Diversity In Media

In Marlon Riggs’ 1992 documentary film titled Color Adjustment, Riggs, the Emmy winning producer of Ethnic Notions, continues his studies of prejudice in television. The documentary film looks at the years between 1948 and 1988 to analyze how over a 40 year period, race relations are viewed through the lens of prime time entertainment. The film examined many of television’s stereotypes and mythes and how they changed over the years.

The media bombards society with the notions of good versus bad, acceptable versus unacceptable. In this case, light skinned versus dark skinned. The dispositions are evident in modern media racial bias in its portrayal of African Americans. Colorism in the media additionally enforces the belief that lighter skinned women are more appealing than dark skinned women. “If you are darker than a paper bag, then you not beautiful, you are not a woman,” Violas Davis, an African American actress, stated on the colorism in the media and Hollywood.

Having accurate representation matters. Unfortunately, that is a concept that the media industry has not quite grasped. The portrayal of African Americans in the media, whether it be plays, television, news, movies, or social media has always been negative since the birth of slavery in the United States of America. Playing on the negative stereotypes of African Americans, white Americans have gone on to believe their false impressions of Africans Americans and this has hindered African Americans from gaining social change and respectability. False representation has connections to the Jim Crow Laws, the current statehood of African Americans and recent crimes involving African Americans. An effective solution has yet to be established despite efforts being made.

Classified History X by Melvin van Peebles thinking about how African Americans could be viewed in movies by younger generations. In the documentary Peebles, talks about that moment when he was 12 or 13 and he realizes that he feels shame coming out of the movie theater. This got me thinking back to all the times I would sit and watch movies as a kid. As my mother was a huge fan of the Turner classic movie station, I grew up watching movies such as Casablanca and Billy the kid. Most time I would brush the old movies off, thinking they were either too boring or too hurtful and scary. However, there were also times when I sit down next to my mother and admire all the pretty women acting, twirling, or dancing around while the handsome men strut

When we think of heroes we often think of a masked vigilanty or a cape crusader swooping down from the heavens and saving the day. Although heroes come in many shapes and sizes, they also tend to come from different backgrounds. The people of the United States pride themselves with freedom and equality. However, still to this day there is a struggle with discrimination. Matt Zoller Seitz’s article “The Offensive Movie Cliché That Won’t Die” definitely sparked some interest and was definitely right when it came to the offensive issue most people do not see. His argument clearly states that African Americans are playing more roles in Hollywood blockbusters as mentors or in this case “god like” for the main characters. However, many of the roles played by African Americans are that of mentors and are not receiving the proper applause they should be receiving. Matt Seitz presents great material in his article that doesn’t sound bias and enough information to make him credible.

Minorities in sitcoms were less portrayed in contrast to an accurate representation of the time period. Ironically, minorities in sitcoms were not always represented by minority actors and actresses. Sometimes makeup was used on a white actor so he could portray an African man. It was not until the 1950’s when African Americans were shown on television. African Americans were often portrayed as crooked people with poor English and less education. In the sixties, segregation and racism dominated in most social settings. In the seventies, most minorities were trying to deter from old beliefs of prejudicial ideas. In modern times, minorities have equal rights and respect to their white counterparts. Four sitcoms, Amos ’n’ Andy, Julia, Sanford and Son, and The Cosby Show depict how the role of minorities changed throughout different time periods.

Racism is always issues which take a huge part of American history. Until the twenty-first century, although people tried to make the country becomes the freedom and equality nation, these issues are still happening everywhere. According to "In Living Color: Race and American Culture," Stuart Hall argues that racism is still widespread in the society and "it is widely invisible even to those who formulate the world in its terms" (qtd. in Omi 683). Indeed, situations about race quietly exist in the movie industry, which "has led to the perpetuation of racial caricatures" to the majority audiences and even minority audiences (Omi 629). Like the media, Hollywood has a significant impact on viewers to perceive life and to

Stereotypes, as defined by Merriam-Webster, are something conforming to a fixed or general pattern, especially a standardized mental image that represents a prejudiced opinion. Common examples include “the dumb blonde” or “the boring cat lady.” Mainstream media often portrays Latinos as “lazy,” “dishonest,” and “poor.” While I Love Lucy (1951-1957), Chico and the Man (1974-1978), and ¿Qué Pasa, USA? (1977-1980) were all popular television shows that presented Latino men in a positive light, they simultaneously propagated stereotypes. The representation of Latino and lack thereof can and has been damaging to young Latinos in particular, as all need positive role models to identify with.

