American_Media;_the_Portrayal_of_African_Americans

American Media; the Portrayal of African Americans The media depicts black America in an unsavory tone. I see “black people” as big butted, gold chain wearing, uneducated, rapper swearing gangsters. Socially, the black community sometimes takes pride in these stereotypes; perpetuating the stigma. African Americans are a minority community even though we have an African American as President. The reason for this is the media. My personal thought about African Americans (see, I don’t know what to say, Black America, African American, colored, friends), people of color, is no different from any other person I run into or that I have to deal with on a daily basis. The stereotypes of black America as seen on my television and in films continues to breakdown black America; however there is an effort to represent young black Americans as a successful social class. The stereotypes of black America as seen on my television and in films around the world continues to breakdown the black community. There are definite stereotypes and racial classifications in the media. The media will always portray the dismal, sad and horrific news because it means ratings. There are black people in the media who represent themselves and other black people in a harmful light. Maxwell Payne of Associated content writes, “Black America can only escape the media portrayal of themselves by avoiding participating in negative stereotypes of themselves.” Chris Rock has a movie in theatres about black women and their hair. The way he talks in the movie and on camera about the movie is very “black”. He makes comments like, “girl” and “you going to get up on that”. Oprah occasionally talks like a “black” woman, saying things like, “black women know all about that”. This kind of language degrades smart intelligent black people. Black America is reinforcing the stigmas along side everyone else by continuing the cycle. Slang language like this enhances the “under educated” mentality and adds to the poor representation of blacks in America. After researching the Nielsen ratings, the portrayal of blacks is full of contradictions. Black America wants to see more educated and positive depictions of themselves, yet they want to watch television shows like The Jefferson’s, The Tyra Banks show, Judge Joe Brown and The Bernie Mac show. According to television critic and film historian, Donald Bogle, “an excessive amount of comedy is associated with blacks in television programs.”(1996:128) Most black programming is not given an equal opportunity before the trailers are terminated. The shows are tested on “target audiences” and then usually put into the do not watch pile. The media highlights the negative points of black culture and does not emphasize any of the good aspects. Racial messages in the media are dominant with malignant ideology. They are constantly mocked or portrayed as incompetent criminals. The news shows black shooters, gang lords, and poverty stricken areas when reporting about violence and crime. Movies also enforce blacks as criminals and very rarely the heroine or main character. The typical characters that actors are given is that of bank robbers, drug dealers, or poor white trash. “Law and Order” is a show that plays on many television stations all day, the one black cop and sometimes the black lieutenant, is the best characters I can find in the middle of the day that slightly depict black Americans in a decent light. This is a sad way to uphold and entire race of people. Despite social changes over the past few decades, the medias images continue to represent blacks as inferior to whites. “Media (entertainment, news, and their hybrids) represent reality in a way that promotes certain meanings and interpretations of how the world works and status quo- the current beliefs, structures, and inequalities. This includes the racial hierarchy.” (Larson, Greco 2006:2) It appears that the media in general tends to support and even highlights every ethnic and social group that exists. The media also focuses on fear. Bad news makes for good news. Ratings will continue to steer the direction of social change. The newscasters are a perfect example. Typically they are all white and one African American or Hispanic. If there were more African American newscasters than white Americans the ratings would most likely plummet. The path to profit is higher and greater than integrity. Luckily there are black Americans that are showing a positive side to the general consensus. People like Al Rocker, Will Smith, Bill Cosby, Maya Angelou, to name just a few. Al Roker has his own show and also is a morning figurehead on one of the most popular morning shows in the country. Will Smith is an outstanding actor that has even been a main character in movies like “Independence Day” and “Men in Black.” Maya Angelou is a famous writer and poet. We can only learn from what we are taught. One of my favorite quotes is a Chinese proverb by Lao Tzu, “Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach him how to fish and he will live a lifetime.” The best thing about this proverb is that I always thought that it was said by Bob Marley! I believe that Bill Cosby’s show helped to show white audiences that not all African Americans are always the bad guys from the hood. I loved this show, despite that my dad hated it, I think because they were Black. I think this was one of the first times that I was being taught how to “fish” instead of being given the fish. It sounds like a small thing, however I grew up in a very “white” household and this allowed me to see another side, rather than the negative way the media portrays black America. In conclusion it appears that the media portrays black America in a poor fashion. The stereotypes keep continuing through the ages, and will continue if we perpetuate the stigma. It is important to note that not all of the bad portrayal comes from only white people. Black America’s behaviors also compete against themselves by being hypocritical. The unfair treatment of black America is wrong. The social status is changing slowly. Hopefully we will be able to see more “color blindness” in the future and in my lifetime. Works Cited Burkhart Aaron 2007 Gender and Race in TV Commercials Boyd and Herb 1996 African American Images on TV and Film Entman, Robert M. 2001 The Black Image in the White Mind Gallagher 2007 Rethinking the Color Line Larson, Stephanie Greco 2006 Media and Minorities: the politics of Race in News and Entertainment Payne Maxwell 2009 How Does the media Portray Black America' www.blackvoices.com www.associatedcontent.com