We Are Not What Media Says

1888 Words4 Pages

Media has become a major part of our lives. Indeed it has shape the way we perceive other races. Minority races such as Latinos, African American, Native American and Asians are being misrepresented in media. Media has a huge impact on race, by presenting race stereotypes media is telling us that certain races behave a particular way which shapes the way society sees them and in many times the way they see themselves. We tend to believe everything media says about us and other races without questioning if it is actually true.
Nowadays, it has been difficult to notice the harm media is doing to society. It has become too normal that we are already used to deny the reality. I have read several readings that have opened my eyes to the reality of media; A Crash Course on Hollywood’s Latino Imagery by Charles Ramirez Berg, (Re)presenting: Muslims on North American television by Amir Hussain, True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie and The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu. These readings include an important message about minority races, which I believe society should be aware of. All of the readings that I previously mentioned have something in common, they all examine the way race is portrayed in media. Moreover, they also include how media can potentially shape our perceptions of who we are and who others are. Our young community are the ones that are being most affected by media. Children receive messages in T.V shows, cartoons, movies and books of how different races supposedly are, and they immediately start assuming that those messages are true and continue growing up with that ideology.
I am sure that we all have faced this stereotypes at some point indeed we may even been applying this stereotypes in our life. I have bee...

... middle of paper ...

... will see that they are not what medias says. There is an urgent need to realize that all media is trying to do is make money and that includes over exaggerating with race stereotypes.

Works Cited

Berg, Charles Ramírez. "A Crash Course on Hollywood's Latino Imagery." Latino images in film stereotypes, subversion, resistance. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2002. 66-86. Print.
Eclipse. Dir. David Slade. Perf. Robert Pattinson,Kristen Steward, Taylor Lautner. Summit Entertainment, 2010. DVD.
Hussain, Amir. “(Re) Presenting: Muslims on North American Television.” (2009): n.
Page. Web.
Liu, Ken. "The Paper Menagerie." Fantasy and Science Fiction 2011: 64-76. Print.
"Mypods & Boomsticks ." The Simpsons . FOX Broadcasting Company. KBBL, Springfield. 4 Mar. 2013. Television.
"Study Claims Latinos Are Most Affected By Ethnic Stereotypes." LATINA. N.p., n.d. Web.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of The Depiction Of Latinos In 20th Century Film

    2420 Words  | 5 Pages

    Depiction of Latinos in 20th Century Film Graphs Not Included Over the course of this past century, the depictions of assimilated Latino characters has improved a great deal. Early portrayals of Latino assimilation generally proved to be a montage of unrealistic caricatures which seemed to convey the filmmaker's creativity more so than true representations. This formed the manner in which the American people at large viewed not just Latino characters attempting to assimilate, but also those who were not. As Cine-Aztlan puts it, film "manipulates the human psychology, sociology, religion, and morality of the people, in a word the ideological super-structure of modern capitalist society" (pg.275, Chicanos and Film).

    Read More

  • Latino beyond Reel Documentary Film Analysis

    563 Words  | 2 Pages

    Media shape the perception of our society and have a different of framing in choosing the story for our society. Media framing had effect on how the stereotype perception of Latino in the reality. The information had differentially distributed and affects the non-Latino in how information being processed. Society will most likely to believe that Latinos reflect the images, characters, and stories exposed in news and entertainment media.

    Read More

  • Police Brutality In The Media Essay

    1341 Words  | 3 Pages

    The minorities are vulnerable to the media because the minorities are shot and killed by the police. In the case of Michael Brown, who is a minority, being that he is a young black male, who allegedly was walking illegally in the middle of a street was shot by Darren Wilson a white police officer. In the accounts of what transpired Wilson the police officer said that Brown attacked him in his car, but an eyewitness alleged that brown was shot while holding his hands up in the air and was unharmed(“Police Brutality”). However the headlines in the media are emphasizing race, black vs. white, which is a controversial topic due to the history of black and white people. Do to events like slavery and segregation, yet the media seem to play on race instead of facts. Next, People don’t process or take in the truth. For example, in the case of Eric Garner, people bypass the part of Eric selling illegal cigarettes and all people hear is the Eric was put in a choke hold. The media realize how to exploit the minority faults. For instance the minorities have a low literacy rate. That means a most of the minority population don’t know how to read and write. The media know how to use their power to get an emotional reaction without providing a considerable amount of information and that can cause people to make irrational decisions. Lastly, how the media is affecting minorities because what

