Hi, Students:
We're probably not going to get to talk about your TV and minorities posts, but there were great discussions on the blog and I added comments to several of them.
I wanted to point out two major themes that came up:
1) the question of humor
--for example in shows like THE FAMILY GUY and even live action shows that are using stereotypes for humor
--How do we understand those shows? Are they the same phenomenon as minstrelsy (racism as entertainment)? Is something different about the cultural climate today?
2) questions of segregation / assimilation / tokenism / characters representing their minority group
--for example Charlie, Ross's black girlfriend, on the all-white show FRIENDS
--What does it mean for a show like FRIENDS to introduce a character like Charlie without addressing the social segregation represented on the show? Is it Utopian (creating images of a perfect world in the hopes of manifesting it)? Or does it harmfully mask the very social divides the show embodies?
-- It is very hard to read Chalie without asking how "black" or "white" is she (which necessarily relies on stereotypes). Why is that? What about the way this character is handled essentializes her identity?
As you continue as media consumers, producers and/or scholars, keep these questions in mind and continue looking for evolving examples of how minorities and stereotypes are represented in media. Is it the same old stereotypes in new costumes or are there new paradigms?
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