“On the one hand, there was a general acknowledgement that ‘representation’ and ‘reality’ were two distinct entities; and on the other, there was a demand that representations of Black people were drawn in more ‘accurate’ ways.”[1]
The representations of ethnic minorities within broadcasting and film help to reinforce racial stereotypes. To what extent is this statement true?
The representations of ethnic minorities within the media have been known to reinforce negative stereotypes and promote racism. Ever since the dawn of mass media, black and Asian people have been subjected to crude and racist representations. Malik (2002) however states that the myth that “race or racism is a new problem which only arrived when ‘the Blacks’ did, that Britain was inherently homogenous and conflict-free before ‘the Blacks’ came”[2] needs to be challenged but it does, in turn show how much of an impact black people have had on the UK since large scale immigration.
With Britain often representing itself to be a multi-cultural society (such as the country’s successful Olympic bid) you would think that the proportion of people from ethnic minorities is higher than it actually is. Although Britain is made up of many cultures, (in London with the greatest diversity there is a total of 37% of ethnic minorities) overall there are around 10% less than there are Whites. A constructionist view of representation which “suggests that our knowledge of the world is constructed by media representations”[3] encourages us to focus on media texts. By understanding media texts as operating in a way which is intended to re-present the world back to us, we are able to gain an insight into why ethnic characters are still on-the-whole under-represented within texts on the broadcasting platform. This essay will highlight the factors that means broadcasting reinforces stereotypes. An analysis of “Gone with the Wind” (1939) and “Kidulthood” (2006) will be carried out in order to compare how stereotypes may have been used at different times as a way to represent black and Asian people.
Representing ethnic minorities in a certain way has allowed for the formation and reinforcement of stereotypes as the media acts a learning tool and informs us of what is happening within the world. The concept of stereotypes has been developed by Stuart Hall, whereby he stated that “ethnic minorities are continually misrepresented by racial (and racist) stereotypes.”[4] “Media stereotyping occurs when the roles and behaviour on personal characteristics of a particular group are portrayed in a limited fashion.”[5] - Is this the case with ethnic minorities? TV programmes and films can be seen to provide unconstructive images of ethnic minorities by subjecting them to only one way of being represented; the negative way. “Ethnic minority viewers accused all broadcasters of tokenism and stereotyping, screening exaggerated and extreme representations of minorities and failing to reflect modern ethnic minority cultures.”[6] This relates to the idea that “stereotypes are thus neither neutral nor fair, preventing the examination of differences within groups”[7] as a result of accusing “broadcasters of perpetuating racial stereotypes with token characters.”[8] Dev Alahan is an Asian corner-shop owner in the British soap-opera “Coronation Street” (ITV). “Coronation Street” has been accused of using this stereotypical image in order to represent all Asians as it may be believed that all corner-shops are owned by this ethnic group, which consequently leads to the loss of the individualised understanding of people.
However, how many times will we walk into a corner-shop and see that it is owned by an Asian? In some parts of London probably every time we enter one as it is suggested that “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.”[9] This can be said as it is seen that “stereotypes are moulds into which reality can be poured, or at least part of it”[10] which in turn suggests that stereotypes are subject matters into which parts of reality can be showcased and puts into perspective that there may be an element of truth behind these stereotypical images that we ever so often see within the media. In turn both quotes indicate that this image of Asians, although seen as stereotypical is in fact true as a result of “stereotypes being criticised for both misrepresenting the world and for representing things as they are.”[11]
Dyer (1993) states that “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.”[12] This relates to the film “Kidulthood” as the above quote implies that the way in which ethnic minorities have been represented within the media could have already determined the way in which they are treated within society. The media, in its own right is a learning tool, and can be described as a “window on the world.”[13] Various characters within “Kidulthood” are shown to be involved in criminal activities such as drug dealing and gun making. It can be said that “black people, particularly Afro-Caribbeans are portrayed in the media as criminals”[14] as “the media are highly selective in the way in which they construct and represent the world back to us”[15] and in turn decide on how a particular social group will be represented. Due to how they are represented within “Kidulthood”, it suggests that young black males may have been subjected to receive negative treatment as a result of being represented with such pessimism and in turn advocates that they will be treated as criminals if they have been represented in that way.
This in turn has caused there to be a negative representation of ethnic minorities off-screen. Black people were “disproportionately targeted by police in a stop and search surge under counterterrorism laws in the wake of the failed 2007 London bomb attack.”[16] With the representation of black people often being negative, it may have caused society to treat them in a similar way. As a result of being targeted within this act of counterterrorism, it advocates that the representation of black people on-screen could have caused there to be a negative impact towards them off-screen. In relation to the off-screen representation of ethnic minorities, the number of those employed is quite low. With over 2000 employees at the BBC, only 11.5% of them are from ethnic minorities. This reflects what is shown on-screen as some soap-operas either do not have ethnic characters or have only just started showcasing them. The last time “Emmerdale” (ITV) last had a black family was in 2002 and up until recently has only started to portray a family of Asians. The fact that there is a low amount of ethnic minorities within the workforce could come as a result of how they are typically represented within some media texts. This relates to what was shown within a recent episode of “EastEnders” (BBC). This soap-opera takes on the role of portraying black people whilst reinforcing negative stereotypes among them as it recently depicted a gang of teenagers being led by a young black male to steal money from a local pub whilst brandishing a fake gun. Continuously being portrayed as criminals could have caused there to be a decrease in the amount of black people hired within public service broadcasters as well as other jobs as people may assume that the way in which black people behave on-screen will be the same way in which they behave off-screen.
