An Analysis of the Minority Representation and Acceptance in the Media

I chose to go over minority representation in media. I wanted to create about this simply because I have noticed that there is a specific shortcoming of non-white actors in media. With this is mind, questions I want to address are how does it effect minorities to not see themselves in films or tv? And can men and women develop a damaging self-image due to lack of representation? I will confront each of these inquiries whilst focusing on how beneficial it is for men and women to see their race portrayed, the lack of minorities in media and why it is important to show all races in films or tv. Even though researching this subject, I hope to additional clarify these concerns and develop an understanding of why they are nevertheless present.

The 1st post I want to examine would be “Why On-Screen Representation Really Matters” (Boboltz and Yam). In this supply, it is explained that there are damaging psychological impacts of people not seeing themselves in film. This article supports the idea of how critical it is for minorities to be portrayed on-screen. This quote from the supply elaborates on how folks who have researched minority representation have come up with terms to explain the feelings involved, ““There’s this body of investigation and a term recognized as ‘symbolic annihilation,’ which is the thought that if you don’t see people like you in the media you consume,” she explained, “you must somehow be unimportant.”” (Boboltz and Yam). I was shocked to understand the term symbolic annihilation even exists, the reality that there is even a term for this shows how significantly of an problem it has turn into. This write-up also mentions that minorities are frequently portrayed with offensive tropes that are overused and stereotypical. While it’s great that minorities are becoming represented it’s not attaining something if they only act in a stereotypical manner (Boboltz and Yam). Tv and motion pictures usually give an escape from the genuine world, nevertheless it can put an individual at a disadvantage if they translate what they see in media to reality. Watching a show with minority actors playing stereotypical roles or only white actors is not reality, it is crucial to see individuals diverse than you in films or tv portrayed with out prejudice. From this article, I have been educated on how the inadequate portrayal of minorities can make them really feel like they are not essential to society.

The next post I will be discussing is “Out of 30,000 Hollywood Film Characters, Here’s how many Weren’t White” (Crigger and Santhanam). This write-up articulates how more than the period of 10 years, the percentage of minorities in film has remained low, if we appear at 2007 to 2014, the percentage of black, Hispanic, Asian, and other actors has all remained under twenty (Crigger and Santhanam). This was shocking to me due to the fact the planet has changed significantly given that 2007, but the percentage of minorities on-screen has remained the same. Whilst just becoming represented on film is essential, it also matters how nonwhite characters are portrayed. The stereotypes that are presented can trigger the majority to have a skewed view of minorities (Crigger and Santhanam). It is strange that an individual could have a view of someone just based on what they see in screen, nonetheless for some that could be all they know of that persons’ race.

The following source I will analyze will be “Hollywood Stereotypes” (Mastropolo and Stossel). This write-up explains how the media can effect how folks view minorities and also how actors do not like getting cast in a part just due to the fact of their race. Actors such as B.D. Wong, who wished he was a white actor just so he could be supplied the other roles, ““I wanted to be Matthew Broderick,” Wong says. “If you could have provided me $150,000 and told me it was possible, I would have had that operation.”” (Mastropolo and Stossel). The race of an actor shouldn’t exclude them from roles. One more portion of the write-up I thought was intriguing would be “The reputation of a stereotype does not justify it … Cowboy and Indian films were wildly well-liked for generations. But that doesn’t make the stereotype proper.” (Mastropolo and Stossel). This extract goes along with the previous 1, saying that minority actors are confined due to prejudice and though the aforementioned prejudice may be extensively accepted it’s still not an correct image of minorities. Non-white actors are currently restricted to the roles obtainable to them.

The subsequent post “Hollywood Has A Key Diversity Issue, USC Study Finds/USC study: Minorities still underrepresented in common films” (Keegan) delves into how the actors we see in film can extend beyond that and into our daily life. The consecutive quote from the article touches on how the people we see in films can translate to what we find important, “”Who we see in film sends a powerful message about who is critical and whose stories are beneficial, each to international audiences and to younger viewers in our own country…. Are films communicating to audiences that only specific stories are worth telling?”” (Keegan). I believed this outtake was intriguing due to the fact it highlights how important it is to see motion pictures with actors of all types of race, this way we are not saying that only a specific race, mostly Caucasian, have stories that matter. The post also examines which races are going to see movies versus which races star in the films. This outtake from the write-up mentions how Hispanic moviegoers are specially at a disadvantage, “Hispanics acquire an estimated 26% of movie tickets, they have only 4.two% of speaking roles.” (Keegan). I was surprised when I first read this since even though Hispanics account for practically a third of the movie audiences, this percentage is poorly translated to the screen of the movie they are watching. What I gathered from the article is that films do not account for minority ticket buyers, so the amount of minorities in films is insufficient.

