The White-Washed Screen: Misrepresentation Of Minorities

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

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.

Stereotypical representation in entertainment media has long been and continues to be a reoccurring issue. Diversity representation in entertainment media has been debated over and over again, and still continues to be a major problem. The historical representation of African Americans in theatre and comedic performances still largely affects the stereotypical representation of African American males today. More often than not, when a male African American body is placed into a theatric arena, they are automatically stereotyped to only acting in a certain way. Ranging from historical contexts, viral YouTube videos, American sitcoms, and actor’s entire careers, male African American bodies have and will continue to be used to define the specific

African American women have not had the opportunity to land career changing roles in many years. Most roles that are offered are small roles where they are seen and not really heard. There has been a shift in the past few years where African American women have increased in their appearance in television shows. Minorities have been underrepresented in television shows in the years, however in recent years there has been a trend of more minorities entering to the realm of broadcasted television shows. The Hollywood DIversity Report states,“ Minority talent claimed 16.8 percent of lead roles on cable reality and other shows during the 2012-13 season, up 3.6 percentage points from the 13.2 percent share the group claimed in 2011-12” (pg. 17). African American women roles in television have developed into two categories: the hypersexualization theme and the angry black woman theme.

I agree completely with Monika’s claim that lack of representation, whitewashing, and stereotypes are the issues in American media. I think the media don’t understand the importance of diversity and how it positively impact society. In fact the author’s stated that absence of minorities in shows where set in cities that have high present of minorities population which means that there are a race better than others and that’s what is going in the media displaying white race as more intelligent, affection and other races can’t survive without the white race .In the article the one the issues with whitewashing was replacing minority roles to white actors. However, The media argues that representing the minorities as mine characters may lead to

African American Women in Television has been a rising issue in the media industry for years now. Being that television is mainly dominated by white men, African American women emerging into television has had a positive and negative effect in the media industry. There are many different aspects of African American Women in television. They are actresses, producers, directors, personalities, news anchors and reports and so much more. Through all the major success African American women have had within in television thus far it has not always been easy. This topic is very relevant because it specifically affects African American women in television. The issue of controversy with African American women being in the media industry through the television sparks major concerns from consumers, co-workers, and people in the entertainment industry. This issue impacting how the world view all African American women in

I have chosen the issue of “miss/underrepresentation of minorities in American television and film.” As America has changed over the years to become much more accepting and inclusive, American media seems to be a bit behind. There are countless instances in which characters from a book or graphic novel has been white-washed once they make it to the big screen. Some may argue these choices are made because the actor is very strong at their craft or they are a star and will bring in the big bucks in theaters. While this may be true, it completely discredits not only the original art and meaning of the work but also the community of talented non-white artist in America. I want to delve deep into the reason this can be happening in a generally

African American Portrayal in Hollywood All throughout the twentieth Century, minorities have made huge steps towards self-sufficiency and balance in American culture. These advances are a piece of our identity as Americans, yet it appears they have not completely invaded the aggregate entire of American culture. African Americans for decades had to endure insidious and egregious suffering, as well as being oppressed. It is upsetting that African Americans are still being portrayed on screen through the racial ideologies of white directors. In Hollywood, they are still portraying African Americans as Stereotypical, unequal, and domestic individuals.

Television still doesn’t completely represent the diversity in America. Roughly three-quarters of film actors were white in 2014. There was only 12.5% African American, 5.3% Asian, and 4.9% Hispanic actors while there was 73.1% white actors. Studies also show the majority of actors are male. According to the annual 100 top grossing films 2007-2014 only 30.2% of speaking or named characters were women, while 73.1% were male whites.

Some may say that the portrayal of racial minorities on primetime television have remained the same for decades, and that it has a negative impact on the way we view minorities. Others may say that the portrayal of racial minorities on television has improved drastically. I believe that the representation of minorities has not improved.

Asian American actors in modern media deal with whitewashed film and television, underrepresentation in major works, and casting in stereotypical roles. These three problems are rooted in the history of Asian American actors in film and television, and have been perpetrated by stereotypes that continue to this day. The purpose of this memo is to examine the modern industry of film and television through the eyes of Asian American actors, viewing the stereotypes and stigmas these actors face, and looking forward to see what can be done by casting directors to reduce harmful stereotyping and increase diversity in film and television.

Ever since the integration of television and movies there has been a problem with the whitewashing of American entertainment. From cartoons to live action features, producers and casting staff seem to have trouble creating a feature that is diverse and culturally appropriate enough to accurately portray America. The diversity of film and television is not important just because it gives all actors equal worth, but because it also shows the world how we view Americans who are people of color. Diversity on television is important for breaking stereotypes and typecasting, great representation of America and viewers want to see television that they can relate to. America is one of the most diverse countries in the world yet, its citizens still struggle with stereotypes.

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

Not only as a tool of entertainment, television also serves as an instruction tool because television can be the reflection of culture, race and gender. Because of the diversity of the audiences, expanding diversity is necessary in the television industry. More and more shows begin to feature minority group; however, the representation of minorities still has issues of underrepresentation and stereotype because producers believe casting minorities can’t make money. It is no doubt that white actors disproportionally dominate the screen and minority actors are often characterized as criminal and immoral roles. The colorblind casting and a diverse writers’ room are effective measures to solve those challenges.

Studying the trends in regards to portrayals of minorities in media, in television and programming in relation to the impact portrayals have on viewers ' attitudes and beliefs, serves two main purposes: (1) it is important to understand the degree of how minorities are depicted so that changes, if needed, can occur; and (2) there is a need to determine if the portrayals of minorities on television exacerbate racial stereotypes (Mastro, 2000).