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

3152 Words7 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. Besides, in cultivation theory, George Gerbner proposes that heavy users of media treat the content of media as a primary source to perceive the world and assert what they see in media is very similar to the reality (Bryant, Thompson and Finklea, 2013), so there is a high possibility that audience will bring the perception of stereotyped portrayals of African-American from media into the real world. Based on the above unhealthy situations, this paper is going to illustrate how the racial stereotypes in media negatively affect people’s perception, attitude and behavior toward African American in the reality.... ... middle of paper ... ...g Media and Criminal Defendants. Duke University School of Law. 101-103 Hurwitz, J., Peffley, M., & Sniderman, P. (1997). Racial stereotypes and whites' political views of blacks in the context of welfare and crime. American Journal of Political Science. 41, 30-60. McLeod, S. A. (2008). Prejudice and Discrimination. The University of Manchester. Stein, M L. (2012). Racial stereotyping and the media. Editor & Publisher, 127. Tan, A. S., Fujioka, Y., & Tan, G. (2000). Television use, stereotypes of African Americans and opinions on affirmative action: An affective model of policy reasoning. Communication Monographs, 67, 362-371. Ting-Toomey, Stella., & Chung, Leeva C. (2012). Understanding Intercultural Communication. Oxford University Press. 43, 159-160. Tristani, Gloria. (1998). Children are watching stereotypes in the media. Tri - State Defender. 47.

Show More
Related

  • Invisible Man Blindness Quotes

    1120 Words  | 3 Pages

    3) Stereotypes of Race “Who, Negroes? Negroes don’t control this school or much of anything else – haven’t you learned even that? No, sir, they support it, but I control it. I’s big and black and I say ‘Yes, suh’ as loudly as any burrhead when it’s convenient, but I am still the king down here” (Ellison

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Bonilla-Silva's 'Racism Without Racists'

    1883 Words  | 4 Pages

    The author provides several examples of survey results that illustrate this. For example, while a majority of whites wanted separate schooling, transportation, etc. for blacks, less than 25 percent of whites wanted that in the 1970s. Also since 1940, the number of whites who believe and act on the stereotypes of blacks has decreased significantly (though, it is still high, ranging anywhere from 20-50 percent). Bonilla-Silva provides four trends in which these changes in racial attitudes have changed: racial optimists, racial pesoptimists, symbolic racism and sense of group

    Read More

  • Behind the Beautiful Forevers Analysis

    1207 Words  | 3 Pages

    Asuncion-Landé, N. C., & Pascasio, E. M. (1981). Building bridges across cultures: Perspectives on intercultural communication--theory and practice. Manila, Philippines: Solidaridad Pub. House.

    Read More

  • Toni Morrison and bell hooks - Society and the Media

    1074 Words  | 3 Pages

    There is a lot of misrepresentation of the black society as a whole in the media. The reason that this is true is because the mostly white society accepts this and prolongs s this misrepresentation in the media. Toni Morrison and bell hooks share some of the same ideas on sexism, racism and conformity. This American society is made up of mostly whites. The whites have an extreme effect on how the stereotypes of today relate with media.

    Read More

  • Mexican American Culture: The Film Selena

    1000 Words  | 2 Pages

    Martin, J. N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2013). Intercultural Communication in Contexts (6th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Read More

  • African American Stereotypes Essay

    760 Words  | 2 Pages

    African-Americans are the most stereotyped people in the world. These stereotypes are based on cognitive structures that may contain the beliefs, knowledge and expectation of the perceiver about the African-America. The stereotypes and prejudices are constructed out of a kernel of trust and then it is distorted beyond reality. The stereotypes against African-American were built through generalization of a truth that contained negative characteristics of the black people. Thus, stereotypes led to prejudices that entailed preconceived opinion that is not based on experience or reason.

