Underrepresentation Of Minorities In Movies

The film industry’s portrayal of African American people consists of countless stereotypes and inaccuracies. These depictions lead to an innumerable amount of misrepresentations about the African American community. As the latest wave of black films begins to dawn, the clearer the images become of a collective people. Using my personal experiences as a mixed woman of color, as well as including my academic strengths and goals, and points of view regarding various black films, the content of this paper will examine the representation and stereotypes that can be seen in African American Hollywood.

The discussion of diversity in Hollywood is very important. Some people will claim that there is a diversity issue throughout Hollywood and a lack of representation for minorities, while others will argue that there is a wide spectrum of diversity, therefore destroying the idea that there is an issue. There are more shows and films that revolve around straight, healthy Caucasians than shows and films that revolve around LGBT members, people who have to live with disabilities, and people of color. Hollywood has suffered substantially from a lack of showing a great deal of diversity.

When you look at black movies or movies with black and hispanic people, all you see are drug dealers, pimps, robbers(lots and lots of white people commit bank robberies) on the screen or television shows. The white system have been perpetrating this since slavery days., separating groups and causing racism, and again stereotypical views of minorities.

Ethnic Stereotyping in Hollywood Hollywood plays a significant role in modern society. Hollywood is an instrumental tool that can be used to influence the views and opinions of individuals of all races. Therefore, I believe that Hollywood writers and directors DO have a social responsibility to avoid stereotyping ethnic characters because it is can ultimately come off as racist, offensive and can have a negative effect in our communities.

Peplow notes that when it comes to Hollywood there is no greater evidence than demonstrable success and unless something was a success in the past there is a slim chance that Hollywood is willing to change (Syn, 1). But in it’s one sided views, Hollywood does not see that minorities/women are unable to show their potential for success if no options are available. But when they are given such opportunity the nature of Hollywood bypasses it as a fluke. For example, Professor Martha Lauzen of San Diego State University notes that the success of a film is hinged on the box office return compared to its budget and that when similar budgets are presented to men and women returns are extremely similar (Lang, 1). This idea also translates to minorities, as Dr.Hunt notes that films with a larger amount of minority involvement had the greatest average box office return of around $96 million, which contrasts films with lack of minority involvement that posted lower box office returns of around $41 million (Hunt and Ramon, 54). A major example of a successful film with minorities/women is the Fast and Furious film series, which has ranked in over $700 million dollars worldwide. Hollywood’s main goal is to make money and it has been proven that

Many people use television shows and movies as a form of entertainment that can be informative and persuasive. Television shows came out in the early 20th century and have recently shown a lot of diversity than in the past. Movies have been out for a while as well and watching movies is used as a hangout for the most part. Due to its great popularity, television has been the most common distraction next to cellphones. Along with it popularities, viewers also enjoy learning from television shows and movies, whether they are educated or not. Although television displays somewhat of diversity, they still adhere to stereotypes with a dumb white girl, Hispanic housekeeper, and angry black women.

This paper informs the lack of diversity from current events in Hollywood. Articles that conducted online and off-line relationships to the lack of diversity in Hollywood. The articles discuss the lack of diversity from films that are produced in Hollywood so the reader can have a better understanding. This paper also informs the opinion of the lack of diversity in Hollywood. Each article has a different topic but they all have the same theme dealing with the lack of diversity in Hollywood. (Rodriguez ,2007) Article tells how Latinos came to America to become actors. Their opportunity for fame in Hollywood became harder throughout the decades. Choi (2016) Discuss how African Americans are not recognize at the Grammys. How they release some

Watching a sitcom movie in the U.S. is sometimes make me feel argued about it during movie time. Indeed, there are just some situations that cause me think they are a racialist to make their movies. For example, I have followed two movies named “Fresh Off the Boat,” and “Green Narrow.” All those movies are very attractive and funny, but when I think deep inside them. I see some scenes in both movies which mention that Asian people are not important in both of them. They have not enough places to act much on movies. On another hand, some cases make fun with Asians actors or actresses who try to adopt a new culture in movies. The watchers think it is absolutely funny; although, some cases make Asians people feel very embarrassed. However, in

