Important Points Of Racial Representation From Review Of Literature

Watching Family Guy, Shameless, The Kardashians, and Bob’s Burger where the main characters are played and portrayed as white people shows the domination of white people in the entertainment industry. Brooks and Hebert argument provides an understanding on how people of color are not casted into leading roles because white people have created a hierarchy of how race and gender are represented in media. The media pushes white people to dominate the leading roles and gives people of color insignificant roles. Those roles where people of color are typically antagonist or uneducated, which does not make you want to watch it. I believe it is the media fault for why I have a strong fondness for white television. They limit my desire to see other television series or movies because they created their shows in a way where the white protagonist is favored and you want them to accomplish their desire

There is no concrete evidence to prove whites are most favorable however, because whites have been the major source of advertisements it almost proves the statement true. Nonetheless, their only reason is whites are more stable and are more likely to offer the media with more money power than any other group of people in the U.S. “When people of color appeared in ads, they often had peripheral roles, appearing in non-speaking “background” roles” (Henderson and Baldasty 2003:102).

Shameless is a Golden-Globe nominated show with a white dominated cast. One of the siblings on the show is black, but is identified as a White male contrary to the character’s skin tone. “When it comes to representations of Blacks on television, the 1980s can be seen as a decade of elevated inclusion both in terms of the quantity and quality of roles -- which remains the norm today. (Tukachinsky, Mastro, & Yarchi, 2015). Over the years, we will see more shows gearing their audiences to the black community. Producers add in a few social issues to reel viewers in, but the fact remains the same that a prime time heavy hitting shows, will most likely have less than 20% of their cast of African descent. In consonance with researchers, blacks currently constitute between 14-17 percent of the prime-time population. (Tukachinsky, Mastro, & Yarchi, 2015). The lack of representation in the media can lead to some interpreting that the Caucasian race is the superior race, and in retrospect, can influence the attitudes and beliefs of viewers. Prior research has shown that exposure to counter stereotypic exemplars in the media can have a positive effect on inter-group relations. (Scharrer, & Ramasubramanian, 2015) In order to reduce the misrepresentation from taking over the media, we must depict a positive image on the lives of minorities and portray them as successful, thriving human beings. By

In society, race clearly affects one’s life chances. These are the chances of getting opportunities and gaining experience for progression. The social construction of race is based on privileges and availability of resources. Looking at society and the formation of race in a historical context, whites have always held some sort of delusional belief of a “white-skin privilege.” This advantage grants whites an advantage in society whether one desires it or not. This notion is often commonly referred to as reality.

Over the years television has been known to be one of the major educating and socializing institution in America. Television in today’s society is able to play a powerful key through which individuals can be informed, hold forums, and voice their opinion‘s. Television is also important because it offers us glimpses into minority life and minority figures. When sociologists examine minorities in television they document how minorities are portrayed and how those portrayals have changed over the years. Through time, minorities in television have been able to make moderate gains whether they are in front of or behind cameras. However, they continue to remain significantly underrepresented as leading actors in films, as writers, and as TV show creators. Even though minorities are significantly underrepresented in today’s society the TV industry has been pushing to give an opportunity to many minority groups in succeeding in the media. Several TV shows and commercials have succeeded in the TV industry to try and change how minorities are underrepresented, however, there are also shows that reinforce stereotypes and are prejudice towards minorities.

What really is considered too white? Why doesn't tv show more of a color diversity? Should television even be used to demonstrate equality between whites and people of color? Although it may be true, there are statically more white's than black's in the U.S. ranging from 75.1% to 12.3% according to the Demographic Statistics. However as the years continue on, equality between African Americans and whites are still being battled throughout the U.S. as African Americans are still being slandered for the color of their skin. So as a fellow African American citizen myself, television wouldn't be a bad start to show how people of color and whites can actually get along on the big screen.