    Read More

  • African American Stereotypes

    768 Words  | 2 Pages

    Negative things are said about African Americans on a daily basis. From the beginning we have had stereotypes built up against us tearing down our image in society. Over the years it would seem that African Americans would want to fix this image of them but instead they have continued to build to this negativity. One of the main reasons why this image is present until this day is reality television. Although it may not be real, portraying these images on television gives both sexes of the African American race a bad name. Even though some of these shows are funny what needs to be realized is that the people watching these shows are not laughing with African Americans, but instead at them.

    Read More

  • Essay On Racial Discrimination

    1016 Words  | 3 Pages

    Media plays a huge role regarding race relations because there are always racist comments on social media, television, etc. and that teaches people – especially children – that it is okay to discriminate against either different races, cultures, or ethnicities. Discrimination through media is even discusses in the textbook: “during World War II American films often showed negative stereotypes of Japanese and German People.”

    Read More

  • Racial Stereotypes In The Film Bamboozled By Spike Lee

    977 Words  | 2 Pages

    After viewing the film Bamboozled by Spike Lee I feel as though he is suggesting that racial stereotypes will continue to be emphasized in television and other mass media outlets but as a way to provide entertainment. From a person working with the media’s perspective, many communities are growing towards becoming more diverse in which would lead them to think of an effective way to connect with a hugely diverse audience. Many races have common stereotypes that the media would use to connect with their audience on a personal level, sometimes it would be seen as offensive, but avoid conflict with their audience and maintain their image they would add comedic effect so it would only appear as a joke.

    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

  • Quantico: Film Analysis

    1639 Words  | 4 Pages

    As members of the audience, we are constantly bombarded by messages from the media. Once we receive these messages, we then interpret the messages and give them meaning. Sociologists refer to this process as the social construction of reality (Croteau, Hoynes, & Milan, 2012, p. 8). The media plays an important role in what messages we receive, and this can alter the meanings we develop in order to construct our reality. One form of media that has a major part in this process are television programs. Television programs relay many messages to the audience, and an important aspect of these messages is how the program portrays race and ethnicity. The depictions of race and ethnicity in television shows has an effect on how we interpret these

    Read More

  • Gender Stereotypes Essay

    763 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conclusion, media produces certain stereotypes both in behaviour and in style; it isolates audience from the true reality, the problem needs attention.

    Read More

  • The House I Live In Movie Analysis

    1850 Words  | 4 Pages

    Martin, Judith N., and Thomas K. Nakayama. Intercultural Communication in Contexts. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013. Print.

    Read More

  • Missing Persons: The Media Bias to Report Only Pretty Blonde Girls

    2804 Words  | 6 Pages

    Currently there is a long-standing debate dealing with the effects of media. Some believe that the media is just something to indulge or watch and that it has no significant affect on people while others say that has a powerful pull on society as a whole. Research indicates that bias in media articles leads to minorities and women being portrayed in a stereotypical or harsh manner (Hazell and Clarke 3). This leads to African Americans being seen as individuals fit for “lower status occupations,” (Hazel and Clark 7). Black men were also seen as hostile, intimidating figures mainly working as athletes or musicians while women were portrayed as domineering, overly expressive people (Hazel and Clark 9).

    Read More

  • Problems In Intercultural Communication

    1552 Words  | 4 Pages

    Humans have been communicating since four million years. On the other hand, the birth of culture is estimated to have taken place about 35,000 years ago. Today, both culture and communication have evolved considerably and have become interdependent of one another, to the point that communication is considered to be a product of culture. Thus, our own culture has a deep impact on our thoughts and behaviors. Since each culture has its distinct aspects, intercultural communication can be the cause of conflict and disorder. There are three main issues which are at the root of the problem of intercultural miscommunication : language as a barrier, cultural diversity and ethnocentrism. I will analyze these three notions in situations in which intercultural communication is frequent such as : the workplace, the classroom and vacation trips.

    Read More

More about The Negative Impact of the Depiction of Black Male Stereotypes in Media

Open Document