The year is 2016 and American society is open-minded to so many issues, except televised stereotypes. Racial and gender stereotypes are continually reinforced by social media and television, it has played a major role in the way society views one another. Enabling stereotypes that have been associated with a person of specific race or gender in the media promotes prejudice. Meaning society expects that person to act a certain way based on what they have witnessed on television or social media. . A perfect example of how television shows incorporate stereotypes based on ethnicity is the tv show “Everybody Hates Chris “which is about a working class African-American family that lives in a poor urban neighborhood in New York. Chris Rock is the

Media misrepresentation of African Americans as an industry issue has been a major concern in our American culture; and is also a component of media bias in the United States. Unfortunately, the media representation of minorities has not always been in a positive light. Instead there has been publicized, controversial and misconstrued images of who African Americans truly are. Since the mass media is an important source of information about African Americans and their image, it influences the public perception and reinforce opinions about African Americans. Typically, these opinions are unfavorable and highlight negative stereotypes associated with African Americans. Sadly, the overrepresentation of white characters in American culture contributes

Minorities have made significant strides towards equality in American society. In America the minority groups are being stereotype due to their ethnicity. The media has had a significant impact in passing the stereotypes to the work that have convey negative impressions about certain ethnic groups. Minorities have been the victim of an industry that relies on old ideas to appeal to the "majority" at the expense of a minority group ideals (Horton, Price, and Brown 1999). Stereotypes have been portraying negative characteristics of ethnic group in general. According to an article in The Huffington Post, Americans love to muse over the characteristic of our foreign immigrants residing in the country, and even if there descent have assimilated

Racism has always been the “elephant in the room”: everyone knows it’s there but no one really seems to acknowledge its. It has been affecting Latinos for a very long time now and it is something that people are still trying to fight against today. Latinos have been stereotyped, hated against, and treated badly simply for being of a different race. It seems like the discrimination against them can be seen everywhere. Many had hoped that by now racism would have stopped being a problem but the fact is that it 's still a relevant issue that affects millions of Latinos. While it is evident that racism against the Latino community is still a problem that impacts Latinos negatively, there are many forces that are doing all they can to put a stop

Diversity in Hollywood includes more than race and more than acting. There is little diversity not only in front of the camera but behind the scenes too. Likely hood of seeing a nonwhite cast or set of directors is low since the industry is own by Caucasians. Hollywood cast their movies base on their liking. Which they would cast an all Caucasian cast instead of being diverse. Less than have10% of workers in Hollywood are females even though half of the United States have females. Not giving females the opportunity as the set of males showing sexism.

Racial stereotypes in films has occurred among people of color through characters, especially black. This has made challenges in opportunities, leading to a prevalence of stereotypes and lack of diversity on-screen, and they have also come a long way with many perspectives in the movie industry. The motion industry have had long history and criticism for its racially casting options since it has a significant role in a mass dissemination across the globe to audiences in every generation and have affected people’s belief systems. However, since a development in technologies and people’s perception, several modern filmmakers have already started to change the old stereotypes to be diverse and more positive. Furthermore,x black actors

Hollywood is the home of flashing cameras, the famous red carpet, and glamorous celebrities. Hollywood is also the birthplace of extraordinary films which reach audiences across the world. The casting choices made by the film industry affects more than just the movie that is created. Hollywood directors and writers should have the social responsibility to avoid stereotyping ethnic characters because the stereotypes offer poor (and often inaccurate) insight into the culture, negatively impacts child viewers, and limits the amount of quality roles for actors/actresses with diverse ethnic backgrounds.