1. Introduction - A brief description of my independent study and a discussion based on representation, stereotypes and moral panics
Hypothesis: The representations of ethnic minorities within broadcasting help to reinforce stereotypes and contribute to the development of moral panics.
My critical investigation is going to focus on the representations of ethnic minority within broadcasting .i.e. film, television, and on-screen news. I will be investigating if whether the representations within these various media texts challenge or reinforce stereotypes, and if whether they use stereotypes in order to represent ethnic minorities. (R)
I will produce a brief discussion of how stereotypes can develop, and how moral panics can come about. As my independent study mainly focuses on representations, I will be investigating if whether media representations of ethnic minorities reinforce stereotypes, I will make use of keywords associated with my independent study where I will back up my answers with textual examples of which I will be using .i.e. “Kidulthood”, “Eastenders”, and "Coronation Street". (G, R)
2. Media representations of ethnic minorities reinforce stereotypes
It can be seen that within many media texts, stereotypes have been both reinforced. Within this paragraph I will be discussing other texts of which I have analysed, and will show evidence of how stereotypes are reinforced. (R)
“Kidulthood”, “Eastenders” and “Coronation Street” are some of the media texts which reinforce stereotypes among ethnic minorities due to the various ways in which they represent them.
3. The development of moral panics which links to representation and stereotyping
By representing a specific social group in a particular way, what can come from that representation is the development of moral panics. "A moral panic can be put into focus by the continued use of stereotypes and the public’s overreaction at a supposed threat to society" - I will link this to “Kidulthood” and will discuss how the representation of black people as criminals within this film may have lead to the development of a moral panic concerning the increase in knife crime at this time. (S, P)
“A moral panic refers to the reaction of a group of people based on the false belief that another sub-culture or a group poses danger to the society” - this quote will link to my discussion when talking about how moral panics are created. I will link it to my essay when discussing the recent increase in the amount of Blacks and Asians being stopped and searched following the 2007 London bomb attacks, and how films such as “Kidulthood” and “Adulthood” could have contributed to the development of a moral panic among society. (M, S)
4. Gender and Ethnicity
“Young black men are stereotyped by linking their behaviour with violent or criminal activity” - this quote will more than likely link to “Kidulthood” as it portrays young black males .i.e. Trife, Moony, and Sam carrying out criminal activities such as making guns, doing drugs, and abusing women. (R, S)
“How we are seen determines in part how we are treated; how we treat others is based on how we see them; such seeing comes from representation” - this quote links to how ethnic minorities are represented and if whether the representation could determine how they are treated within society. For example, due to the fact that within “Kidulthood”, young black males are seen as criminals, it could link to how young black males are treated within society. Will they be watched and followed based on the colour of their skin? - This is a question which comes into mind when thinking about this quote, and linking it to the film as it puts into perspective that due to the fact that a male is black, they will be more than likely expected to be followed as they may be seen as a criminal due to the fact that it is how they have been represented within the media. (M, R, S)
5. Do the media representations of ethnic minorities wish to inform and educate us?
An analysis of whether the writer, and director of “Kidulthood” has chosen to represent ethnic minorities in a particular way in order to educate us and inform us of what is happening around us. Although “Kidulthood” was written and directed by people of ethnic minorities, the way in which ethnic minority characters have been represented within the film puts into perspective that it is okay for non-ethnic people to think that ethnic minority groups are the same and act in the same way in which they have been represented. (M, R, I, Id, S, E)
“The media, and particularly television, are often described as a ‘window on the world’ although in fact media are highly selective in the way in which they construct and represent the world back to us” - this quote links to whether the media chooses to inform and educate us due to the fact that it is seen as a ‘window on the world’, and as a result puts into perspective that in some way by using stereotypes and representing ethnic minorities in a particular way, the media is allowing us to learn about the world around us. (S)
“An individual cannot personally experience the vast majority of events in which they might be interested and thus must rely on their own mental maps in order to make sense of what is going on” - this quote fully links to how the media does in fact inform and educate us and it reiterates that if an individual cannot personally experience what is going on within the world, they must use the media in order to make sense of what is going on within the world. This links to the social context and puts into perspective an example given by “Kidulthood” that the film may in fact teach an individual about what is happening around them as they may not have known about the increase in knife crime, or that we were in fact in more of a multi-cultural society. (S)
