Political Correctness In The Entertainment Industry

558 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Influence of media on politics

In today’s age, all forms of communication surround people, whether it be phones, televisions, or computers, humans are in perpetual communication with each other. Humans are known as a social species and for the most part rely on interaction between others, but we live in a world where people will take advantage of communication. Currently our culture is experience a phenomenon referred to as political correctness or PC. Political correctness, as taken from the Merriam-Webster dictionary, means “conforming to a belief that language and practices which could offend political sensibilities (as in matters of sex or race) should be eliminated”. Political correctness seems like a good idea at first but there are problems with it. Political correctness is affecting entertainment, …show more content…

While political correctness continues to be prevalent in our culture it will continue to affect certain aspects of it. A large aspect of our culture is the entertainment industry in general. A large problem on how political correctness is affecting the entertainment industry is the idea that studio decide to simply insert a random diverse actor in a role and expect that to be okay. A few examples of this trend are the recent Ghostbuster film where all the male roles were replaced by females, Idris Elba, an African-American, being cast as the main character of Stephen King’s the Dark Tower movie adaptation when the character is originally white, and the casting of minorities in lead roles for the recent Star Wars films. In fact, many of these examples are with good intentions. Studios are

Show More
Related

  • Minorities and Film

    1324 Words  | 3 Pages

    It’s September, the kids are back in school, and it’s time for another new season of television. Another round of must see Felicity, Friends, and Frasier, with a side of ER and some Nash Bridges for dessert. Loads and loads of Caucasian males and females making us laugh, and cry. What you do not see are Black, Hispanic, or other minorities making us laugh, and cry. In this day and age, where everyone gets a fair shot at doing what they really love, the same can not be said for minorities in the film industry. More and more minorities are being turn away in favor of Caucasian actors. It’s not only actors that are feeling the pinch, its also writers, directors, producers, and network execs.

    Read More

  • White Chicks: Film Analysis

    1681 Words  | 4 Pages

    In today’s society, pre-existing assumptions and stereotypes of other ethnicities and individuals play a large part in the way we see others. This social construct of stereotypes has placed restrictions on many people’s lives which ultimately limits them from achieving certain goals. In this sense, stereotypes misrepresent and restrict people of colour to gain casting within the Hollywood film industry. The issue of how casting actors to certain roles and how these actors are forced to submit and represent these false stereotypes is one worthy of discussion. White Chicks (2004), directed by Keenan Wayans, illustrates this issue through the performance of Latrell, performed by Terry Crews, and his performance of the hyper-sexualised “buck” will be a prime example in this essay to discuss the racial politics and stereotypes in Hollywood casting.

    Read More

  • Race In The Movie: Crash, By Paul Haggis

    716 Words  | 2 Pages

    There was no political correctness in this movie, creating an environment that has great impact. The ugliest character, Officer Ryan, is abusive on the beat and is hard to work with, but still his coworkers have his back. At home he cares for his aging father, and in an attempt to secure better healthcare benefits, he verbally abuses an African American social worker, who has him escorted out. At movie’s end it is the social worker we see in a fender bender spouting racial slurs at the Middle Eastern person who hit

    Read More

  • Can Pro-diversity Television Program Influence a Change in Preschooler’s Attitudes Towards Race?

    1320 Words  | 3 Pages

    In fact for the past three years networks like Fox, FX, and Fox Searchlight Studios have been holding periodic “diversity sessions”, during which they pitch roles for minority characters for their upcoming shows (Deggens, 2013). The results of these sessions vary from changing an existing Caucasian character’s ethnicity to pushing for strong roles designed specially for an actor of color. This routine is rooted in their business concept that an increase in diversity will attract younger viewers and produce stronger ratings (Deggens, 2013). In the past year, some critics have been skeptical of these sessions, as this past fall Fox released a series called Dads, in which all jokes surrounding the minority-race actors are based on ...

    Read More

  • Racial Diversity In Pop Culture

    720 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although we have taken monumental strides in the past fifty years towards racial equality and diversity, it is still commonly argued that popular culture lacks some sort of racial representation. In the United States, the people who live here are vastly diverse when it comes to race and culture, yet in the media people of color get marginalized and stereotyped everyday in film, music, and etc.

    Read More

  • Essay On Political Correctness

    770 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...2009) political correctness build an inclusive society in which people from diverse backgrounds are offered equal opportunities. Another article that defend political correctness talk about the people who are against this movement don’t want to be polite or civil to the people different from them, the important thing to this people is to do what they want when they want even though they used hurtful word they don’t care(angry black woman 2007). This article end by saying political correctness is very important to the language and we need to fight for it so let’s make sure people use it. Allan Goldstein has the same opinion as the two authors before he said that ” political correctness is a small price to pay for keeping the peace between large groups of outraged people” he means people don’t like political correctness but we need it so the people can live peacely.

