Contemporary depictions of race and ethnicity

What role in modern society?

Continuing differences

• The economic fortunes of African Americans continue to fall far below those of Caucasian Americans despite the removal of formal, legal barriers to black advancement

Changes in societal attitudes

• Clearly, social attitudes have become more liberal in terms of race and ethnicity

• The younger generation is far more accepting of interracial contact of all sorts than earlier generations

• Less stereotypical view of racial and ethnic minorities – with the potential exception of Arabs, a few

others

Do depictions matter?

• The evidence points to a relationship among whites between exposure to stereotypic racial depictions and stereotyping

• However, the relationship between minority exposure to depictions and lowered self-esteem is mixed. When parents co-watch the exposure can enhance self-esteem. Effects on Latino/Hispanic children are unclear.

Contemporary depictions of race, ethnicity

• Certain groups continue to be underrepresented– Latino/Hispanic groups– Native American/Aleut

Inclusion of racial and ethnic characters

• Simple exclusion of characters from an ethnic or race group has been common in the past, and continues for certain groups in the present.– African Americans have reached a position of greater

onscreen representation than their actual percentage in the U.S. population

– Latino/Hispanics continue to be significantly underrepresented

– Native Americans are almost invisible

Source: Gerbner et al.

Trend in ethnic casting

Source: Screen Actors Guild compilation of information provided by producers

The nature of depictions

• While invisibility of a group may be the worst fate, some argue that a demeaning representation is even worse– Personality features– Occupational roles/status– Behavior, especially with regard to the law and

crime• Drug dealers/criminals• Police officers

Source: Children Now Fall Colors report, 2003-2004

New, more subtle forms of racial and ethnic representation

• Overt racism, stereotyping is unacceptable to most audiences, members of media professions– With the possible exception of Arabs

• More subtle, unexamined presumptions may remain– Implied racial cues– Tying race to violence– Typecasting/cultural presumptions

Subtle treatment

• Black male leads don’t kiss white women (or any women, for that matter)

• Continued overrepresentation of minority/ethnic law enforcement

• Depiction of subculture tied to characters• Asian characters all know martial arts• Black men as inherently athletic, Asians as

scientists, Native Americans in historic roles only

Source: Children Now, 2003

Source: Children Now, 2003

Source: Children Now

Adoption of subcultures

• Subcultures that grew up outside the mainstream often draw attention from youth or less central groups within the society

• May provide a sense of belonging, enhanced self image– R & B– Rock and roll– Rap

• Resistant subcultures draw opposition, criticism from more conservative/traditional groups

Concerns over representation

• There is a greater concern among both Caucasian and African Americans about representation of African Americans in rap and hip-hop than in mainstream television, film, or other forms of music

Critique• Are characters of a given ethnic or race origin cast in

numbers that reflect their population percentage?– Depends on the group

• Do characters differ based on their race or ethnicity?– What characteristics are attached to what races/ethnic groups?

• Occupational/power group• Attitudinal• Behavioral

• Do differences in thought and behavior have a legitimate basis?– Are they treated as somehow genetic or are they tied to cultural

or social structures?• Are they based on myths or actual, real-world example?

• Do characterizations that are reasonable for a single story/film, etc. become unreasonable when they are repeated across a wide range of films/TV shows, etc.? – One silly Asian probably isn’t any big deal but a whole

slew of silly Asians is.– Do groups become “type-cast”?

• Do minority characters have the opportunity to play the entire gamut of roles?– Can they be lead characters? Well-rounded

characters?

In 1969, Cedric Clark outlined four stages of ethnic minority portrayal

• Stage 1: Non-recognition• Stage 2: Ridicule

• Stage 3: Regulation• Stage 4: Respect

Non-recognition• In this stage, the group is treated as if it does not

even exist. It is neither seen nor heard in mainstream popular culture– Exclusion of African Americans from major league

sports– Early TV– Mainstream movies of the 1930s and 1940s– Popular music of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s

• More recently, Latino/Hispanic population has been severely underrepresented in mainstream culture

Ridicule• In this stage, the group is portrayed but in a

contemptuous manner– As somehow inferior to the dominant group

• Evil, lawless or unethical• Unintelligent, childlike or juvenile

– The group’s inferior social status is connected to the characteristics of its members in a way that ‘explains’ the status

• Others have noted that ‘the other’ is treated as exotic– May be part of this stage of representation

Ridicule

Regulation

• In this stage, members of the minority group are shown in positive as well as negative roles, especially in terms of support for the system– Many minority characters are depicted in police,

system support positions– Others receive the brunt of social control

• Criminals

• Stories and characterizations revolve around minority acceptance of the social structure and power system

Regulation

• Minority characters in this stage are likely to be part of multiracial ensemble casts– Usually are not lead characters, though

• Although Clark did not really speak to this too much, there appears to also be a tendency to generate shows, etc. that are clearly targeted to the minority– Often played in less attractive time slots, etc.– Content of the shows tends to speak to group

attitudes, beliefs and concerns

Regulation

Respect

• In this stage, race relations have reached a point where the minority member is treated with respect, and can be portrayed in a wide variety of settings and in a variety of roles.

• Portrayals are often overly positive for minority characters, tending to ignore negative or demeaning presentations

Respect

Normalization

• Though not really part of Clark’s original model, some have added another stage, that of ‘maintenance’

• I think what we see is ‘normalization’• In this stage, the race or ethnicity of the character

becomes somewhat less important. A character’s race only is a significant issue if race is significant to the plot. An Asian or Latino character does not need to act according to ethnicity nor to speak for a minority, but simply take on the character role and act as ‘anyone’ would in the circumstances.

Normalization

What stage would each of the following groups be in?

• African Americans• Native Americans• Arabs• Latinos• Asians

So what’s the big deal?

• Isn’t this a case of hyper-sensitivity?• Aren’t white males now the oppressed minority?• For those who have always been in the majority,

it is hard to understand what the feeling and the impact of demeaning representations might be

• Even the discussion of race and ethnicity as a topic keeps the issue alive– It may be necessary to do so, but it means that the

construction of race and ethnicity will continue• Cannot become ‘color-blind’ under such circumstances

Not all media are the same

• A 2001 study of popular video games found that:– most protagonists (86 per cent) were white males– non-white males were portrayed in stereotypical ways—

seven out of ten Asian characters as fighters, and eight out of ten African-Americans as sports competitors

– nearly nine out of ten African-American females were victims of violence (twice the rate of white females)

– 79 per cent of African-American males were shown as verbally and physically aggressive, compared to 57 per cent of white males

• Source: Children Now study Fair Play—Violence, Gender and Race in Video Games

Race and ethnic impact on management and ownership

• In 2002, a UCLA study concluded that "minorities are even more underrepresented in key behind-the-scenes creative and decision-making positions than they are on the [television] screen." Many analysts are concerned that the dearth of minority executives, producers, directors and screenwriters is fuelling the tendency to ignore or misrepresent ethnic groups.

• The NAACP’s 2000 survey of Hollywood and Beverly Hills screen writers found that only 7 per cent of the 839 respondents were members of minority groups.

• Furthermore, says the NAACP, ethnic writers in the television industry are ghettoized—83 per cent of the black writers surveyed in 2000 wrote for shows starring primarily black people.

• The dearth of multicultural movie writers and producers can also directly affect how minorities are portrayed on the big screen. Actor Garret Wang reports that a casting director once told him he wasn’t doing a correct Japanese accent until he began using a Cantonese-Chinese accent—"you know … 'I give you two free egg roll if you bring laundry into my store.' And she said, 'That’s it. That’s the one.'"