Mass Media: Exploiting Minds & Spreading Prejudice - Essay Sample

Introduction

The contemporary world is characterized by technological innovation with the mass media becoming the basis of today's social transformation. A lot of assumptions are made to the message conveyed through the media, and few and sometimes none of the people take interest in analyzing the credibility of the source and nature of the information, therefore making mass media to be the chief source of exploiting the audience's minds. Prejudice refers to a negative or unjustified attitude towards a person as results of one's membership of the social group, this may include one's gender or race (Crandall, Bahns, Warner, & Schaller, 2011). While stereotypes refer to the broadly held but fixed and oversimplified idea or image of a person or a thing (Blair, 2002). Racial stereotypes and prejudice are spread throughout the community with the help of media (Crandall et al., 2011). The television series, commercial advertisements, social media, and movies play a significant role in perpetuating racial stereotypes and prejudice. The following essay aims to study racial stereotypes and prejudice, with references to specific portrayals in the media.

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Racial Stereotypes and Prejudice Concerning Portrayals in the Media

Racial discrimination comes as a result of the stereotypes, where a certain racial group is generalized regardless of an individual difference. It is mostly based on incomplete information, the misconception of information or/and false generalization. Mostly, stereotypes depict a negative characteristic of a particular group. The racial discrimination is triggered by issues such as hostility, overt prejudice or negative feelings that characterizes someone regarding the racialized group or person (Blair, 2002). However, individuals are un-equally treated, to extend of being denied apartment or job, just because of the overt bias towards them due to their race as well as the related grounds. Such kind of racism through prejudice and stereotypes are perpetuated through the media platform, it is common from the kids to adult entertainment made to influence different levels of the society. Often, the racially biased media cannot be considered as mere entertainment, especially for the devastating impact it has on society.

An example of racial stereotypes through mainstream media is where news covered in the United States on natural catastrophes like the 2005 Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath of the 2019 New Orleans flooding in Louisiana, the African-American citizens were negatively despised. They were often accused of getting involved with activities like plundering and anarchy, but the assertations were later proven to be false. At that period of flooding, two photographs were circulating in the mainstream media, with captions depicting extensive stereotypes. One of the photo captioned "looting" showed a youthful man of African-American race in chest-deep floodwater carrying food, while another photo showed a young Caucasian couple "finding" for soda and bread as they were wading through chest-deep water (Jones, 2017).

Movies play a role in expressing racial stereotypes and prejudice in society, especially to the black community. Although most Hollywood movies tend to portray black actors as angry or scary, or the black guy dies first. The 2004 film Crash exhibits such prejudice behaviors. The film featured a black woman being assaulted by a white police officer. While in the subsequent scene, an African-American man demonstrates a prejudiced character through his partner. Also, in the television series like Dear White People (2017-2019), it shows the form of prejudice and racism that is experienced in the American colleges against black people (Sonnett et al, 2015). There are racial prejudice and stereotypes in the films like Everybody sing (1938) and Yes Sir, Mr. Bones (1951) the actress Judy Garland and actor Billy Van, respectively, appropriates the black community ethnicity and treating it as an entertainment. The characters who are whites are dressed and have makeups that make them play the role of black people. The film is synonymous in the media's America's racism. It ridicules and makes the black race to appear naive and inferior minority group in American society. While in the advertisement, the company Paddy Power was accused of a racist and offensive immigrant advert, which stated: "Immigrants, Jump in the Back". The advert was widely condemned as it targeted to despise the minority race in the society who are not natives (Fatharta, 2015). Dove also was mentioned for a wrong reason being culpable of running a racist advert against the African American to spread racial prejudice it showed a black woman removing a brown shirt to reveal a white woman wearing a white shirt as the transformation of superiority color after using their products (CBS News, 2019).

In contemporary society, there are other forms of media especially the films and music which condemn the existence of racial stereotypes and prejudice which propel racism in American against the African-American people. Such film includes The Hate You Give (2018) which is inspired by the 'Back Life Matters' movement, it features how the black people are carelessly shot and yet they are guilty. While the film The Upside (2017) shows how the African-American and White people interact together in assisting one another in times of need regardless of the racial differences.

