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Misrepresentation of Blacks in the Media

Throughout history, media has always had an important impact on the lives of people in society . The media influences the opinions of many individuals, no matter what platform it is coming from. Whether the media is truly factual or made up speculations to make people think a certain type of way, it still creates an impact to people’s perspectives. This contributes to stereotypes and racism in the world and society. The readings and discussions we have had in class have led to many thought provoking papers being written. This includes topics like the current state of blacks in the media, the oppositional gaze, and the gay black subculture. Black people have been misrepresented throughout history and it perpetuates in today’s society. This was done by giving black people lesser roles in movies, drawing them negatively in cartoon caricatures, and using certain words like “savage” or “animals” while speaking about blacks in news articles and media. By looking at such art and media, we can see misrepresentation of black Americans.

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Black cartoon character perpetuates stereotypes as he is drawn eating watermelon and also by the way the person looks.

Al Johnson in “The Jazz Singer”(1927) Image of black face which was popular in media throughout the 20th century. Still today we see images of black face in media. A well known example is the black face image of Drake.

Search “man arrested” on google images and see what you get. Then search “black man arrested” and look at the images.

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In its entirety, this paper connects deeply to to premises of the misrepresentation of blacks in films. White people are cast in many of the star roles and black people are cast in stereotypical roles like the maid, gangster, or an irrelevant character. The media does this to keep up with the “maintenance” of inequalities.

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Unless you went to work in the white world, across the tracks, you learned to look at white people by staring at them on the screen.” (hooks 117)

bell hooks

Fredrick Douglas’ “North Star” news paper. Created in 1847.

The premise of this paper addresses the misrepresentation of blacks in the news, through analysis of the past and present. Throughout history and still today, black people are wrongly represented in the news. In today's media, blacks are constantly misrepresented. Shows like Cops put a negative persona on being black and news coverage of black people are always blown out of proportion in terms of blacks being violent, drug addicts and just entirely seeing the black community as a negative component to society.

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The main role of this paper is to point out the flaws of how people with an “outside looking in” mindset view the gay black subculture and the drag queen lifestyle. Even though it is black men dressing as women, they are trying to make themselves look white. This is how “white washed society has become.”

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ithelpstodream

happy lesbian visibility day

butch-babe-deactivated20201121

I went to see Love, Simon today and at the end when I was leaving the theatre there was a big group of LGBTQ kids posing for a photo with the movie poster, and right next to them was a group of Black girls doing the same with Black Panther, and everyone was grinning so big and just looked absolutely invigorated. I don’t think I’m ever going to forget that scene. For so long I have not let myself get my hopes up that I will see representations of myself and my friends and communities on screen. But I’m letting myself hope now, because it’s happening. It’s really happening.

“If white people do something its normal, if black people do something it is seemed as blackness.”

Augustus Contressa

Wrapping things up

Before this class, I had limited interest as it pertains to political and cultural topics; I was more invested in my own well-being and that of my family, and friends. I always carried myself in a respectful manner and treated everyone equally no matter their race. My upbringing taught me the morally appropriate ways to treat others, regardless of differences. . Unfortunately, this is not how the rest of our society is. I note our “society” because we exist as as a unit and reflect off of one another; sometimes positively and/or negatively., The problem is learning to understand that everyone comes from different backgrounds and cultures.

Some people have a hard time accepting that others are different and this is where many problems begin to stir up. Throughout the class, I have learned to analyze situations and look deeper into racial matters and imbalances that exist. It is important to look at all aspects of a situation and then try to put yourself into someone else's shoes. I am lucky to be apart of the Stony Brook football team because there are many men on the team that come from diverse backgrounds and ethnicities. This class has afforded me with the opportunity to have further conversations about these topics with my teammates. It all starts with people being willing to learn and then actually use their new skills and apply them to their daily lives. I believe learning and applying are the key tools to take from this class.

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