Representation of ethnicity

1. Representation of ethnicity

2. Starter • What is ethnicity? The fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition. • What is a dominant group? A group that has more population than the subordinate group. • What is a subordinate group? Belonging to a lower or inferior class rank. • What is hegemony? The socially accepted and agreed beliefs of those in the ruling class.

3. CATEGORIES • Latino • White • Asian • Middle Eastern • African descent • Terrorists/violent • Very religious • Physically strong • Strict/stern/not a push over • Serious • Victims (female) • Villains/rarely seen as heroes • Gangster • “Token’’ character • Poor • Criminal • Victim • Hero • Powerful: physical/intellectual • Often the hero • Serial killer/Villain • In charge (dominant race) • Lead role • Ugly • Uneducated • Silly/not taken seriously • Illegal aliens • Partiers • Involved in drugs • Sex symbols • Intelligent • Martial artist • Obsessed with electronics • Quirky or weak

4. African descent • Gangster • “Token black guy’’ • Poor/Impoverished • Criminal • Victim • Hero

5. Asian descent • Intelligent • Martial artist • Obsessed with electronics • Quirky or weak • Lack emotion • Women can be seen as ditzy in some cases

6. Latino descent • Ugly • Uneducated • Silly/not taken seriously • Illegal aliens • Partiers • Involved in drugs (dealing/taking) • Sex symbols (Antonio Banderez, Penelope Cruz, Salma Hayek).

7. Middle Eastern (Arabic) descent • Terrorists/violent • Very religious • Physically strong • Strict/stern/not a push over • Serious • Victims (female) • Villains/rarely seen as heroes

8. White British/American • Powerful: physical/intellectual • Often the hero • Serial killer/Villain • In charge (dominant race) • Lead role

9. Representation of Ethnicity • Ethnicity, like sex, is a set of genetically defined, biological characteristics. However, like gender, it is also a set of culturally defined characteristics. • Representation of race in the media can consist of the same sort of rigid stereotypes that constitute gender portrayal. • However, stereotyping of race is seen as more harmful than stereotyping of gender, as media representation may constitute the only experience of contact with a particular ethnic group that an audience (particularly an audience of children) may have.

10. Why is it important? • Racial stereotypes are often based on social myth, perpetuated down the ages. Thus, the media depiction of, say, Native American Indians, might provide a child with their only experience of Native American Indian culture and characters, and may provide that child with a set of narrow prejudices which will not be challenged elsewhere within their experience.

11. Media influence • The need for a more accurate portrayal of the diversity of different races is a priority for political agendas, but, as ever, it seems as though it will take a while for political thinking to filter through to programme and film-making.

12. African-American Counter Culture • Most work on Race & The Media has concentrated on the representation of black men and women. This has partly been because there is a strong African-American counter-culture which provides viable alternative role models and demands that they are represented.

13. Counter culture • In recent years, the success of actors such as Denzel Washington, Whoopi Goldberg, Laurence Fishburne, Will Smith and Morgan Freeman in a diversity of roles has meant that black characters in movies and on TV are no longer 'stock' types.

14. Representation of Ethnicity • However, there are many negative representations of black people, portrayals which seem deliberately designed to inflame the fear and hatred of other cultures - how positive a representation is the archetypal African-American gangsta? Yet these are representations coming from within black culture itself...

15. Representation of Ethnicity • Attention is now being paid to the representation of other ethnic groups, notably Asian Americans and Latinos, who represent a much larger proportion of the US population than their TV coverage would suggest. • Things are changing - on the one hand the success of John Woo and Ang Lee in Hollywood is pushing the boundaries back for Asian Americans, and the Latin Music Explosion of 1999 has led to much wider acceptance of Latino performers.

16. Teen Drama Skins This clip of Skins involves a Muslim father being told that his son’s friend, Maxxie, is gay.

17. Representations • It is typical for people who are a part of the Muslim culture to be against homosexuality, therefore in this clip it is expected that the Muslim family would not take well to the fact that Maxxie is gay. • Chris who is a white character in the clip appears and he uses language which is typical for a white teenager, using bad language.

18. Does this clip challenge of reinforce the stereotype? • You have 10 minutes to write a couple of paragraphs explaining your opinion. • Remember to use evidence from the clip and if you can evidence from: • Mise en scene • Sound • Editing • Camerawork

19. Is hegemony challenged? • Do you think hegemony is challenged in this clip? Are the dominant beliefs challenged? Yes. • Hegemony is challenged in this clip regarding ethnicity as it challenges they typical Muslim belief about homosexuality.

20. Teen Drama Misfits The clip from Misfits is where one of the probation workers tries to talk to the characters about the community service they are doing.

21. Representations • Each of the characters are represented in completely different ways. Three different ethnicities are shown in the extract; • Black British, white British, Irish and mixed race. Curtis, who plays the black British male character follows the typical stereotype – how? • The Irish character, Nathan, follows a typical Irish stereotype as he has charm and is quite humorous. • The white character is gobby and aggressive in the extract. • The mixed race character is glamorous and feminine in the extract.

22. Does this clip challenge or reinforce the stereotype? • Go through each of the ethnicities represented and answer whether the representation reinforces or challenges the ethnic stereotype.

23. Who are the dominant and who are the subordinate groups in this clip? • Which ethnicity is dominant/subordinate in this extract? Are any of them? • How does the social worker fit?

24. Is hegemony challenged? • Who would you expect the dominant group to be as this is a British TV drama? • Is this the case for this clip? • Who is the dominant group in this clip? How do you know? • Who is the subordinate group in this clip? How do you know?