Analysis of African American’s Portrayal in American Media
Abstract
The concept of race is a social construct, an idea that has been formulated by humanity and widely accepted by most people in society. The ideology of White Supremacy as an illustration is deeply rooted in the American culture, and it has been used in history to position power. Also, it made slavery and colonialism possible. The concept can be a pandemic embedded within people’s minds and society in general such that it is virtually impossible to escape. Scholars have asserted racism and culture of America are intertwined, embodied in the way individuals live their lives as well as how they interact with one another. The US is perceived as a systematic racist society with classism and racism, sharing a mutualistic relationship to oppress those who do not belong to the dominant racial group. This paper presents an analysis of how the black community is portrayed in the media mainstream.
Keywords: race, social construct, media framing, racial identity, black, America, stereotypes
Contents
Television Show- The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. 5
Implications of African American Portray in Media. 6
Analysis of African American’s Portrayal in American Media
Introduction
Some news headlines conveying information about black individuals have become common some years. The list of black people who have suffered under the hands of those who should protect them is endless (Yang, 2016). Such information is evidence of a cultural system that diminishes the lives of the black community. Black people issue has awakened social activists globally, as witnessed lately in the case of George Floyd. While politicians continue to advocate for gun reforms, communities, on the other hand, demand accountability, and citizens cry out against the military system of the local police force. Besides these moves, there is another significant issue that is under looked-the representation of black families. The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of how black Americans are depicted in the media. In this paper, I will analyze how racism is normalized in the media and why this is important in maintaining the social hierarchy. The leading question is, how are African Americans portrayed in the American media?
Literature Review
In this study by Okeke et al. (2009), the author speculates group members who were aware of academic racial stereotypes, experienced decrease academic performance. This relation was not the same among the students whose race was not a fundamental aspect of their self-identification. People’s brains are relentlessly creating more and more associations to help us comprehend and control the environment around us. Though a continuous learning and adaption process, the greatest formation of “the self” takes place during the adolescent years. During these years, adolescents are learning who they are and how they fit into society. People consume information from various sources to discover their identity and understand how they are viewed by others. For African American’s, the definition of self-identity is also how one related to their minority group and how they are different from the racial majority group.
Okekek, Howard, and Rowley examined stereotype consciousness in two samples of young adolescents. Authors aimed to find out a relation between academic performance and stereotypes. What they learned was that the correlation between stereotype endorsement self-identity was stronger among young people who reported race as a significant aspect of how they identified their “self” compared to the group members who had lower race centrality. Our mind is continually making sense of our present situation based on what we already believe and what we have already experienced.
Plous & Williams (1994) researched the public’s opinions on racial stereotypes that originated during the 17th and 18th-century American slavery era. Some of the early stereotypes that were studied were blacks as mentally inferior to whites, culturally and physically unevolved, and their appearance resembled apes. The article states that Whites are at far more likely. To better understand the public’s opinion’s revolving racial stereotypes, Plous and Williams conducted a random selection study. A random digit dialing approach was used, phoning 1490 randomly selected households in Connecticut. None bias interviews were conducted and asked questions to respondents on invert differences between Whites and Black and whether the responded felt as if there were any physical differences between the two races. Based on the answers of the respondents, whites were perceived to be roughly ten times probable compared to black individuals to be seen as superior in cognitive and artistic skills. While this study has limitations, as it was only conducted on a small percentage of the general population, it does offer researchers qualitative data and insight on how society views racial stereotypes.
Romanenko (2018), recently researched the correlation between media framing of violence towards Black men and police brutality. The authors argue that media shapes people’s views towards one another. The author analyzes for instance how news articles like The New York Times, covered the story on Michael Brown- a harmless black teenager, from Ferguson, who was killed by a white police officer. Romanenko concluded that all three newspapers, used negative verbiage regarding Brown’s character, he was framed as residing in a poor area, having a previous history of violence, and as being very large and intimidating. Romanenko speculates that this emotional type of writing creates public acceptance, regarding the violence towards black people.
