Section I

MAIN ISSUE

The main issue in media representation of ethnic minorities is that they are often underrepresented and at the same time, they are represented in a stereotypical way. Moreover, binary opposition is used to represent ethnicity, in a way to show how non-White people are the opposite of White people.

   In American media entertainment , there is a major under representation of African-American people between 1995 until 1986. A research found only 6 percent of the characters were African-American while the other 89 percent were white people. Many of the television programs only have white characters and just some African-American characters, such as ‘Friends’ and ‘Girls’. 

In the Hollywood film industry, African-American actors were restricted to minor and stereotypical roles. They would often be killed first or they may be the sidekick. Moreover, there are still few successful African-American directors. However this has changed as some top African-American actors such as Will Smith play leading roles where their ethnicity is not relevant.

There is also a major stereotyping happening in which the African-American people are often presented as those who lacked a high school degree and were low in economic status. Making them stereotyped as the childlike primitive, in which they are stupid and unsophisticated so they need to be looked after by White people.

There are also some other ways Africa-American people are represented in the media entertainment. One of the example is ‘The sexually exotic and alluring woman’. African-American woman are often shown as being more daring and dangerous than White woman. They are represented as a woman that should be avoided or tamed by White men. 

Another example is ‘The rich, evil tyrant’. African-American leaders are often represented as leaders that are corrupt, making them seem incapable as being good leaders. They are also mainly stereotyped into those who are the leaders of gangs that is seen as deviant in society.

The only way that African-American people can win cultural acceptance is through the stereotype that they have natural rhythm and are often naturally gifted singers. These had made them more acceptable in the White society.
 In UK media started stereotyping in the mid 20th century through immigration. they were seen as trouble by the media, immigrants are usually people from minority groups and they were seen minor or stereotypical roles by the media. rarely become the main character and UK media often make fun of the minority ethnic groups Some main stereotypes in are African Caribbean and Asian people. African Caribbean are shown and stereotyped as thieves and criminals, also violence , drugs and involved in gang.

 Asian people are stereotyped as having unusually accent and limited range of roles, such as owning a small shops . Simpsons is one of the example that shows stereotypical of Asian people.

EVIDENCES OF RACISM IN MEDIA

 Aishwarya Rai, an Indian actress, model and the winner of the Miss World 1994 pageant, was on the cover page of the US edition of Elle magazine. The magazine was accused of brightening Aishwarya Rai's skin.

A recent movie called "Ghost in the shell" is a concrete example of whitewashing in the movie industry. Whitewashing is a casting practice in the film industry of the United States in which white actors are cast in historically non-white character roles (based on Wikipedia). In the movie, the female lead character was supposed to be Asian, but instead it was played by Scarlett Johansson, a white actress. 

 22 Jump Street = This film was developed in America in 2014. In this particular scene in the movie, "my name is Jeff" was a very popular meme in the internet, its actually very racist due to the both of these "good guys" are trying to blend  with the bad guys (Mexican)  by changing the accent and attitude towards them. This scene makes the viewers think that Mexican are usually the one that sells illegal goods.

This advertisement is made by a Japanese company, SONY. Sony company developed the newest PSP vita series which is white and the Purpose of this advertisement is to tell that white color is better and cooler in order to gain more buyers for the white PSP Vita. However this advertisement discriminated black people, the advertisement shows where white people have more power and higher status.