Minorities in the Media
As I was watching an episode of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (A quality show by the way), I couldn't help but think of last week's lectures given by Prof. Nesbitt-Larking and Prof. Gibson regarding minority representation and presentation in the media. Especially the bit about minorities usually portrayed in stereotypical, demeaning or villainous roles. In a recent episode, it was basically about an Indo-Pakistani serial rapist who went around raping girls of all backgrounds in his college dorm. The victims who belonged to groups who were non-white were portrayed as weak, traditional, and being disowned by their hyper-conservative families, while the others were portrayed as tough "survivors". In addition, there was the usual rough housing from the formerly gangster turned cop African American (Ice-T), and angry thuggish behaviour from a Hispanic cop, along with the level headedness of the Caucasian cops Stabler and Benson, and the meek, quiet role provided by the unit's resident FBI forensic psychologist, George Huang, an Asian.
It's interesting to think that despite being in a progressive and more knowledgeable society, different groups are neatly slotted into particular roles, not unlike minority portrayals 20-30 years ago. The minority characters may wear the latest fashions, but they are still subjected to the type-casting befitting their ethnic stereotype.
Thoughts?
It's interesting to think that despite being in a progressive and more knowledgeable society, different groups are neatly slotted into particular roles, not unlike minority portrayals 20-30 years ago. The minority characters may wear the latest fashions, but they are still subjected to the type-casting befitting their ethnic stereotype.
Thoughts?
posted by Anonymous at 10:54 AM
3 Comments:
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As I was watching 24 yesterday, it was very clear how Americans stereotype various ethnic groups, in both media and government. In the show, the president was discussing response and media strategies to terrorist attacks. At one point, someone says it is most probable that the various middle eastern countries' governments are involved in the attacks somehow, and if they want to act "barbaric" and backwards then America will bomb their nations. The use of "barbaric" brought me back to last week's discussion on the middle east and the Islamic faith.
I think that ethnic profiling ("random" security checks) and the media are both perpetuating this incredibly large social problem of stereotyping.
Nothing has really changed if you ask me. Look at a show like COPS to see racialized concepts of good vs evil. Or turn on BET - it's owned by Viacom, a conglomerate that was owned by CBS. You think black people have control over what is on this channel? When Bob Johnson sold the channel several years back to Viacom, all the black news shows, or shows which dealt with current issues in black communities were taken off. If this isn't a sign of the intentional dumbing down of the channel by the corporation i don't know what is.
Most of the successful black actors on TV made it through intitially acting in gangster films (Omar Epps, Larenz Tate), being a comic or made it through rap (Ice T). The most popular black comic of our time, Dave Chapelle, sold record breaking amounts of DVD's by stereotyping black people. Who bought most of the DVD's? Materialistic hip hop is pumped out by the corporations, and independent music is almost blacklisted. Minorities in the media may exist on the screen, but giant steps need to be taken in the boardrooms for anything to change.
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