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Diversity within the movie industry essay
Effects of media on racial and gender stereotyping
Diversity within the movie industry essay
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In Marlon Riggs’ 1992 documentary film titled Color Adjustment, Riggs, the Emmy winning producer of Ethnic Notions, continues his studies of prejudice in television. The documentary film looks at the years between 1948 and 1988 to analyze how over a 40 year period, race relations are viewed through the lens of prime time entertainment. The film examined many of television’s stereotypes and mythes and how they changed over the years. The one hour and twenty-two minute documentary is narrated by Ruby Dee, the American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and civil rights activist.
In the sixties, segregation and racism dominated in most social settings. In the seventies, most minorities were trying to deter from old beliefs of prejudicial ideas. In modern times, minorities have equal rights and respect to their white counterparts. Four sitcoms, Amos ’n’ Andy, Julia, Sanford and Son, and The Cosby Show depict how the role of minorities changed throughout different time periods. First of all, in the 1950’s, African Americans had few roles in television sitcoms, but when they were offered parts, it consisted of stereotypical portrayals of characters being lazy, simple, or holding domestic servant roles.
In the essay “The Bachelor/Bachelorette’s White Elephant” Thea Kim makes the argument for the inclusion or exclusion of minorities or in this case, people of color such as black Americans and Asians in two major television shows, The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. According to Thea Kim, in this essay, it is evident that each of the two television shows do not include people of color. This is evident, as both the Bachelor and the Bachelorette have never had a person of color as their main characters or even as the hosts of either show. The exclusion of people of color depicts the shows as being racist and as well as being opposed to interracial relationships and marriages (Lim 1). According to the reading, the inclusion of people of color
Stereotypes in media have been around since the earliest cartoons were drawn. The media gives supposedly identifying traits with images of the stingy Jewish man, the single Hispanic woman cleaning homes to raise her three children, and the “butch” lesbian falling for the beautiful blonde who just happens to glance at her every day in the hallway. These portrayals make up general knowledge about minorities for a lot of people, but their accuracy is questionable at best. While production companies have been making strides towards the better, insufficient representation in the media tends to portray minorities as their negative stereotypes rather than as people.
The year is 2016 and American society is open-minded to so many issues, except televised stereotypes. Racial and gender stereotypes are continually reinforced by social media and television, it has played a major role in the way society views one another. Enabling stereotypes that have been associated with a person of specific race or gender in the media promotes prejudice. Meaning society expects that person to act a certain way based on what they have witnessed on television or social media. . A perfect example of how television shows incorporate stereotypes based on ethnicity is the tv show “Everybody Hates Chris “which is about a working class African-American family that lives in a poor urban neighborhood in New York.
Despite the Hispanic princess conservancy, it true that the media has everything to do with the problem, since it frustrating knowing that each “ethnic” group must wait their turn to have some sort of representation on Television but in a positive way. According to Raul A. Reyes a CNN news writer, Latinos get nothing but negative attention “A 2012 study by the National Hispanic Media Coalition found that TV shows and films often contributed to the public 's negative perception of Latinos. In fact, the Coalition found that the top three ways that non-Latinos viewed Latinos in the media were as criminals, gardeners and maids.” Meaning that instead of providing positive inspiring views about Latinos the media tends to do the opposite. In other
Hazell, V., and J. Clarke. " Race and Gender in the Media: A Content Analysis of Advertisements in Two Mainstream Black Magazines.
Minorities have made significant strides towards equality in American society. In America the minority groups are being stereotype due to their ethnicity. The media has had a significant impact in passing the stereotypes to the work that have convey negative impressions about certain ethnic groups. Minorities have been the victim of an industry that relies on old ideas to appeal to the "majority" at the expense of a minority group ideals (Horton, Price, and Brown 1999). Stereotypes have been portraying negative characteristics of ethnic group in general.
In America, Media bias is everywhere, in the United States all the information that an average American received through everyday sources, the news was most likely processed through the media and told through a biased point of view, when the media gets their hands on news if it is important then it probably won’t be talked about or downplayed no matter the source like in the newspaper, radio, television, movies, as well as other outlets that the media uses, the media only seems to share the news that they find interesting, even then the media would most likely have changed the story, in what they say is just tweaked news, what actually happened and what really happened would be two different stories, also the story would be told from one person
“By 1960, 90 percent of U.S. homes owned one” (Phruksachart, 100). The statistic this quote is referring to this the rise of televisions in America. Recently, television has taken steps in an effort to include more diversity in their shows an example of this is seen in ABC’s Fresh Off the Boat. Following the life of Eddie Huang, a middle schooler who has just moved from Chinatown in DC to a predominantly white neighborhood in Florida, Fresh Off the Boat is a sitcom that that showcases some struggles immigrant families face. The show brings the question, are these inclusive shows being handled correctly?
Many people are exposed to various forms of media, including movies, television shows, and plays, from an early age. For example, theater, film, and media. These outlets can provide opportunities for underrepresented and marginalized communities to have their stories told and provide a platform for individuals who are otherwise excluded from mainstream media. If individuals from diverse backgrounds are represented positively within these groups, it can contribute to the reduction of stereotypes and biases that form the basis of discrimination. Positive representations of people from diverse backgrounds can also promote understanding and empathy for those who are different from ourselves.
In addition, ethnic diversity in the media is another form of stereotype. Pamela Newkirk, a professor of journalism at New York University argues that “the nation 's newsrooms remain dominated by whites and that journalists who are members of racial minority groups continue to face bias and discrimination from their colleges.” Many reporters of color argue that they often feel prejudiced and unwelcome. The [2002] survey released by the American Society of Newspaper Editors show that “America’s newsrooms are still 88 percent white...journalist of color has remained stagnant at roughly 12 percent despite the fact that racial minority comprise more than 30 percent of national population.” Many feel that their credibility are always questioned
Web. 17 Mar. 2018. Ryan, Maureen. "Why TV Is Finally Embracing the Realities of Race." Variety.
Take “the Last Airbender” for instance, the three main characters Aang, Katara, and Sokka were all reputably Asian and Inuit characters in the cartoon version, but thanks to Hollywood they miraculously changed races and became all white. Not only that but the leading minority Dev Patel played the character of Zuko which is the villain in the movie, coincidence I think not. It’s disgusting, with evidence like this I must ask is the media industry promoting airbending or racebending? It’s unfortunate that the only time minorities are incorporated into a film is when the role of “the bad guy,” the role of the “supportive best friend” to a white lead, the role of simply a stereotype needing to be filled for humorous effect is open. I am Asian but I can see perfectly fine.
Diversity in the media will bring awareness to situations that are happening in communities that not everyone is accessible to that, in turn, can better those circumstances. Due to the lack of diversity in the media, it has put a strain in minority communities which Nam goes on to quote Dori J. Maynard, “Lacking these voices, the ability of the media to serve the public interest is itself compromised. ‘The news media is not only failing to serve the communities, but the country at large when they fail to reflect what’s going on in communities of color,” said the late Dori J. Maynard, former President of the Robert C.’(Nam par.2) and the causes the media to fail in not informing people everything that's going on but Instead picks and chooses what they