"Stereotypes have a complex relationship to reality. While stereotypes may be partial, they are not necessarily false: they generally control a grain of the truth" - this quote puts into perspective how stereotypes can effectively inform and educate us as it suggests that they do contain an element of truth. (M, S)
6. Reflections of a multi-cultural society through representation within media texts
Now that we are living in more of a multi-cultural society, we are able to see that this is so through the ways in which ethnic group have been represented on-screen. Films and television programmes such as “Kidulthood”, “EastEnders” and “Coronation Street” allow us to see that we live in more of a multi-cultural society by including characters of different ethnicities, and through the various connotations. Also by including storylines which focus more on the cultures of the ethnic minorities .i.e. more recently, Syed Masood’s wedding in EastEnders, we are also able to see how these ethnic minorities have made somewhat of a positive impact on Britain as we are able experience other cultures and as a result become completely engulfed with cultures other than our own. (M, R, S)
I will be able to refer to Diedrick Santer (an executive producer for Eastenders) and how he introduced more ethnic minority characters as part of his plan to "diversify" and make Eastenders "feel more 21st century" which in turn suggests that he done this in order to reflect a multi-cultural society which is what is seen within the 21st century. On the wikipedia pages for members of the Masood Family, it is stated that "Prior to 2007, EastEnders was heavily criticised by the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE), for not representing the East End's real "ethnic make-up". It was suggested that the average proportion of visible minority faces on EastEnders was substantially lower than the actual ethnic minority population in East London boroughs, and it therefore reflected the East End in the 1960s, not the East End of the 2000s" - this quote puts into perspective that EastEnders wasn't truly representing the multi-cultural society that we now live in; in the 2000s, they were in fact representing a non multi-cultural society that was in the 1960s, for which with the appearance of the Masood Family shows how far EastEnders has come in terms of representing ethnic minorities, and in turn representing a multi-cultural society. (M, G, S)
"The expansion of minority representation in EastEnders provides "more opportunities for audience identification with its characters, hence a wider appeal" - this quote in turn puts into perspective how due to EastEnders expanding its characters with those from ethnic minorities, it has allowed for the growth in its audience, and a wider appeal as more will begin to watch due to them being able to personally identify with the characters. (M, A)
Trevor Phillips, CRE chair, has said: "balanced representation of ethnic minority communities in the media matters. The industry has a key part to play in this, it is a powerful tool and can go a long way towards helping to build an integrated society" - this quote puts into perspective that the media is the forefront to show how multi-cultural society is, and in turn helps towards building an integrated society as it provides the chance for its viewers to in fact show how much of a multi-cultural society we live in. (M, A, G, S)
7. Marxism and Hegemony
“Hegemony is the process by which a dominant class or group maintains power by making everyone accept their ideology as normal or neutral, through cultural influence rather than force” - this quote links to if whether the media has chosen to represent people from ethnic minority groups in a particular way in order to maintain power over its viewers by forcing them to become passive and to just accept the information of which they are being given. (R)
When discussing the theory of Marxism and Hegemony, I will be making links between the media’s position into whether they choose to represent ethnic minorities by using stereotypes in order to maintain a hegemonic society, where people will begin to think that all people of the particular social group are the same. (Th, R, S)
"Social change was explained by the struggle between competing and antagonistic forces in society. This struggle was between the 'haves' and 'have nots' who Marx differentiated in terms of their possession of economic power" - I will link this quote to my essay when discussing Marxism and Hegemony as it suggests that the 'haves' are the bourgeoisie (which in this case is the media) and the 'have nots' are the proletariat (which in this case is the audience). I can refer to this quote within my essay to explain if whether the media has a control over the audience's views, ideas, and opinions when it comes to what they think about the ethnic minorities. (M, A, I, Id)
8. Audience theory
The audience theory puts into perspective if whether the media shapes an audience’s perception of the world around them and the people within it, or if whether it is up to the audience to decide for themselves if whether these representations reflect reality. It can be said that the media fills the audience with information which is resistant to social change but on the other hand it can be said that representations of ethnic minorities are open to different interpretations and that their meanings are not fixed, and therefore puts into perspective that it is up to the audience about how they want to interpret the representation of a particular group, it is not the media who is influencing them. (Th, M, A, S)
