Analysis Of Brenda Weber 's Article, What Makes The Man? Television Makeovers

(Alexander, 1994) notes that Black bodies displayed “for public consumption have been an American spectacle for centuries. This history moves from public rapes, beatings, and lynching’s to the gladiatorial arenas of basketball and boxing” Images of masculinity as powerful and "natural" on televised sporting spectacles offer men of all socioeconomic backgrounds one of the most powerful sites to collectively identify with masculinity and an ideology of male physical and cultural superiority (Messner, 1988; Theberge, 1991).

The stereotypical misrepresentations of African-American women and men in popular culture have influenced societal views of Blacks for centuries. The typical stereotypes about Black women range from the smiling, a sexual and often obese Mammy to the promiscuous Jezebel who lures men with her sexual charms. However, the loud, smart mouthed, neck-rolling Black welfare mother is the popular image on reality television. These images portrayed in media and popular culture create powerful ideology about race and gender, which affects daily experiences of Black women in America. With few healthy relationships portrayed in the media, Black women are left to make decisions based on the options

The concept of gender and race representation in media has reminded me that the representation of people of color is not visible. The push for people of color to act on certain stereotypes shows that the media wants them to be portrayed in a certain way. The media pushes white people into positive leading roles that make it difficult for people of color to gain opportunity. Media uses its power to dissociate themselves on their reasoning on why they do not cast people of color for roles. In their article, “Gender, Race, and Media Representation”, Dwight E. Brooks and Lisa P. Hebert states, “Western industrialized societies are stratified by hierarchies of race, gender, and class that structure our social experience” (Brooks & Hebert 298) This hierarchy provides the placement of where people will be casted into media. The representation of gender and race in media has clarified that the hierarchy they have created, has

In today’s world, the exchange of information between individuals is largely based on the media alone. Conversations are held through social media sites, the news channels become the deliverers of new waves of specifically chosen stories, and the rest of the media effects the subconscious of the society. Movies, television shows, and “general” knowledge contribute to the rest of the mass media that affects the minds of people. The subconscious of the people can form the characteristics of the young and solidify ideas within the older population. The problem of the current society is that the subconscious ideas transferred to the media is particularly in the favor of Caucasians. This excludes people of African descent, Latinos, Asians, and other recognizably new minorities such as transgender. The overall effect of this subconscious problem is not very measurably but it can have disastrous consequences within each respective culture. Among all the minorities listed, African Americans and people of African descent have a tendency to be the most often misrepresented.

However, the media also plays a major role in promoting some negative effects and stereotypes in our society. A good example of stereotypes is the way African American males are described. The media normally depicts them negatively as violent, cruel, criminals as well as having other antisocial behavior that the causations don’t have. These negative representations of dark guys are promptly obvious and passed on to general society through the news bulletin, films, music features, realty TV and other programming and manifestations of media (Abraham & Appiah, 2006). As a result, the media has created a crooked and damaging perception of black African Americans in the public’s eye thus promoting hatred and racism which all affect the lives of the blacks (Holt, 2013). This

Black men are underrepresented in the media. For example: As “talking heads” in the news, technology users in commercials, users of luxury items in ads, and well-developed characters in games and shows.

We live in a media saturated environment where everything we know and what we consider to be important is often based on stories produced and displayed to us by the media, Brooks and Hebert (2006). Much of what we know and care about is based on the images, symbols and narratives in radio, television, film, music and other media systems. How individuals construct their social identities, how they come to understand what it means to be male, female, Black, White, Asian, Latino and Native America is shaped by commoditised texts produced by media for audiences that are increasingly segmented by the social construction of race. In short the media are central to what ultimately come to present our social realities. For example for many Whites and people from other races and ethnicities the media’s portrayal of young black men is the primary bias for their knowledge and reaction. With a few notable examples in politics, most media present young black men as figures to be admired for their athleticism, artistic, entertainment talent or feared for their criminality. However this essay will focus on the way young black men are portrayed in news.

The stereotypical misrepresentations of African-American women and men in popular culture have influenced societal views of Blacks for centuries. The typical stereotypes about Black women range from the smiling, asexual and often obese Mammy to the promiscuous Jezebel who lures men with her sexual charms. However, the loud, smart mouthed, neck-rolling Black welfare mother is the popular image on reality television. The typical stereotype about Black men is the violent, misogynistic thug, and the ever-enduring pimp. These images portrayed in media and popular culture createpowerful ideology about race and gender, which affects daily experiences of Black women in America. With few healthy relationships portrayed in the media, Black women

More than ever, the male can express more liberalism through their physical appearance. Even the closely related “new man” of the nineties was constricted in garment choices: “The clothes worn by the models are assertively masculine and often emphasize a broad-shouldered and solid body shape” (Nixon 314). Much unlike those of Suistudio, the models used were portrayed in a masculine manner by the clothes they wore and not by their bodies themselves. Although the earlier was intended to combat the over-sexualization of women in advertisements, the men used are still the prime candidates of today’s masculinity. Today, along with women, men are

Recently, the media has caused many stereotypes due to portraying African American males playing feminine roles. This perspective depicts men of color wearing attire outside of the stereotypical sagging pants and oversized t-shirts. It depicts an educated man with social class and sophistication. To date, society holds African American men to rigid stereotypes and a high standard of masculinity. However, once a man of color steps outside societal stereotypes and into the perspective reflected by this new lens, far too often his own race rejects him on the grounds of not molding into the same rigid stereotypes that prevents his growth. Stripping the young man who adopts this new perspective of his ability to identify with his own race,

The media has misrepresented African-American men by consistently headlining negative news, therefore causing unjust fear and treatment from society which has led to serious and sometimes fatal consequences, now African-American men must alter their public persona so that they aren’t viewed as a threat.

The media sets the tone for the morals, values, and images of our culture. Many people in this country, some of whom have never encountered black people, believe that the degrading stereotypes of blacks are based on reality and not fiction. Everything they believe about blacks is determined by what they see on television. After over a century of movie making, these horrible stereotypes continue to plague us today, and until negative images of blacks are extinguished from the media, blacks will be regarded as second-class

Although much different than the turn of the century, African American women still struggle with the media and its limiting, bias circumstances. It is important to acknowledge early stereotypes of African American women, and the recurring struggles they faced throughout the development of the media’s message. It is also important to recognize African American women in today’s media, and the limiting circumstances that follow. A favorable outcome of the future in media would be equality of all actors and actresses, regardless of race and social standing; as well as the termination of old stereotypes that are often revisited in different genres of the media

For centuries African American women have been underrepresented and misrepresented by the media (Carpenter, 2012). Stereotypical representations have negatively affected the way society sees and relates to black women, as well as their own self perceptions and identities (Brown, White-Johnson, and Griffin-Fennell, 2013). The media is responsible for bias and stereotyping in its portrayal of underrepresented groups in society. The dissection of these stereotypes, statistical analysis of black representation in film, and modern depictions in cinema and television will help to prove the harm misrepresentations are capable of.

Media is stuck in a loop and to diversify it needs to try something new. The end goal of most media, regardless of the form, is to produce revenue. Therefore methods that have proven to work in the past will be repeated until shown to be unsuccessful. A recent article in Feminist Magazine discussed an annual report released by the Women’s Media Center on gender bias in major US media creation. The report discussed some reasons as to why media creation is still geared towards males. The main cause dealt with how marketers utilize media to target the group of people that have the most disposable income, white males 18 – 49 (Mandanas, 2014). This mentality was been the status quo for years and does not take in consideration other groups or combined marketing