“You may wonder, ‘Do I matter? Does society value me as a person?’” (Ramón qtd. In Boboltz and Yam n.pag). These types of questions arise when individuals consume media that lacks one fundamental ingredient to creating high self-esteem: a good role model. To support this, Zeba Blay, a black film critic working with the Huffington Post, shared about her experiences growing up and how she was faced with the harmful issue of gross under-representation of her race in the media (Bobolz and Yam n.pag). It wasn’t until Blay witnessed Melanie Brown (of the Spice Girls) being “unapologetically loud and unapologetically fierce” (Blay qtd. In Bolotz and Yam n.pag) on television, that she felt truly empowered and inspired to do amazing things. This one …show more content…
The idea that underrepresentation is a substantial issue in American society has been challenged by a number of contestants, but the primary argument they are making is simply unsupported and has been created with an obvious lack of knowledge on the subject. One of the biggest arguments that people make is that the underrepresentation of minorities is no longer an issue, and that, in the modern day, minorities are, in fact, represented in the media. As Katrina Encanto of Thrive Global Journal quotes the opposition by recalling, “this isn’t a problem anymore. Things are getting better for minorities” (Encanto n.pag), she also goes further to elaborate on the issue Of course, the misrepresentation of minorities in the media can be almost as damaging as having no representation at all. Two highly acclaimed authors and reporters for the Huffington Post go into detail on the issue by communicating that “for years, researchers have counted and recounted the vast population of bodies making up content in TV and film, only to find, again and again, that the industry’s struggle to represent people of color, women and other groups the way we see them in real life ― as people with likes and dislikes, habits and whims, hopes and fears ― is endemic” (n.pag).