Contemporary depictions of race
and ethnicity
What role in modern society?
Continuing differences
• The economic fortunes of African Americans
continue to fall far below those of Caucasian
Americans despite the removal of formal, legal
barriers to black advancement
Changes in societal attitudes
• Clearly, social attitudes have become more
liberal in terms of race and ethnicity
• The younger generation is far more accepting
of interracial contact of all sorts than earlier
generations
• Less stereotypical view of racial and ethnic
minorities
– with the potential exception of Arabs, a few
others
Do depictions matter?
• The evidence points to a relationship among
whites between exposure to stereotypic racial
depictions and stereotyping
• However, the relationship between minority
exposure to depictions and lowered selfesteem is mixed. When parents co-watch the
exposure can enhance self-esteem. Effects on
Latino/Hispanic children are unclear.
Contemporary depictions of
race, ethnicity
• Certain groups continue to be
underrepresented
– Latino/Hispanic groups
– Native American/Aleut
Inclusion of racial and ethnic
characters
• Simple exclusion of characters from an ethnic
or race group has been common in the past,
and continues for certain groups in the
present.
– African Americans have reached a position of greater
onscreen representation than their actual percentage in
the U.S. population
– Latino/Hispanics continue to be significantly
underrepresented
– Native Americans are almost invisible
Source: Gerbner et al.
Trend in ethnic casting
Source: Screen Actors Guild compilation of information provided by producers
The nature of depictions
• While invisibility of a group may be the worst
fate, some argue that a demeaning
representation is even worse
– Personality features
– Occupational roles/status
– Behavior, especially with regard to the law and
crime
• Drug dealers/criminals
• Police officers
Source: Children Now Fall Colors report, 2003-2004
New, more subtle forms of racial
and ethnic representation
• Overt racism, stereotyping is unacceptable to
most audiences, members of media
professions
– With the possible exception of Arabs
• More subtle, unexamined presumptions may
remain
– Implied racial cues
– Tying race to violence
– Typecasting/cultural presumptions
Subtle treatment
• Black male leads don’t kiss white women (or
any women, for that matter)
• Continued overrepresentation of
minority/ethnic law enforcement
• Depiction of subculture tied to characters
• Asian characters all know martial arts
• Black men as inherently athletic, Asians as
scientists, Native Americans in historic roles
only
Source: Children Now, 2003
Source: Children Now, 2003
Source: Children Now
Adoption of subcultures
• Subcultures that grew up outside the mainstream
often draw attention from youth or less central
groups within the society
• May provide a sense of belonging, enhanced self
image
– R&B
– Rock and roll
– Rap
• Resistant subcultures draw opposition, criticism from
more conservative/traditional groups
Concerns over representation
• There is a greater concern among both
Caucasian and African Americans about
representation of African Americans in rap
and hip-hop than in mainstream television,
film, or other forms of music
Critique
• Are characters of a given ethnic or race origin cast in
numbers that reflect their population percentage?
– Depends on the group
• Do characters differ based on their race or ethnicity?
– What characteristics are attached to what races/ethnic groups?
• Occupational/power group
• Attitudinal
• Behavioral
• Do differences in thought and behavior have a legitimate
basis?
– Are they treated as somehow genetic or are they tied to cultural
or social structures?
• Are they based on myths or actual, real-world example?
• Do characterizations that are reasonable for a
single story/film, etc. become unreasonable
when they are repeated across a wide range of
films/TV shows, etc.?
– One silly Asian probably isn’t any big deal but a whole
slew of silly Asians is.
– Do groups become “type-cast”?
• Do minority characters have the opportunity to
play the entire gamut of roles?
– Can they be lead characters? Well-rounded
characters?
