AOD quarter 1 blog 18

diversity:

For our final project in Alicia, and Maggie's classes, Naomi and I did research on racial diversity in the media. We discovered a lot of interesting things about race in the media.

Here is our essay so you can see in detail what we found out:

INTRODUCTION
Racial and ethnic diversity in sitcoms on television is often very rare. Our group wanted to know what is causing this lack of diversity, and why we as a society don't seem to want to take action. The lack of racial diversity on sitcoms is a huge issue because these shows could be slowly influencing the way Americans feel about certain ethnic groups and causing further division among the races. We feel television may also be promoting a certain type of lifestyle that a race is expected to live up to, whether or not they should, or are even able to. Our society watches so much television, every day we are being misinformed about people of different races because of the things we see on these shows. We would like to find out the following;Is there more racial and ethnic diversity on sitcoms today than in the past, and if so, how much change has occurred over each decade?Is any specific race portrayed in a more negative way than another race on television sitcoms? Has television ever changed our society, or any specific person or group based on what was shown?Does society in general and different races in particular, attempt to conform to standards of what they are currently seeing on television, or have seen over the years?
SITCOMS
We chose to have the majority of our research revolve around sitcoms because we feel that there may be a lot more misrepresentation or under representation of minorities in shows on television than in movies or other media. We wanted to take the journey of finding out about many shows throughout the decades, and the effect they have had on American society and the evolution of television. From personal experience watching television we feel that there is a lack of representation or little to no representation on behalf of many minorities, including, but not limited to; Asians, African Americans, Latinos, Hispanics, and many more. We feel as if this is a very negative, potentially damaging thing for the people of our country to be seeing. There are, however, organizations that are helping solve this issue in major ways, such as the NACCP. These groups are drawing the attention of the executives of major sitcoms. From personal hypothesis, and from research, we feel that if sitcoms do not begin producing more shows with different races, and representing different minorities in a more positive light, viewers coming from a different country or race may feel as if they are losing their own sense of background and heritage. We also feel that the negative stereotypes seen on television impact ALL races, as one race may feel they are no better than what they see on television and others may feel prejudiced because of what they see on television.
OUR OWN STUDY
Before beginning on any major research, we conducted a survey to see what people really thought about these issues. We figured that many people surveyed, mainly the ones who represented minorities, would answer our questions in a way that would help us determine what they thought about the way their own race was portrayed on sitcoms. We thought that many people would have negative responses. However, when we started surveying people by random sampling, we learned that many minorities felt that their own race was represented well in the media. This was surprising to hear, seeing as when we had done research online on the same topic, there were many complaints, and negative opinions coming from people about how the minority they belonged to, or even about how other minorities were very often misrepresented on sitcoms and commercials. Nevertheless, we kept pushing, and we did get some great feedback and opinions from people who didn't hold back.
Sitcom diversity in the 1980’s
Our group did extensive research into diversity in media from the time when television was just beginning to become popular, up until today. We discovered many interesting and somewhat astounding things about the way shows with different races and ethnicities were and are shown on television. The 1980's were an extremely diverse decade when it comes to television. "Ethnicity and Involvement in Violence on Television" written by Barrie Gunter of the University of Sheffield touches on this subject. "During the 1980's... the position of blacks on television improved both numerically, and in terms of role status, whereas a new underclass emerged comprising such ethnic groups as Hispanics and Orientals." The 1980's were one of the only decades to portray Asian, Hispanic, and African American characters in a major way. However, these portrayals often turned negative.
Sitcom casting According to a recent study conducted by "Children Now," the television hour and day today that is most watched (8-9pm Monday through Friday) is the least ethnically diverse. (5) Only one in eight shows features a mixed race cast. People often point out that they notice that most black sitcoms today are broadcast on newer channels such as the WB or the CW.(6) While most of the older channels such as CBS, NBC, and ABC are made up of mainly all white sitcoms, with an occasional guest appearance of a minority. However, there are more sitcoms with a cast of all African American, or African Americans and whites than there are sitcoms featuring main characters of a Latino, Hispanic, or Asian background. Although African Americans do appear more often in these shows, they are often only portrayed in a bad light or in an unequal way compared to the white majority. Blacks often play a character that is simply comic relief, rarely a serious role. They are also portrayed quite often as idiots; for example in "Amos n' Andy," which CBS refused to cancel after 78 episodes running from 1951 to 1953 despite large amounts of negative feedback, specifically from the black community.(6) Many critics felt that the show portrayed blacks in a moronic and derogatory manner. "The Nat King Cole Show" aired from 1956-1957 on NBC, and was canceled due to pressure from NBC that there weren't enough white viewers. There have been a majority of black shows which show the main female character playing a housekeeper, or some other form of domestic servitude. The first and arguably only black television drama that attracted audiences of all race was "Roots," airing for a brief miniseries that lasted from January 23 to January 30 in 1997.(6) If a show features a mostly black cast, or an all black cast with a few white characters, they were considered "black shows." Examples include; "A Different World," and "Frank's Place."
