Representation+of+Race+and+Class,+(Cont'd)

=**WHERE HAVE ALL THE BLACK SHOWS GONE?**=



__Cultural Moves__ by Herman Gray details the lack of black representation in the media. Specifically in Chapter 4 he describes how the early 1990's most "black" sitcoms were situational comedies and lacked much depth. Stations like FOX began to tap into the black youth market with shows made to rival other networks such as NBC. Three examples I found was In Living Color, which was similar to Saturday Night Live. Also The Arsenio Hall talk show which went against Jay Leno. Another popular show was Martin, staring Martin Lawrence. Despite these shows popularity there lifetime was limited. Other networks began creating shows that appeal to a broader masses. Shows such as Friends, Seinfeld, ER, Frasier etc... While these shows were good. there was little representation of blacks and these type shows became the new trend. So one by one other shows began to be canceled and most of these black actors went on to star in films such as Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Wayans Brothers etc...

=**In Living Color**= '

In Living Color ran from 1990 to 1994. This show opened the door for many actors such as Jim Carrey, Jaime Foxx, David Alan Grier, Tommy Davidson, and the Wayan brothers. This show focused on "black" comedy through various skits. These are just a few skits I chose to show.

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 * Men on Film - Damon Wayans & David Allan Grier**


 * Baby Got Snacks- Jaime Foxx**

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 * MARTIN**

This show started in 1992 to 1997 and also was on FOX. This show was basically a sitcom about Martin who was a Dj at a radio station in Detroit, Michigan. This was another popular show in the Black community. Martin was very talented and often played a number of different characters on the show on was Roscoe and the other was Sheneneh.

Martin- Roscoe media type="youtube" key="gVeknXcAIAc" height="344" width="425"

=Sheneneh Weave Award= media type="youtube" key="_jSxCVdinyI" height="344" width="425"

THE ARSENIO HALL ran from 1989 to 1994. His late night talk show became another place where blacks were featured. Actors, musicians, politicians, athletes all appeared on his show. From NWA to Pres. Clinton, Hall conducted many legendary interviews ansd allowed rappers to perform on his show.

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 * Arsenio Hall- Interviews Vanilla Ice - Talks about Hammer and him being a White rapper**

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 * Even Pres. Clinton in 92 got down with Aresnio**

Now many shows featuring Blacks in non speaking roles in situational positions such as the ones below. The effect of these is enormous as without representation blacks have little voice or control of how they are portrayed.
 * So how are blacks viewed on sitcoms?**





More recently networks like HBO have developed more interesting black shows such as the The Wire. The Wire takes place in Baltimore, Maryland and details inner city life and the struggles that exist. This show features many African Americans andis one of HBO most popular shows.

 [|Demise of Black Sitcoms] " The handful of recent shows that did show African Americans in a positive light and with characteristic balance, meaning they were not over the top “hood” or so engulfed in the 90210 lifestyle that the average middle class African American could not relate to the characters were quickly taken off the air. "

[|Op-Ed NPR Cosby Show] -Links to Radio Interview

An Event We Might find interesting, the Black Student Union Presents a Look into 90's Sitcoms on Campus [|From Good Times to Girlfriends and The Rebirth of The 90's]   An article regarding the impact "Cosby Show" had on the representations of Blacks to the public. [|Cosby Show As Serious Impact]

=Television and Political Economics= Racial Diversity in the public media was determined more by economics rather than social issues. Television networks and other social media organizations are geared towards the group of people who they believe will benefit them the most in terms of economic return, young white viewers. An article written the LA times and referenced in Herman S. Grays book, [|Cultural Moves] discusses the representation of diversity in Television and the relationship between the advertisers, networks and program suppliers. The article references how there was no profit in terms of representation of diversity and because of this belief advertisers and network programmers felt it was not amongst their main concerns to produce racially diverse programs. Diversified programming faced a conflict of interest regarding making money or the responsiblity of diverse representation. Networks and advertisers tried to appease white people as they viewed them as the epitome of what a media consumer of that time is while Blacks, Asians, and Latinos were essentially ignored. Advertisers and program suppliers control television and as a result most commercials and advertiesements appealed to white viewers.

Thus according to Gray: "Given this trend [ a lack of racial crossover], the lexicon of diversity is changing//. Networks can't afford to alienate whites, who make up the vast majority of potential viewers, and remain the ones advertisers privately concede that they want most.//"(95)

=Issues Resolved?=



The //Cosby Show// and //Family Matters// were amongst several early 90's television shows that network programmers and advertisers agreed to produce with an all main black cast. Despite this accomplishment for racial diversity advertisers still controlled television and because of this the portrayal of these characters appeared to be forced.

//"The Cultural traditions and identities of blacks, latinos, and Asians must be transformed and thus made to appeal to whites whose economic and cultural capital is assumed to be paramount."//(94)

Due to the civil rights movement and the rise of black inlfuence in society, television networks and advertisers could not slow down the waves of people who fought for racial diversity in television. Adverstisers especially were forced to accept that white viewers were no longer the only group of people they needed to appease. While this appeared to be an improvement in regards to racial diversity such shows as //The Cosby Show// and //Family Matters// contained black lead characters, but characterized them in a form that would still appeal to their main source of profit, the young white viewers.

Class discussion:
Do you think most advertisements today are still geared towards white middle class or are they more diverse?

=Cross-Over Audience= While blacks were being portrayed in major sitcoms on national television, more importantly the writing and tone of these shows appealed to a mass audience (both whites and blacks). However it appears that over time the current African American sitcoms have crossed over once again to appeal specifically to black audiences. Such shows as //Tyler Perry's House of Payne// or //Meet the Browns// seem to have a tone that represents the black culture and thus attract certain viewers.

