Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
History of racism in America
Marginalized minorities in the media
Cases of racial inequality in america
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Throughout television’s existence, it has had an extensive impact on American society. It was considered a form of family entertainment when families would converge around the television after dinner and watch shows together. Television would help shape the population, including society’s relationship with race and ethnicity. This form of media changed the way individuals viewed important and controversial social issues such as race.
Before the 1970s, most programs had characters who were Caucasian. Having white characters on television soon became the “standard”. However, when minorities did seldom appear, they were presented as stereotypes. For example, roles such as servants would usually be played by African American actors and warriors would be played by Native American actors. The critics debated that the unfair treatment of minorities in America was the explanation for why there were not any minorities presented on screen. The concerns of minorities in America were ignored for years. In Phillip Brian
…show more content…
Classen’s Watching Jim Crow discusses American American’s obstacles to acquire representation on television programming of Jackson, Mississippi. Classen contests that African American’s “concrete, specific knowledge and memories were ignored, devalued, disqualified, and/or socially dislocated within the ‘nonracial’ processes of administrative law” (Classen, 139). This statement is supported by the complaints from African American individuals from Mississippi that were against both WLBT and WJTV’s programs and the Federal Communications Commission’s reaction. Society in American struggles to accept present-day racism possesses a “racist face” even though when evaluating programs with minority casts the representation is problematic. Television features few types of minority characters such as criminals, hustlers, family member, and crime fighters. Amos and Andy gave the example that they would hustle everyone if they could make money off
The media is a powerful tool and has the ability to influence and change one’s overall perspective of the world and the position they play in it. Although Television shows such as Friday Night Lights are seen as entertainment by consumers, its storyline contributes to the social construction of reality about class in the United States.
Marlon T. Riggs’ video, Color Adjustment, offers the viewer an exciting trip though the history of television, focusing on the representation, or lack thereof, of African-Americans. A perfectly chosen combination of television producers, actors, sociologists, and cultural critics join forces to offer insight and professional opinion about the status of African-Americans in television since the inception of television itself. As Color Adjustment traces the history of television shows from Amos n’ Andy and Julia to "ghetto sitcoms" and The Cosby Show, the cast of television professionals and cultural critics discuss the impacts those representations have on both the African-American community and our society as a whole. Color Adjustment continually asks the question: "Are these images positive?" This video raises the viewer’s awareness about issues of positive images for African-Americans on television.
One of the mediums by which this cultural shift has continually happened is through television. Not only does culture affect choices made by those in the television industry, but popular series and talk shows, whether intentionally or not, name what culturally acceptable regarding many social issues. Television, TV for short, is referring to the telecommunication medium by which ideas are transmitted into moving pictures. The Television industry will be defined as the group of brains behind the creating process of a television show of any genre. Genres each have their own purpose and effect on the audience; talk shows mean to engage, while sitcoms, drams, mini-series, and television comedies are meant to entertain. Regardless of its intentions, each genre of TV has an affect on the people who internalize what they are watching.
I gave several examples where Asian Americans were used to play very simple characters. These roles were defined by stereotypes that exist in America. I also researched instances on counter actions taken by Asian Americans to protest against these negative images. My research also has examples of Asians that have succeeded in breaking through the racial barriers in the media.
1) The representation of African American’s in television has increased greatly since the early 1950’s. Through the years that television has progressed, the view of ethnic and racial groups have improved. From their beginnings as stereotypical roles to primary characters in television, the representation of African Americans have transformed in almost every genre in television. Tracing the development of African Americans through television history helps us to understand the different ways a group of people are represented and how that representation changes as the years go by.
Zinkhan, G., Qualls, W., & Biswas A., (1990). The use of Blacks in magazine and television
Television has changed dramatically since its release. Television, over the years, has also affected society. Television in the 1960s almost only included Caucasian actors. The minorities that did appear in a television show were often played stereotypes. For instance, an African American would play the role as a household servant. The creators of a television show would always assume that their viewers were all white. Most creators felt that people would not want to watch a show about minorities. Television did not start developing television shows about minorities until the 1980s. In 1950s the NAACP often filed lawsuits on television shows that discriminated their actors. The NAACP did not like that minorities could not play lead roles in
“The media serve as a tool that people use to define, measure, and understand American society” (Deo et al., 149). Thinking of the media as a tool for the American people also extends into the realm of race and ethnicity. The United States has had a long and difficult history pertaining to the racial and ethnic identities of the many different people that reside within and outside of it’s borders. That history is still being created and this country still struggles with many of the same problems that have plagued this area since before the founding of the U.S. As stated above, the popular media has a large impact on the way that race and ethnicity are understood by people, especially when considering the prevalence of segregation in the U.S.
