The Intersection Of Race And Media

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

Different cultures and race are also widely accepted in today's sitcoms. Sometimes, programs may show racial difficulties like we see in real life. In "Gilmore Girls" Rory has friends who come from different

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

People of all races enjoy a good film or tv show but, they sometimes are not being represented equally. Representation matters because, it is important to teach the younger generations about their race’s worldview on what they find normal. Kenneth and Mamie Clark conducted a psychological study where, “children were shown two dolls, one black and one white. They were asked to choose which one they preferred, which one was ‘bad’ and which one was ‘good.’ The results were the same across races: the children generally preferred the white doll and saw that doll as ‘good’…. but it is really no surprise if you look at the media these children are consuming”(The

The second one shows that inter-racial skits in movies/shows do well in box office/television. For example a hit show out now is Modern Family, they have a character played by Sofia Verger, who plays a Colombian woman and is married to a White man played by Ed O’Neil who is a remarried man alongside with her son from her previously marriage back in Colombia. This show demonstrated the life of an inter-racial marriage and their own comedic ways whether it be Sofia yelling at Ed and he does not understand a word she is saying because of her accent or Sofia dragging Ed to a Spanish fiesta also known as a Spanish formal party. This is a very popular show that has received high ratings and does well for the ABC network. The last one is to show we are all in this country for the same opportunities and there are many celebrities from different races who have done well for themselves. Ultimately it is up to us whether we blame the media for reinforcing these stereotypes or we thank them for bringing this to our attention through comedy or documentaries and it does not matter who is producing the content but how we are influenced by it in a positive way.

Race in the media is a very sensitive issue now a days. When it comes to minorities we can still see that the media portrays us in a bad light. The image of blacks in the American media has changed over the past two decades with the civil rights movement, changes in attitudes towards minority groups, and increased sensitivity on the part of those who and project these images. An examination of the image of Blacks in the articles and advertisements to show attitudes subtly represented, and these attitudes can be linked to historical and social realities of the time.

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.

In the essay “Getting Down To What Is Really Real,” John Jeremiah Sullivan discusses the reality TV show “The Real World”. In his essay, Sullivan gives us an inside experience with the main stars of the show in order to give us a glimpse of what their real lives are like. He argues, “the single most interesting thing about reality TV, is the way it has successfully appropriated reality”(Sullivan 97). Similarly, Hispanic culture has been portrayed stereotypically in TV shows and films throughout the years. Latino characters on TV mostly take roles of maids, thugs and Latin lovers who have a heavy accent and immigration problems (Nittle). Movies like Maid In Manhattan and A Day Without A Mexican have represented these stereotypes quite clearly, and that sadly reflects how people see them. However, most recently, the TV show Jane The Virgin is applying a more complex and realistic depiction of Hispanic characters by breaking these stereotypes.

Comparatively, we see lots of today's shows feature a lead black actor/actress or of different minority ethnicity. If you go back a few decades there hardly was a show that had minority actor/actress that held a consistent role in the show. Scandal, is an example of a tv show that has a black actress as the main character and has many aspects involving racial relations that would not been acceptable thirty years ago. One such case being an affair between Olivia Pope, a black woman who was formerly a lawyer, and the president of the United States during the pilot episode Sweet Baby. Interracial relationships were virtually nonexistent during the 1970s and therefore unseen in any entertainment. Nowadays it is still uncommon but accepted by the majority of the community.

In television, and almost every other medium the media uses today, there’s a fine line between promoting and properly integrating diversity, and exploiting it. In this paper, I will be critically analyzing the hit television show, Lost, and how in leans more towards exploitation because of its incorporation of token characters from different races and genders, which hurts more than helps our society, particularly American society, in its goal of expelling racism and sexism. The racial and gender stereotypes displayed in the hit television

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.

In many ways technology makes access to academic work, research and employment easier and faster. However, I am concerned that technology is too often chosen over humanity. Historically,representations of African Americans in technological media tend to value "white" bodies at the expense of Black bodies (Stam and Spence, 1983). Further, recent studies show (Zickmund 2000), in fact, the ways in which some World Wide Web sites make it easier for hate groups to spread their misinformation, contributing to the devaluation of black bodies in technological media. Together, these media representations can be understood in terms of a digital devide between technological "haves" and

In the early turn of the 21st century, infant stages of media were brought to audiences all over. Small motion pictures were a new invention, enticing its viewers and creating a medium open to innovation. Since the development of silent films, stereotypes and racial discrimination have been the central overtones of cinema. The midst of the century entailed a dominant white society, with racial tensions at the forefront. Post-slavery morale and ideologies still existed in the states, recognizing the African American populations as blatant minorities. These attitudes on race were distinctively acknowledged on the big screen,

Show’s features made it appreciable for different types of the auditory. It could be treated like a compromise, according to critics. Caucasian Americans liked the show as it represented many common “uniracial” problems for the middle class; they wanted to see episodes despite the fact most characters were representatives of a different race. African-Americans were led by similar motives; the show did not demonstrate specific racial problems, but there still were enough moments, where people could recognize own situations and experiences. However, this “omnitude” became both the advantage and disadvantage of the show in critics’ eyes.

Maya Syag How do complicated issues like race affect Television and how does Television affect society with their depiction of these issues? Television is affected greatly by current events and scandals in the country in which the show is being produced. The most significant issues currently being depicted on TV by shows like Scandal and Law And Order:Special Victims Unit are the “Black Lives Matter movement” ,the institutionalized racism in law enforcement, and the abundant racism among the citizens resulting in murders between civilians. These issues, being represented on television sheds a light on many issues that have been occurring for many years in the United States.