Trebbe et al. (2017) assert that it may seem quite challenging to see the relationship between police brutality and the representation of people. Gerbner-a communication researcher led a team in carrying out studies to determine TV display of violence, impacts on the audience (Trebbe, Paasch‐Colberg, Greyer & Fehr, 2017). The study paved the way to cultivation theory, which asserts that as people spend more time on TVs, they are more likely to believe what is depicted as a social reality. At the end of the research project, it was obtained that people understand television as a main part of the culture. TV indeed is dominant in American culture as well as in other states. Over 250 million people watch television in a year, and about 96% of households in the US have at least a TV set. Such facts are problematic when coupled with studies about the portrayal of black individuals on media. Particular research obtained that black people were depicted negatively compared to other racial groups on prime-time TV. According to cultivation theory, which asserts that TV portrayals have significant effects on individuals’ perception of the world, and the studies showing African Americans portrayed negatively, then results are adverse.
Baker-Bell, Stanbrough & Everett (2017) inform that media occupy a primary role in the US culture, and compared to other forms of media, TV is more influential. According to this theory, TV shape people’s beliefs, attitude, and directly impact their behaviors. Cultivation theory is grounded on both qualitative and quantitative content and point further that heavy viewers are more impacted compared to those who watch TV less. Another factor cited by this theory is people’s surroundings. Individuals living in more life-threatening neighborhoods are susceptible to be portrayed as violent acts. Gender, too, plays a role when women are perceived as victims. Age is another factor such that young individuals who are not able to comprehend what is shown in the media are unlikely to be influenced.
Critical Media Analysis
The concept of information and representation is not new since even Aristotle and Plato believed that a distinctive way of humankind is the ability to create representation. During those times, the ideology of representation was featured in literature as well as language. In the concept of media, representation refers to how media channels portray some groups or individuals, experiences, communities, topics, and ideas from a specific value. The film, American Sniper of 2014, shows the American army and foreign soldiers in conflicts (Payne, 2019). The film received a lot of criticism for the lousy representation of foreigners as a result of humanized American forces acting in most films hurting people without allowing redemption for oppositions.
Representation in the media is part of society, and content communicated has values of that particular culture. For representation to have negative ramifications, it thus must occur in two different ways; under-representation or misrepresentation. In the latter, a group of people, communities, or ideas are wrongly positioned and communicated. On the other hand, the systematic exclusion of some groups or communities from representation, then media under-representation is in effect. Most minority people, like African Americans, suffer from these problems and the black community taking a unique history or representation. The following are examples of how black individuals are portrayed in various media channels.
TV series-Black-ish
In this analysis on the representation of race and racial stereotypes in the media, were looked at in the Prime-time American Broadcast Company’s television series Black-ish. The latter tells the story of an African American nuclear family, consisting of a mother, father, grandfather, and their four children. The father (Anthony Anderson), is a wealthy advertising executive, who grew up in a Los Angela’s low-income neighborhood. Anderson has been fortunate enough to purchase a home in an affluent LA suburb, and the series revolves around the family’s insecurities and their struggle to acclimate in their mostly white community. Black-ish creates a relatable comedy that portrays back community in a positive light, despite it relying heavily on commonly shared racial stereotypes for humor.
It is vital to interpret the message passed about the black community in the media channels like TV, movies, advertisements, the Internet, books, magazines, newspapers, and any other forms of mass communication (Stamps, 2017). Race and the ideology of families are are formed in people’s daily interactions and observations on the media. By analyzing the content displayed through the TV series Black-ish, we can understand why there are deeply held beliefs about race and a better understanding of the methods used to perpetuate these stereotypes.
The first thing I noticed when analyzing Black-ish was the title of the show. The title seemed a bit strange to me, what does the title indicate about the series? For me, an experienced media decoder, it symbolized the family was to be considered “kind of black” society doesn’t view them as entirely Black, because of the socio-economic category the family belongs to. Since the family, goes against commonly accepted racial stereotypes, they are perceived as abnormal and sometimes funny, as they live what is depicted as a non-traditional lifestyle (Schneider, 2017). Stereotypical “black” characters are not modified despite being presented in a contemporary context, and there aren’t any counter social approaches presented in a modern setting to debate the negative representations of these stereotypes.
