Cultural Stereotypes In The Media

Your television and computer are controlling every choice you make. Scary thought? Everyday Americans log into their computer or turn on their TV and are fed information from our trusted media. In fact, a Marshall survey states, “By 2015, it is estimated that Americans will consume both traditional and digital media for over 1.7 trillion hours, an average of approximately 5 and a half hours per person per day.” Unknowingly at times, we are allowing our media to shape the choices we make, the ways we see others, and the way we view ourselves. With most of Americans unaware of the media's control on their choices and views, this can be an alarming realization. Media has a major impact on multiple parts of our society.

Popular culture is defined as “a composite of all the values, ideas, symbols, material goods, processes, and understandings that arise from mass media” (Atkins 131). It is well-known to the public and reinforces the way people see they world, including aspects such as race, ethnicity, and gender. According to Omi, popular culture “deals with the symbolic realm of social life, the images which it creates, represents, and disseminates contribute to the overall racial climate” (540). The individuals or groups belong to a specific race can be perceived based on their behavior portrayed by the mass media, instead of being recognized for who they truly are. Such effect created by the popular culture contributes to what is known as “racial stereotype”, which is “beliefs about differences in behavior associated with racial differences” (Jones 982).

Harmeen Jones, a former Fox Technician, was fired after filing a complaint to Human Resources of the unfair treatment he was receiving by his colleagues at Fox for being African-American. Jones claims ‘he was subjected to a steady stream of "racist, sexist, and extremely offensive comments,’ against blacks, Muslims, Jews, women and Hispanics” (Shifrel). Unfortunately, not only does the network available to 87 million households make flippant remarks in it’s work environment, but it also promotes racist stereotypes on air. During an episode of The O’Reilly Factor, host Bill O’Reilly made an insulting remark when telling an African-American guest, “Say you 're a cocaine dealer—and you kind of look like one a little bit” (Hall). Stereotyping minority races has existed since the creation of the United States, and continues to be a problem. The privileged social group in society often oppresses minorities, and advertises false statements of the other races. Media, a big contributor to the spread of racial stereotyping that occurs in the United States, often provides viewers with stereotypes that continue to promote racism, and the discouragement of success in a minority group. The media portrays the dominant race in a positive way, while minority groups are depicted in ways that provide people with an invalid reason to feel hatred toward minority groups.

Thesis: Although media is trying to portray ethnicity non-stereotypically and have more diversity in television, it is dissatisfactory because Caucasian characters are still an overwhelming percentage of media and inaccurate stereotypes still portray the ethnic groups.

The world of higher education is often the next step towards achieving the goals and dreams that we have set for ourselves. This world is, for a majority of individuals, the first time in their lives where they have near complete control of the choices they make. However, “the stereotypes written about’ and viewed ‘concerning college students tend to delineate between academic mission, student activities and abilities, and the tension between an institutions’ academic mission and students’ projected participation.” (n.a, 2014) Those stereotypes, and the perception of college life, as portrayed by movies and other popular media, can inadequately prepare students for challenging life choices which could lead to the use and potential abuse of mind-altering substances.

Whenever we go on the internet or look in magazines we see these beautiful people and most men and women aspire to look just like them. But again it’s all but one big lie. What we see on the internet, TV, and magazines is the work of Photoshop, makeup, filters, and much more. Those people are not real, they do not look like that once they wake up, and it’s nothing but a lie. Yet people still believe that it’s real since the camera never lies. Day after day I see girls and women, boys and men hating themselves all because from an image that is not real, an image that has been made by the computer. On Instagram, there was a trend going around where girls and women would try to get “thigh gaps” which are exactly what they sound like, a gap in-between their thighs. To achieve these “thigh gaps” some women and girls would go on diets or some would just stop eating to lose weight just so they can be a part of the trend. The sad thing is that this trend was started with a few pictures of celebrates that were made by the computer. Not once did they stop to question it. Not once did they stop to think.

Representation is understood in relation to realism, which is the extent of which a media text is credible to its audience in terms of experiences, emotions and events as opposed to texts which are simply imaginary. In contemporary society, news programmes and documentaries are assumed to be realistic and reliable in terms of the sources of their information. However, it could be suggested that they convey a version of reality that is unsurprisingly selective and heavily biased towards the people who created them. This could be a reason for the creation of racial stereotypes within different news organisations. This essay will therefore discuss racial stereotypes which are present within the news and also to what extent news organisations perpetuate the notion of ‘us’ and ‘them’.

With a click of a button, one can gain access to a world of material. The media consumes society thanks to its extreme accessibility. “On average, 45 percent of our waking hours are spent with media (an average of 7 hours and 5 minutes), and by using more than one kind of media at the same time, we cram in an average of 8 hours and 48 minutes media time every day” (Meikle and Young). Applications such as Instagram and Facebook allow a flow of information between continents, cultures, generation, and genders. Parents will have their children sit in front of the television or on smartphones for hours to keep them occupied. These children grow up watching the fake reality of television shows and mainstream

The main argument for this text is that racial stereotypes are inherent in media and electronic media through the perpetuation of racial stereotypes, which can have social implications towards the targeted users. The following related ideas support this argument:

For persuasion one has to convince the audience that a certain point of view is correct when put against others. Politicians, leaders, and other individuals of power use the media to influence the viewers. A rather powerful tool, if used the right way, it can gather thousands upon thousands of followers. The media’s role in political affair is very crucial: it can make or break the candidate. Certain television networks as well as other news websites on the internet give individuals the platform to express specific viewpoints. Media plays an important and powerful role in America. Millions of Americans view the news and form opinions based upon what they hear, see, or read in the media. The media should present their news in an unbiased way

The images portrayed in the media: spoken, written, or visual all have an effect on social constructions, reality and perceptions of the public, and policies of the criminal justice system (Collins, 2011). In today’s society, the public lives of individuals are inundated with media. At any time there are news stories being introduced to the public audience via television, radio, and new media (Surette, 2015). The new media sources are accessible from anywhere via laptops, tablets, and smartphones. The general public is receiving media stories from posts, tweets, blogs, and news websites. Because of this mass market of competing internet news sources, there has been a decline in the newspaper and television audience, resulting in a decrease of the subject content covered by reporters (Gest, 2010). So what

How often do we find ourselves laughing at an inappropriate stereotype that is promoted in the media? It seems that as we continue to move through time, stereotypes in the media become more and more prominent. Some find them as forms of ‘comic relief’ while others, including myself, see them as another way to showcase our ignorance of the people and world around us. The stereotype that revolves around Indians, also known as South Asians, tends to be the most recognizable. In order to understand this stereotype in the media, we will focus on the typical stereotypes that involve this group of people, why we stereotype against Indians, and ways it effects future generations.

Media Essay Draft No. 2 “Whoever controls the media, the images, controls the culture.” – Allen Ginsberg. Times had changed, but the stereotypes are still ruling the media world, and has influenced over society. Now people are more focused on their clothes, their physical appearance, in order words they have become more superficial people.

Stereotypes have become a prevalent issue in our media. They, without our knowledge, prevent us from moving forward as human. In this essay, I will discuss the effects of stereotypes in media on gender roles, religion, and race.

he United States has claimed for years to be a melting pot, where race or various preferences do not define our role in society. Most everyday people do not even realize or notice the amount of stereotyping that occurs in mass media. It is important to understand the different types of discrimination marginalized groups face. Stereotypes can affect everyone, whether it is based on their race, gender, or sexual preference. Media makers could easily find ways to not discriminate against people, but perhaps this would make that specific media outlet less popularly attended to.