    Read More

  • The Negative Impact of the Depiction of Black Male Stereotypes in Media

    3152 Words  | 7 Pages

    The usage of media is huge in nowadays. People rely on different kinds of media to receive information in their everyday life because they are thirsty for the diverse and informative content. However, inaccurate portrayals of people from different races always appear in the media and audience will exaggerate those portrayals by their inflexible beliefs and expectations about the characteristics or behaviors of the portrayals’ cultural groups without considering individual variation (Ting-Toomey and Chung, 2012); in fact, it is also called as stereotypes. According to a study by the Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism at San Francisco State University (Stein, 2012), racial stereotyping continues to occur in media and the mainstream media's coverage of different cultural groups is full of biased reporting, offensive terminology and old stereotypes of American society. It specifically emphasizes that majority of the stereotyped characters in media will only bring out the dark side of their cultural groups which many of them might not be true, especially for the portrayals of black community: African American.

    Read More

  • The Influence of the Media on American Culture

    1179 Words  | 3 Pages

    Race, stereotype, ethnicity, and racism are all around the world and it has become so normal that more often than not people tend to overlook those factors in the social media. As stated earlier the medias main goal is to make money as a result most white Americans is the medias main source of money. Yet, by doing so the media has segregated people by their race and ethnicity in the type of channels and advertisements they have created.

    Read More

  • Racial Stereotypes on Television

    1870 Words  | 4 Pages

    Woll, Allen L and Randall M Miller. Ethnic and Racial Images in American Film and Television: Historical Essays and Bibliography. n.d. Print.

    Read More

  • Blacks and the Media

    1274 Words  | 3 Pages

    If the images of black people in the media are improved, the outlook within the community will improve as well. Not only will positive goals and achievements become more realistic for black people if the media outlets discontinue their practice of equating blacks with aggression, lawlessness and violence, but a greater good will also result for whites, which would be represented by a true autonomy and equality in American society.

    Read More

  • Latino Images In Film Summary

    1197 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the book Latino Images in Film: Stereotypes, Subversion, and Resistance, by Charles Ramírez Berg he argues that six different stereotypical images have been used to define Latinos in U.S. cinema since the first appearance in film in the 1920s: the bandido, the harlot, the male buffoon, the female clown, the Latin lover, and the dark lady. Though resistance to such demeaning depictions seemingly emerged during waves of Chicano filmmaking beginning in the late 1960s, Berg identifies-through analysis of costume, language, and even posture and gesture-attempts by Latino actors from as far back as the 1930s to overturn Hollywood expectations of their roles. In the first part of the book, Berg sets forth his theory of stereotyping, defines the

    Read More

  • Portrayal of Asian Americans in the Media

    3279 Words  | 7 Pages

    My research focused on the coverage of Asian Americans in contemporary mass media. The following types of media were researched:

    Read More

  • The Three Caballeros: The Representation Of Immigrants In Film

    834 Words  | 2 Pages

    Representations of immigrants on screen has been problematic since the early days of the motion picture medium. Hollywood cinema, particularly, is referential to the various lifestyles that encompass the American experience, visual representations of cultural characteristics and traditions that are the very fabric of an ethnic background. Through an American lens, a certain perception arises, which, more often than not, translate as either underrepresented or greatly exaggerated, the repercussions of which are still being dealt with today. Here, the main focus will be Latinos on film, as discussed in lecture on February 2nd, 2018. What follows are responses to some of the topics mentioned in the lecture that are of specific interest.

    Read More

  • Race In The Media Essay

    2242 Words  | 5 Pages

    The use of media has always been very tactical and representative of a statement or purpose. The issue of race has always been a topic of immaculate exploration through different forms of media. Mediated topics such as race, gender, and class have always been topics represented in the media as a form of oppression. The widely use of media surrounds the globe extensively as the public is bombarded with media daily. There are many different types of media that circulates the public making it widely available to anyone. Media can hold an immense amount of power as it can distort the manner in which people understand the world. In our society the media creates the dominant ideology that is to be followed for centuries in the classifications of race, gender, and class. Media can be a powerful tool to use to display a message which, is how “…the media also resorts to sensationalism whereby it invents new forms of menace” (Welch, Price and Yankey 36). Media makers and contributors take advantage of the high power that it possesses and begin to display messages of ideologies that represent only one dominant race or gender. It became to be known as the “dominant ideology of white supremacy” for many and all (Hazell and Clarke 6).

