...Movin’ On Up: Have Black Sitcoms Really Changed the Black Community for the Better? Through time, blacks in television have been able to abolish many of the pervious stereotypes from past generations. However as media progresses and blacks are becoming a more predominate part of American television, the effect of black sitcoms is being called into question when it comes to their effect on the black community. The early 70’s through the 90’s were the golden age for black sitcoms, both the good and the bad. Blacks were still portrayed as both ignorant, poor, mammy and uncle type characters in shows such as Good Times, Stanford and Son, and more recently, Tyler Perry’s house of Payne. However, many shows promoted the educated, independent, affluent black family such as The Cosby Show, The Jefferson’s, and A Different World. Do these shows truly have an effect on the black community, and even more importantly do they effect how the rest of America views them? For blacks portrayal on television perception is reality, many preconceived notions of how blacks act and carry themselves in everyday life have been eliminated, nevertheless, black sitcoms still reinforce stereotypes that have plagued the black community since the beginning of slavery. Background: * “From Mammy to Miss America and Beyond: Cultural Images and the Shaping of U.S. Social Policy:” A brief summery of the history of blacks on television and how this has effected the community in general. * In “Television...
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...In the pilot of the show, we learn the basic premise of Everybody Hate Chris, a semi-autobiographical sitcom in which Chris Rock recounts his middle-school experience in early 1980's Brooklyn. We learn that the Rock family has just moved out of the projects and into an apartment in Bedford-Stuyvesant Young Chris is excited about the move, however his excitement diminishes when his mother tells him that he will be taking two buses every day to become the only black student at Corleone Middle School. In this way, two social issues serve as inspiration for the bulk of the show’s comedic content. In Chris’s home life, the issue of class are largely explored, while Chris’s struggles at Corleone Middle School seem to focus on questions of race....
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...entertainment television has served as one barometer of racial inclusion and sentiment.”. (Squire 97) The stereotypical images of Blacks on television began in 1939, until then, Blacks have been portrayed as maids, servants or clowns. These negative perceptions started to appear in sitcoms such as in Amos and Andy in 1951, which were the stereotypical backs who never took things seriously. All those views changed during the 1970's with the black sitcoms. The explosion of Black faces on TV in the 1970’s and 1980’s laid groundwork for Blacks and became more reality based. Blacks continued to have been, and often still, portrayed in a negative way on TV. There was some improvement of stereotypical images. In the fall of 1984, a new show arrived on the scene by the name of “The Cosby Show”. Few could have predicted that ''The Cosby Show" would become a phenomenon. Loosely based on Cosby's own family, it was the highest-rated show for five consecutive...
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...issues, but in a comical way that makes it less controversial. Its use of the sitcom framework allows it to make light of situations and build upon them in the future. It is because of this use of the sitcom formula, that the show has developed a deep fan base that keeps the show alive. Community reflects American culture through its use of stereotypes, sitcom structure, and its development of a cult following. Community’s main cast is very diverse in race, age, and culture. Though the 7 characters are all diverse, they fit into stereotypes sometimes. Troy the black male, was supposed to play sports for Greendale community college, this follows the stereotype of schools getting black athletes to come to their schools. Troy is also portrayed as unintelligent which touches on the stereotype that athletes are not smart. Though Troy follows these stereotypes, Dan Harmon challenges them by making Troy dorky. Troy becomes best friends with Abed, an Indian character that very weird and is only into movies and television. The two have a very strange, childish relationship. They created a best friend hand shake, play pretend in one of the rooms in their apartment, and once created a giant pillow fort throughout the community college. These are not actions that you would expect from a black athlete. They do not fit the stereotype. Dan Harmon is not the only person to do this. Hitchcock challenged popular stereotypes in his movies....
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...ABC’s 1950’s sitcom, The Beulah Show, was the first television program to star an African American actress. Although this was, obviously, a historically groundbreaking sitcom, the plot did an injustice to blacks by portraying black characters as inferior to whites in almost every way (unless it be the ability to perform housework). One would only need to watch the first 5 minutes of an episode of the sitcom to see the racial inequalities at play. Would this sitcom have been written, or aired, Post-Civil Right Era? It is hard to imagine that. Other than the obvious differences between Beulah, Bill, and Oriole, Alice and Harry -- such as clothing, occupation, and wealth, there are other social differences portrayed in the episode, as well. Lets examine the scene in which Beulah is sitting at the table with Bill, and she tells him about a, “...new thing called ‘the economy’”. By referring to the economy as “new”, Beulah is portrayed as behind when it comes to every-day knowledge. Instead of reminding Bill that the two of them should be cutting down on expenses, she appeared to have been new to the practice of economizing, something that every “smart” person knows to do. Unlike the Hendersons who had a full-on conversation about how they were to economize in their home, Beulah and Bill owed their newfound knowledge to Harry. In contrast to the Henderson family who sit down for dinner, use proper silverware and plates, and speak in a volume / tone that is appropriate for the dinner-table...
