The Effect of Minority Underrepresentation in Hollywood on American Adolescents Dougherty Valley High School Word Count: 1320 EFFECT OF MINORITY UNDERREPRESENTATION IN HOLLYWOOD 2 The Effect of Minority Underrepresentation in Hollywood on American Adolescents The 88th Academy Awards were notably filled with controversy - with a multitude of excellent minority performances and deserving nominations, very few people of minorities were nominated (Gray, 2016). This led to many prominent minority figures in the entertainment industry to boycott these Oscars. However, the host of the Oscars was Chris Rock, a black comedian. Rock’s opening monologue was full of references to the racism in Hollywood, and he essentially took a bipartisan political stance, …show more content…
Lee asserts that while minority underrepresentation runs rampant in Hollywood, the minorities that are in films are generally very positively received, therefore, the entire argument of minority underrepresentation does not matter. However, according to Leigh Donaldson, acclaimed University of Michigan journalism and political science alumnus, the argument has implications in real life. Donaldson argues that the negative portrayal of minorities in media, in particular, African Americans, has led to negative consequences in real life and society pertaining to minorities and black individuals (Donaldson, 2015). The fact that the under-representation and misrepresentation of minorities in Hollywood has a real life effect in EFFECT OF MINORITY UNDERREPRESENTATION IN HOLLYWOOD 6 society refutes any argument like the one Lee brings up; the issue of minority underrepresentation does matter as it stretches beyond Hollywood, like President Obama asserts. Although the American entertainment industry is self-aware of the discrimination and underrepresentation of minorities specifically in Hollywood, it is specific voices within and outside the industry that impact the view that adolescents have on the topic. If Hollywood