Students could also study the ways in which different racial or ethnic groups are represented both in terms of the images portrayed and the discourses of race constituting those representations (see Module 4 on discourses of race). A study by Children Now of the diversity of groups represented on the eight o’clock shows in 2001 when children are most likely to be viewing indicated that:

• The 8 o’clock “family hour” is the least racially diverse hour on television. Only one in eight (13%) of the programs broadcast during this hour have mixed opening credits casts. By contrast, two thirds (67%) of programs during the ten o’clock hour, when the least children are watching, have mixed opening credits cast.

• African Americans account for the majority of non-white prime time characters, comprising 17%, followed by Asian Pacific Americans (3%), Latinos (2%) and Native Americans (0.2%). In addition, the study found that most on-screen racial diversity comes from the inclusion of non-recurring characters and that the number of diverse programs decreases significantly when focusing on a show’s main characters only.

• Latino representation on prime time decreased from 3% of total characters last year to 2% this year. Asian Pacific American characters increased from 2% to 3%. By contrast, Latinos and Asian Pacific Americans make up 12% and 3.6% respectively of the national population, according to the 2000 U.S. Census.

Another study of representations of different groups on prime-time television in Fall 2002 found that the Latino population, now the second largest minority population in America, was represented only 3 percent of the time, even though they make up 13 percent of the population.

The study also found that:

• whites accounted for 81 percent of screen time and 74 percent of all characters, though they make up 69 percent of the nation’s population.

• blacks accounted for 16 percent of all characters compared to their 12 percent share of the population. However, much of this representation occurred on the seldom-watched UPN network.

This study points to the problem that certain groups are more likely to be represented on certain networks, resulting in a segregation in terms of viewing audiences, such as whites not viewing UPN shows.

Click here to read: TV networks "Family Hour" has least diverse prime time programming

In the video clip from Race, The Floating Signifier, Stuart Hall critiques biological notions of race to argue that race is a social and cultural construct that is continually changing across and within different cultures.

Central to the cultural construction of race is Gramsci’s theory of white hegemony by which media representations serve to maintain and perpetuate a discourse of whiteness as the desired norm, against which people of color are defined as “other”:
Hype
Latinos and Media Project

In the video Cultural Criticism and Transformation, bell hooks examines the powerful white/capitalistic institutional forces and motives behind representations of race as evident in the documentary Hoop Dreams, the OJ Simpson case, Madonna, Spike Lee, and Gangsta rap. As she notes, “The issue is not freeing ourselves from representations. It’s really about being enlightened witnesses when we watch representations.”

Based on their extensive empirical research on the representations of Blacks in television and films, Robert Entman and Andrew Rejecki (2000), argue that given the dominant discourse of whiteness that frames representations of Blacks in terms of a hierarchy of power positioning Blacks in a subordinate roles. They define what they describes as a bipolar portrayal of Blacks:

The predominate imagery of Blacks on television oscillates between the supremely gifted, virtuous, and successful and the corrupt, criminal, and dangerous (with some Black athletes a bit of both), much more so that it does with Whites. There is little in the way of the merely ordinary, those examples that fail to register a blip on a cultural radar screen calibrated to detect only the extremes. (p. 207)

They note that local news broadcasts frequently portray urban Blacks as more likely to engage in criminal behavior than Whites. “Such depictions may increase Whites’ fears of entering Black neighborhoods, as it reduces their sympathy for Blacks — who are in fact more afflicted by violence and crime than most Whites” (p. 209). Given the lack of factual reporting and contextualizing of larger issues on the news, they argue for the need for:

• providing accurate representation of knowable facts (like the size of the Black population and the welfare budget).

• seeking to create dominant frames in the audience’s minds that are rooted in such facts, or at least in consciously chosen and openly announced value commitments; that it, selecting and highlighting and therefore popularizing understandings of social problems, causes, and remedies based on what we know, not what we fear or unmindfully assume.

• providing self-critical material that offers context and clarifies the causes on the images that appear.In this mode, the news would report that Black crime rates are much higher than Whites, but thatRacial difference disappears if we control for employment status. (p. 217).

And, this clip from the video Edward Said: On Orientalism examines how media representations of Mid-eastern and Muslim worlds reflect white, Western discourses positioning those worlds as an exotic, unfathomable “other.”

In the documentary video Color Adjustment, portraying 40 years of a slow evolution of representations of race on television, Marlon Riggs demonstrates how African Americans on programs such as Amos and Andy, The Nat King Cole Show, I Spy, Julia, Good Times, Roots, Frank’s Place, and The Cosby Show, were only portrayed in ways that did not threatened white dominant discourses of race. These non-threatening representations are contrasted with more challenging portrayals of the Civil Rights movements on the news and in programs such as Julia, All in the Family, Good Times, The Jeffersons, Hill Street Blues, and LA Law.