All black cast sitcoms We found out that the shows targeted towards an African American audience appear on Sunday nights on the CW television network. This lineup starts of with "Everybody Hates Chris," which features a younger inspired version of the well known comedian Chris Rock, played by Tyler James Williams. The show is about Chris Rock and his families experiences growing up in Brooklyn. Jokes about race relations most often occur when Chris is at school. He attends an all white school with students and teachers who pick on him because of his race, and where he is living. After "Everybody Hates Chris," the next show that comes on is "Aliens in America." As one of the only shows on television and the only show on the CW that features a main character of Pakistani descent, it was moved from Monday nights to Sundays along with many of the other shows aimed at different races. Because so many people watch television on weekdays from 8-9 pm, the fact that these shows have moved to Sunday nights is showing that producers don't care as much about these shows than the ones on primetime. In "Aliens in America," one of the main characters, Raja, occasionally finds himself in sticky situations as a result of his racial background. Shown after "Aliens in America," is "Girlfriends." The show follows 3 friends going through life's up and downs just like any other friends. The show recently got canceled, causing uproar in fans all over.(7) Many believe that the show is being canceled due to racism, following the example of other multi racial shows that were canceled without series finales such as "The Jeffersons," "My Wife and Kids," and "The George Lopez Show." Some even say that "Girlfriends" was one of the only shows about African American women that they could easily relate to. One woman interviewed on Blackamericaweb.com stated;“She was puzzled that ’Everybody Hates Chris,’ which she says was ‘successful and heavily promoted last year’ is coming on at 7 p.m. on Sunday this season – ‘not prime time.’‘It’s the same old game: Negro Night, ghettoizing shows. It’s as if they are being lumped together as an afterthought. Sunday night is a good TV night, but it’s bizarre they are all on the same night. It’s like they are just getting it over with. It’s strange.’”(10)
After "Girlfriends," "The Game" comes on, It is a spin off of "Girlfriends" The "New York Times" review of "The Game" goes into a couple of aspects of racism in the show. It states; "'The Game' is about black characters, but more important, it is about stardom. And stardom has an interesting effect on race; it removes an individual from the binary black-white trap..."(7) In summary, these shows all aimed mainly at audiences of races other than white, have been taken off of prime time and have all been moved from Monday nights to Sundays. Many have also been canceled suddenly, or not provided with a proper finale. It is up for debate whether or not these cancellations are due to race issues, or simply things such as the writers strike. Some argue however that maybe racism should not be suspected every time a black centered television show is canceled, seeing as many white based shows are canceled often, and sometimes without a series finale such as "Girlfriends."
INFLUENCE
Today, there are many racial stereotypes that are perpetuated and influenced by television sitcoms. Jessica L. Davis author of the article; "Racial Identity and Media Orientation; Exploring the Nature of Constraint," believes "racial identity may play an especially powerful role in shaping our responses to mass media." She explores the concepts behind racial diversity on television today and how television's representations of different races play an important role in helping us understand all of our social, cultural, and racial differences. If these things are not portrayed well, it leads to a separation of race in America, and could be slowly but surely, tearing us apart.(11)
POPULAR SITCOMS
White cast shows, most popular
Sitcoms featuring white characters and actors/actresses are by far the most popular among white American viewers. It was this way in the past, and is this way now. Some people feel as if we are moving in a positive direction and including people of more diverse ethnicities, while others feel as if recently, television has been getting less and less diverse. The top 10 highest rated sitcoms of all time all featured an all white or mostly white cast. This list includes shows such as; "I Love Lucy," "The Brady Bunch," and "Friends." One exception however, is "The Cosby Show."
The sitcom that brought change The “Cosby Show,” was the first successful sitcom with an all black cast. This show was the highest rated sitcom for the first five seasons it aired. The “Cosby Show,” was a big hit for all viewers and at the same time brought a whole new look to television sitcoms. Along with this sitcom being the first with an all black cast, it defied all racial and demographic boundaries of the black race. This meaning to say that “The Cosby Show” showed the public more of what a black family is like, without all the stereotypes surrounding their image, described in the article; “Cosby Show comedy had a serious impact,” by Renee Graham. Before the “The Cosby Show,” the only all black cast on television was “Good times.” This sitcom consisted of a family living in the ‘ghetto’ and struggling in their daily lives. “The Cosby Show,” was much different then “Good times.” “The Cosby Show,” had an all black family living in upper middle class and having the same lifestyle as the middle class white families on television. However, the Cosby’s still had their black roots and were proud to share them. “The Cosby Show” continued to have great reviews and Cliff, who was the father played by Bill Cosby, won father of the year award from TV guide. This greatly hit sitcom was not just watched by black families either, but of every race in the nation, making it one of America’s favorite past time shows. “The Cosby Show,” is also known as the sitcom that changed the faces seen on television. It also helped jump start other all black cast sitcoms with positive messages to share, such as “My wife and kids,” “Family matters,” and “The Bernie Mac Show.” (2)



