about how they feel about the content and then Professor Shutt ( a white women) tells you how it should actually be examined. Once again, she as a white, middle class, straight, cis-women has no connection or grasp on the material and how harmful it can be so this isn't a thought provoking or useful examination of the content. Also she has said the n-word (while reading a title) multiple times in the semester and even though Black students have told her to stop she still continues to do so. Unless you have no experience with actual black people you won't gain any real knowledge from this course. Do yourself a favor and take literally any other AAS course that isn't taught by her.

Loved this class. I was exposed to the ways in which some media content that I grew up watching may be problematic. My class was kind of quiet so the time was a drag. Not too much writing for this class at all, you just have to watch movies, tv shows and read short articles for class. The only assignments you will have are two 400 word responses, short 3 question quizzes once a week, and the midterm/final. Be mindful that some of the movies are 2+ hours long and you may have other heavy work to do for other classes. Overall, this class was really insightful and I really recommend it!

This class is amazing. Definitely a class that everyone should try to take while they're at UVA. In order to do well, you have to do the readings and watch all of the media texts which can be time-consuming but everything that's assigned is really interesting. The midterm and final essay prompts are tricky, so make sure you fully answer the prompts and you'll be fine! Professor Shutt is truly incredible, and although the class only meets once a week you should try to get to know your classmates and Professor Shutt as much as possible!

Professor Shutt is truly one of the best professors at UVA. She genuinely cares about her students, to the point that she regraded several papers after she found that the class's TA grader did not grade certain papers fairly. She is engaging, approachable, and just an all around great human that wants you to do well and see the world differently. As far as the course work, each week you are given a couple readings, TV shows, or movies to look at. There's a quiz at the beginning of each class which are super easy. There's some in-class work, one midterm paper, and one final paper. I would highly recommend this class, but be aware that it only meets once a week for 2 1/2 hours which can be tough to get through.

Awesome class, although sitting for 2.5 hours once a week was kind of the worst. A little bit tricky to keep up with all the readings/movies, but I learned a lot about representation in media and think it's a class that everyone should take. Also Prof. Shutt is the absolute BEST and is a great example of being a racially conscious white person, which I really appreciated.

This is by far the best class I've taken at UVA so far! We had weekly quizzes, but if you skim over the reading and actually watch the movies, you should be perfectly fine! The class is fairly discussion based, with really interesting topics to discuss. Professor Shutt is just a phenomenal human being!

Professor Shutt is the best!! She really knows her stuff and each semester she makes it engaging to what is happening in real time. Her personality is so lovely and welcoming. Majority of the time it was discussion based and we would watch clips or movies in class in order to discuss how blacks are portrayed in all aspects. The readings were also very interesting because they made you see media in a different way.

Professor Shutt is such a wonderful, genuine, and caring professor! I would definitely recommend this class as both an easy A and a class that challenges one's thinking about Blackness in film. The class was long (2 1/2 hours), but there was hardly ever a dull moment, and she is passionate about what she teaches. This class was definitely a breath of fresh air!

This is by far the most interesting and engaging class I have taken at UVA. Professor Shutt truly cares about the well being of her students, although the material can be hard to watch at times (lots of very emotional films). Make sure that you participate in class discussions and prepare for the daily quizzes, and you should be fine. Professor Shutt offers a lot of help if you go to office hours -- and she is just a great person to talk to in general.

This is an awesome class! Professor Shutt is incredible and really presents a full spectrum of issues and opinions in her class. It's a really fun class. Attendance is mandatory, enforced by daily quiz, but you'll want to go to class!