From a historical viewpoint it is evident that not much has changed when it comes to the representations of black people. Although it has highly developed, the representative image of ethnic minorities is still as much negative back then as it is now. The image of black people in early eras relates to the Blaxploitation genre which emerged in the early 1970s. Films of this genre primarily starred black actors, and when set in the South portrayed them as slaves[17] which in turn reflected the “zeitgeist.”[18] “Gone with the Wind”, although not a blaxploitation film, nevertheless takes on the on the role of showcasing the South during the era of segregation, in which white Southerners are portrayed as defending traditional values and the issue of slavery is largely ignored.[19] “The white women 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.”[20] This insinuates that instead of being portrayed as an independent existence, black people were shown to be just an appearance of one race being controlled by another, putting into perspective how much they are discriminated against.
This is further reinforced by what is shown within “Kidulthood.” In comparison to “Gone with the Wind”, “Kidulthood” reinforces the stereotypes cast upon black people, with the narrative promoting the stereotype that most black teenagers are linked with drugs, crime and gangs. Joseph Harker wrote that “when it comes to imagery surrounding black people; I’m used to relentlessly negative - knife crime, underachievement representations”[21] which shows how much of an impact black on black media can have. This links to the fact that “Kidulthood” has been written by a black male and has been directed by an Asian, as a result of this it almost suggests that this is the way in which ethnic people see themselves. In turn, this implies that it is okay for other cultures to create their own opinions of ethnic minorities, even if it is to see them as criminals due to the fact that this is the type of image of which ethnic minorities are giving off of themselves, in turn allowing non-ethnic people to agree with what they see.
“Gone with the Wind” goes on further to illustrate how racism was portrayed in the early eras of the 20th century as it shows how racist black people were against their own race. The character “Sam”, a black field foreman, runs to his master’s defense after she is attacked by two men. After fighting them off, he tells his master “Ah hope Ah done kill dat black baboon”[22], referring to one of the two men whom of which is black. By “Sam” referring to the man as a baboon, it puts into perspective how much racism occurs within both versions of this media text. In turn, it turn shows how racism can become engrained within society and how it can become acceptable and almost unconscious to the human mind as anyone can be shown to do it, even against their own race. A Marxist view of this film suggests that “the slaves in “Gone with the Wind” never complain once about their fate and are as devoted to “Miss Scarlett” as poodles are to their master”[23] which puts into perspective how the issue of slavery was largely ignored as it connotes how black people within the 20th century accepted the roles and portrayals of which they were given within films.
According to the hypodermic needle theory, “media content is shot at the audience like a magic bullet, directly penetrating the viewer’s mind.”[24] The media can be viewed as an informative resource as “an audience gains their ideas about the stereotypical group from media sources, rather than from personal experience”[25] which suggests that rather than gaining their ideas about a social group by the use of personal experience, people are gaining their ideas through media sources. Nevertheless, 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”[26] thus putting into perspective that it is up to the audience to decide for themselves how they want to interpret the representations of ethnic minorities, it is not the media who is influencing them.
When comparing “Gone with the Wind” to “Kidulthood”, we can agree that the process of hegemony is still long-standing. “The hegemonic model acknowledges that much of the media is controlled by a relatively small group of people (who are generally male, middle class and white) and that the viewpoints associated with these groups inevitably become embedded in the products themselves.”[27] This suggests that these small groups of people use their own views of ethnic minorities in order to represent them, due to the fact that they may not know how to represent them if they are not part of that social group themselves. This shows that audiences are being provided with already established views on a social group thus reiterating the hypodermic needle theory. It can be said that the media choose to represent ethnic minorities in ways which reinforce stereotypes in order to maintain a hegemonic society relating to how “a dominant class or group maintains power by making everyone accept their ideology as normal or neutral, through cultural influence rather than force.”[28] Marx stated that “social change was explained by the struggle between competing and antagonistic forces in society.”[29] He followed on by saying that “this struggle was between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’”[30] which suggests that the bourgeoisie and the proletariat classes are in an on-going battle to see who has control over the audience’s views and opinions of ethnic minorities.
