Essay on Racism in the Media Misrepresentation of Minorities

Misrepresentation of different cultures by the media The definition of race is often based on physical characteristics such as skin color, hair texture and eye shape. Race is both a set of genetically defined biological characteristics and culturally defined characteristics. One influence on culture is the media and the media have a huge influence on the way different races are viewed by society. The media consists of communication devices and some media forms include television, newspapers, magazines, film and radio. Misrepresent can be defined as to give a false or misleading representation with an intent to deceive or be unfair. The United States is one of, if not the most, diverse nations in the world. It is often described as a†¦show more content†¦Another problem is these television shows may be the only interaction an audience may have with a particular race or ethnic group. This primarily affects children. Young children are extremely easy to influence and spend hours in front of the television. When children are exposed to only one race, they develop prejudices and bias towards other ethnicities. This misrepresentation of races of television shows may cause children to become close minded and prejudiced. One of the longest running and most popular television shows, The Simpsons, is full of minority stereotypes. Several ethnic groups in this show are misrepresented, but Indians are stereotyped the most in The Simpsons. Some of the Indian stereotypes include that the convenience store worker is Hindu and is named Apu and has a stereotypical Indian last name, Nahasapeemapetilan. Here, writers are saying that all people of Indian descent work in convenience stores and practice Hinduism as their religion. Another television series which stereotypes a race is The Sopranos. In the Sopranos, the main character Tony Soprano, an Italian American, is the head of an organized crime family. They are stereotyping that all Italian Americans are involved in organized crime. The television show Growing Up Gotti is also about an organized crime family and also stereotypes Italian Americans in thisShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Poem The First Cities 1694 Words   |  7 Pages​Miss representation is a documentary film directed, written and produced by Jennifer Siebel Newson. The film focus of the representation of women of mainstream media in such a way that if portrays a very wrong picture for the sake of desired results. The film was premiered at Sundance film festival of 2011. ​The matter with standard media: It conditions men to consider ladies sexual items, it trivializes them, and it regards them as articles, so that for enough men, a motion picture like The WomanRead MoreThe Bad Image Of Black Athlete1522 Words   |  7 PagesThe bad image of black athlete is one of the most important problems today. 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