After seeing all the media presentations this week, I began to analyze my favorite shows more in depth. Shows I didn't really think had aspects of racism in them before, but do now.
I have been on a CSI:Las Vegas binge all semester. There is one African American actor on it, whose character was Warrick Brown. In the first season, his character had a gambling addiction. He did not follow the rules at work, and was doing side jobs in return for favors from the judge. None of the other character developments had any issues in the season. Also, in later seasons, their technical investigator in the lab is Asian. He did all of the computer work and analyzing for the crimes. All of the heads in the department are white.
In season 8, Warrick Brown was killed in the show, leaving an all white cast. Halfway through season nine, a new actor was brought on the show who is African American.
Also, we discussed Celebrity dating shows. I began to think of Rock of Love Tour Bus currently on TV right now. There was one black female. The whole time she was on the show though, all of the girls targeted her, calling her a man and thinking she was a transvestite for the whole show. A large part of one episode was based on the other girls thoughts on this. The only other person of color on the show has her cheeks pierced and tattoos all down her arms. The only 2 people of color on the show are not presented in a very appealing way.
Last, another show I have been watching is NCIS. The entire main cast is white. This show is based on solving crimes involving the marines or the navy. I have been paying attention while watching the seasons and only recall them showing 3 or 4 Marines of color.
After the media lesson I have been looking and analyzing shows very differently.
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The media presentations also made me look at a couple of my favorite shows. I discussed the show Weeds on my blog. If you are not familiar the basic premise is that a young, white, mother of two becomes a drug dealer to support her family. Although she is doing something horribly illegal, the audience is behind her 100%. There are about three to four main black characters on this show, and race plays a part in how these characters are perceived. Haylia James is shown as the stereotypic black woman. She has a lot of attitude and speaks her mind quite freely. Conrad Shepard is also black, but his character goes against the stereotypic view of a black drug dealer. Conrad seems like a really good guy. He and the white mother even start a relationship during the third season of the show, which the audience has been waiting for. Conrad is also shown as being very smart. U-Turn is another character in the show, and he plays the typical thug role. He is mean, violent, back stabs his friends, and is the leader of a gang.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that I would ever have picked up on these racial cues if it were not for this class. I must say that I have definitely started to notice more things in advertisements and in television shows. I love The Office! I didn't think that there was anything racist about it. They have a variety of racial characters, and I really couldn’t see any negative portrayals. After taking this class and reading about the common racial stereotypes, I saw that Stanley is portrayed as the stereotypical lazy, black man.