As the semester progressed and we continued learning how Latinos have been misrepresented through American cinema during the twentieth century, I began to wonder about my own heritage and how Jews were portrayed in films of the same era. I grew up learning about the various stereotypes that have been associated with Jews throughout history, but never have I explored the portrayals of Jews through film history in the United States. My curiosity led me to research Hollywood’s image of the Jew, providing me with a better understanding of the role Jews and Jewish family life have played in American Cinema from the very beginnings of film history. I was able to relate the facts about

Imagine being an Iranian actor in the year 2010. Disney had just started casting for the new Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time film. Excitement is in the air as the auditions for the lead role begins. Everything seems to be going well, until Disney makes their casting choice, Jake Gyllenhaal. A film taking place in the Middle East just got a white actor for the lead role, leaving everyone of color who auditioned behind in the dust. This is but one example of star power usurping someone of color from their rightful roles. Simply put, this is a practice in Hollywood that stretches as far as the dawn of film in the United States, it is known as whitewashing. Racism has been a problem in Hollywood for a long time now, whitewashing is just the next evolution of racism.

Unless there is an improvement in the industry, minorities will have a hard time finding work due to the continuous underrepresentation in film. (Pitman). Movies like Aloha, Niihau, Dr. Strange, and Ghost in the Shell are all great examples of white actors playing roles designed for people of color. “In 2014, just 12.9% of lead roles in 163 films examined went to minorities, a decrease form 16.7% the previous year” (Pitman). While minorities being featured in lead roles decreased from its already low percentage, it’s not a shocker why some believe white washing has impacted them financially and professionally. When asked about their thoughts on the subject a panel of

There has been an increase in the amount of Asian representation, but only a steady increase. The issue is the lack of Asian representatives in American Film. Today’s lack of Asian actors and actresses can be traced back to the beginning of American film. Back then, minorities barely received any screen time and rarely showed up on screen. When they do, they were used as extras and/or background characters or as stereotypes. This created a negative view on the Asian community.

“The movie industry should not be focused on making films with more diversity, but making movies with good actors,” is an argument that has been coming from people in and out of the movie business. Hollywood should be focused on making good movies with good actors; but can't those actors be also those of color? This world is filled with different types of people with different skin colors and racial backgrounds. But we are still constantly seeing predominantly white performers on the big screen. As of now, there has been an increasing amount of diversity in television, but movies are still falling behind. Only seven percent of the films had a cast whose balance of ethnic and race reflected the population.While in television it is nineteen percent.But should we really be settling just for that? A study was done by USC students based on 21,000 actors appearing in four hundred films and TV shows from September 2014-August 2015. The ethnic percentages were: 71% white, 12.2% black, 5.8% hispanic/latino, 5.1 Asian, 2.3% Middle Eastern, and 3.1% of other.

We live in a white supremacist society. There is a system set in place that favors white people and it’s been this way since the founding of America. Racism in Hollywood is no different, since its conception Hollywood’s preference for white faces has been clear and continuous. From the 1915 film Birth of a Nation to Cameron Crowe’s 2015 film Aloha, Hollywood’s has proven time and time again that we are not living in a post racial society. Racism within Hollywood can be seen in different forms, from its lack of diversity, negative stereotyping of people of color, and the age old white savior character.

Films and televisions play an important role in shaping the way we think and understand our society, history, and others in everyday lives. Nevertheless, the representations of women, the working class, and racial and ethnic minorities in America are underrepresented in films and televisions relative to their population, and are often portrayed negatively. The articles, “A Plea For More Roseannes and Norma Rase: Addressing The Lack of Working-Class Female Characters on American Screens.” by Rachel Johnson, “Hollywood Asian Stereotypes.” by Zak Keith, and “Racism and the Aesthetic of Hyper Real Violence: Pulp Fiction and Other Visual Tragedies.” by Henry Giroux examine the power of films and televisions and its effects on women, the working class, and racial and ethnic minorities in America.