In the essay, “The Offensive Movie Cliche’ That Won’t Die”, the author, Matt Zoller Seitz argues that most films portraying good morals and positive attributes about an African American character may actually just be an illusion to the audience and that the strings controlling the puppet aren’t so friendly after all. He also mentions how the role of a “magical negro” shows up in real life. Throughout his text, Seitz exemplifies a number of cases where a “magical negro” exists in today’s popular movies. He mentions various instances where some of the most relevant actors play these roles of the “magical negro”, such as Danny Glover in Legendary, Cuba Gooding Jr. in What Dreams May Come, Will Smith in The Legend of Bagger Vance, Laurence Fishburne…
Even though this is a good way to depict equality on the big screen, Douglas argues that females still take a backseat to males…
Is TV Too White? Most, if not all characters featured on television programs are white. On the off chance that there are Asians, Blacks, or Latinos, they all usually have one thing in common. Asians are depicted as quiet, sexless, geniuses.…
Colorblind For years, African Americans have gathered to create a colorless society. Historical groups have tried to gain racial equality through riots, marches and often sacrificing their own lives. New generations have forgotten the true meaning of what it is to be colorblind. Alex Kotlowitz an award winning author on urban affairs appeared on New York Times for his article “Colorblind,” in which he addresses an issue that society is said to be colorblind, even though people still chose to believe their own myths which leads to division of race.…
The idea of race has been a determining factor for hundreds of years. The idea that one race is better, has sparked numerous issues and debates. This howcever, isn 't limited to the color of the skin but also the status of our health, and sexual preference. Movies are no different in portraying the elements of racial, sexual and physical discrimination. “Fruitvale Station” shows the effects of racial discrimination between an African American male and the police department.…
The video that I chose is from this year’s Primetime Emmy Awards, which celebrates works of excellence in the television industry. It’s Viola Davis’ acceptance speech after she won the Emmy Award for Best Actress in a drama series. She became the first African-American women in the ceremony’s 67-year history to win in that category. She used this large platform as an opportunity to address the lack of diversity in the entertainment industry and what essentially stands in the way of women of color to be successful.…
Minorities on Broadway have come a long way since the late 1800s. This Broadway season, diversity is front and center whether it is on stage or in the audience. “About 80 percent of Broadway ticket-buyers are white, according to the Broadway League, but the percentages of black, Hispanic and Asian theatergoers have all risen significantly over the last decade; the League’s program to increase the Hispanic audience size, called Viva Broadway, is chaired by Mr. Miranda’s father, the political consultant Luis A. Miranda Jr (Paulson).” From shows like In The Heights, Les Miserables, West Side Story, On Your Feet and Hamilton we have seen a tremendous increase in cultural and racial diversity among the casts of these musicals within the past few…
Most of the time, the characters are all one race and that race is,more often than not ,white. The previous assumption has been lately confirmed with the 2015 Emmy’s and the 2016 Oscars. In last years Emmy’s, Viola Davis became the first African American woman to win the the award for ‘Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series’ maybe due to the fact that “[b]lacks., especially black women, are not being given roles like their white counterparts. There is a mindset that says movies with Blacks in leading roles won 't sell”(Sandra Evers-Manley, NAACP). Although Davis’ win was a huge enough monument for the black community, it was her acceptance speech that really stood out that night.…
I Want A Black Director I agree with August Wilson's claim that a white director is not culturally qualified to direct the film version of his play “Fences”. “Fences” is a play written by August wilson, this play takes place in the 1950’s and describes the ways of family life in a mostly black community. Prior to paramount buying the rights to August Wilson’s play in 1987 there was much discussion over the race of the director that would direct Wilson’s play. Wilson argues that the race of director must be black; during an argument with Paramount, Wilson states, “I wanted to hire somebody... who would approach my work with the same amount of passion and measure of respect with which I approach it, and who shares the same cultural responsibilities…
Stereotypes of people of color and minority races have been around for many years, and have proved themselves to dominate the perception of people of color in everyday life. Films portray people of color as they are perceived by white Americans, not how they truly are, unique. Film has only dirtied the minority races’ image over time, though if the movies were not made by other Americans, they were more accurate to their race. Stereotypes of Asians have been around for a long time, ever since Asians were introduced. Stereotypes such as Asian students are smarter, Asian women are more exotic and tend to wait on men, Asian women are submissive, Asian people are all from China, and many others.…
Colored actors are easily found in television and films today but are poorly recognized for their brilliant work and are only recognized because of the white actors that are co-stars or screenwriters. Gay and lesbian couples are starting to pop up every now and then in the media and the shows that they are in are some of the most popular shows such as Grey’s Anatomy, The Fosters, and Modern Family but they are stereotyped as the two popular girls who are experimenting or the men who dress really well and talk with high voices. Transgender characters are very new to the media and although they are scarce they are needed and loved when they do appear in shows like Orange is the New Black. Having representation is very important for young men, women and others that are trying to find who they are and live their lives to the fullest and the media is where people find their role models and inspirations so when a large group of people are represented it is a huge setback for the newer…
Peter Pan, the story of adventure and fantasy, has been remade several times and made into multiple spin-offs in the past century of the film industry. The fictional story features a magical boy with flying abilities taking three children of London to Neverland. There, they encounter mythical creatures and the evil Captain Hook while also learning that growing up is a necessity. Also in their journey, they meet Tiger Lily. The daughter of a Chief Native, she works alongside Peter Pan to defeat the pirates who have invaded their land.…
For example, Johnny Depp’s take on a Native America in the movie The Lone Ranger or Max Minghella as Divya Narendra in the Social Network. “Achieving greater diversity in film and television is about more than just putting non-white faces on the screen, Shukla said. How the entertainment industry portrays these characters is just as important.” (7) Hollywood is ignoring that diversity is more than adding in random characters of color with no purpose. The old tradition of whitewashing is also not helping the Hollywood financially, like they claim.…
“Hamilton” summoned a casting call requesting actors that are were only people of color. Many white performers got upset over this request. The notion of colorblind casting is supposed to produce an even playing field when auditioning for a role. Colorblind casting asks that the casting director to ignore race and concentrate merely on the actors ability to perform. The second notion is to end the racist custom of white actors doing blackface.…
The Entertainment Industry plays a huge role in our culture and society today. It is a tool that can be used to inform, voice opinions, and promote products using hidden advertising and product placement. The entertainment industry is very powerful and influential to its audiences. One obligation that the entertainment industry has failed to provide is the politically correct portrayal of minority actors. It is argued that the dominate race in the entertainment industry is white actors, which poorly represents the racial makeup of our society.…