The Media and Race\" Please respond to the following: Debate It – Take a positio

Question

The Media and Race" Please respond to the following: Debate It – Take a position on this statement: Representation of race in the media affects our perceptions of individuals. Support your views with one or two reasons and / or examples. (Cite any sources you referenced.) Discuss one or two major problems with the way minorities are represented in the media, highlighting both the lack of diversity and the impact it may have on the way the world views the U.S. Support your views with one or two reasons and / or examples. (Cite any sources you referenced.)

Explanation / Answer

Representation of race in the media affecting public perceptions:

In a study that was conducted in 2011, it has been showed that mass representation of black & other race people has created an impact such that their lives were linked with lower life expectations among black & other race people. All these can result in creating barriers to the society advancement. This kind of attitude has affected the lives of black people in US because of negative perceptions. The following can be the reasons:

The following can be some of the problems with the media:

This is nothing but underrepresentation of minorities. It is the practice of changing minority into white characters or using white characters to play minority roles. This is based on the assumption that white characters can always attract large audiences.

One recent example of this is “The last air bender” which is nothing but adaptation of animated series “The avtar”. The television show has its settings, story lines & characters are undeniably Asian. The show had a painstaking accuracy of representing minor aspects of pan Asian cultures. And in order to give credit to white young viewership, the show succeeded despite the fact that all of the characters were non white.

Stereotypes are nothing but ideas that people have about someone or something especially ideas that are bad. But there are also positive stereotypes like Asians are math geniuses, blacks are good at basket ball etc. but stereotypes examples of race & minorities in US media can include “black men as either violent criminals or acting white”, “sassy black woman”, “Asian women as dragon ladies or china dolls”, Latinas as seductresses etc.’

To conclude, everyone can benefit from diversifying limited representations of minorities in the media. Any step taken forward can help in reaching wider audiences, improving racism & racial understanding.

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