Module 4 Racism and the Media
Representations in Entertainment
media shapes how we see the world
portrayals of people of color are just repackaged sterotypes
people of color undrepresented in television and movies
22% of shows feauture no black speaking characters
28% of all speaking characters are people of color
latinos most underpresented group for their proportion of population
Portrayals of black people
black people portrayed pre civil rights as maids, cooks, con men or deadbeats, amos n andy
meant to legitimaize the racial order of white dominance
meant to protray black people as unable to govern themselves
80s begins to feauture successful black families, cosby show
enlightened racism, portrayed usa as land of opportunity where black people would be successful if they tried harder
current, idolization of black atheltes
witch hunts when they “misbehave”
attacks on their feminity
mammy , sapphire (from amos n andy, angry black woman, jezebel
potrayals of latinos
group most likely to be portrayed negatively
quarter of 100 highest grossing films 2007-2018 featured a lawbreaking latino character
less likely to be protrayed as articulate
potrayals of arabs and arab americans
arabs portrayed as foreigners, even tho 82% of arabs in usa are citizens
men as terrorists or billionares
women as vieled or exotic figures
post 9/11 primetime debate if it is okay to discirminate against arabs for ntl security
portrayals of middle eastern countries and cities as backwards and ancient
portrayals of asians and asian americans
asian men as foreign, sinister, unidimensional, or effeminate
asian women as hypersexual
dragon lady seductress or butterfly demure, devoted and submissive
potrayals of native americans
original depiction as savages, then captivity narrative when white women and children kidnapped by natives
then, wiseman or medicine man
women: princess or lustful savage
new media representations
have chance to counter or reinforce sterotypes
video games
social media
memes can spread racial hate
forums can be used to debate racial issues
#oscarssowhite which forced oscars to give nominating/academy positions to 41% poc
media images and racial inequality
controlling images— raced, classed, and genderred media depictions of particular racial/ethnic group to shape ideas of what black people are/are not
examples: depictions of black women as ghetto or lazy to justify social service cuts or depictions of arabs as backwards justifies invasion
by defining what black people are, defines what whites are not
raced, classed, and gendered media images
potrayals of people of oclor on television have representations that vary by class, race and gender
controlling images produces class and gender specific depictions of black people, can be extended to other groups
Hawkins and Saleem, Social Media Political Identity and Racial Resentment with Reverse Racism
Summary
recent data reveals white american perscieve increasing anti white racism and are resentful to minorities
findings
engagements with politics on social media and a conservative identity influence racial resentment, which increases perception of reverse racism
Article
since 2000, whites believe reverse racism is increasing
seen a rise in pro white groups
social media also lets pro white groups thrive
platforms also used by political figures to discuss supposed anti white discirmination
frequent exposure to this reinforces prexisiting hostilities
also when white ppl are reminided they will no lomger be majority, they are mor elikely to embrace conservative ideology
online content is readily accessible and can radicalize non extremists
45% of far right youtube videos express this belief that whites are discriminated
belief that whites are discirminated against increases whites pro white collective action
found on mainstream social media sites
socialyl mediated sterotyping model
understanding social media and racial bias
model argues
racial bias and sterotyping prevelant online
biased content is easily accessible social media users vulnerable to prejudice being reinforced
those who use social media will come across racial sterotypes, and this frequent exposure reinforces outgroup racial bias
ex: increasing viewing of news associated with sterotyping black people as criminal
Patternson, Gender Problems in Tyler Perry Movies
Summary
tyler perry successful because he relies on racial, gender, sexual and class ideologies discourses that produce problematic stereotypes
perrys films put black women in submissive gender roles while grappling with feminist issues like sexual abise, ipv
works do not critique patriarchy as a system but only identify patriarchy as violent when it is at its most extreme
Tyler Perry participates in the commodification of black female sexuality by performing as a black woman
Analysis specifically focused on how gender and sexuality inflect vector of racial representation
Perry’s films target black church going women and the plays articulate crisis of faith and moment of redemption
most narratives relate to domestic violence, family disfunction, sexual abuse
plots have fairytale endings and end in happy marriages
argument: the happy marriages at the end articulate the patriarchal affirmation-critique dyad
suggests marriage solves the problems, and never critically analyzes marriage. suggests women need to conform to the expectations of heterosexual marriage
Moynihan’s theory that the underemployment of black men makes it impossible to have black nuclear families, emasculating black men because system is matriarchal
obv criticized by feminists bc it indicts black women for no reason
cosby show appealed to white people because it implied black ppl could be middle class if they just worked hard
black media begins to reinforce nuclear family ideals and reliance on the patriarch
example, good times, even if it discussed racial and economic themes, still sexist
so, without dissecting patriarchy, perrys movies continue to reinforce it
examine secual abuse and domestic violence, but it is seperated from patriarchy and does not examine how it is linked to gender and familial discourses
madea as a character
“strong” black woman and matriarch
madea=mammy because celebrates how she self sacrafices, which erases how those self sacrificial traits were imposed by white people
madea never gets internal development
Even in his films that critique gender roles, the role of abusive men and the patriarchy is reduced to the behaviors of individual men rather than the system (20)
25, liberation coming from marriage to a good man rather than herself. problem is from indiivudal men and not the system that gives men power