Professor Margaret Russell in an analysis of a 1980s movie, Soul Man, about a upper-middle class white male who poses as a black applicant in order to obtain admission to Harvard Law School.

Russell notes that the film challenges affirmative action and race-based scholarships in ways that appeal to what she defines as the “dominant stance” associated with the assumed ideological stance of a white audience, a stance she traces back to a tradition of Hollywood films beginning with Birth of a Nation. She concludes her study by contrasting films such as those by Spike Lee that challenge this dominant white stance with films such as Soul Man:

In defending his film, Do the Right Thing (1989) against the criticism that it might make mainstream white audiences feel uncomfortable, Spike Lee asserted, “[T]hat’s the way it is all the time for Black people.” Lee’s point was that the dominant gaze still prevails; “uncomfortable” perspectives are marginalized, criticized, or worst of all, simply ignored. A film such as Soul Man, which capitalizes on an ostensibly alternative perspective to tell a tale about contemporary race relations, is ultimately fatally flawed by the dominance of its vision. By exploiting the effect of racial stereotypes without reminding the viewers of their continuing destructive force, Soul Man misses the opportunity to make — either seriously or comically — a truly instructive comment about the nature of racism in our society.

Click here for: Christopher Miller, “The Representation of Black Males in Film”

Similarly, analysis of representations of Native Americans in Hollywood films reflect the ways in which Native Americans are portrayed in the Western genre as the deviant “other” who attempted to block the white’s western expansion and exploitation of natural resources in the American west.

Lessons on studying contemporary Native American experiences that counter stereotypes about Native Americans

Bret Enynon and Donna Thompson, American Social History Project: “Picturing a Nation: Native Americans and Visual Representation”

A study by Children Now of Native American adolescents’ perceptions of the media indicated that:

Most said that they did not see youth with whom they could identify and who were true to life. Further, Native youth also stated that they do not see people of their own race. "I don't see any Native Americans in the media," said a young Comanche boy from Oklahoma City. When asked to identify Native Americans actors, a few children answered, "Northern Exposure," or "There was an X-Files [episode] a couple of years ago. . . ." This scarcity corresponds to many kids feeling "left out," and getting the message that minorities "shouldn't be seen."

When Native American youth do see other Native Americans on television, they experience a sense of pride. As one teen said, "If I see a Native person on the television screen, I feel proud of them. I don't care what tribe they are, as long as they're Native and making a difference." Another commented, "I feel kind of good . . . because, like after so many shows about White people, Indians actually get a chance to be on TV. It makes me happy. It shows we're getting somewhere."

On the rare occasions when Native youth do see their culture and race in the media, it is often an unflattering picture. As one Oklahoma City adolescent asserted, "[Native Americans] aren't highly respected. They're not often shown as the main character or the heroine." A teenage girl from Seattle told us, "When you do see Native Americans on TV, it's like movies about reservations or something like that. And they're all drunk and beating up on each other. And they're poor."

Representations of Asian men and women reflect negative perceptions of Asians not trustworthy or mysterious
Vanishing Son: The Appearance, Disappearance, and Assimilation of the Asian-American Man in America Mainstream Media

Lucy Liu

Bibliography: UC Berkeley Library: African Americans in films

Bibliography: UC Berkeley Library: Native Americans in films

Bibliography: UC Berkeley Library: Chicanos/Latinos in films

Bibliography: UC Berkeley Library: Jews in films

For other related sites:
Xenophobia and portrayals of the other

National University course: Representation and Diversity in the Media

University of Iowa Communications Studies site: representations of racial groups in the media

University of Oregon: Racial & Ethnic Media Representations

Click here for the lists of films organized according to racial representations

Analysis of representation of diversity in European media

To recognize the degree to which mainstream news typically reflects a white, middle-class perspective, examine diversityinc.com in which the news and current events are presented from a more diverse perspective. How are the topics selected and analyses employed different from typical mainstream news coverage?

New York Times lesson: Elyse Fischer, “Sufferin' Stereotypes:
Examining Race and Ethnicity as Presented in Children's Media”

New York Times lesson: Alison Zimbalist, Kelly Bird, and Jessica Levine, “TeleVisions of Race: Examining the Portrayal of Race on Television”

Module 5: Word document

What are Media Representations?

Why Study Media Representations?

Studying Media Representations

Methods for Analyzing Media Representations

Representation and Censorship

Representations and Public Relations / Promotions

Studying Representations of Social Types or Groups

Representations of Femininity

Masculinity

Masculinity and Sports

Gays / Lesbians

Racial and Ethnic Groups

Class

Representations of Different Age Groups or Occupations

Occupations

Institutions

Instructional Activity

References

Teaching Activities