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Example research essay topic: Martin Luther King African Americans - 2,451 words

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Stereotypical Images of African Americans in Television and Movies According to the last statistic data the population of the United States is growing by 2. 5 million people annually; and almost one million of it is immigrants from other countries. Every year almost 800, 000 immigrants enter the country; thats why the United States are called a "boiling pot of nations. " There were a lot of reasons why immigrants have left their home countries and gone to a foreign land. The United States is one of the few countries that offers such large political and religious freedom; thats why many immigrants come to the country seeking for better life, greater economic success and opportunity. The other reason was freedom. The Democratic government of the country provides equality to people of different nations and ethnic groups. It passes a great number of laws protecting the rights of ethnic minorities in the United States.

Taking into account the fact that the population of the country differ ethnically, it is evident that the history and culture of the various peoples who live in the country should be learned and appreciated. Otherwise the neglect of it would cause the development of ethnic stereotypes that breed misunderstanding. It should be pointed that until recently the university curriculum has not studied African-Americans and Africans history and culture. Only in 1960, Black Studies courses were introduced.

It shows the raising of social awareness. African-Americans group of immigrant may be more than other ethnic groups has affected America in more ways. The Africans usually were brought to the United States against their will as slaves. For a long time they have been considered to be the lowest social class. Black slaves were of different age, even children; and all of them were forced to work on plantations. They worked long hours and under unsanitary conditions.

First Africans were sold by the captain of Dutch to settlers at Jamestown, in 1619. A young country needed labor force badly and the cheapest one was of captives. Most of them were black. By the end of the 17 th century, almost 1, 300, 000 Africans had arrived in the New World. Africans were brought directly to the English colonies that were located in North America. Later they were shipped to mainland like common cargo.

African-American immigrants resided mostly in sates: California, New York, Texas, Florida, New Jersey, and Illinois. For a long time they fought for their political freedom and against slavery. The most popular of their leaders in that fight were Martin Luther King, Martin Luther King Jr. , Jesse Jackson, and Malcolm X. Nowadays, African-Americans dont suffer from slavery but there is another way to suppress minority population. This way is through the use of media. It is creating racial stereotype.

This way is often used by the dominant culture in this society with different goals. Ella Shohat and Robert Stam in the book Unthinking Eurocentrism say about the influence of media and what for stereotypes are created. They say: the functionality of stereotyping used in film demonstrates that they (stereotypes) are not an error in perception but rather a form of social control intended as Alice Walker calls prisons of image. (Ella Shohat and Robert Stam, 198) The phenomenon of racial stereotype has a negative impact on any society and most of all on those that have a great number of ethical groups on its territory, such as America. Such approach is destructive first of all because it can incite the majority population against the minority group. The negative actions of a few representatives of a certain group can lead to the negative attitude towards the whole minority community. In his work Recognizing Stereotypical Images of African Americans in Television and Movies Steven F.

Gray gives an example of racial stereotype, . in urban America to be a mugger is synonymous with being African American or Hispanic. As a result of media images, the immediate image we accept as norm is that of whites being mugged by blacks and Hispanics. While of course, black and Hispanic men have mugged whites, to have this be a dominant image goes against many national and local crime statistics. (Steven F. Gray) Stereotyping entire peoples as mad, uncontrollable threats: "Wild Indians, "Yellow Hordes" or "the Yellow Peril. " As inferior nonhuman's: "primitives, "savages, "gooks, "niggers" -- this last term used not only against African-Americans, but also by English colonizers of Egypt and India. Even the word "natives, " which originally meant simply the people born in a country and by extension the aboriginal inhabitants, took on heavy racist coloration as an inferior Other.

There are different ways how stereotypes have appeared. In 1922, American journalist Walter Lippman in his book Public Opinion describes one of the ways the word stereotype uses in the modern world. He says, People believe that their conceptions of German soldiers, Belgian priests, or American K Klux Klansman for example are accurate representations of the real members of those classes... the conception in most cases is actually a stereotype acquired by the individual from some other source other than his direct experience. (Walter Lippman, 111) The other way racial stereotypes appeared is through literature and radio.

In 1933, the great black poet and critic Sterling Brown pointed that there are seven categories into which black characters in American literature can be divided, such as: the contented slave; the wretched freemen: the comic Negro; the tragic mulatto; the local color Negro; and the exotic primitive. But, nowadays, the most affective way to impose stereotypes is through the mediums of film and television. The mark of plural introduced by Stam and Shohat in Unthinking Eurocentrism lead to the negative attitude towards the whole community. The mark of plural can be considered as a manifestation of racial discrimination while firm stereotypes cause not only negative attitude but often to negative behavior towards the representatives of the oppressed community.

In Unthinking Eurocentrism Stam and Shohat emphasize that because of stereotyping other communities participate in a continuum of prejudicial social policy and actual violence against dis empowered people placing the very body of the accused in jeopardy. (Ella Shohat and Robert Stam, 183) It is known that the most sensitive part of a society is children and youth. American teenagers spend a lot of time in front of TV. The Washington Post insights in its report form June 23, 1996 that, In a 1994 survey, nearly one of two black forth graders said they watched six hours or more of television daily, according to the National Center of Education Statistics, the research arm of the U. S. Department of Education. Thats more than three times the rate at which their white classmates reported spending that many hours in front of the television.

It is nearly double the 27 percent of Hispanic forth-graders who said they watch at least six hours a day... For a long time negative and, sometimes, unrealistic pictures from African-American life have been bombarding children and teenagers. It has created an image of bad African-Americans in a true American society. Steven F.