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Sut Jhally is Professor of Communication at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Founder and Executive Director of the Media Education Foundation. He is one of the world's leading scholars looking at the role played by advertising and popular culture in the processes of social control and identity construction. The author of numerous books and articles on media (including //The Codes of Advertising// and //Enlightened Racism//) he is also an award-winning teacher (a recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award at the University of Massachusetts, where the student newspaper has also voted him "Best professor"). In addition, he has been awarded the Distinguished Outreach Award, and was selected to deliver a Distinguished Faculty Lecture in 2007.

He is best known as the producer and director of a number of films and videos (including //Dreamworlds: Desire/Sex/Power in Music Video//; //Tough Guise: Media, Violence and the Crisis of Masculinity//; and //Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear & the Selling of American Empire//) that deal with issues ranging from gender, sexuality and race to commercialism, violence and politics. Born in Kenya, raised in England, educated in graduate studies in Canada, he currently lives in Northampton, Massachusetts.

http://www.sutjhally.com/ to find out more about Sut and classes he teaches here on campus


 * Interesting facts about girls, women, and media from this web site http://mediaandwomen.org/problem.html**

S-e-x. It’s everywhere in the media. The average young TV viewer will see about 14,000 references to sex each year. Does it matter? According to teens, yes! Teens themselves say that TV, as well as movies and other media, are some of their leading sources of information about sex and sexuality. But do these images give people realistic, healthy, equality-minded views of sex? And is overloading teens with portrayals of sex a responsible thing to do at all? Studies show that:

• Of the roughly 14,0000 references to sex a teen would see on TV each year, only a small fraction (165) will include any reference to abstinence or delay of sex, birth control, risk of pregnancy, or sexually transmitted disease. Obviously girls bear the risk of pregnancy that boys don’t, but girls are also more likely to contract STDs than boys. (American Academy of Pediatarics, //Sexuality, Contraception, and the Media,// 2001)

• Some studies show that repeated exposure to media with sexual content may influence teens to have sex earlier. But here’s the scary part: those same studies show that the younger a girl is when she has sex, the more likely she did it under pressure, or even force. (AAP; see above)

//What other messages do girls (and boys) get about sexuality from the media?// //A lot of it comes from the music industry, especially through music videos.//

• MTV, the favorite TV of girls 11-19, regularly includes girls and women in the traditional role of sex object, as seen in features on the network (think //Spring Break)// and many music videos. Girls and women who are serious musicians (excluding singers) are rarely featured. Programs and videos show boys/men as sex objects much less frequently. (MTV Programming; and //Media Use in America,// 2000, Mediascope.)

• A study shows that when men are shown in the background of a video, they are most often fully clothed. But when women are in the background, approximately half the time they are dressed in ways that expose or focus on their breasts and rear ends (ChildrenNow, //Boys to Men: Media Messages About Masculinity,// 1999).

(A probably related statistic: A study from the mid-1990’s shows that 90% of the top 100 music videos shown on MTV were directed by men. Sut Jhally, //Dreamworlds 2////,// Media Education Foundation, 1995.))

• A study of video games found that the few female characters in those games are often highly sexualized—wearing tight revealing clothing and having unrealistically large breasts and distorted small waists. //(Girls and Gaming,// Children Now; 2000.)

• Video games and other media sometimes use prostitutes as characters that are targets for the male hero. In a game from the //Duke Nukem// series, prostitutes are forced to strip and are then killed. In the number one selling video game for 2001, //Grand Auto Theft III,// the player can clobber a prostitute with a baseball bat with a new game technique that allows the player to feel he or she is really doing this. In other popular media, prostitutes and strippers are often included to add scenes of female breasts and rear-ends on camera.These offer viewers images of women and female sexuality associated with exchanging sex for money, and sex with violence.

• In advertising, women’s bodies are used sexually to sell products more often than men’s. A 1997 advertising study showed that white women in roughly 62% of ads were "scantily clad", in bikinis, underwear, etc, while the same was true for 53% of black women. For men, the figure was only 25%. Women were also represented in stances of powerlessness more often, and black women were likely to be featured in animal prints, in predatory poses. //(Racial and Gender Biases in Magazine Advertising,// S. Plous and D. Neptune, 1997, Psychology of Womens Quarterly)


 * //Non realistic and unhealthy body image//**

• The women seen most often in the media are fashion models, pop stars (singers) and actresses. (We don’t like the word "supermodel", ‘cause they really don’t do anything that super.) Many women seen often in the media, especially models and increasingly actresses, are seriously underweight, and many diet and smoke to keep their natural weight off. ( A girl or woman who diets and is underweight can be undernourished, sometimes even losing her menstrual period. Prolonged loss of periods can lead to fertility problems---while constant or extreme dieting also carries health risks and can actually lead to longterm weight gain.) //(Body Wars,// by Margo Maine, 2000)

• In a 1992 study of female students at Stanford University, 70% of women reported feeling worse about themselves and their bodies after looking at magazines. (A British study also had a similar finding.) Roughly 50% of teen girls in the U.S. read teen or adult fashion magazines. //(Body Wars)//

• In movies, body doubles are often used to substitute for "imperfect" female movie stars (such as America’s favorite actress Julia Roberts, in one of America’s favorite movies, //Pretty Woman.)// Eighty-five percent of these body doubles have breast implants. (Jean Kilbourne, Can't Buy My Love, 2001.) Scientific evidence suggests many women with breast implants have some adverse affects; pain, permanently deformed skin if implant is removed, loss of sensation in breast, interference with early detection of a tumor, and potential link with serious auto-immune disorders. (Center for Policy Research for Women and Families, Washington, D.C.) = = DREAMWORLD FANTASY ON DISPLAY AT THE NBA ALL STAR GAME THIS PAST WEEKEND?





The NBA markets towards the youth but is this what the youth should be seeing??