It is clear that the ways in which ethnic minorities have been represented within broadcasting have in fact reinforced stereotypes. By analysing historical and contemporary texts, it is evident to see that these representative images have strengthened the issue of racial stereotyping where “the repetition of stereotypes and the absence of plausible alternative means that the values wrapped up in the stereotype come to appear as ‘common sense’”[31] which suggests that we see these images as normal, truthful and something which we should already be accustomed with. From the stereotypical black slave, to the Asian corner-shop owner we can see that these representations reflect the “zeitgeist” and in relation to the black criminal go about in creating a “moral panic”[32] due to the fact that young black males are now seen as dangers to society. This concludes that ethnic stereotypes have been used as a form of representation as a means of maintaining hegemonic control within society and preserving the established, privileged media’s position in the development of audience’s views, ideas and opinions, therefore reinforcing the status quo.
Word Count = 2,387
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[1] Malik, S. (2002). p. 28.
[2] ibid. p. 11.
[3] Andrews, M. Burton, J. Stevenson, E. (2009). p. 182.
[4] Laughey, D. (2009). p. 78.
[5] Williams, K. (2003). p. 131.
[7] Williams, K. (2003). p. 130.
[8] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/ethnic-minorities-accuse-tv-programmers-of-tokenism-869817.html
[9] Calvert, B. Casey, B. Casey, N. French, L. Lewis, J. (2002). p. 168.
[10] Bennet, P. Slater, J. Wall, P. (2006). p. 81.
[11] Williams, K. (2003). p. 134.
[12] Dyer, R. (1993). p. 1.
[13] Kruger, S. Rayner, P. Wall, P. (2004). p. 47.
[15] Kruger, S. Rayner, P. Wall, P. (2004). p. 47.
[18] Collins, W. (1989). p. 1388.
[20] ibid.
[25] Calvert, B. Casey, B. Casey, N. French, L. Lewis, J. (2002). p. 168.
[26] Creeber, G. (2003). p. 109.
[27] Baker, J. Clark, V. Lewis, E. (2003). p. 113.
[28] Kruger, S. Rayner, P. Wall, P. (2004). p. 85.
[29] Williams, K. (2003). p. 36.
[30] ibid.
[31] Bennet, P. Slater, J. Wall, P. (2006). p. 81.
[32] Probert, D. (2005). p. 97.
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Bibliography
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Newspapers & Magazines
Black and Asian people targeted in stop and search surge from
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/30/black-asian-stop-search-police-terrorism
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The ordinary brilliance of black youths from
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/oct/05/london-black-children-awards
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http://www.helium.com/items/265124-how-are-ethnic-minorites-portrayed-in-the-media
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An overview of the history of Blaxploitation from
http://194.78.207.186/BB/admin/ReelNewsDetail.asp?ID=2734
Moving Image Texts
Coronation Street (UK, 1960-present, ITV)
EastEnders (UK, 1960-present, BBC)
Emmerdale (UK, 1972-present, ITV)
Gone with the Wind (USA, 1939, dir.: Victor Fleming)
Kidulthood (UK, 2006, dir.: Menhaj Huda)
Works Consulted
Books
Bignell, Jonathan. (2007). An Introduction to Television Studies (2 ed.). New York: Routledge.
Corner, John. (1995). Television: Cultural Form and Public Address. London: A Hodder Arnold Publication.
Cottle, Simon. Ethnic Minorities and the Media (Issues in Cultural and Media Studies). 1 ed. Buckingham: Open University Press, 2000. Print.
Curran, James. & Gurevitch, Michael. (2005). Mass Media and Society (4 ed.). London: A Hodder Arnold Publication.
Stevenson, Nicholas. (2002). Understanding Media Cultures: Social Theory and Mass Communication (1st ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Ltd.
Newspapers & Magazines
All-black EastEnders makes soap history - as in lesson from
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/feb/25/eastenders-black-tv-review
Concern at BBC over fall in ethnic-minority audiences from
Diversity in media from
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media-diversity/variety-anxiety
Ethnic minorities: If you're not in the mainstream, it's tough to stay afloat from
Internet
Are Black People misrepresented in the media? from
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080710015302AAcijHa
The Birth of a Nation from
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0004972/
Does TV Shape Ethnic Images? from
http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article388.html
The Economics of Ethnic and Racial Stereotyping from
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http://www.icar.webbler.co.uk/5026/key-issues/what-role-do-the-media-play.html
Media Stereotyping from
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/index.cfm
Moral Panic from
http://www.iampanicked.com/glossary/moral-panic.htm
Negative Racial Stereotypes in the Media from
http://www.intermix.org.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=48
Racial and Ethnic Stereotypes from
http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=21980
Representation equals recognition? The portrayal of slavery on screen: from Roots to Amistad, Mansfield Park and Amazing Grace from
http://www.history.ac.uk/1807commemorated/media/analysis/representation.html
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http://www.asiansinmedia.org/news/article.php/television/819
Moving Image Texts
The Birth of a Nation (USA, 1915, dir.: D.W. Griffith)
