The Diversity Of The Film Films

During the process of producing a television series, the demand for the producers to introduce their characters with only their highlighted traits make it impossible for viewers to gain a deep understanding of the community that the characters represent. One of the stereotypic traits that is usually seen on movies and television shows is societal difference that each race is placed into. Michael Omi in his article In Living Color: Race and American Culture stated that “in contemporary television and film, there is a tendency to present and equate racial minority groups and individuals with specific social problems” (546). There are many films and television shows found today that ground racial minorities into a specific social problems that are related to the color of their skin. It can be inferred from the current popular culture that this stereotype still persists.

White people might not take it very well and possibly get the impression that minorities will never amount to anything, nor be a large portion of the population. In the late 1970’s, the hit-movie Roots took the country by storm serving as an icebreaker for minorities getting into the movie industry. It showed the world that a movie consisting of all black actors could still be a very popular movie. Even though it revolved around the concept of slavery, once Roots came out, minorities started to show up more and more in films.

Over the years we have seen the same white story told a thousand times that we have become desensitized to it, never expecting anything else. America was a European-White country but it has become one of the most diverse countries in the world, so American isn’t just white anymore. We are at a place in our society where we can and should be talking about race and one of the best ways to do this is through film, but there has been little to no change over the past decades. Films tend to lean toward white backdrops because it is more “relatable”; Noah the 2012 film used an all white cast because they were considered

Throughout this chapter, Korgen main arguments pertained to the media’s portrayal of Black and White biracial characters in movies. Typically the media portrays people with lighter skin to have more positive characteristics while people with darker skin more negative characteristics. Media is one first place young children get these images from and it can have a huge impression on them without even knowing it. They are placed within this social class of existence. “Viewers tend to pay the most attention to characters who share their age, race, and gender and those they wish they could be like” (Korgen, 2010, pg. 89). Biracial Americans go through the toughest scrutiny by both races on whether they fit into either group. I know my brother and sister have this issue from the time they were little especially my sister, she is lighter skinned and was never truly accepted by the black or white girls at school.

The media in the US has been accused of misrepresenting African Americans consequently enhancing their discrimination(The Leadership Conference, 2014). Media is key in reinforcing or advancing specific cultural practices both positive and negative. Research studies conducted on race in media representation identified that from 1955 to 1986, only 6% of media characters were African Americans while 89% were white. Of the identified blacks, 49% lacked high school certification while 475 were poor. The poor representation of the blacks by the media is instrumental in reinforcing the perception that African Americans are inferior to their white counterparts. Given the historical events of the American society, media should make efforts to address racism and related mentalities. Adverts and other mass media content was and continues to enforce racism. The use of racially insensitive caricatures and content with racial undertone continues to bedevil the American society. Given that virtually every household in the US owns a television, broadcasting racially offensive or advancing related themes is bound to reinforce the racist attitudes among Americans.

Why is it that individuals who do not epitomize the standards of what is perceived as normal characterized in a particular way? The biases that individuals harbor toward each other are not based on a specific people, but instead the false ideals that those people have come to be associated with. These false representations did not come from popular culture alone, but popular culture continues to reinforce stereotypes that cause individuals to judge others based on their appearance, and how they believe that individual should behave based on their race or socioeconomic status . Michael Omi’s article,”In Living Color: Race and American Culture”, he argues that “film and television have been notorious in disseminating images of racial minorities which establish for audiences what these groups look like, how they behave, and, in essence ‘who they are”(629). The popular culture is what creates a false image of a person through the form of stereotypes, that are created to hide as a mask behind pop culture. While in Melissa Algranati’s article,”Being an Other”,she shows the struggle of being from a mixed ethnic background. Due to her belonging to so many things she felt unapart from any group of people. Popular culture groups people by qualities perceived important to them to make a generalization about them. In Nell Bernstein’s article, “Goin’ Gangsta,Choosin’ Cholita”, he discusses his views on cultural appropriation. This is all based off popular culture in which creates the

The concern of the audience see ethnic characters in the television shows as either positive or negative role models is discussed in a research of Howard Beach youth test. In Does TV Shape Ethnic Images, Robert and Linda Lichter asked over 1,200 students at a multi-ethnic high school in the Howard Beach area of Queens in New York City about their attitudes towards race and ethnicity in real life and on television (Lichter, R., & Lichter, R., 1988). As the survey shown in the article, African-American students have the highest rate of using what they have observed on the television to guide them through their own social and personal situations. While Black students were most likely to regard these ethnic characters as typical of their racial groups in reality, Jewish students were contrarily considered these character as reflection of the real-life groups whether they showed positive or negative response. The results provide the significant role of television as a reinforcer of how people view the status of different race and ethnicity in the society. Even though few people actually form their opinions of cultures and races based on what the television

