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Essay On Television And Race

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Race refers to the concept of dividing people into groups based on various sets of physical characteristics and the process of ascribing social meaning to those groups, ethnicity describes the culture of people in each geographic region, including their language, heritage, religion, and customs (Teresa, 2019). Racial and ethnic groups are part of society and television plays a significant role in their lifestyle. The media in general are used for a specific purpose, the audience selects the content according to their needs. Television has a great expressive force because it is based on images, this is highly effective to internalize the messages since they get directly into the subconscious. Television has become a daily and necessary element. …show more content…

The derogatory concepts on television towards African Americans date from the eighties when the blackface phenomenon was born, which was used to ridicule the somatic features of the African American community, thanks to the civil rights movements the genre lost interest in popularity however the matter is not completely over. (Dessem, 2020) cites that the single most striking thing about the television industry’s response is just how much of blackface has been on television in the 21st century.
Asian Portrayed on Television
Asian are positioned as a model minority, however, despite how complimentarily this term may seems, it represents a stereotype (Taylor & Stern, 2023). Asian are more likely than members of other minority groups to appear in background roles on television. Many Asian believe that their representation in the media is nothing more than a mocking stereotype that does them a disservice
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when it comes to integrating into society. Quite a few claim to have experienced episodes of racism to the point of not being able to consider themselves actors. The fact of not speaking English without an accent is sometimes considered a barrier to getting leading roles. (Chung, …show more content…

This representation over time, along with intensive media consumption by the majority groups, can lead to the generation of discriminatory attitudes and the last resort to racism. Racism and prejudice are not isolated events that have occurred only in daily life but are part of the broader reality, and television is not an exception to this. We must not forget that much of what we know about the world and society comes from the media, particularly television.
Television does not have to revolve around race, but it must be thoughtful about the sort of representation it portrays. Due to the privileged role that the dominant group has in the media, through television, we can receive messages that could be favorable or excluding and can positively or negatively affect the values of groups that are the object of prejudice. Despite the great promises of investing in diversity and inclusion, the entertainment industry has a long way to go. As I have mentioned, television has a significant impact on society, therefore it should focus on promoting tolerance and acceptance of members of different social status and granting to minority groups roles with greater meaning and a high occupational

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