Research Paper on Minorities in The Media

In today’s media and culture, our society is considerably “woke” and more accepting of other cultures, but what has deemed that to be true? In the U.S., our media loves to talk about diversity and inclusion and yes, we have increased the casting of minorities on TV and large social media outlets which is a big step from where we used to be, but non-dominant groups are still greatly underrepresented. In the top 500 grossing films from 2007-2012, 76.3% of speaking roles were White, 10.8% were African American, 5% were Asian, and 3.6% were other racial/ethnic backgrounds (Sorrells, 2016). In 2018, we saw bigger strides in diversity and inclusion in film- thanks to Black Panther and Crazy Rich Asians…examining 53,178 characters in the 1,200 top films from 2007-2018 and found that 27 movies had leading or co-leading roles that feature characters from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups. The percentage of characters from underrepresented racial/ ethnic groups rose from 29.3% in 2017 to 36.3% (Ramos, 2020).  In 2018, 6.8% of African Americans are employees in radio newsrooms in the U.S. and 4% of Hispanic employees are publishers (Watson, 2018). Things improved somewhat in most casting roles in 2019. Women have 44.1% of lead acting roles and 40.2% of the total cast in the 145 films from 2019 examined in the report; people of color made up 27.6% of lead actors and 32.7% of all film roles in 2019 (Wolf, 2020). All non-dominant groups range from race/ethnic groups, gender, and disabled people. In this paper, the focus is on the underrepresentation of racial/ethnic groups in the media. Even though these numbers may have increased over the years, these minorities are typically cast to play their negative stereotype as they seem to fit. African Americans tend to be cast as pimps, drug dealers, or thugs. Hispanics are cast as immigrants and/or drug dealers. With this, it could lead to negative things, for example, the Amy Aidman Study. Amy Aidman performed a study among young Native American girls about the movie “Pocahontas” and asks if Disney’s positive image of Pocahontas creates a better image for young, Native American women or does it create a false image. The Native American girls who live in more urban settings models think that Pocahontas is relatable, and they can identify themselves with her. Whereas Native American girls that live on reservations did not like the movie because the media representation of Native Americans is less significant for them (Aidman, 1999). Another study that can back this up is the Saud Josephs Study. In this study, they looked at the larger media outlets like the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal and analyzed how they portrayed Arabs and Muslims. They often describe how Muslim Americans are the biggest group of Muslims which is false information as African American Muslims are the biggest group of Muslims (Saud, 2006). After looking at these studies, the U.S. may be starting to include different minorities, but they often may misrepresent them which leads to many U.S. citizens being misinformed about minorities.  

One of the largest issues minorities faces is cultural appropriation. Cultural appropriation is the use of objects or elements of non-dominant culture in a way that doesn’t respect their original meaning, give credit to their source, or reinforces stereotypes or contributes to oppression (Cunic, 2020). For example, when Caucasian people wear a Native American costume mimicking them for Halloween with no intention of correctly representing them. A famous example is Rock ‘N’ Roll. In the 1950s, white musicians “invented” rock and roll; however, the musical style was borrowed from Black musicians who never received credit (Cunic, 2020). Some cultural appropriation situations are harder to recognize than others, like the Kim Kardashian Shapewear, Skims, that had to be renamed due to cultural appropriation. It was originally named Kimono, which is a formal garment Japanese women typically wear. The mayor of Kyoto was quick to message her and inform her that the name Kimono may be offensive to his people and asked her to drop the trademark. Kim dropped the trademark immediately and came out on Twitter “I am always listening, learning, and growing- I so appreciate the passion and varied perspectives that people bring to me. When I announced the name of my shapewear line, I did so with the best intentions in mind” (Ilchi, 2019). This is an example of a situation where the person did not know what they were doing was considered cultural appropriation and their intention were only good. With that in mind, some people don’t understand the concept of cultural appropriation. What is good versus what is bad. If you are unsure what is cultural appropriation or not, here are some questions you can ask yourself: What is your goal with what you are doing? Are you deliberately trying to insult someone’s culture or being respectful? Are you ignoring the cultural significance of something in favor of following a trend? (Cuncic, 2020). With these questions in mind, it can help you avoid making mistakes that may feed into the stereotypes that cultural appropriation feeds into. 

With this misrepresentation going around we need to increase awareness among our society. We need to acknowledge the major role that the media plays in our life. It shapes our view of the world and impacts our thoughts and ideologies of different scenarios. Without any form of social media, we wouldn’t be able to form our own opinions about certain topics. With this information, we need to act with the people all around us. If we should talk about a topic and inform people about it, we should do more research and then just instantly believe the first thing that pops up on your TV. By doing more in-depth research, such as looking at multiple reliable sources and looking at different sides so you’re not only looking at bias media. By doing that you can develop a good sense of the topic and can build your confidence in the topic so you can properly inform others. Another way to act is to not consume popular media or culture whatsoever. When organized collectively- such as the boycott campaign launched against Apple for labor practices in China, or against Chick-fil-A for the CEO’s anti-gay marriage stance- the act of not consuming products, brand, or popular culture forms can and does make a difference in a capitalist-driven world (Sorrells, 2016). Being able to educate yourself and others will help lead to social change. 

As a part of my groups’ research, we sent out a google form to students in the U.S. and some students from Sweden and had them answer a survey. For the first part, asked them to list some of the common stereotypes of the following non-dominant groups: Latinx/Hispanic, Asian, Black American, Native American, and Arab American. Some of the responses said about the stereotypes of the Latinx/Hispanic community is that they are commonly thought of as drug dealers, gang members, and/or illegal immigrants. Asians, they are thought of as very smart, awkward outsiders, strict families, and are the reason for the spread of COVID-19. For Black Americans, their common stereotypes according to the responses were known for being criminals, gang members, poor, the comic relief in movies, and known for having good soul food. The responses for Native Americans stated that they were stuck in the past, nature lovers, peaceful, and known for the stereotypical costumes you see in stores. Lastly, common stereotypes of Arab Americans were that they were Muslims (even though their main religion is Christianity), criminals, uneducated, have oppressed women, and in the wake of 9/11, they are all seen as terrorists. As most of the responses are negative, we can see how far our society has strayed from common negative stereotypes. In the second part of the survey, we asked them how we should change. One student said “Change the narrative and portray today’s generation the right way. All different ethnicities have hardships and… ethnic people that are more than just the stereotypes in the media.” Another student responded “Give the minorities a chance to show their own culture without it being the main driving point. Allow them to have a racial or ethnic identity and still live in a cool story.” So, it is evident that people know negative stereotypes are still around and they want to change it, but what is an effective and efficient way to successfully eliminate these terrible stereotypes that are tied to these non-dominant groups? One way you can help eliminate those stereotypes is by indulging yourself in their society. Learn more about their culture and the way they live and inform others about it. The result of this kind of contact is a significant drop in both prejudice and stereotyping (Pettigrew and Tropp, 2000). Also, a good thing to practice is cultural humility. Cultural humility is approaching people from different backgrounds with the same kind of respect and consideration you want to receive from them. Practicing this will help you stray away from those negative stereotypes you often see in the media. Cultural humility incorporates a lifelong commitment to self-evaluation and critique (Tervalon and Murray-Garcia, 1998).

In conclusion, our society has gotten way better at representing minorities in media and including more non-dominant groups in T.V., movies, newspapers, and radio stations. But it can only get better if we improve our stereotypical mindsets. We need to avoid cultural appropriation when we can and represent those groups as if they were part of us and not outsiders. The media has improved over the years, but we can do more if we re-write the narrative and it starts with us.