I’m writing to you because your agency is one of the many that has produced a significant amount great and talented people. However, there is sadly just an altogether too reoccurring trait in your clients. One can't help but notice just how many of your clients and Hollywood’s A-list stars are caucasian. It also seems to be what the majority of every popular film has consisted of. Some examples are The Hunger Games, Divergent and recently The Fifth Wave. All of the mentioned are set in dystopian worlds and were books before movies. The characters are described as having a darker skin tone, yet the actors chosen were caucasian. The actors that are chosen for major lead roles to represent someone in a story should also be a representation of

Media can influence a nation and thus can shape the opinions of the masses. Film and television has the responsibility to provide adequate representation of racial minorities. It has the power to have a great impact on the lives of many children of colour and can shape society. There is already huge issues with representation in the media such as prevalent whitewashing and the normalisation of Caucasians. However, there is a multitude of methods to achieve the desired representation that can change opinions and affect present day culture.

Many people use television shows and movies as a form of entertainment that can be informative and persuasive. Television shows came out in the early 20th century and have recently shown a lot of diversity than in the past. Movies have been out for a while as well and watching movies is used as a hangout for the most part. Due to its great popularity, television has been the most common distraction next to cellphones. Along with it popularities, viewers also enjoy learning from television shows and movies, whether they are educated or not. Although television displays somewhat of diversity, they still adhere to stereotypes with a dumb white girl, Hispanic housekeeper, and angry black women.

In a study of 414 films and television series, only 33 percent of all characters were women, and only 28 percent were of racial minority status (Associated Press). Casting diversely in entertainment has been an issue for years and has recently spawned many controversies such as the 2016 Oscar Controversy where an outrage occurred due to a lack of minority Oscar winners. Many cultures and races fell underrepresented and cast aside by film and television. The entertainment industry should cast more diverse actors because it increases viewership, provides a broader perspective, and creates a more realistic setting.

When doing research for my topic, Diversity in Films, I came across many sources. The first source that I found was a scholarly journal named, Teaching Sociology. The journal, that was written by Mari Dagaz and Brent Harger, had a short segment about diversity in films. One of the main points that stood out was one about how women and minorities are portrayed in films. It stated that women and minorities in film are usually “underrepresented and based on traditional stereotypes.” This point is what I believe is one of the strengths of this source. This is because that short segment allowed me to think about my topic more and opened my eyes to what I really needed to look for. Although, the fact that it did not specify a certain minority nor give examples would be a weakness of the source.

Out of 845 characters coded by the St. Ambrose University students 621 one them were Caucasian. Diversity is a very important topic in today’s society, because our movies do not have enough diversity within the films. In our findings 621 one of the characters were Caucasian while other numbers resulted in 32 Hispanic, 35 Asian, 60 Black, 3 Native American, 3 Indian, 43 Other, 21 Turtle, 18 Alien and 3 Rodent. A copy of the coding guide, which shows the semantic differential scale used to code the variables, is presented in Appendix A. This variable is very important to my research questions because depending on the race of the superhero, people will view the hero as a different person. Most superheroes are Caucasian and according to Julianna Aucoin (2014) “Diversity in superhero movies is of particular importance given the

For years, the world grappled with racial and ethnic representation in media. Characters that come into our homes through TV screens- who we laugh with, cry with, get angry with- have more than just a temporary impact on our lives. They help us shape our own reality, “who we are, who we aspire to be, and how we view the world around us”(1). Race and ethnicity are not only physical attributes of people but also are ways of seeing and understanding the world. Given that many of the messages that children receive about race and ethnicity come to them through animation and cartoons it’s important to discover how it impacts them.

Television reaches more consumers for more time than any other source of media. Its use for entertainment or news is overly influential, persuasive, and authoritative. Through these characteristics, any type of information or message influences its massive audience. Because of this, what Americans see – or fail to see- has a powerful impact on how they view other races. Young children are especially vulnerable to the information they are exposed to. TV is a vehicle to provide experiences and information not otherwise available to them. Older audiences, however, are also vulnerable to the information. Consistent messages about traits and stereotypes of other races reinforce specific ideas to the adult viewer. Viewers aren’t limited to racial bias when other races are on the screen, but are also susceptible when races aren’t included. As a strong and influential tool, television uses both obvious and subtle racial bias to influence its viewers.