Movies- “Training Day”
People’s lives are surrounded by media content. The amount of time the average American spends consuming media has steadily increased over time. The media that we consume heavily affects the way consumers view and interpret the world. The 2001 award-winning film Training Day offers a stereotypical stance on race and is carried thought-out the film. I argue, the characters played by White actors are depicted positively, while people of color are represented as violent criminals, thugs, and drug-dealers. Racism in American institutions towards black people is a construct of the American society conveyed by the media through films such as Training Day. While the ideology of systematic racism usually focuses on racial discrimination in institutions such as government organizations, higher education institutions, and the court of law, there is also a requirement to supplement this focus with the examination of important mediated influences at the social, macro, and the individual, micro-level.
Training Day follows Alonzo as he takes rookie, Jake Hoyt, on an introductory day as LAPD, undercover narcotics officer. Hoyt has just one day to prove himself to Alonzo to be accepted into the unit. Alonzo is a corrupt cop who feeds off of power and respect, and he has lost the meaning of what it means to protect and serve. Hoyt’s first day comes just a short time after Alonzo got irate and killed the wrong guy, who ended up being a Russian Mob boss. Hoyt is unknowing taken on a journey, to track down a large sum of money, to pay off the Russian hitmen, who were after Alonzo. Throughout the entire movie, the people of color are portrayed as violent, criminals, substance abusers, and gang members. One example of this is the portrayal of the Black cop, as the villain and the White cop-Officer Hoyt, as the hero. Training Day is a dramatic example of how racial stereotypes are portrayed in the media, but many other examples in the media are not as easily identifiable. By embracing a multilevel approach, there is light on how racial disparities are created and sustained, which will create a better understanding of the forces contributing to systematic racism.
Television Show- The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
T.V. plays a significant role in the creation and acceptance of American culture. Much of what Americans believe and what we accept as “normal” are shaped based on ideologies that are depicted in television shows and those that are portrayed in movies. Based on the assumption, it is essential to understand the media that you are consuming, so that as a media consumer, you are aware of the various messages that are being transmitted to you. When analyzing NBC’s sitcom. Will Smith’s character, there are several examples of hegemony and racial stereotyping. Antonio Gramsci developed the concept of hegemony. Smith is characterized as a hypersexualized Black male. One example of this is Smith, always bragging about the woman he’s hooked up with and a book containing the names and phone numbers of hundreds of women. His character is also the captain of his school’s basketball team. He comes from a single-parent household, led by his mother, and is from the “ghetto.” Despite moving to Bell Air and having the opportunity to attend private school and transitioning into a better economic situation, he consistently mocks his uncle and rebels against the rules outlined in his life.
The character depicted by Smith asserts what it means to have “Blackness,” and Smith’s normalizes the role of the hypersexualized, athletic, slacker, who rebels against authority and the rules and conditions in society. The depiction of Black masculinity in Hollywood films remains highly problematic. While some may argue that Black actors are represented equally to their white counterparts, we must address how movies and other forms of media create racialized identities of Black men, which are generally viewed and accepted. For an untrained media decoder, the conventional narrative that is told throughout the series is humorous and harmless, and at times a positive representation of Blacks in a family sitcom, but at times, the show depicts a discriminative image of black males and black families. People of color are portrayed positively in the media, helps to recondition and overcome hegemonic views of African American’s. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is a successful worldwide sitcom that helps to paint a different picture of Black culture and African American culture.
Discussion and Conclusion
I argue that black people in the US are negatively framed in the media and are often time portrayed using negative stereotypes, which viewers use to create racial identities, which helps to maintain society’s current social and political power structures. Black people have a connection with American history that no minority group can replicate. The slavery realism and the period of Jim Crow positioned the black community to misrepresentation in the US culture mainstream. Such happened along ago before the modern era of media. For some years now, black persons have been depicted undesirably in the famous media, for instance, black men being portrayed as violent with impulsivity. Black Americans have not only been painted negatively in the reality TV programs but also featured in the news outlets. More often, African-American individuals are captured as weak and under restrain by authority figures. Even though there are inaccuracies involved in depictions, long-term exposure to stereotypes creates an atmosphere of perpetuations (Tukachinsky, 2015). For instance, in events of crimes and violence, black people are perceived to be more likely offenders than any other racial group.
