Minorities in the Media

In our last class we discussed the different stereotypes that exist for various races and ethnic groups, and the roles that they are given within the media. We discussed the black female's role as the "Mammy" figure and the black man as the stereotypical lazy clown, and how even today many minority groups are assigned roles that play into these outdated stereotypes. However, I have a few disagreements with the material that was presented. In class it was stated that in popular TV shows, people of different races are rarely portrayed as friends or acquaintances. The Cosby Show and Friends are definitely examples of that point, but I think that it is crucial to note that Friends 


quit airing new episodes in 2004 and The Cosby Show


 quit airing new episodes in 1992!

Although these shows certainly were representative of their time period, I think that our generation and our society is open to a completely new idea of what family life looks like. Look, for instance, at one of the most popular and most highly awarded sitcoms on TV today, ABC's 'Modern Family".


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aSzTVrP5FQ

The show has won countless Prime time Emmy Awards, yet features a gay couple with an adopted Asian child and the patriarch who has remarried to a strongly-accented Colombian woman. Clearly, the ethnic boundaries and hesitations towards portraying homosexual couples has been long abandoned.

Another example is a show featured on ABC Family called "Pretty Little Liars".


Ask any teenage girl in the country and they will surely be able to explain to you all of the dramatic secrets and ridiculous intricacies that come together to create this wildly popular teenage soap opera. The show centers around four girls- one dates a much older man, another has a fling with an African-American boy, one is Asian-American, and the last one is a lesbian who's girlfriend also happens to be an African-American. The four girls are friends with countless other teenagers of different races and religions, and pay little attention to stereotypes or social boundaries.

What I am trying to get at here is that, sure, in the past TV shows have been largely dominated by white actors and actresses, and minorities have been limited to prescribed roles that oftentimes fulfilled racial stereotypes. That is true. But what, in my opinion, is not true, is that that phenomenon still exists today. All of the major networks run shows in prime time that portray blacks, whites, Asians, and Latinos in every role possible. NBC's 'Parenthood' has a mixed race couple and mixed race children, ABC's 'Grey's Anatomy' portrays several Latinos and African-Americans as prominent, successful doctors who engage in relationships with people of every race and ethnic origin. 



There are countless examples of television shows on major networks and cable networks, in prime time and daytime, that are portraying all races and ethnic groups in every role imaginable. A recent article in Variety Magazine discusses the opportunities available for minority actors and actresses, but the positions of power that they still lack:

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118037867/

While I do think that these stereotypes were prominent in the past, I don't think that they apply in this day and age. Our local news media are perhaps still ignorant of news events involving minorities, but as far as the movie and television industry, I think that all bias has been eliminated. 

Every major news network has at least one minority anchor, prime time TV shows are considered the minority if they have an all white cast, and the new fad of reality TV shows has centered around mixed race families and gay and lesbian couples. We have our nation's first African-American President and many states have legalized gay marriage; we are no longer in an era of American media where minorities are regulated to prescribed roles.