This essay will explore a selected media text using techniques of semiotic analysis, in order to establish an argument that racial identities and portrayal are essentially stereotyped by media representation. This essay will analyse the controversial edition of Time magazine featuring O.J Simpson on its cover to present a discourse of how signs convey meaning and connotations to the audience, then present an argument for conveying a predominantly negative impression on Simpson’s racial identity. Interpretation of a media text is highly influenced cultural, social, and racial identities, therefore it is inevitable that each iconic and symbolic signs will bring forward manipulated message to the viewer. This essay will conclude with the discourse …show more content…
It studies the role signs in social life and how the nature of signs coming together to form a cohesive meaning. Semiotics is the theory of sign production and the interpretation of it. In order to achieve meaning, an object or act is defined as a sign and differentiated from other form of signs. It plays on the nature of relationship between signs (University of Twente, 2010). The society is defined by the organisation of signs and the codes derived from understanding them (Boatman, 2010). It becomes apparent that in order to function well within the society, the ability to read and assess both obvious and hidden meanings behind visual signs (Chandler, 2005). To understand a visual text, one must be able to identify the signifier, the form which the sign takes, and signified, the concept represented by the sign (Saussure, 1916) (Boatman, 2010). Therefore, this essay will analyse the signs employed by Time magazine to signify meaning to its viewers in its edition displaying O.J. Simpson on its cover (refer to Appendix for media …show more content…
O.J Simpson was formerly a national football star in the U.S and hailed as one of the country’s foremost top athlete star, and has even reached celebrity status in his own right in securing endorsement deals (Swisher, 1994), acting roles (Lowry, 2000), and talk show guest appearances (Espn.com, 2003). During his athletics career, he earned the nickname “The Juice” from his name initial, O.J, as “orange juice” and a metaphor for electricity or power referring to his charismatic embodiment of might and power (Moran,
Eye witness accounts of events are not always accurate. The accounts depicted by depend on how witnesses read the situation. The same is true when interpreting the depiction of race and/or ethnicity in media productions. Because situations gain meaning through the process of social construction (the interpretation of a situation based on one’s knowledge), the same event can be viewed and internalized by witnesses who render opposing viewpoints. This analysis will compare the depiction and rejection of socially constructed stereotypes relative to race and ethnicity in three situation comedies: All in the Family, The Jefferson’s and The Cosby Show.
Touching upon one specific case of this growing problem, she incorporates “Michael Brown,” who was an “18-year old unarmed black man shot down by a white police officer.” As heartbreaking as it sounds, it has happened on several occasions to men similar to “Michael Brown.” Accordingly, Myers formulates that it “is the same story. It is just different names.” Myers logically lists the other names of several black men who unfortunately fell victim to hate crimes, (Amadou Diallo, Sean Bell, Oscar Grant, Trayvon Martin), as well as flashing their images on the screen. Not only does Verna Myers use imagery in order to show that there is an evident issue with brutality and racism, but she knows it will tug on her viewers heartstrings. Likewise, this makes her audience become wary and sympathetic towards the situation at
A great deal of people viewed Simpson as a role model and someone they desired to be. Not for one second did any of those people even think about the thought of a man that “has it all” being on trial for murder. When most people view celebrities like Simpson, they imagine them with no flaws, but they only observe a glimpse of the person’s life. Some would say a majority of Americans prefer watching someone else’s life than pursuing their own, some Americans would even say that they have an infatuation with celebrities.
The mass media being one of the greatest influencers of public perceptions, their false portrayal of black males significantly impacts how the public perceives and behaves toward them, how black males see themselves as well as their the opportunities and achievements. But the mass media canbe part of the solution. Of course, the responsibility is not the media’s alone. But the media, as the public looking glass, can and should show the full spectrum of the lives of black men and boys.
Detrimental stereotypes of minorities affect everyone today as they did during the antebellum period. Walker’s subject matter reminds people of this, as does her symbolic use of stark black and white. Her work shocks. It disgusts. The important part is: her work elicits a reaction from the viewer; it reminds them of a dark time in history and represents that time in the most fantastically nightmarish way possible. In her own words, Walker has said, “I didn’t want a completely passive viewer, I wanted to make work where the viewer wouldn’t walk away; he would either giggle nervously, get pulled into history, into fiction, into something totally demeaning and possibly very beautiful”. Certainly, her usage of controversial cultural signifiers serve not only to remind the viewer of the way blacks were viewed, but that they were cast in that image by people like the viewer. Thus, the viewer is implicated in the injustices within her work. In a way, the scenes she creates are a subversive display of the slim power of slave over owner, of woman over man, of viewed over
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....
Bell-Jordan, K. E. (2008). Black, white and a survivor of the real world: Constructions of race on reality tv. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 25, 353-372
...this day justice has still not been served. If OJ didn’t do it then somebody did. Although some people might say that OJ has been dealt the wrath of karma, because he does indeed sit in prison for an unrelated crime.
In the book, “Citizen - An American Lyric” by Claudia Rankine wrote about racial prejudice that the black body has been facing due to stereotyping. In the book, Rankine said the blacks are being judged by the color of their skin and not viewed as equal to their white counterpart. Rankine then backed up her claims by using descriptive imagery to create pictures in our mind as well as evoking feelings by citing various incidents to illustrate how black persons are still being discriminated against and wrongly perceived in the society we’re living in today. The purpose of Rankine’s use of her descriptive imagery is an attempt to capitalize on all of a reader 's senses and build them into something vivid and real in the reader 's mind that some
Woll, Allen L and Randall M Miller. Ethnic and Racial Images in American Film and Television: Historical Essays and Bibliography. n.d. Print.
Racism and discrimination continue to be a prevalent problem in American society. Although minorities have made significant strides toward autonomy and equality, the images in media, specifically television, continue to misrepresent and manipulate the public opinion of blacks. It is no longer a blatant practice upheld by the law and celebrated with hangings and beatings, but instead it is a subtle practice that is perceived in the entertainment and media industries. Whether it’s appearing in disparaging roles or being negatively portrayed in newscasts, blacks continue to be the victims of an industry that relies on old ideas to appeal to the majority. The viscous cycle that is the unconscious racism of the media continues to not only be detrimental to the white consumers, who base what they know about blacks by what is represented in television, but also the black consumers, who grow up with a false sense of identity.
My chosen methodology for analysis is semiology, Rose (2001) argues semiology confronts the problem of how images make meanings directly. It is not simply descriptive, as compositional interpretation does not appear to be, nor does it rely on quantitative estimations of significance, as content analysis at some level has to. Instead, semiology offers a wide range of analytical tools for depicting an image apart and tracing how it works in relation to broader systems of meaning. A semiological analysis entails the implementation of highly refined set of concepts, which construct detailed accounts of the particular ways the meanings of an image are produced through that image.
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 first theory used to analyze this magazine is the semiotic theory, developed by C.S. Peirce. This theory is used to find the meaning of signs and claims it is all in the meaning of the signs used. “A sign refers to something other than itself – the object, and is understood by somebody.
Symbolic interactionist perspective is a sociological theory that basically implements the use of symbols and/ or direct facial interactions. This is due to the reason that, people in their normal daily lives and routines are always using symbols to communicate as well as interact with one another on a one on one basis. Through this trend, people tend to attach meaning to the symbols that they use. Moreover, they can also act in accordance to the meaning that these symbols reveal to them. Based on that, the symbolic interactionist perspective can be demonstrated in matters such as verbal communication, written music and art. Sociologists use this p...