I will be linking the audience theory to the hypodermic needle theory as it states that media content is shot at the audience like a magic bullet, directly penetrating the viewer’s mind, in turn making us realise as the audience if whether we are passive and just accept the ways ethnic people are represented, or if whether we are active and decide for ourselves if the representations of ethnic people are real. (Th, A)
“The way in which these visions of diversity are delivered will ultimately determine their efficacy and meaningfulness” - this quote can be linked to the audience theory as it discusses if the representations of ethnic minorities within the media are real representations of ethnic minorities within society, and if whether they have any real meaning to them, putting into perspective how the audience may interpret the text. (A, R)
In turn, this quote "An audience gains their ideas about the stereotypical group from media sources, rather than from personal experience" suggests that the audience plays a passive role and just accepts what is being shown to them as it puts into perspective how the audience gains their ideas about a social group through the stereotypes within media sources, rather than gaining them through personal experience consecutively allows for the use of the hypodermic needle theory. (M, A)
9. How far have ethnic minorities come from how they were represented in the past to how they are represented now? - I will compare my historical texts to my contemporary texts
Within this paragraph, I will fully discuss how far ethnic minority groups have come where I will relate it to the historical texts of which I will be analysing, such as “The Colour Purple” which was produced in 1985 but set took place in the Southern United States during the early-to mid-1900s. (H)
I will discuss the blaxploitation film genre. Blaxploitation is a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation". The film genre which emerged in the early 1970s when many exploitation films were made, targeted an audience of urban black people. Films of this genre primarily starred black actors. Common qualities of this film genre when set in the South as with "The Colour Purple" often portrayed black people as slaves.
Here, I will also discuss films such as "The Birth of a Nation" (1915), "Gone with the Wind" (1939) and "Within Our Gates" (1920). These films focus on the appearance of the Ku Klux Klan, and the racism which took part at the time whilst portraying black people as slaves. "The white woman are elegant, their menfolk noble or at least dashing. And, in the background, the black slaves are mostly dutiful and content, clearly incapable of an independent existence" - this quote comes from the Wikipedia page for the film "Gone with the Wind", in a way it suggests that when black people were portrayed as slaves in films from the early 20th century, they were shown to be just an appearance of another race, being controlled by the dominant race, rather than an independent existence of another race, which in turn puts into perspective that black people were exploited within these films based on the colour of their skin even if it was to represent their race. (S, H)
Due to the fact that we are now living in more of a multi-cultural society, I will be discussing the impact that ethnic minority groups have had on society. However, although we are now living in a multi-cultural society, it is quite difficult for these ethnic minority groups to be represented in a positive way - this links to Sarita Malik’s quote that “Race or racism is a problem which only arrived when ‘the Blacks’ did, that Britain was inherently homogenous and conflict-free before ‘the Blacks’ came” which comes from her book Representing Black Britain: Black and Asian Images on Television. This quote is relevant to this part of my independent study as it discusses the social impact that black people have had on society and puts into perspective that more crime was committed when black people came to the UK, which is something of which I will be able to link to my study when discussing S.H.E.P. contexts regarding ethnic minorities. (M, S, H, E, P)
10. Increase of ethnics in the workforce
Due to the fact that the “Kidulthood” has been written and directed by people of ethnic minorities, it allows us to see that there has also been an increase of ethnic minorities in the workforce marking the impact that equal opportunities act has had on ethnic groups. Public Service Broadcasters such as the BBC have also had an increase in ethnics within the broadcasting company, by setting up diversity schemes where there has been an increase in the employment of ethnic minorities. This puts into perspective the introduction of equal pay for equal work may have encouraged people of the ethnic minority groups to seek more job roles. (E)
11. Conclusion - A summary of my key points linking them back to the title of my independent study
It can be seen that within films and television programmes the representations of ethnic minorities do in fact reinforce stereotypes as a means of maintaining hegemonic control among society and preserving the media’s position within the development of an audience’s ideas, views and opinions. (M, A, R, S, E)
Finally, I will discuss how the representation of ethnic minorities has changed over time, comparing how they were represented within my historical texts to how they are represented within my contemporary texts which in turn has allowed for more equality between them within the workforce and within society. (S, H, E, P) - I can link this to a final point by putting into perspective that by having characters of different ethnicities within broadcasting it marks a social change and puts into context that there is now greater equality for ethnic minorities now that we live in a more multi-cultural society. (S)
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