Gray reminds the case of Brown vs. the Board of Education. He pointed the firm stereotype that black children had towards the representatives of the same race. In this experiment black children were shown almost identical dolls, the only difference being skin color (one black, one white). When the children were asked which dolls were pretty, nice, smart, clean, etc. child after child pointed to the white doll.

However, when asked which doll was ugly, dumb, dirty or evil the black doll was almost always selected. (Steven F. Gray) The worst in the situation is that black children began to copy bad behavior of personages introduced in films or TV-shows. It is not a secret that the best sold pictures are of in the hood movie genre. Most of all they are the most favorite ones among young people. Those pictures show gangsta lifestyle. In some of them gangsters are main heroes.

As a rule bad roles are played by Black actors. They attract young people because as a rule they have money, power and can influence events. And as it is known children and youth have unstable characters, they are impulsive and can be affected by images introduced in movies. But in many films main heros dreams are reached with the help of violence.

Film critics prove that a society and its problems are depicted in modern films. But it goes without saying, that the process is mutual. Films and their heroes influence greatly a society. Steven F. Gray says that many children now imitate the dress, dialect and violence associated with the portrayed in the currently popular pictures. The picture we see in films when mothers are on welfare, fathers are unemployed, drunkards, or absent altogether is a reflection of the society; or, may be, vice versa?

Very often events in a picture are taken from the life of one family or one person. But a lot of people see the film and often imitate behavior of main characters even not realizing it. By creating a monster-like image of black men, the media strategically teach the nation to be unresponsive to the dilemmas in the black community. It is evident that which negative media images of African-Americans are disproportionate and arguably harmful to race relations.

Robert M. Entman and Andrew Rojecki in their book The Black Image in the White Mind show ways of stereotyping. More and more Black actors are represented in films; but the roles they are played are not always positive. According to the data represented in the book: Black female movie characters shown using vulgar profanity: 89 %. White female movie characters shown using vulgar profanity: 17 %.

Black female movie characters shown being physically violent: 56 %. White female movie characters shown being physically violent: 11 %. Black female movie characters shown being restrained: 55 %. White female movie characters shown being restrained: 6 %. (Entman and Rojecki, 320) There is a hidden pattern of stereotypes in television ads. It was noticed that Blacks are seldom touch Whites in the ads. There is a stereotype that skin of a Black person is like taboo.

Often for advertising autos or trucks, perfumes or jewelry and cosmetics the representatives of white race are shown. As to films, Blacks are rarely shown making an important contribution to the serious business of the nation. In contrary, often they are shown in crime, sports and entertainment stories. Entman and Rojecki pay our attention that, Black defendants are simply treated differently on local TV news from their White counterparts: Times more likely that the accused will be shown physically restrained in a local TV news report when the defendant is Black rather than White; Times less likely that the name of the accused will be shown on screen in a local TV news report when the defendant is Black rather than White. (Entman and Rojecki, 320) But nowadays there are other kinds of stereotypes in media.

Blacks are shown in modern films as "Magic Negro" or a weak person. The image of "Magic Negro" often uses to support the main hero of a film. He or she is a subordinate character. Best example are Morpheus (played by Laurence Fishburne) and the Oracle (played by Gloria Foster) in The Matrix. Morpheus is the head of group that want to free mankind from the tyranny of the titular Matrix. The Oracle is a Black woman who has the power of foresight.

She guides the group. Though Morpheus and the Oracle are important characters but the fate of humanity is in the hands of the non-black protagonist, Neo (played by Keanu Reeves). Many depictions of African-American males portray them as weak. In the Rush Hour series James Carter (played by Chris Tucker) is a fast talker, and clearly less competent than his partner played by Jackie Chan. In the film The Fifth Element Carter Tucker plays a hyper-effeminate character. Based on the stereotypes of TV-shows and films, it would seem every African -American male carries a gun around at all times.

But it is evident that media has slowly begun to change and open up to a little more diversity. In 2002, in the Academy Awards ceremony the award for best female and male actor was given to African-American actors. Film has seen a more diverse change than television, but television does seem to be on its way. Their recently have been predominately African-American sitcoms that have made it successfully in the primetime, a rare success. Yet, racial minorities are still under represented on the TV screen. The lack of diversity on television is a troubling fact, especially for the affects that it may be having on America's youth.

This is an issue which demands further attention. Some possible solutions for this problem are that further research be conducted on the effects of television, race, and youth. Research can be conducted to see how a child is affected when they do not see positive portrayals of their race on television. Corporate decision making positions could be held by persons of color and this could create some change.

Television shows can hire more actors of color and already established characters can play a more positive role in their show. Writers can be taught about the importance of diversity and could be more sensitive to the needs of diversity when writing television shows. Finally, a greater societal demand for more diversity could be made clear to television decision makers. These steps could yield hugely positive results in the fight for a more diverse media culture. In conclusion, it is necessary to emphasize that African-American youth are the most at risk of the dangers of television. They watch more television, they watch more unsupervised television, and they see less positive characters of their race on television.

A combination of these factors leads them down a much darker television path than their white counterparts. They are more at risk for the effects of violent television and their self-esteems are more likely to suffer to the negative stereotypes they see on television. There are small changes being made, but great leaps need to continue. Ella, Shohat, Robert, Stam. Unthinking Eurocentrism.

New York: Routledge, 1994. Jon, Jeter. Alarm Over TV Time Highlights Viewing Habits of Black Children. The Was hinton Post, June 23, 1996. Robert M. , Entman, Andrew, Rojecki. The Black Image in the White Mind: Media and Race in America.

University of Chicago Press, 2000. Steven F. , Gray. Recognizing Stereotypical Images of African Americans in Television and Movies. Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, 2005. web Walter, Lippman. Public Opinion.

New York: Macmillan Press, 1922.


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Research essay sample on Martin Luther King African Americans

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