Saturday Night Live Michael Omi Analysis

Michael Omi argues that popular culture is shaping America’s attitude towards race and says, “Since popular culture deals with the symbolic realm of social life, the images which it creates, represents, and disseminates contribute to the overall racial climate.” (540). Popular culture shapes how society views people of other races through, music, movies, the media and in print ads. These stereotypical images that we see of other races on a daily basis have an enormous influence on racism. For example, if we were to turn on the radio and hear a rap song, most people would assume that the rapper is black, and when you think of a gardener the majority of people would assume that they are Hispanic. Omi said, “Such a process consolidated, among other things, our ‘common sense’ understandings of what we think various groups should look like. Such presumptions have led to tragicomical results.” (547). Popular culture is so accustomed to this kind of mindset that it makes it seem acceptable, and even ‘normal’. Furthermore, Omi argues his point by using Saturday Night Live as an example and says “Saturday Night Live, regarded by many media critics as a politically progressive show, was singled out

Overt racism is intentional racism that is publicly expressed or displayed with the intention to damage or hurt a specific group of people of a different race. Which brings up my point, Omi mentions that certain social problems are often associated with minority groups and individuals in contemporary television and film, he says that “Blacks are associated with drugs and urban crime, Latinos with illegal immigration, while Native Americans cope with alcoholism and tribal conflicts.”