How has the media’s portrayal of a monolithic black experience affected African Americans? Jeressia Williamson University of Memphis (1) Introduction Portrayal in the media can have a tremendous affect on the way a person or a group of people is perceived by the world. This paper will focus on how the depictions of African Americans in the media have created a monolithic image of the group, and further, shaped the treatment of said persons. Although blackness has typically been defined very loosely with such methods as the one-drop rule stating that a person who has a single drop of black blood is black, today’s definition of blackness is synonymous with whatever the media suggests it is. Any black person perceived to be stepping away from the image carved out by the media is labeled as less than black. Meanwhile, any black person who lives his or her life in a similar fashion to the way the media suggests is supposedly reinforcing negative stereotypes. The constant scrutiny by one’s own peers and others outside of the race has put African Americans in a very odd position. Literature Review In Dr. Patricia Hopskins’ article, “Deconstructing Good Times and The Cosby Show: In Search of My “Authentic” Black Experience”, Hopskins examines what the true black experience in America should look like. She takes two very popular television shows, their ratings, and their critics, and she attempts to see which is most the authentic black lifestyle. During her research, she encountered a problem that she suspected she would have; she could not decide which show was the closest to being authentically black because there is no such thing as a single black lifestyle (Hopskins, 2012 ). “Satire's Cruelest Cut: Exorcising B... ... middle of paper ... ...ywood's racial casting issue. CNN. Retrieved April 29, 2014, from http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/28/showbiz/movies/hunger-games-black-actors/ • Hopskins, P. (2012). Deconstructing Good Times and The Cosby Show : In Search of My ''Authentic'' Black Experience. Journal of Black Studies, 43(7), 432-446. • Abcarian | This post has been corrected. (2014, February 14). Just as we thought: Richie Incognito bullied Jonathan Martin. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 29, 2014, from http://articles.latimes.com/2014/feb/14/local/la-me-ra-report-miami-dolphins-jonathan-martin-bullied-by-richie-incognito--20140214 • Trayvon Martin Shooting Fast Facts. (2014, February 22). CNN. Retrieved April 26, 2014, from http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/05/us/trayvon-martin-shooting-fast-facts/ • II, R. W. (2008). Barack Obama and the Complicated Boundaries of Blackness. The Black Scholar, 38(1), 55-61.
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The essay of Debra Dickerson’s “Who Shot Johnny?” she explains how Americans only see the gangster, uneducated, homeless, careless black community and doesn’t
“Leave it to Beaver” was a popular sitcom about a traditional nuclear family played out through the perspective of an adolescent boy whose curiosity and antics often got him into trouble (TV.com). Despite the show promoting positive family values, it also inadvertently shed light on a historically dark period of time in American history. One such instance was the lack of diversity on the show. Nearly 100% of the show’s characters were white throughout the six-season, 234 episode series. In the single episode that depicted an African-American, the character was a servant, further a reflection of the times when African-Americans where predominantly seen and treated as second-class citizens (Leaveittobeaver.org). However, this 1950’s ideal serves as a reference point to what typical families looked like and how vastly different they look now.
Since its start, the television industry has been criticized for perpetuating myths and stereotypes about African-Americans through characterizations, story lines, and plots. The situation comedy has been the area that has seemed to draw the most criticism, analysis, and disapproval for stereotyping. From Sanford and Son and The Jefferson’s in the 1970s to The Cosby Show (1984) and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in the 1990s, sitcoms featuring black casts and characters have always been controversial. However, their significance upon our American culture cannot be disregarded. During the 1950s and 1960s, 97% of the families were Caucasian. In the first five years of the 1990s, nearly 14% of the television families were African-American (Bryant 2001). These statistics obviously show the substantial impact our American culture has had on African-American television families.
The popular American Television Show from 1990-1996, “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, represents the African-American community differently than the Caucasian community. “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” tells of a tale of a poor youth from West-Philadelphia who moves in with his aunt and uncle in the rich community of Bel-Air, California. The main character as described, Will Smith, learns a lot about where he is and what type of lifestyle he grew up in and how they differ. Will’s friend, “Jazz”, is from Compton, California and is often booted off the property (literally) by Will’s uncle, Phillip Banks. “Jazz” is from a rough neighborhood and his behaviors are often looked down upon
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.
Besides, in cultivation theory, George Gerbner proposes that heavy users of media treat the content of media as a primary source to perceive the world and assert what they see in media is very similar to the reality (Bryant, Thompson and Finklea, 2013), so there is a high possibility that audience will bring the perception of stereotyped portrayals of African-American from media into the real world. Based on the above unhealthy situations, this paper is going to illustrate how the racial stereotypes in media negatively affect people’s perception, attitude and behavior toward African American in the reality....
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When studying the black diaspora within the United States, the story typically starts with the classic slave narratives including those of Frederick Douglass and Mary Price and ends with the affirmative action decisions of the late 1990s. History tells the story of an internal racial identity struggle through the institutions of slavery and oppression, resistance and rebellion, cultural reawakening and civil rights which evokes the question: what does it mean to be African American? Aaron McGruder’s animated series The Boondocks creates a context to consider the question of what it means to be an African American today and discusses the institutions that are now molding the African American identity. McGruder criticizes the idea of a black monolithic identity through the use of hyper-exaggerated stereotypes and a medium typically reserved for children to make satirical commentary. This disintegration of the idea of a homogenous black diaspora identity opens the door for conversations of race and identity to be had in a wider context.
Good Times is an American sitcom that starred a poor, African-American family, the Evans, living in the projects of south side Chicago in the 70s. The show followed the everyday lives of the family as Florida and James Evans raised their three children-- Thelma, JJ, and Michael. Good Times touched on real controversial issues of the time with humor from an African-American standpoint. Topics such STD’s among young people, gun violence, crime, adoption and many more were subjects brought to the homes of fans. It has been nearly 40 years since Good Times last aired, and the problems addressed on the show are still prevalent today. These matters have remained of concern over the years and although progress has been initiated there is still a long road towards improvement in society through change.
...cy." Western Journal Of Black Studies 28.1 (2004): 327-331. Academic Search Premier. Web. 18 Sept. 2013.
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Based on the novel of the same name by E.L. Doctorow, Ahrens and Flaherty’s Ragtime is a compelling epic capturing the American experience at the turn of the 20th century. Tracking three diverse families in pursuit of the American dream in the volatile “melting pot” of turn-of-the-century New York, Ragtime confronts the dialectic contradictions inherent in American reality: experiences of wealth and poverty, freedom and prejudice, hope and despair. Over the course of the show, the worlds of a wealthy white couple, a Jewish immigrant father, and his motherless daughter, and an African American ragtime musician intertwine. Together, they discover the surprising interconnections of the human heart, the limitations of justice and the unsettling
As we can see the images portrayed in the media affect the way children view others and view themselves, therefore it is essential to engage children ‘in critical examination when it comes to the books they read, the television they watch, the films they see, and the video games they play (48) and their other activities? (Tatum, 2003, p. 239)’ In last weeks readings, Tatum indicates that due to lack of positive images on the mainstream media, the subordinate group eventually acts as they are portrayed in the media by the dominate group. Children of color are aware that they are not like the people portrayed in the media, but don’t know how what it means to be “black”. Both in the readings and in the videos we learned that children of color