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...differences, and this leads to discrimination, stereotypes, and prejudice. Africans are reported to have arrived in 1619; this was during the time that the white population was the majority. These Africans were then transported down the James River on the ship White Lion. These Africans were traded and sold for food, and some were also transported to the city of Jamestown in the state of Virginia where they were sold again into slavery. (McCartney 2012) The Roman Catholics immigrated to America at a time that Protestants were the majority, and the Roman Catholic were the minority. In a census taken in 1757 stated that there 1,365 Catholics in Pennsylvania, and the territory was home 200,000 – 300,000 inhabitants. (Horvat) The diversity in the United States today includes Hispanics, Koreans, Muslims, and the list continues to grow. In the year 2050 the minority population, excluding non-Hispanics and single-race white, is projected to be 235.7, while the entire United States population is projected at 439 million, and soon enough the minority will become the majority. It is also projected that in 2039 the working age-population to become more than 50% the minority, and reach 55% by the year 2050. (Government Census) Today Hispanics account for a little less than 13% of America’s population, while the African American race accounts for 13.6% of the population. The majority today will need to learn how to move past common stereotypes, and embrace the diversity before reverse discrimination...
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...Stereotypes against minorities through film Introduction: Stereotyping against minorities had been an issue since the 20th century and since then the minorities had been protesting against the discrimination and inequality in entertainment industries. This includes the discrimination in vote, ownership, basic human rights and social rights which led to the stride of the minorities to protest for the equal rights living in a country. For example in America, the black Americans were hunted and lynched by the white Americans and it was celebrated as a sport. So in mid of 20th century, although the black Americans got their freedom, they still faced the color racism by the majority of America. Stereotyping against minorities through entertainment started at the start of the entertainment industry in the world. Unfortunately, stereotyping against the minorities through media was also recorded by the film’s historians. Considering the example of Joseph Goebbels, who was the propaganda general during World War 2 and he was considered to be the founder of the discrimination portrayed in his directed films. During Nazi Regime, there were many stereotyping against the Jews and this discrimination was proudly displayed by the Goebbels propaganda they specifically targeted the Jewish controlled organization and they were negatively portrayed in the entire film. However these stereotyping ended by the end of National Socialist Party but sadly the practice of stereotyping the minorities...
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...for the way it was presented. The interviewee was an African American female who was a victim of a house fire. With the female being very passionate and animated while speaking in an urban accent, it provided for great entertainment. Sadly, that news interview lacked the appropriate representation of African Americans. The way media portrays a certain message “can have an inordinate influence on the public’s perception of blacks” (Holt 6). Audiences have been a witness to negative portrayal of African Americans since the days of “blackface”, where Caucasian American actors painted their faces black to depict African Americans. According to blog author Michelle Whalen, “now, more than ever, images of African Americans are transcending racial stereotypes and forging ahead into the fight for equality” (1). In the past two decades, media has been successful in providing positive progression in the portrayal of African Americans although some areas of television continue to have an absence in the proper cultural approach. The representation of African Americans in media has significantly progressed leading to the perceptions that African Americans have overcome the negative portrayal in media. In the column, “Distorted Reality” authors S. Lichter and Daniel...
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...Sullivan University Composition 102 Abstract This essay shows the negative effects society encounters from stereotyping and profiling and some solutions to how, we as a nation, can overcome this plague. Stereotyping is the act of making an assumption or generalization of a particular person or group of persons based on misconceptions usually extending to how they might act or what they represent or just categorizing these people and groups as to what they are like. Profiling is the process in which we base information on a person or group from past knowledge of their traits or actions. Some researchers’ feel that many of us unconscientiously stereotype and profile without even knowing and that our rearing traditions have also contributed to this way of thinking. Profiling can be implemented by different approaches such as racial profiling, facial profiling even as simple as individual or group profiling. Stereotyping and profiling can affect anyone, rich or poor, black or white, famous or ordinary, and does not consider any age or gender. Humiliation and degradation will come about within each person. As a nation, changes are needed on how we view and accept one another; teach our children the effects of this behavior at home and school, and stress to our government to undertake ways to establish effective means of profiling for security measures that will not violate constitutional and human rights. Our nation is comprised of various people that are...
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...In “Ghetto Bitches, China Dolls, and Cha Cha Divas,” Jennifer Pozner analyzes race and gender stereotypes present in the reality television series America’s Next Top Model (ANTM). Race is a symbol of what a person looks like physically. While on the other hand, ethnicity entails nationality, regional culture and language. ANTM, a show by Tyra Banks, is one of the many streams of pop culture that creates a mold of what stereotypes certain people fit into and justify these stereotypes for audiences to see them as real. One group that seems to always be plagued by media and pop culture is, African-Americans, specifically, women. Women are generalized to be, “Angry Black Women,” and it is broadcasted heavily. The “Angry Black Women” stereotype...
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...Studios are the propagators of negative stereotypes and inescapable stigmas that were once ended. Unfortunately, they are resurfacing in our sitcoms, newscasts and big screen movies. Historically, the portrayal of minorities in movies and television is less than ideal. Whether its appearing in disparaging roles or not appearing at all, minorities are the victim of an industry that relies on old ideas to appeal to the "majority" at the expense of the insignificant minority." There are many types of stereotypes including gender, religion and race. The two types I will be discussing in my paper are race and religion....