    The effects of television advertising may not look grave, but because of the subtlety of these effects, consumers just don't know that their mind is already absorbing it. The way that big time television networks portray these women has to stop. The loud, smart mouthed, neck-rolling black mother is a popular image on reality television. These shows are widely known to reinforce the mainstream urban culture of modern society. Across the board, women comprised 42% of character or personalities on television, while men comprised of 58%. While women as a whole make up 42% of television, black women make up a mere 21% of that, this is not a very large representation. To make matters even worse, the amount of representation that black women receive isn't shown in a positive

Racial stereotypes more or less affect our perceptions toward race, and judge people in a certain frame unconsciously, as Omi set forth in In Living Color: Race and American Culture. It greatly impact the images of minorities on the visual media, which the most direct medium to reflect the popular beliefs. Even though the “racist beliefs” have “just recently being reversed”, the portrayal of minorities on visual media is still not exemplary (Horton, et al “PORTRAYAL OF MINORITIES IN THE FILM, MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRIES”).

One such example is the tobacco industry aiming at African Americans. Tobacco advertisements in the 1950’s and 1960’s were all about the normality and inclusion of smoking cigarettes, white people sitting comfortably in their middle class homes, surrounded by friends and families, these advertisements were designed to target the average 1950’s person. This technique had proven successful in gaining white consumers to buy certain brands, such as Camel, this audience desired and looked up to these images of nice, comfortable lives that the people in the advertisements were living.

In the Academic Journal “The Use of Social Media in Teaching Race” by Kathy Nakagawa PhD. Nakagawa says people who speak about race the most are those who don’t have authority or accurate knowledge. When we talk about different races we usually talk about what we have heard, not what we actually know. Kathryn Sorrels, the author of the book, Intercultural Communication: Globalization and Social Justice said, “Often the assumptions, stereotypes, and attitudes we hold about people from different cultures or distant countries come solely or primarily through media and popular forms such as movies, TV programs, and celebrities (Sorrels 125).” Sorrels then gets her audience to think about if it is the producers fault or the actors fault for taking the role. Sorrels later talks about the 3 areas to look at when studying popular culture. Only 2 and 3 are very important, “(2) textual analysis, where the actual product or text – the TV program or film … is analyzed for symbolic meaning and narrative content; and (3) audience analysis, where the means and interpretations that viewers/reader/listeners decode from popular from popular culture text are investigated. The information is something to consider when viewing a sitcom, how does the audience know if the information is accurate. Most viewers just believe most of what they see on

This cultural script has been written into the culture long before a baby is born. It is transmitted to children through family, peers, teachers, and the media. Advertising mirrors society, and therefore ads that use stereotypes not only reflect but also tend to reinforce the stereotypical representations that are already present in a culture.

There are many things I want to learn and get to the bottom of while researching this topic. My main question is, “Why is this happening?” Honestly, I cannot even believe this topic is actually still an issue. When thinking of movie directors, producers, etc. I would assume them to be a group of progressive and inclusive people because the artist community generally is. So, how have these people let this happen? I would also like to look in to how this misrepresentation affects the minorities of America. There could possibly be underlying psychological turmoil in minorities which causes them to feel less capable. This brings me to wonder if there is any underlying racial bias in everyone because of who is glorified in in movies and shows. In order to answer such questions, I will research to find if any psychologist have done any studies on the effects of television and film on our subconscious in terms of the representation of minorities. I am also curious how other diverse countries such as Canada’s television and film look. I will compare the United States to these diverse counties in my research in order to provide a more global view.

What are the impacts of having such lack of a representation of people in the media? In the Social Psychology Network article, it was found that that White television viewers who watch a stereotyped comic

During the process of producing a television series, the demand for the producers to introduce their characters with only their highlighted traits make it impossible for viewers to gain a deep understanding of the community that the characters represent. One of the stereotypic traits that is usually seen on movies and television shows is societal difference that each race is placed into. Michael Omi in his article In Living Color: Race and American Culture stated that “in contemporary television and film, there is a tendency to present and equate racial minority groups and individuals with specific social problems” (546). There are many films and television shows found today that ground racial minorities into a specific social problems that are related to the color of their skin. It can be inferred from the current popular culture that this stereotype still persists.

According to Wilkerson, “From the beginning, television, the image mill for the mainstream has not known what to do with black characters. It has struggled, as has the country, to find a place for them that white Americans could find comforting and digestible from the safe distance of their living rooms. Reality had nothing to do with it.” The media has portrayed black characters as nothing more than, buffoons, hustlers, pimps, and prostitutes.