Examples Of Racism In Entertainment

Racism in Entertainment: Diversity as a Hegemonic Device

Entertainment continues to be a reflection of the racial anxieties present within popular culture; in addition, diverse casting has been used as a tool to camouflage the presence of racial prejudices and stereotypes (minstrelsy) within its programming. Media informs our perceptions of society, and it aids in our value assessments of the multitudinous cultural groups living within it. Though it may be unrealistic for any given entertainment medium to wholly represent every cultural facet of society, it is not unreasonable to expect these venues to more accurately reflect the diversity and values of the communities that they purport to represent. When racial multiformity is presented through

Atlanta is the only series in the Real Housewives franchise that boasts a diverse cast of upper-class African-American socialites. All too often, the producers of ethnically diverse network programs conflate ethnic authenticity with the creation of cultural caricatures that would most likely be associated with a minstrel show. Such framing is a tool of ideological persuasion, and according to author Jennifer L. Pozner, the physical and verbal altercations involving African-American housewives are highly marketed, especially if they involve “the only white cast member, Kim Zolciak” (102). These incidents reinforce prejudicial stereotypes about aggressive and intimidating Black women; further, they portray a combative White female as the hapless victim. Pozner also notes, “DeShawn Snow, head of a girls’ self-esteem foundation, was the only original cast member not asked to return to Atlanta’s second season---because Bravo considered her too dignified” (103). Theoretically, the franchise seeks to present the real behavior of African-American upper-class women, yet it intentionally excluded Snow because she was “too human for a circus show” (103). The producers of RHOA have commodified our cultural anxieties by propagandizing an artificial racial narrative (minstrelsy) as

The circus peddled her as the 160-year-old nursemaid to George Washington, though she was actually half that age. Heth is the antithesis of the hegemonic ideal: Black, female, elderly and blind, making her body ripe for merchandising and objectification (Thomson 59). Barnum even commodified her death by selling tickets to her autopsy for fifty cents (Reiss 1). In an era of racial Darwinism or eugenics, the pseudo-scientific justification for white hegemony, Barnum promoted “What is it?” in advertisements, this character was a Black man who wore exaggerated, animalistic costumes; the character was promoted as the missing evolutionary link between human and primal man (Adams 36). The display of this man was enabled by the enfreakment of the African culture; therefore, Barnum created an entertainment spectacle that preserved the notions of White dominance of cultural supremacy by framing the African diaspora as subordinate. The messages conveyed to the audience were not lost in translation, one spectator opined, “Viewing man in his primitive state--black, half-clad, it occurs to you why you are the only race not on exhibition… the exhibit is for you, and you are the crowning glory of it all” (Bayles