The portrayal of race in the media (Race & TV)

     Last week the class was supposed to discuss a documentary about the race and the portrayal of race in the media. It was obvious that most of the students were uneasy about this topic. It is interesting that people are still this reserved when it comes down to the discussion about race and racial issues. I also have to reference one section in the book where Rosenberg ties violence to the issues of race. He believes that violence is caused by people causing pain to others and the others believing that they have to punish such act. I was trying to think of how exactly it translates to the race and the issue with it.

It is the relationships between people that have been in the past that are here till this day affecting the way we sometimes act. It is of course the fact that there have been violence involved in the past, however what interests me is that these issues are not much talked about. I cannot really remember a serious talk about the racial issues and how it affects our everyday life in the media. Before watching the documentary I did not really realize what a difference there is in the portrayal of minorities in the media.

It shocked me to see the chain of actions and behaviors being linked to a certain racial group. It was especially the black people being represented as only the comic and funny people. This is what creates problems. It is when we see certain group of people as one instead of seeing them as one culture full of individuals. I believe that the media was in fact trying to help ease up the situation in the past by breaking the habbit of not having people of different race on TV. I however do think that they did not realize the way they were portraying them and therefore making the situation much worse. I also believe that they were creating this image of people of difference race on TV because of the way they viewed them. It was mostly white people directing and creating the content of a certain show. Their views and ideas about a certain racial group are of course present in the content of each and every show they created.

I was trying to see if there is a pattern of racial group being portrayed in a certain way in today's society. I agree with what we said in the class. It is not as apparent but there still is the same message being send. People of minorities are usually portrayed as criminals or people without much education. I am hoping that this pattern will change. However I do not know what it is going to take in order for it to change. Any thoughts?

References

Hall, S. (1981). The whites of their eyes. In Dines, G. & Humez, J. (Eds.), Gender, Race and Class in Media (81-84). Location: Thousand Oaks,CA: Sage.