    Read More

  • Hollywood 's Diversity Problem : Film And New Media

    950 Words  | 2 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Political Correctness Has Gone Too Far

    1119 Words  | 3 Pages

    Changing a man’s career name from trashman to custodial engineer is an example that is justifiable and is why political correctness was brought about. It is the oversensitive effort to numb out historical content, which is neither offensive nor demeaning, which leads me to believe that political correctness has gone too far and needs to be stopped.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Movie ' War Room '

    1042 Words  | 3 Pages

    Those who deny the existence of the racism rooted into modern day Hollywood are far from reality. They may think that in the United States we are getting closer to equality when it comes to casting but we in fact are not. While there is the belief that America has progressed when it comes to social issues, the percentage of roles held by black actors in film and TV has dropped from 15 to 13 percent from the early 2000’s to 2011 (McClintock and Apello 2).

    Read More

  • Stereotypes In Hollywood Film

    1000 Words  | 2 Pages

    While watching movies, have you ever noticed that the villains in almost every single Hollywood film are of Middle Eastern or European descent? In a reoccurring theme of Hollywood, the villains in these films are almost always foreigners or people of color. This is a stereotype. On the other side of the spectrum, we often see that the heroes of these films are most often than not white males. This is another stereotype. Within the last few years, we’ve seen actors such as Will Smith, Morgan Freeman, and Zoe Saldana take the lead roles, so it can’t be said that there are no non-white heroes, but there certainly isn’t many. Hollywood action movies, moreover than other genres, are typically loaded with an abundance of stereotypes. The way these movies are composed and structured can tell us a great deal about the views held within the American psyche and who holds the social power. The harsh reality is that the media ultimately sets the tone for societal standards, moralities, and images of our culture. Many consumers of media have never encountered some of the minorities or people of color shown on screen, so they subsequently depend on the media and wholeheartedly believe that the degrading stereotypes represented on the big screen are based on fact and not fiction. Mary Beltran said it best when she stated in her “Fast and Bilingual: Fast & Furious and the Latinization of Racelessness” article, “ultimately, Fast & Furious mobilizes notions of race in contradictory ways. It reinforces Hollywood traditions of white centrism, reinforcing notions of white male master while also dramatizing the figurative borders crossed daily by culturally competent global youth – both Latino and non-Latino” (77). This paper will specifically look...

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Diversity On Television

    1074 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.”

    Read More

  • Political Correctness and Language

    905 Words  | 2 Pages

    for it to be construed as offensive. I would hope that a person in this

    Read More

  • Political Correctness Essay

    1112 Words  | 3 Pages

    Those in favor of the use of political correctness claim that it is not limiting ones vocabulary and is not taking away their right to freedom of speech (Premiere). This is because they claim that it is not forcing someone to not talk about a certain subject or group of people. It is simply offering other words of the same definition in which we would understand them by such as replacing “Negro” for “African American” (Murphy). It is basically words of similar meaning just leaving out the words that hold strong emotional context to them based on groups whom have struggled in the past (Murphy). It’s more of choosing to not use those words that we as a society know are offensive to certain groups of people whom have struggled to become equals. These groups should be respected as equals by not using terms that were used in times when they were not of equal people.

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Being Politically Correct

    903 Words  | 2 Pages

    People far too often tell others something that they say is not politically correct and that it offends them, even though they will refuse to give a rational explanation to why what the person stated is so offensive. It is to a point where people seem to be offended by virtually everything. Being too politically correct is hindering societies’ ability to rationally solve problems.

    Read More

  • Censorship in the Media and Entertainment

    1172 Words  | 3 Pages

    Censorship according to the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press can be defined as, “To remove anything offensive from books, films, etc., or to remove parts considered unsuitable from private letters, especially ones sent during war or from a prison”(Cambridge Dictionary). Censorship in the news and in the media takes many forms in todays fast paced world. Even with the slightly leak in information or even misleading information could cause todays world to be turned on its head and can cause people to interpret the issue in many ways which could have numerous implications. This is why such information is filtered by some governments around the world before it is aired or printed. There are countless arguments as to why or why not information should be censored as each individual is entitled to their own opinion. Censorship impacts people ability to choose freely as it is controls ideas and thoughts and thus influences their freedom of expression or their to express their views on issues, ideologies or even practice their faith.

    Read More

More about Political Correctness In The Entertainment Industry

Open Document