Media, Identity and the Popular Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Media, Identity and the Popular - Essay ExampleGiven the power, extent, and outreach of frequent media including films and telecasting, the social construction of characters be to racial and ethnic minorities are bound to have a significant impact on the wider auditory sense (Downing & Husband, 2005). Signorielli (2001) described television as the nations primary story-teller (p. 36) engaged in the role of ceaselessly feeding its audience with healthy doses of what can be construed as mainstream views (Gerbner et al., 2002). The representation of racial and ethnic minorities in films and television, hence, is a critical subject of analysis and needs to be explored because the sheer extent of media outreach and the number of ardent viewing audience these forms of popular media attract almost ensure a greater social impact all over a period of meter (Mastro & Greenberg, 2000). This essay aims to highlight, explore, and analyse the manner in which these popular mediums of commu nication particularly films and television portray racially and ethnically diverse characters the gradual shift in such portraitures over time followed by the influence and impact of the same supported by theoretical implications of such representation. The examples discussed as a part of the study include popular films and television shows from the UK, U.S., and Canada. Media representation of racial / ethnic minorities An Overview Hall (1981) say that media as a discover tool of propagating ideologies frequently uses the platform to generate representations of the socio-cultural environment around us by steering of images and characters. These characters in turn accentuate the understanding of its audience with regard to the manner in which the world around is and influence them to interpret the messages coded therein with regard to the members of the racial and ethnic minorities. The persistent portrayal of such images leads such characters and / or images to become naturaliz ed enabling the viewers to understand these images and characters in the way they are portrayed (p. 11). Cultural theorists focused on investigating cultural and racial representations in popular media have identified the portrayal of whiteness as the rife theme and as a strategic rhetoric. The images and characters associated with the dominant white population are often indicative of their privileged status in both films as well as on prime time television shows and /or soap operas. It is also often argued that whiteness is often the most dominant and overarching norm against which all other races are measured and compared (Ott, 2010 p. 139). African-Americans have consistently been under-represented as compared to their white counterparts in films and television programs in the United States (Wilson, 1996 Dixon & Rosenbaum, 2004). Although there has been a commendable and spectacular change in trend with regard to portrayal of racial and ethnic minorities on television shows and films over the years, the blacks continue to be either under-represented or portrayed in characters / roles that tend to perpetuate and even outgrowth stereotyping (Dill, 2013 p. 253). Most of the popular television shows aired during the previous decade often included Caucasians as key protagonists with supporting