Patterson’s article analyzes how director and writer Tyler Perry’s movies, which are targeted to older and religious black women, do not subvert stereotypes about the groups they claim to represent, but reinforce them. Patterson’s article focuses on how gendered stereotypes about black women are reinforced through these movies, and sanitize the enforcement of patriarchy on black women. The major example that Patterson uses to analyze how Perry’s films do this is through the analysis of the character Madea. Patterson analyzes how Madea’s character is self sacrificing, and never is developed outside the realm of being the strong matriarch in the family. Patterson compares this to the gendered Mammy stereotype established in media (Patterson 17) as, like Mammy characters who were written as motherly self sacrificing to their slave masters family, Madea’s role is devoid of inner personal life. As someone who has watched Madea movies before, I can also say that Madea represents a Sapphire stereotype, a stereotype that was discussed in the textbook. Sapphire was a character on the radio show Amos n Andy, which was created by two white men who were involved in the minstrel circuit (Textbook Chapter 4). Sapphire was established as an irrational, angry black woman, a stereotype that was started to justify the murder and enslavement of black women by framing them as violent and needing to be contained. Madea’s character is often unnecessarily angry and violent in the movies, and draws parallels to the Sapphire stereotype. I enjoyed this reading a lot because I grew up watching Tyler Perry movies, and as I got older, I began to feel uncomfortable by how they portrayed black women, especially Perry’s characterization of Madea which felt like an offensive exaggeration of “traditional” southern black matriarchs.
Patterson’s article helps us understand how media reinforces and can challenge ideas about race and gender, even when it thinks it is subverting itself. Through the questions Patterson asks throughout his article designed from the lens of critical spectatorship, we can see how media can take steps to challenge ideas about race and gender. For example, when analyzing Perry’s “Why Did I Get Married?” Patterson remarks on how Shelia, the one of the female main characters leaves an abusive relationship, goes on an undeveloped journey of self discovery until her problems are solved by marrying a kinder man. Patterson asks the question, “ if Perry desires to liberate women from abusive relationships and domestic violence, would Perry not develop the story line that lead her to get into and remain in an abusive relationship?” This question opens our eyes to how storylines could be developed that explore black women outside of marriage, and how Perry neglects to do that by never examining how Shelia feels about herself, only how she feels in proximity to a man. By not asking those questions, Perry reinforces the erasure of black women in media by only allotting them visibility under a patriarchal and one dimensional context.
2
Hawkins and Saleem’s article focuses on how the rise of social media has correlated to the rise of feelings of reverse racism in white people, which has contributed to racial resentment in whites against minority groups. Hawkins and Saleem’s articles touches on how pro white content spreads to white people are were not previously radicalized by that sort of content are becoming radicalized because of the accessibility of said content. Hawkins and Saleem found that frequent exposure to this content reinforces preexisting hostilities to non-white groups. They also found that those come across stereotypes on social media were more likely to believe stereotypes about out groups. The example that they give were how whites were more likely to believe black men were criminals when they came across those articles posted on social media about crime (Hawkins and Saleem 4). Those who aligned themselves with a more conservative political identity were more likely to believe these as well. I believe this article does a good job at analyzing how social media, the newest form of media, is establishing the stereotypes and racist images about black people that were enforced by traditional media in the past (Textbook Chapter 4). This study expands on how controlling images in media are adapting to the new age, and are expanding their role in the subjection and dehumanization of people of color. For example, when news articles posted to social media feature mugshots of black criminals and family photos of white criminals, it is helping reestablish these existing stereotypes created through traditional media, originating in minstrelsy, as examined by the textbook (Textbook Chapter 4). This also does a good job at showing us how power over the media, which is concentrated in the hands of white owners, is being continued in the new age as most social media websites are owned by white people.
3. Together, these articles help explain how people can view media based on their preexisting prejudices of the groups being portrayed. These preexisting prejudices in media come from the prejudices established in traditional media, which comes from the incentive that majority white and male media owners have in controlling the image of minority groups to contribute to the subjection of them. In Patterson’s article, the majority black and female audiences view Perry’s movies as a positive, even though they only allow the same group it claims to represent as only visible under the patriarchy because that is the media that has been pushed about fellow black women their entire lives. The already minimal representation of black women has been reduced to stereotypes such as Mammy and Sapphire, and when presented in a middle class light like how Perry does, it may seem like an improvement, but it is just an adaptation of those stereotypes to match a higher class standard (Textbook Chapter 4). This subconsciously enforced internalized misogynoir on this group, which influences how they see media in this way. This media, according to Hawkins and Saleem, will be seen in a different way by whites who interact with far right content on social media due to their preexisting prejudice on black women. They are more likely to see the stereotypes portrayed in the Perry movies as a reinforcement of what they negatively think about black women, rather than a subversion of stereotypes. They will not see it as a subversion, they will see it as a confirmation of what they already believe since they interact with content that drills negative perceptions in their head. This is how two groups can view the same thing differently.