    Read More

  • Language, Gender, and Culture in Society

    1684 Words  | 4 Pages

    At one point in time, these stereotypes may have been true; however, in today’s modern society, most of these stereotypes are outdated and false, which leads them to turn into misconceptions. Usually, stereotypes are utilized to humiliate and degrade the person or group; they also do not provide any beneficial outcomes. Stereotypes focus on how a particular group acts because of the radical ideas and actions of the few, how a particular group looks, or how that group is physically lacking in some way. These stereotypes often lead to conflicts because the group does not appreciate the way it is perceived. Seldom are the stereotypes placed on a group of people truthful and accurate.

    Read More

  • Lack Of Diversity Within The Media

    1155 Words  | 3 Pages

    Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, however what is considered beautiful by some is not considered as beauty when discussing diversity within the media. Society is based on criticism of judging one’s characters body, shape and or race/ethnics background. In the media the society only sees one type that is only focused on perfection to the mind; however within the United States, it is very typical in that the media lacks ethnic representation, cultural identity and gender inequalities. There are no ethnic representation when it comes to the media world and that the media has been trained to believe that the ethnic groups are not valuable. African Americans and Hispanics writers are the minority group when it comes to a social group. According to journalist Prince and Television critic Deggans “CNN , let go one of its most high-profile anchor of color, Soledad O’Brien, replaced her with a white man, Chris Cuomo. Wolf Blitzer gave up one of his hours to another white man, Tapper. Though Zucker met with both National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalist to try and address their concerns, there has been no overt sign from CNN that it is bringing on any more anchors of color, ”(Mirkinson p.1).

    Read More

  • Stereotypes In Hollywood Film

    1000 Words  | 2 Pages

    While watching movies, have you ever noticed that the villains in almost every single Hollywood film are of Middle Eastern or European descent? In a reoccurring theme of Hollywood, the villains in these films are almost always foreigners or people of color. This is a stereotype. On the other side of the spectrum, we often see that the heroes of these films are most often than not white males. This is another stereotype. Within the last few years, we’ve seen actors such as Will Smith, Morgan Freeman, and Zoe Saldana take the lead roles, so it can’t be said that there are no non-white heroes, but there certainly isn’t many. Hollywood action movies, moreover than other genres, are typically loaded with an abundance of stereotypes. The way these movies are composed and structured can tell us a great deal about the views held within the American psyche and who holds the social power. The harsh reality is that the media ultimately sets the tone for societal standards, moralities, and images of our culture. Many consumers of media have never encountered some of the minorities or people of color shown on screen, so they subsequently depend on the media and wholeheartedly believe that the degrading stereotypes represented on the big screen are based on fact and not fiction. Mary Beltran said it best when she stated in her “Fast and Bilingual: Fast & Furious and the Latinization of Racelessness” article, “ultimately, Fast & Furious mobilizes notions of race in contradictory ways. It reinforces Hollywood traditions of white centrism, reinforcing notions of white male master while also dramatizing the figurative borders crossed daily by culturally competent global youth – both Latino and non-Latino” (77). This paper will specifically look...

    Read More

  • Media Bias

    2488 Words  | 5 Pages

    Media bias is any stereotype set forth by the media that portrays individuals to society in a certain way. Media bias doesn?t even have to be a negative portrayal, but more of an inaccurate portrayal of people that helps aid to the ignorance of individuals in society. In the following paper, I will give specific instances where media biases have occurred as well as show that it is a common occurrence that we may not realize. I will also show you why individuals believe that media bias is not a problem because if you can?t blatantly recognize it, how can it be there. I will also show how stereotypes set forth by the media sometimes mirror stereotypes that are set forth by society, and they only exist to help form the belief and value system of society. I will also offer possible solutions to such problems. Media bias is a large problem, in that its? existence is not blatant nor is it one that many people feel threatened by.

    Read More

More about We Are Not What Media Says

Open Document