The adverse effects associated with the prejudice and stereotypes in the media cannot be overlooked especially in the nurturing of the new generation and forming a certain perception of the society. Racial stereotypes and prejudice through the media have been associated with the low self-esteem among the boys and the girls especially from the minority groups in America, this is contrary to the white population who have high-self-esteem and sense of superiority (Blair, 2002). The racial differences interrelate with the gender and racial practices in Hollywood, which predominantly depict the white people as heroes, consequently eliminating or subordinating the other minority groups as sexual objects sidekicks and villains. Also, the media images of the Native Americans mascots lower self-esteem and has mood influences towards the non-native Americans adolescents as well as the young adults, leading to some of them committing suicide. Besides the effects that media has towards specific minority group in regards to stereotypes and prejudice, also, it can divert the public perception and categorization against the minority racial group. Popular media entertainment can portray a negative view of the racial minority group based on their color, therefore, making the minority whites to develop worsen racial discrimination (Wheeler & Fiske, 2005). The media can apply the use of body language, a facial expression which creates racial biases on the viewers. Charleston church shooting is one of the effects of racial stereotypes and prejudice that is seen in America against the African-America minority race. Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old was influenced with what goes around the media against the black and developed a sense of white supremacy against the Black and whereby in June 17, 2015 he has prompted to murder nine Black citizens at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina, on the evening (Corasaniti, Perez-Pena, and Alvarez, 2015).

Conclusion

The idea of propaganda is dynamic, creating ideas stereotypically and utilizes media to encourage and target people's minds to have the impact of their view towards a particular group of people. Racial prejudice and stereotypes are propelled through media, hence making it possible to be passed from one generation to the other and throughout the society. Minority groups, such as the blacks, face constant racial stereotypes and prejudice through news, advertisement, and internet. The media eternize the public attitude towards a certain belief. The consideration that shows that there is the racial profiling through racial stereotypes and prejudice include (1) racial statements that shows prejudice or stereotypes; (2) contradictory, non-existence or changing explanation for why someone was targeted; (3) Eccentricities from an unprofessional custom or normal practices; and (4) the different unfolded situation than if the person has been White. The effects that are brought with the perpetual depiction of racial stereotypes and prejudiced cannot be ignored. Hollywood which is the biggest movies production, advertising companies, news stream media as well as music are in the front line in triggering racial difference in the society. America is one of the conspicuous examples of a country which s 'darkened' with racial violence between the White and Black races. Although a lot of efforts are being made by the public and civil societies, still individuals use media to spread their hate against another race.

References

Blair, I. V. (2002). The malleability of automatic stereotypes and prejudice. Personality and social psychology review, 6(3), 242-261. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327957PSPR0603_8

CBS News. (2019). Dove apologizes for the racially insensitive ad. Retrieved 6 September 2019, from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dove-ad-racist-insensitive-apology-for-facebook-ad/

Corasaniti, N., Perez-Pena, R., & Alvarez, L. (2015). Church Massacre Suspect Held as Charleston Grieves. Retrieved 6 September 2019, from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/19/us/charleston-church-shooting.html

Cox, W. T., Abramson, L. Y., Devine, P. G., & Hollon, S. D. (2012). Stereotypes, prejudice, and depression: The integrated perspective. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7(5), 427-449.

Crandall, C., Bahns, A., Warner, R., & Schaller, M. (2011). Stereotypes as Justifications of Prejudice. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37(11), 1488-1498. Doi: 10.1177/0146167211411723

Fatharta, C. (2015). Paddy Power's 'racist and offensive' immigrant advert banned. Retrieved 6 September 2019, from https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/paddy-powers-racist-and-offensive-immigrant-advert-banned-365727.html

Jones, V. (2017). HuffPost is now a part of Oath. Retrieved 6 September 2019, from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/black-people-loot-food-wh_b_6614

Wheeler, M. E., & Fiske, S. T. (2005). Controlling racial prejudice: Social-cognitive goals affect amygdala and stereotypes activation. Psychological Science, 16(1), 56-63. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.00780.x