Anyone who knows something about black families is because of what the national news outlets have revealed. As such, the type of communication conveyed is likely to make a person think that black persons are overwhelmingly poor, welfare dependents, criminal and absentee fathers. Major media outlet gives a distorted picture of African Americans by painting them as dysfunctional. On the contrary, white counterparts are depicted as sources of social stability based on reports from racial justice organizations. Such portrayal leaves a perception that black persons are challenged by dysfunctions they implicate themselves, causing instability in families and life goal attainment. Stereotypes of sort fuel rhetoric and inform some public policies (Trebbe, Paasch‐Colberg, Greyer & Fehr, 2017). For example, as a result of black people being perceived as violent, Congress considers enactment and implementation of safety programs, policies like stricter work requirements as well as drug testing.
Black Americans are prone to be depicted as welfare dependents compared to whites. About 59% account for black people living in poverty, but only about 27% of Americans are considered poor. About 37% of blacks are criminals, as revealed in the media mainstream, but only 26% of African American is arrested on criminal charges (Payne, 2019). In contrast, while FBI reports confirm that white 77% of crime suspects are whites, new media show 28% of whites are criminals (Payne, 2019). Misrepresentation of such kind takes place in media outlets like broadcast or cable networks as well as in newspapers.
Media portrayal of African Americans cut across gender and age. Youths are depicted similarly as adults; for example, in the educational aspect, the performance of black students is depicted poor due to societal outcomes compared to that of white peers. Youths are perceived as contenders based on the notion that African Americans are drug dealers and gang members involved in criminal justice issues (Tucker, 2018). The perception of black people as dependents has been within the media mainstream for a while, even though this notion seems to be changing given the current social movements. Current systems in the US have been unfair to black individuals, and this causes poor outcomes, for instance, to students. Recently, media has paid a lot of attention to social movements like Black Lives Matters occurring across the states and around the globe (Langford & Speight, 2015). Individuals are standing together to condemn failing systems that are accountable for adverse outcomes of African Americans. Such type of action or push back is powerful to challenge societal responsibility. Typically, there are dreadful ramifications for black individuals, when outlandish perceptions come out. In an attempt to find out how black individuals are depicted in the media, study results are relevant in revealing the implications associated with perceptions.
Implications of African American Portray in Media
Media representation of the black community can induce adverse consequences for consumers. Studies consistently point out that the unfavorable media portrayal of African Americans has detrimental impacts on attitudes and support for social movements (Yang, 2016). Distorted depiction of black people causes antagonism in American society, especially towards male African Americans who are perceived as a threat. Additionally, there is a lack of identity, sympathy, and exaggerated reviews concerning violence, and police force escalates. Other racial communities like the whites live with fear when they see unfamiliar black persons. Research has indicated that in the vent of harsh laws, citizens give more support if the regulations or policies are designed to punish African Americans. Negative effects that result from media portrayal translates into institutional consequences.
Due to adverse media portrayal of African Americans, some institutions such as healthcare facilities give less attention to black patients, and in the criminal justice system, harsh sentences are awarded. In the employment sectors, there are low chances that a black person will be hired compared to the white counterpart. Admission of black student in schools for black students is affected by stereotypes or the prevailing perception of bad community created by information from media outlets. Other institutional consequence includes lower chances to get loans, great opportunities, or being shot by police and reduced life expectancy. Negative portrayals cause individuals to lower self-esteem, have low expectations for themselves, and stir an implicit bias against people of their own community. Also, studies have pointed out that negative perception causes most African Americans to underachieve their goals and increases the rate of domestic violence as well as the abuse rate of black women.
When the media portray the black community negatively, the effect is felt in an extreme aspect. In shaping the American culture, there is significant need to pay attention on the notion that America is one states with people as citizens but not types. All media ought to be careful with word selection, news, and images that give a full or more nuanced narrative of the black community (Baker-Bell, Stanbrough & Everett, 2017). Steps to take for changes include hiring staff members in the media channel who represent African American culture. Diversity should not be a buzz word, but an approach to give full participation and appreciation of people of color.
In conclusion, this paper has provided an analysis of African American representation in the media. Studies show there is continuing progress in media to shape images; however, the effort is uneven across various media. A more stereotypical depiction persists, and this triggers the urge for serious change. The negative portrayal of African-Americans has consequences for viewers, and messages impact the relationship built within a society.
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