Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Depiction of women in movies
Essays about film sexism
Stereotypes of women in cinema
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Depiction of women in movies
It’s unarguable; Movies and television are prominently white. When you turn on the tv, it’s more likely a pretty white woman and a clean cut white man. When you see movie trailers, it’s strong white men carrying out dangerous orders and saving the day. This is just an accepted truth of American media. Why don’t we pay more attention to this? Do people not realize that there are people other than white? That white skin is not the standard canvas on which to splash the beautiful colors of on-screen personality upon? Minorities in our country make up 38% of America. 19 out of 50 people a culturally rich background, a story waiting to be shared. While minority groups make up 38%, only an infinitesimal 6.5%-8% of minorities are casted in television roles. Why is this? Because only white people are talented enough to memorize lines and convince an audience that they’re a different person? We seem to believe this, because the percentage of minorities with television and movie leads have gone from a slim 16.7% to an even worse 12.9%. Evidently, this is a rising problem. Minorities continue to be overlooked for parts, regardless of …show more content…
The Broadway musical that’s sweeping Americans off their feet with instantaneously charming lyrics, relatable characters, and a captivating take on American history. There’s nothing to dislike in this uproarious hit. But yet, people manage to nitpick down to one thing; the racial diversity of this musical masterpiece. Starring a Puerto Rican lead, a biracial Founding Father, and a Chinese-American Elizabeth Hamilton, people shifted in their seats. Apparently, this shift wasn’t too uncomfortable, because seats continued to fill. And fill. Shows sold out, people flooded Broadway Street, souls were sold in order to get a ticket to this revolutionary musical. This led to the enormous success of the musical, one of the biggest hits in history. Why not replicate this result by casting a culturally diverse
In this essay Mura expresses his anger towards the Broadway production Miss Saigon. Mura “protest . . . [actor equality] against the producer’s casting . . . [Mura] felt disturbed that again a white actor, the British Jonathan Pryce, was playing
I think this play is a lot about what does race mean, and to what extent do we perform race either onstage or in life:
As in all genres, the musicals have had its share of failures. Some worthy dramas have been pressed into service and musicalized and sometimes butchered in the process, and audiences have had to watch a fine play diluted into a mediocre musical. But the successes have been many and spectacular and they have left a long lasting effect on the American art and culture.
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.
Many people in America like to think that racial stereotyping and racism is a thing of the past, but racial stereotyping is still prominent in America. Although racial stereotyping and racism significantly slowed down, it still remains a major factor in American society. In “The End of Post-Identity Television,” Aymar Jean Christian argues the fact that race is not a major factor in casting characters in a television series or a movie, he reveals that race is not relevant anymore. In Michael Omi’s “In Living Color: Race and American Culture,” he argues how racial stereotyping and racism still exist in America. The Cosby Show seeked to change racial stereotyping in television by portraying an upper-middle class African American family. The Cosby Show attempted to break barriers for African Americans in television and did so by paving the way for other major African American based sitcoms. “The End of Post-Identity
Woll, Allen L and Randall M Miller. Ethnic and Racial Images in American Film and Television: Historical Essays and Bibliography. n.d. Print.
In Shohat and Stam’s article, Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and the media (2013), they discuss the issue of racism within the media and entertainment industry, such as Hollywood films. More importantly, Shohat and Stam’s discuss the assertion of racial politics in casting within the Hollywood films industry. The interesting idea to their argument is that they suggest that for a film to become financially successful, the casting of the protagonist must consist of a white star as they are seen to be ethnically universal (Shohat & Stam, 190). They further suggest that the ethnic minority have been limited to designated roles which ultimately perpetuate their ethnic stereotype (Shohat & Stam, 190). They concern this issue by critically analysing and contrasting western Hollywood films against other ethnic films.
The musicals that were produced around that time period were meant to be strictly for entertainment, for the most part. It was a very brave move for the creative team of this musical to tackle themes like racism, violence, and death. The risk definitely paid off, because even today West Side Story still remains a very popular musical. The main message that this show is trying to convey to the audience is that it shouldn’t take a horrible tragedy to finally unite people. Just because someone may not look the same way you do, or act the same way, or share your same belief system, that doesn’t mean you have to be fearful of them. Instead we should try our hardest to embrace the fact that this world would be a very boring place without a little diversity, and it’s ok to celebrate the things that make us
African American representation in the film industry has always been a topic for discussion. Whether talking about character types and roles, the actors being cast or not cast, and the lack of diversity in front of and behind the camera. ‘The contemporary status of race in mainstream American culture is intimately bound to the process of representation within and through the mass media.’ (Rocchio, 2000, p. 4). Any role that was to be played by an African American kept in with the dominant stereotypes of the time of production; incompetent, child like, hyper-sexualised or criminal.
While looking/flipping through channels you can see on almost every show that there is more White people than any other race. Although some may state that even though there may seem to be more shows with more White people, there is still not that large of a difference between White and other races. According to PBS News Hour, 73.1% of TV is White, 12.5% is Black, 5.3% is Asian, 4.9% is Hispanic, and 4.2% is a mix of all other races (Santhanam). This 46.2% difference between White and the rest of the world is outrageous. There is no excuse for this large of a
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.”
The 2000s/ 2010s brought in a wave of movie musicals- adapted from the stage shows. These brought new audiences into the theatre world, and for the first time in 20 years, brought a love to some of the timeless musicals. With slightly altered songs to appeal to a newer audience, these films brought in much needed money into the industry, with films including: Les Misérables, Phantom of the Opera, Rent, Hairspray, Mamma Mia, Fame- and many more. Together with this, musicals began to push the concept of the songs in them, with a wave of new styles being written. Rap musicals such as ‘Hamilton’ and ‘In The Heights’, Pop musicals including ‘Waitress’ and ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ and Rock musicals of ‘American Idiot’ and ‘Spring Awakening’. Together they pushed boundaries of a ‘traditional’ musical theatre sound, and brought in something never before seen. Due to the influence of ‘Rent’, controversial issues and themes began to be explored more, such as Teen suicide, Murder, Ethnic barriers and everything else, which brought with them, a world of opportunities. It was clear that musical theatre was once again showing for a promising
Every base movie that I selected has little to no characters of color. Even looking for background actors who are of color or non-European is a challenge. Priest is the only movie that has an actor of color, and he has a very small part. The Way He Looks goes completely against the rule of casting majority white actors.
It could be seen that addressing it through black-face has greatly influenced its’ white audiences in their perceptions of their
For example, in David Henry Hwang’s opera we see a breakdown of common stereotypes within the Asian culture and a new appreciation from an Asian American perspective concerning the nuts and bolts of what the standard Asian man was made out to be. Though this may seem like a minuscule play with little impact on the rest of the theatrical world. But in all actuality this was only the beginning of an immense number of plays that expressed a new outlook emerging in the Western World. Every group should have the right to take the stage and express their talents within the realm of acting, writing, production, music or any other component of theatrical art. Through the medium of theatre many groups can express their opinions on racism, sexism, violence within relationships and challenge the ideal for what society makes them out to be.