In recent years, the film industry has drastically changed. I remember when I was little, I thought independent films and documentaries were weird things that only hippies watched. Now, more and more people adore independent films. Although indie flicks do not have the budget of blockbuster films, they do have a unique chance to explore what lies beyond Hollywood norms. Instead of the same directors and mangers deciding what will entertain the masses, these videos allow creators to reach a more-targeted audience. For example, one may make a video about the bad conditions of meat factories and share it on Facebook among vegetarian groups. A movie that narrow in audience would never reach it to the theaters. Also, independent movies explore what makes a movie “good” and defy the cutter-cookie plots of major pictures. One particularly great, acclaimed indie movie was The Babadook. This movie had a very slow build and an unsettling ending, both of which are not common in megamovies. The norms of television shows are being tested as well. Similarly to HBO, Netflix produces content of its own instead of relying on television networks. This freedom lets it create controversial material, such as a show called Dear White People. The company describes the show as a journey of “students of color [who] navigate the daily slights and slippery politics of life at an Ivy League college that's not nearly as ‘post-racial’ as it thinks.” One can imagine that popular networks, such as Fox and
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
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
Living by the restrictions that society places upon us, humanity is constrained to follow rules. Television writers were forced to write a certain way and were forced to leave out information that society would deem as improper, rude, and even racist. However, in 1971, a groundbreaking American television sitcom broke through societal boundaries and transformed the way that the American audience viewed television. Engulfed by the Vietnam War, Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, fight for women's right, and the Watergate scandal, Norman Lear persevered through stereotypes and entertainment norms with his show All in the Family. This show approached its audience in a very blunt and crude manner; it made conflict the center of its comedy. It dealt with contemporary cultural issues in a relatable way, which blue allowed blue-collar workers to learn about their current everyday issues and concerns. Through his show All in the Family, Norman Lear highlighted sensitive topics such as racism, bigotry, and sexual relations to prove that they are still alive in our country; thus, Norman Lear is an agent of change by bringing awareness to social issues.
Diversity in films is important because representation matters. Viewers are drawn to shows with ethnically diverse lead cast members. Mostly all viewers love to watch shows that reflect and relate to their own experiences. Reddigari, a freelance writer, also expresses the question of why we lack diversity in films. “Hollywood has been producing inspiring films intended to capture the beauty, joy and sorrow in everyday life. As much as we love our favorite movies, we can’t help but notice that many of them fail to capture the life experiences of all moviegoers, leaving the voices of millions of Americans from diverse backgrounds underrepresented” (This Tumblr Shows the Startling Lack of Diversity in Film). Diversity in films is an important topic in society because it represents equality and people of color to look up to.
This essay explores the popularity of Australian film, both locally and internationally and asks the question: Is there a crisis in the Australian Film Industry? This essay will go through the current issues the Australian Film Industry and will demonstrate examples of those problems.
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 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.
According to the article, Outsider Art, Written by Willa Paskin, Programs starring minority groups are bringing a new level of awareness to the issues facing migrants and other minorities everyday. Programs like How to Get Away With Murder and Blackish are another example of how Hollywood’s latest push for diversity is progressing the public's views on immigrants and educating the masses about what minorities have to deal with on a daily basis.
The mass medium I have chosen to critique is a new television show called This Is Us and it airs on the NBC channel. This Is Us is a show about a family with triplets and they show how they handle all the different parts of their lives. This particular mass medium addresses many of the different current issues going on in today’s society including; race, diversity, education, religion, and politics. This Is Us addresses diversity in today’s society and portrays many different types of people within this one television show. To prove that this mass medium portrays diversity I will look into how this show illustrates race, different social stances, and different educational backgrounds both positively and negatively. Also, to better the credibility
American television appears to be more racially inclusive than ever, with shows like: ABC’s Blackish, which feature an African American family, and ABC’s Fresh Off the Boat, which represents an Asian American family. However, the white status quo still remains very much relevant in today’s television. Minority actors still receive less screen, and when they do, they act in unbelievable ways. Television has had a profound effect on society’s beliefs and attitudes based on what it portrays and how it does so, including how watchers view not only themselves but others as well. Representation of various racial communities- African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Latino Americans- more frequently and in a better light can provide
Films should be both entertainment and should also tackle challenging ideas. It’s good to have varieties of films, because we watch film depending on what we are in the mood for. Sometimes we watch to learn about history we never knew about and
A Netflix TV show, Dear White People produced by Justin Simien, is about the students of Winchester University. This show tends to target not only the Netflix customers, but the black and white audience as well; the entire first season generally focuses on the media, racial, and gender roles within the community as well as the mainstream problem of the unrecognized white privilege by white skinned people. Looking up who the producer is, it turns out that Simien is a black-skinned man. Therefore, he fully understands the politics and the human behavior towards the black race from the white race (considering racism towards people with his skin color has been around for so long). Being black-skinned is already clear for many people to assume that he probably has dealt with the racism majority of his life, considering the repeating themes throughout the show. Even with the title, the producer is purposefully calling out to the specific audiences in a straightforward way. According to some reviews, many have concluded that Dear White People is extremely offensive to them. While watching the show, there were a few significant and periodic themes that showed throughout the first season and the major themes I chose were important how the roles of media played throughout the show. As a result, the roles of the media within the show reveals that people tend to communicate to the public of who they they really are as a person by showing what they want the public to see them as: in a
The film industry has always been somewhat of a dichotomy. Grounded firmly in both the worlds of art and business the balance of artistic expression and commercialization has been an issue throughout the history of filmmaking. The distinction of these two differing goals and the fact that neither has truly won out over the other in the span of the industry's existence, demonstrates a lot of information about the nature of capitalism.
Adhering to its organizational mission, Netflix was able to, over a period of about a decade, force almost all of its competition out of the market. This was the culmination of meeting its set Goals. Netflix core values seemed to evoke a very negative response by the general public at large. Consumers found their ethical means of climbing the corporate ladder abhorrent. This was damaging to Netflix for a period of several years causing investors, consumers, stock holders and product distributors to refuse to continue a business relationship with them. The core strategy for Netflix was to grow their streaming subscription business both domestically and globally. Its stated goal was to continuously improve its customer experience, with a focus on expanding its accessibility of its streaming content, and striving to enhance its users interface. This has been met as to recent by the availability of devices that users can use in the home that will allow direct access to Netflix streaming content directly from Smart TV’s and DVD players. Netflix is continually expanding and extending its streaming service to include services to new streaming capable devices as they are offered on the market while working to do so within the parameters of its consolidated net income and operating segment contribution profit targets. (Netflix) Netflix claims honest and ethical conduct, including the ethical handling of actual or apparent conflicts of interest between personal and