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...The media as a whole has many hidden messages or ideas that the entertainment world wants to get across. The media uses subliminal messages through radio, television, and advertisement. “A subliminal message is a signal in the form of a picture or sound that is designed to pass the normal limits of perception,” which means when people receive images or ideas consciously they also receive it subconsciously in their mind (Subliminal Messages in Movies and Media). There have been many controversial issues concerning the usage of this technique (Subliminal Messages in Movies and Media). There were rumors stating that Bush has used subliminal messages in some of his campaign speeches in order to deliver hidden messages to the world (Subliminal Messages in Movies and Media). One example of this would have been when; “A similar accusation was made against a promotional film of the Liberal party of Canada, where after dissecting their ad, one could clearly see a gun being fired at the viewer” (Subliminal Messages in Movies and Media). The Bush promo is rumored to be filled to the brim with subliminal images of a disturbing nature: fire, explosions, terrified children, mutilation, ghost-like figures and several acts of violence” (Subliminal Messages in Movies and Media). In the manipulation of many viewers, it was first to be just a tested experiment that could determine the facts of subliminal messages (Subliminal Messages in Movies and Media). A movie theatre in New Jersey did an experiment...
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...lives, struggles, and hardships of a disadvantaged black family living in a Chicago housing project during the peak of the civil rights movement. Esther Rolle was cast as the matriarch, Florida Evans. The character had originated as a maid on the sitcom “Maude”. From analysis of the main characters in Good Times, there emerges a clearly exhibited grouping of a minstrel show ensemble. Every minstrel caricature is represented; the mammy, the brute, the promiscuous, exotic woman, the lazy son, the ‘mulatto’, and the pickaninny. There are no legitimate marked talents portrayed among the characters, except for J.J., whose inability to be taken seriously enough undermines any effort to benefit from his artistic talents. As Bodroghkozy (2012) observes, “Good Times waded into these troubled waters. As a comedy reaching a diverse audience, the show had to negotiate its representations with care in order, on the one hand, to circulate empowering messages about African Americans while, on the other hand, not to unduly discomfort more conservative white viewers, including those who might have seen the ethnic whites of Chicago and Boston as victims in the era’s racial turmoil. Good Times quickly developed into an important site of contestation and struggle over questions of “blackness,” the black family, “authenticity,” and black versus white control in the immediate aftermath of the civil rights movement”...
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...witnessed the birth of a new kind of TV dad—a real dad. Gone were the distinguished, upper-class fathers with the pipes and sweaters with the leather patches on the elbow—the guys who gently sat their children down and explained to them in a calm voice that the kids had messed something up and then gently gave them moral advice on how to fix the situation. Oh, yes, those men were gone. Enter the new guy: Archie Bunker. This dad was middle-aged and middle-class, he believed in family and country, and he feared everyone who was different from him. He yelled at the top of his lungs about anything and everything, and he showed his sensitive side only in the most serious of situations. Archie and family were introduced to America in 1971 by sitcom genius Norman Lear in a show called All in the Family, an American remake of the British hit Till Death Us do Part, which ran for ten seasons in England from 1965-1975. Initially, the show didn’t do well in the ratings. America’s response to the character who would become “America’s most loveable bigot” was outrage. Many wondered how CBS could air a show whose main character used words like “jungle bunny,” “jigaboo,” “fag,” “fairy,” “Mick,” “Spick,” “dumb Polack,” and “Hebe” on a regular basis. The audience was shocked and, at first, put off by such a character. However, the show was saved from cancellation by the popularity of its summer repeats, and had finally earned a place on CBS’s fall schedule (IMDB). Still, the show was...
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...The Perfect Female Body: Long before beauty pageants, Barbie dolls, and extra-ordinarily beautiful girls, came about the idea of the female body. Whether you are a believer of creationalism, scientology, or evolutionism, somehow we all came about with the perception of the “perfect” female. Women have always been seen, and portrayed as a sex symbol, and usually the disobedient one. Dating back to B.C and the story of Adam and Eve, Eve was the naked one who bit into the fruit that god told her was forbidden. Why couldn’t it have been Adam that caused such scandal, and was the cause for destruction, and crime in the world, and not Eve? From the believed beginning of time, to present day, women have really only progressed a small amount up the social ladder. Today, women are looked down upon, if they are slightly more over weight then what is considered “normal,” if they are “underweight”, “darker skin color”, too “pale”, “flat chested”, big boned, “thick,” or because of their ethnicities and backgrounds. So what exactly defines the “perfect female?” Is it the girls featured on “Girls Gone Wild” in Cancun, or the half naked models posing for Victoria’s Secret? Or is it the perfectly put together “Miss America” pageant queens? Or is it the Hollywood actresses with billion dollar dresses, and priceless jewelry? Or the well toned, well defined professional team cheerleaders, and dancers we watch? WE, speaking for us “average” women, who often tend to idolize, and carry pieces...
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