Family Guy Racism

In today’s society, a minstrel show would unquestionably be pointed out as a racist act. However, if stereotypes were used in comedic TV shows it becomes more uncertain as to whether or not it is appropriate. With the popular use of satire in the current pop culture, the line between racism and harmless satire is harder to define. Shows like Family Guy play on a lot of racial stereotypes but do not always receive attention on those jokes. The show is often written off as just a raunchy animated show, so people expect the outrageous humor and take the jokes less seriously. Racist jokes has been muddled with satire by putting it in a comical context and in a different medium such as animation. There needs to be a more defined line between

As something people tend to hold the most dearly, culture can be a sensitive topic to discuss and engage in. Often, it is made even more difficult due to issues of the past and the way different cultures influence one another. Moreover, the concepts of cultural assimilation and mainstreaming have brought light on problems regarding the treatment of minority cultures within American culture, specifically with the use of stereotyped imagery and hijacking outside cultural ideas. The issues of cultural stereotyping and assimilation, as seen in South Park, have garnered attention due to the nature of offence and its subjective nature.

Popular television shows aids to heavily influence American audiences, perpetuating, and problematic ideas about homosexuality. Not all mainstream media adheres to traditional social ideas. South Park uses satire to deconstruct heteronormative views on homosexuality. Therefore, homosexuality is accepted more widespread through use of mainstream media.

Author Bell Hooks once said “I will not live my life narrowed down; I will not bow down to someone else’s whim or to someone else’s ignorance”. This quote provides the utmost inspiration of my choosing to analyze a TV show entitled “Everybody Hates Chris” in the point of view of a social activist. The show is a comedy that depicts the life of an African- American family during the 1980s. Even though the show’s purpose is to entertain viewers, the messages that are portrayed throughout the illustration displays racial realities. This show proves just how ignorant humanity has become; directors can take ongoing crises such as racism and transform it into a comedy with positive feedbacks from its viewers. I decided to analyze this specific show because it depicts similar ideas that were stated in Bell Hooks’ “Teaching Resistance: The racial politics of mass media”.

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).

This essay will seek to analyse the way in which the US social and cultural context of race is reflected in contemporary American television. Focusing on the US drama Orange Is the New Black (Netflix, 2013) as a case study, I will seek to explore how American societies’ racial ideologies are still prominent throughout American TV, although 36% of the US population consist of ethnic minority (US Census, 2010). Orange Is the New Black has been “acclaimed for its portrayal of a diverse array of Black, transgender, Latina, working-class, and immigrant characters” (Charlton, 2013). However on release, critics panned the first season when racial stereotypes were negatively performed and reinforced by characters on the show. These two contrasting

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.

Because there are a lot of jokes and news stories that target Muslims like this, many Muslim and Arabic people are subjected to this treatment. If there were none of these jokes on the air or if news anchors told more positive stories about Muslims and Arabs, this cultural group would have an easier time in society (TEDxYouth). Overall, “Family Guy” and other media outlets portray Muslims and Arabs as terrorists, and it makes people afraid of them because of the stereotype.

This is present in television channels like Disney. Disney has perpetuated stereotypes by including anti-feminist messages. Myers, includes in her research article, Anti-feminist messages in American television programming for young girls, strong evidence which supports our claim that popular culture perpetuates stereotypes. Myers includes a chart based on her findings from four television programs from Disney and Nickelodeon. Myers uses logical appeal to convey her message that television programs establish stereotypes through their anti-feminist messages.

Television is widely considered a more racial and gender friendly medium of popular culture. However, prime time television is not nearly as progressive as people believe, and is still a male dominated industry. In a report done by the Institute for Diversity and Empowerment at Annenberg, 11,306 speaking characters were evaluated and 66.5% were male, while 33.5% were female [1]. Moreover, 41.6% of females in television took leading or

One of the most famous yet vulgar cartoon shows Comedy Central is known for is South Park. Anyone can recognize the predictable cry of, “O my God! They killed Kenny!” or them seeing the infamous Mr. Hanky, the dancing and talking Christmas poo. This cartoon has four main characters that speak like crude adults but in bodies of eight year-old fourth grade boys who live in South Park, Colorado.

The difference between the intended meaning of media texts and what the audience actually perceives can be shockingly different. Producers of media can do everything possible to force audiences to experience their work in the way they want them to, but in the end they still take away many different meanings even within the same audience. Stuart Hall outlines this in his encoding and decoding model. One of the most apparent examples of this is the television show South Park. The television show South Park is a media text with the producers’ preferred meaning of being decoded as joke or as being satire, but many audience members take an oppositional stance of taking it seriously. This is clear from the examples of controversy when South Park aired episodes focused on Scientology, red-headed people, and Islam. Through these examples it is demonstrated that the producers of media have less power compared to the audience in determining the meaning of media.

The first cartoons remain as fond memories in the hearts of children- now adults- and have lingered on their minds for decades. Now, in the modern era, children are similarly entranced by the animated stories and characters they see on various types of screens. Studies have shown that the average child spends nearly 35 hours a week watching TV, which is a 12 percent increase of hours spent watching over nine years (Rothman, “FYI, Parents: Your Kids Watch...”). Yet a crucial aspect of children’s television has also changed along with its viewers since its creation, and that is the inclusion of minorities in its stories. It started with the incorporation of African-Americans in children’s media (not to say that this was entirely wholesome in its beginnings, as many of the first cartoons involving anyone of a darker skin tone typically depicted them as stereotypically as possible). Since then, many other marginalised groups have had their debut in media meant for toddler to teen audiences. Now, a new period of representation is at hand. For the first time, queer audiences are able to see themselves in popular media, being presented, for once, as people rather than

People constantly try to gain direction and insight from their evaluations of other people. One such way they do so is through stereotypes. Stereotypes are cognitive constructs involving an individual’s half-truths and distorted realities knowledge, expectations, and beliefs about human groups. As such, racial stereotypes are constructed beliefs that all members of the same race share certain specific characteristics. In America, the media and Hollywood play an integral role in entrenching and dispelling these stereotypes. However, Hollywood and the media create characters according to stereotypes to attract an audience, from which the viewers can reflect on and laugh at the stereotypes recognizable within American society. This paper seeks to discuss the common stereotypes in American society and how the media and Hollywood promotes those stereotypes and their impacts.

Native American representations in film is particularly important in influencing public opinion regarding depictions and beliefs of what Native people are like. Often associated with popular film in the United States is an Anglo constructed representation of a dated, drunken, and traditionally dressed Native person that seems to perpetuate these stereotypes. Because some shows are so popular in the United States, the effects can be powerful. The influence of these pictures comes from the large viewing audience, the cultural majority of the audience, and a failure to accept modernity of Natives. Still in the twenty-first century, there are several representations like this that imitate stereotypes, impact the majority culture, and negatively impact Native American communities. In this essay, I will analyze a case of this stereotyping of Natives in a modern comedy television show called Family Guy.