Hollywood’s diversity problem is well-known; however, the extent might be surprising to most Americans. According to a 2014 report by the Center for the Study of Women in Television, Film & New Media, found that females comprised only 30% of all speaking characters among the top grossing films of 2013. (Lauzen, 2014) However, minority women faired far worse than their Caucasian counterparts. As a matter of fact, if one looks at the numbers even female characters from other world’s were as better represented in film than some minority women; the numbers are as follow for women: Caucasian (73%), African American (14%), Latina (5%), Asian and other world tied (3%). (Lauzen, 2014) If the lack of representation were not enough consider a 2009 study which found that when minority groups are portrayed on television the portrayal tends to be negative. (Alexandrin, 2009) A study by Busselle and Crandall (2009) found that the manner in which African-Americans are portrayed, often as unemployed criminals, tends to have an influence on the way the public perceives African-American’s lack of economic success. Furthermore, the news media does an equally poor job in the ways that African-American’s are presented; according to the same study while 27% of Americans were considered “poor” in 1996 the images of America’s “poor” being presented by news media was heavily Black (63%). (Busselle & Crandall, 2002) Today, this can be seen in the way that African-American victims of police brutality are depicted in the media. Even when African-Americans are murdered at the hands of police for minor and non-violent offenses (e.g. Mike Brown, Eric Gardner, and Tamir Rice) they are often portrayed as thugs, criminals, and vandals. What’s more, seve...
The subject of race relations has been one of much controversy over the years. Though America prided itself on industrial advancements and being ahead of many other countries in several aspects, it was surprisingly slow in the aspect of improving race relations. With so many differing viewpoints, race relations were a tough and controversial issue that seemed to have a permanently negative impact on American life and culture, which they did until only a few decades ago. W.E.B. Du Bois, Richard Wright, and Gunnar Myrdal reinforce this statement through their individual essays, each of which deal with the subject, but through differing concerns. All three works were written regarding southern America, but each offers a separate viewpoint. If there’s one thing these essays have in common, though, it is that race relations in the early and mid-1900s were harsher than public opinion would have one believe.
At the end of the NPR article they discuss the problem between keeping television shows diverse, “without amplifying the problems of stereotyping and prejudice” (Feld). Television shows feel that in order to a successful show with diversity, the people need to be cast-typed or take on every stereotype that is associated with that particular race or gender. The Erigha article discusses how, “many of actors were type-casted, or put in racialized roles, that fit their ethnicity” and some of these people do not necessarily fit that type, “they used Asian Actors as an example, many of the actors that were born in America, were asked to speak in a Chinese accent.”
Race Televised: America's BabysitterAt some point in the course of human events, America decided that the television was their Dali Lama, their cultural and spiritual leader. Overlooking its obvious entertainment based purpose, Americans have let the television baby-sit and rear their children. I do not recall a manifesto from the television industry, but society put television in a role it does not have authority in. The only thing television set out to do was provide the passive entertainment American society wants. True, television does not accurately reflect race in America, but it is not the job of the television industry to do so. Too much importance has been put on television to provide guidance and information that American society has grown too lazy and too indifferent to find for themselves.
Since the country’s beginning, race, gender, and class have been very important factors in a person’s experience in the United States of America. The meaning of race, gender differences, and the separation of class have changed over United States history. For many Americans, their perceptions of class and race and the degree to which gender affect people’s lives, often depends on what their race, gender, and class are, too. There are differences between the reality of America, what is represented as American reality in media, and the perceived reality of America. Americans as well as those looking at America from an outside perspective may have questions and confusions regarding what the real connections are to race, class, and gender are in America. The paper tries to clarify and explore how these issues connect and play out in real life.
Television is undoubtedly the most important communication medium in today’s world. It touches young and old, rich and poor, learned and illiterate. It possesses an amazing power to influence millions of individuals with particular message. Therefore, its effects have attracted so much attention from children, adolescents, young viewers, parents, educators, social scientist, religious scholars’ and anyone else who is concerned with society.
According to Winn, television affects families because it changes their way of living life. Two changes are with the family relationships and with the individuals in the households. Television diminishes the family relationship among family members. In Winn’s article, she argues against a statement from a television critic in 1949 that television would bring families together and argues against the statement, saying that a “…multiple-set family was something the early writings did not foresee.” (Winn, p. 439). In other words, she argues that television harms...