Race Depictions in Television Products - Essay Example

Race Depictions in Television Products Introduction Television invention served as a key development approach towards communication in the early 20th century. Mainly, the culture spread in western countries before spreading to other parts of the world. As the culture continued becoming popular in the modern age, the problem of racism persisted since the Western societies perceived that differences in skin color translated to differences in intelligence and superiority. Historically, different independent film producers developed movies and television programs that served as decisive to revealing the existence of different races in the global or independent societies thus the inhabitants would grow to abide by the beliefs and ensure that existence of those differences. Mainly, American television programs target different races and it is under such occasions whereby each culture adapts different televised platforms to address each other’s sentiments. The following discussion seeks to establish the depictions of race in television programs and its correlativeness as a cultural product. Section 1 American television programs target a wide range of audience given that the American population tally exceeds 250 million headcount. The population contains of white majority while African-Americans, Hispanics, Chicanos, and other races amount to the remaining population. Therefore, different television programs targeting these different groups depict racial differences and the extent at which some of the races are important or insignificant compared to others. The Black and White Minstrel Show marked one of the most race-related television programs in America and Europe (Abbott and Doug 210). Currently commemorating its 32nd anniversary, the show depicts that African-Americans are subjects to the white Americans and often emulate their practices in order to cope with civilized world. BBC television hosted the program for a long period. While it gained popularity in the Western countries, the show severed the possible integration and growth of a global society that abolished racism and promoted integration. The television programme reigned supreme for several decades and entered the Guinness Book of Records for its 6,477 streak of performances in a row. The programs was popular among the white culture than it was in others (Betancur and Cedric 144). The show depicted the black-masked characters as barbaric and behaving in stereotypical manners thus serving a racial programme in the new edge. Section 2 Stereotypes and racialization of characters The essential factor leading to the recognition and popularity of the Black Minstrel Show in Europe and America emanated from the prevailing mindsets that the show portrayed black culture and their behavioral patterns whenever addressing some issues in their social lives. The show gained popularity amongst the white population and history depicted that its demand increased until a certain time when BBC channel chose to broadcast it on Saturdays in order to reach the increasing demand and a wide population of audience (Chude-Sokei 142). The television show depicted black people as dressing in white fancy clothes in their bid to gain recognition since their color would inhibit their images if they clad in dull colored clothing. On the contrary, the backstage singers who comprised of the white population dressed in black clothes, but were visible over their black counterparts. In addition, the black characters enhanced their visibility by the use of enhancers around their eyes and mouths, and wore large white caps with black ribbons around their bases. Therefore, the directors and managers of the show focused on portraying the racial practices of the black people in their struggle to gain significance through assimilation after emulating practices obviously associated with the Western society. Some of the famous participants in the show were Leslie Crowthner and George Chisholm during the first performances. At a certain point, Lenny Henry, a black comedian starred in the show as the first real black participant. However, his 2009 revelations of his role and the regret he perceived up to the current remained hurting. Despite performing on a contractual basis, the directors chose the role that the comedian would undertake in the show unknown to him of the presiding regrets after the performances. Being a comedian, the directors seized the opportunity to influence the audience into perceiving blacks as extremists in their character and essentially barbaric in their behaviors. The comedian acted as per the issued directions while also adding his comic nature to the concert Nelson, (Camille and Charmaine 248). On the contrary, the directors sought to decipher to the viewers that the blacks behaved, talked, and acted as portrayed by Lenny. The viewers of the show were thus stereotypical in racializing television characters masked to represent the black people as essentially black and that the behavioral characteristics displayed during the performances as logical to define the black people’s behaviors (Rodger and Jessie 81). Therefore, the show gained significance but fuelled rivalry among the different races thus leading to its cancellation. Section 3 Analysis The fact that television as a culture of communication was initially used in the Western nations describes that the prevailing racial differences may continue to an unprecedented period since generations after generations are realizing of the differences through advertisements and other shows. While the global society seeks to integrate and abandon any differences among the races, the global societies and their constituent members still abide by the established differences, but they tend to act as though the differences do not exist (Wilson, Lena and Fe?lix 163). These acts of hypocrisy in television programs are common since they tend to broadcast programs that depict the white and black characters as unified in handling specific tasks. However, it is known to all viewers that there are underlying tactics whereby the white characters whether female or male, strong or frail, rigid or humble will dominate the most important roles in the programs and tend to be supreme over the black characters. Arguably, it is via television sets whereby the global society gains the ability to pass messages to other societies practicing different cultures. These programs are essentially suiting specific races while humiliating others for example, a film acted by black people containing negative sentiments and a lot of informal language may not auger well with the white population while the black and Latin American populations will embrace. Television programs seem to set an integral platform of racial divisions in the modern society given that the global viewers are always keen to establish any form of racism in any program despite being unconsciously performed by the directors or characters. The Black Minstrel Show marked an edge of televised racism and since its abolition; film stars adapted various programs and movies that revealed the stereotypical and racialized perceptions of the different races. For example, The Music Music show, The Lion King, and Aladdin shows are other globally recognized television programs adapting racial styles to reach the desired groups of audiences. For instance, Aladdin shows an Asian character practicing magical dealings in conducting different tasks. These dealings conform to the ideology and stereotypical setting that the Asian community comprises barbaric people and primitive practices as told by Aladdin in the movie. These television programs establish that the cultural product of communicating via the use of television media is the main divisive factual for lengthened racial divisions and lack of integration among the global constituents (Murray and Laurie 172). Arguably, the culture of portraying races in stereotypical manners may not halt since technology has set a platform for retaliation. Section 4 Conclusions Television as a product of culture seems to be emulating ancient stereotypical practices and beliefs in competing for audiences. It is evident throughout the study and the analysis that film directors, and broadcasting stations abide to shows that seem profitable as they may reach a large clientele community. Contextually, it is evident that the ancient beliefs and stereotypes that different races are superior or inferior against each other, and depending on the skin color and body statures still exist. Arguably, most of the television programs broadcasted by American and European stations serve to diminish any form of ignorance that different races are equal. The ideology is that the television programs highlight the white characters as superior over those belonging to other races. Consequently, television programs adversely affect global integration since some of the races perceive that characters from their races are depicted as weaklings and inferior while others from different races are depicted as superior and immune. Work cited Abbott, Lynn, and Doug Seroff. Ragged but Right: Black Traveling Shows, "coon Songs," and the Dark Pathway to Blues and Jazz. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2007. Internet resource. Betancur, John J, and Cedric Herring. Reinventing Race, Reinventing Racism. Boston: Brill, 2013. Print. Chude-Sokei, Louis O. The Last "darky": Bert Williams, Black-on-Black Minstrelsy, and the African Diaspora. Durham: Duke University Press, 2006. Internet resource. Murray, Susan, and Laurie Ouellette. Reality Tv: Remaking Television Culture. New York: New York University Press, 2009. Print. Nelson, Camille A, and Charmaine A. Nelson. Racism, Eh?: A Critical Inter-Disciplinary Anthology of Race and Racism in Canada. Concord: Captus Press, 2004. Print. Rodger, Marguerite, and Jessie Rodger. Racism and Prejudice. New York, NY: Crabtree Pub. Co, 2011. Print. Wilson, Clint C, Lena M. Chao, and Fe?lix Gutie?rrez. Racism, Sexism, and the Media: The Rise of Class Communication in Multicultural America. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publ, 2003. Print. Read More