The final source I will mention is “Why Minority Representation In Films, Comics And Tv Matters”(Tasker). This post discusses the good effects of seeing your self translated to screen. In the following excerpt, it is noted that we connect far more with characters who are comparable to us, “The a lot more a character is like us, or is dealing with the identical concerns as us, the a lot more we care.” (Tasker). Even though I identified this to be exciting, it is also unfortunate that folks can not connect with characters that aren’t there. As a result, it is remarkable that we have shows/motion pictures like Luke Cage, which stars an African American who in the show has superhuman strength, and Rogue One, which stars Diego Luna and Riz Ahmed (Tasker). Luke Cage and Rogue A single both star minority actors as the leads and are headed by a massive organization, Disney. To have media like this accessible, as it is positively displaying minorities as heroes or action leads, is a enormous leap. It would be amazing if shows or motion pictures like these previously talked about would be the normal rather than a rarity, this way minorities would get to expertise seeing themselves favorably shown in media.

Now I will analyze how every single source contributes to an additional. The sources “Why On-Screen Representation Truly Matters” (Boboltz and Yam) and “Why Minority Representation In Motion pictures, Comics And Television Matters” (Tasker) are related in content. Judging from the title of these articles alone, you can tell they go over the identical topic matter, why on-screen representation is critical. In “Why On-Screen Representation In fact Matters”, the damaging effects of not seeing your self shown on screen are described, along with how minorities are typically portrayed in stereotypical roles (Boboltz and Yam). Although “Why Minority Representation In Films, Comics And Tv Matters” discusses how the far more we can connect with a character on a personal level, the far more we want to see of that character (Tasker). Each of these articles are focusing on the exact same point, although the authors have distinct perspectives. Boboltz and Yam make it a crucial point to note that the lack of minorities in media, is not appropriate, and how when minorities are represented, they usually fall into a character trope. Which I would totally agree with and think they had a substantial quantity of examples to support their claims. Examples such as if you had been a black or Asian individual seeing your self stereotyped on screen, you may well think that is all you are capable of contributing to society (Boboltz and Yam). I think Tasker would agree with Boboltz and Yam. She delves into media history, noting numerous shows and movies that have portrayed minorities and what their influence has had (Tasker). Boboltz and Yam discussed how minorities really feel to not see themselves represented while Tasker discussed how they feel to be represented. Tasker did not present an argument, but just explained that seeing men and women who look like you do in media, makes life less complicated. Boboltz and Yam presented their argument clearly and described many times all through their report that it is not fair for minorities to continually be ignored by the media. They produced a stronger argument since they produced it a point to say that the shortage of minority roles is nonetheless an ongoing problem.

To examine yet another two sources, I will use “Out of 30,000 Hollywood film characters, here’s how many weren’t white”, (Crigger and Santhanam) and “Hollywood Has A Major Diversity Issue, USC Study Finds/USC study: Minorities nevertheless underrepresented in common films” (Keegan). Again based on the names of these sources, you can tell that they discuss the identical problem. Keegan mentions that nearly 80% of speaking roles in films belonged to white actors, even so only practically 60% of moviegoers are white. And although Hispanics account for practically 30% of moviegoers, Hispanic actors only account for 4.2% of speaking roles in movies (Keegan). Keegan breaks down the film audience, and from just this information you can see that there is an concern with minorities getting embodied on screen. Crigger and Santhanam also show percentages, theirs has to much more with diversity in film in general, not seeking specifically at speaking roles. Even so the percentages from both articles are roughly the exact same. All round these articles both convey the identical message minorities are underrepresented in television and motion pictures. Though I feel Keegan had a far more compelling article because she added a lot more detail. She broke down who is going to see these motion pictures, and who is making these motion pictures and how who is creating them impacts the diversity within the film (Keegan). All round I believe both of these sources contributed effectively to the primary point of the essay, minorities are missing from media.

Throughout this essay, I have touched on three principal subjects: why minority representation matters, minority portrayal in media, and the overall lack of minority look in common. I discovered that the percentage of minority actors shown in media, specially with speaking roles, has remained the exact same since 2007, and these percentages do not reflect their audience. The media is not emulating reality. Minorities are frequently portrayed with a stereotype or bias, and I have been shown that how minorities are represented is just as valuable as the representation itself. I have also been educated on why minorities portrayal is significant. When folks can connect with a character, they see themselves able to do anything that character could do. I hope to raise awareness of the concerningly low the quantity of minorities being shown in television or films really is.