Misrepresentation on Tv Is Inevitable

Ross Borrello

Ms. Wiltz

English102-036

9 February 2012

Misrepresentation on TV is Inevitable

Stereotyping through television is something that happens even if the viewer isn't aware. America today is supposed to be racism free and every race is supposed to be looked at as equal. Although the majority of Americans would agree with this statement studies have shown that racism is still perpetuated on television in ways so subtle it goes unnoticed. Things as simple as a facial expression or a hand gesture are what people unconsciously use when judging a character.

"In a series of intricately designed experiments, psychologists at Tufts University demonstrate that subtle racial biases are often expressed by characters on popular television shows, and that viewers not only pick up these attitudes but allow them to shape their own outlooks on race. The most insidious part of this cultural traffic, the researchers found, is that the transmission of race bias appears to occur subconsciously, unbeknownst to the viewer."

(http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1948662,00.html#ixzz1lzEaQVFv)

Studies, led by Max Weisbuch a professor at Tufts University, show that young, white, college aged students show biased or negative attitude towards minority character on television. These negative attitudes are shown not through verbal means but through body language. When the volunteers of the study viewed minority characters on television they responded with folded arms or averted their eyes away from the television.

Although we live in a society where racism is socially unacceptable stereotypes on television may make us think the opposite. "According to the Entman-Rojecki Index of Race and Media, 89% of Black female movie characters are shown using vulgar language, while only 17% of White woman are. Black women are shown as being violent in movies 56% of the time compared to the 11% of white women."( http://voices.yahoo.com/racial-stereotypes-media-38872.html?cat=9) These types of statistics showing minorities as a less desirable race to be are common throughout the media. Statistics also show that these stereotypes are not factual.

Michael Medved believes that stereotypes on television are not that important or relevant because no matter what on television the viewer always has a choice as to what to what and what they find acceptable and unacceptable. He uses the analogy "complaining about the weather may do nothing to change it, but you always have the option to come in out of the rain." (Medved 390) Michael Medved makes a great point when he says it is up to viewer what he watches. For example if a person is watching a television show and that show depicts his race in an unsavory way all that person has to do is change the channel. The real problem is the consumers and how they react to what they see on television.

African Americans are usually shown as poor, lazy and violent in television. Shows such as Good Times and other "black sitcoms" gave African Americans a chance to be main characters and although this may have been done with good intentions in the end these shows depicted African American families as living in the projects with low income jobs and very little education. Although there are some negative stereotypes portrayed by African Americans on television shows there are also shows depicted African Americans as