Racial Stereotypes on Television

1870 Words4 Pages

For many years, racial and ethnic stereotypes have been portrayed on multiple television programs. These stereotypes are still illustrated on a day-to-day basis even though times have changed. Racial or ethnic stereotypes should not be perpetuated on certain television programs. These stereotypes provide false information about groups, do not account for every person, allow older generations to influence younger generations, create tension between groups, and affect people in many ways.

To begin, racial or ethnic stereotypes on certain television programs provide false information about groups of people. The characters illustrated in these programs are formed by what writers believe. When a show is created, the writers take the basic features of a character and expand based on what they think viewers will enjoy. Yet these creations can be biased due to how hard the writer is willing to work.

For example, the show Everybody Hates Chris portrays an African-American family living in Bed-Sty, Brooklyn. The family is shown as living from paycheck to paycheck and trying to better their lives. Yet, the neighborhood around them influences many of their decisions. Many of the minor characters are portrayed as African-American people who will do anything in order to survive, such as murder or steal. It also shows the Caucasian persons as being superior and “better”.

Another example would be the show George Lopez. This show is based on a Mexican-Cuban family living in Los Angeles. The family goes through struggles, such as their son having dyslexia, their daughter joining private school, and George trying to find his biological father.

Many of the statements and visuals portrayed are those that negatively illustrate how Mexicans and ...

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...reotypes on Racial Categorization." Social Cognition (2008): 314-332.

Browne. "Coalition Formed to End Ethnic and Racial Bias on TV." 1999. New York Amsterdam News. Web. 15 Jan. 2015.

Burroughs, Todd Steven. "In The Brief." Crisis (2009): 10-14. Web. 15 Jan. 2015.

Goodale, Gloria. "TV in black and white." 20 November 1998. Christian Science Monitor. Web. 15 Jan. 2015.

Izumi, Yutaka and Frank Hammonds. "Changing Ethnic/Racial Stereotypes: The Roles of Individuals and Groups." Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal (2007): 845-852.

Pauker, Kristin, Nalini Ambady and Evan P. Apfelbaum. "Race Salience and Essentailist Thinking in Racial Stereotypes Development." Child Development (2010): 1799-1813.

Woll, Allen L and Randall M Miller. Ethnic and Racial Images in American Film and Television: Historical Essays and Bibliography. n.d. Print.

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