In 1969, Cedric Clark outlined four
stages of ethnic minority portrayal
• Stage 1: Non-recognition
• Stage 2: Ridicule
• Stage 3: Regulation
• Stage 4: Respect
Non-recognition
• In this stage, the group is treated as if it does not
even exist. It is neither seen nor heard in
mainstream popular culture
– Exclusion of African Americans from major league
sports
– Early TV
– Mainstream movies of the 1930s and 1940s
– Popular music of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s
• More recently, Latino/Hispanic population has
been severely underrepresented in mainstream
culture
Ridicule
• In this stage, the group is portrayed but in a
contemptuous manner
– As somehow inferior to the dominant group
• Evil, lawless or unethical
• Unintelligent, childlike or juvenile
– The group’s inferior social status is connected to the
characteristics of its members in a way that ‘explains’
the status
• Others have noted that ‘the other’ is treated as
exotic
– May be part of this stage of representation
Ridicule
Regulation
• In this stage, members of the minority group are
shown in positive as well as negative roles,
especially in terms of support for the system
– Many minority characters are depicted in police,
system support positions
– Others receive the brunt of social control
• Criminals
• Stories and characterizations revolve around
minority acceptance of the social structure and
power system
Regulation
• Minority characters in this stage are likely to be
part of multiracial ensemble casts
– Usually are not lead characters, though
• Although Clark did not really speak to this too
much, there appears to also be a tendency to
generate shows, etc. that are clearly targeted to
the minority
– Often played in less attractive time slots, etc.
– Content of the shows tends to speak to group
attitudes, beliefs and concerns
Regulation
Respect
• In this stage, race relations have reached a
point where the minority member is treated
with respect, and can be portrayed in a wide
variety of settings and in a variety of roles.
• Portrayals are often overly positive for
minority characters, tending to ignore
negative or demeaning presentations
Respect
Normalization
• Though not really part of Clark’s original model, some
have added another stage, that of ‘maintenance’
• I think what we see is ‘normalization’
• In this stage, the race or ethnicity of the character
becomes somewhat less important. A character’s race
only is a significant issue if race is significant to the
plot. An Asian or Latino character does not need to act
according to ethnicity nor to speak for a minority, but
simply take on the character role and act as ‘anyone’
would in the circumstances.
Normalization
What stage would each of the
following groups be in?
•
•
•
•
•
African Americans
Native Americans
Arabs
Latinos
Asians
So what’s the big deal?
• Isn’t this a case of hyper-sensitivity?
• Aren’t white males now the oppressed minority?
• For those who have always been in the majority,
it is hard to understand what the feeling and the
impact of demeaning representations might be
• Even the discussion of race and ethnicity as a
topic keeps the issue alive
– It may be necessary to do so, but it means that the
construction of race and ethnicity will continue
• Cannot become ‘color-blind’ under such circumstances
Not all media are the same
• A 2001 study of popular video games found that:
– most protagonists (86 per cent) were white males
– non-white males were portrayed in stereotypical ways—
seven out of ten Asian characters as fighters, and eight out
of ten African-Americans as sports competitors
– nearly nine out of ten African-American females were
victims of violence (twice the rate of white females)
– 79 per cent of African-American males were shown as
verbally and physically aggressive, compared to 57 per
cent of white males
• Source: Children Now study Fair Play—Violence, Gender and Race
in Video Games
Race and ethnic impact on
management and ownership
• In 2002, a UCLA study concluded that
"minorities are even more underrepresented
in key behind-the-scenes creative and
decision-making positions than they are on
the [television] screen." Many analysts are
concerned that the dearth of minority
executives, producers, directors and
screenwriters is fuelling the tendency to
ignore or misrepresent ethnic groups.
• The NAACP’s 2000 survey of Hollywood and
Beverly Hills screen writers found that only 7
per cent of the 839 respondents were
members of minority groups.
• Furthermore, says the NAACP, ethnic writers
in the television industry are ghettoized—83
per cent of the black writers surveyed in 2000
wrote for shows starring primarily black
people.
• The dearth of multicultural movie writers and
producers can also directly affect how
minorities are portrayed on the big screen.
Actor Garret Wang reports that a casting
director once told him he wasn’t doing a
correct Japanese accent until he began using a
Cantonese-Chinese accent—"you know … 'I
give you two free egg roll if you bring laundry
into my store.' And she said, 'That’s it. That’s
the one.'"