THE VIEWERS
African Americans
An article titled; "Racial identity, media use, and the social conduction of risk among African Americans," by Oscar H. Gandy Jr. from the University of Pennsylvania, elaborates on the influence of television on the African American race. He states; "Evidence that African Americans prefer different television programs from those that whites enjoy has begun to accumulate at the same time that the multichannel media environment has expanded the number of options available." When there are so many options on television to watch, some racially diverse, some not so diverse, people tend to lean toward watching the shows that they feel they can relate to, or as Gandy says "television can even be assumed to provide a form of social interaction, which suggests that people who are favorably oriented toward people of their own race would tend to prefer content that is such an interaction, even if it is indirect." When non-white television viewers are forced to choose between shows featuring people of their racial background, and "white" shows, it is more comfortable on a social level to watch the shows that they feel they can relate to in terms of race and ethnic background. As described in the article, "Blacks more often achieved quality of status with whites in situation comedies, but in crime dramas, whites were usually more authoritative, dominant, and successful." It was mentioned though, that the representation of blacks a criminals had drastically decreased by that time.(12)
Hispanics Hispanics make up about 15% of America's population. You would think that as a result of these statistics, there would be more Hispanic American oriented shows. There have been very few shows featuring main characters of a Hispanic background. One of the most well known and critically acclaimed shows featuring an all Hispanic-American cast on television was "The George Lopez Show" which aired from March 2002 to May 2007. At the time ABC was being criticized by Hispanic American groups for not having any Latinos on their network. They decided to pick up the show, and it became a huge success. Aside from "The George Lopez Show," there have only been a rare few Hispanic oriented shows that have aired and gotten decent ratings; "Luis" was a Hispanic-American oriented show, that analyzed ethnic and racial stereotypes. It was canceled after only 4 episodes after being aired on Friday nights, which is a night when many people do not watch television. "Chico and the Man" was on from 1974-1978. Some critics complained that the show used too many ethnic slurs. One character; Ed, frequently used racial slurs towards Chico (played by Freddie Prinze) in effort to get him to leave him alone. However, the show was a success and ended when Freddie Prinze, the star of the show, tragically died. One of the most successful Hispanic-American shows of our time is "Ugly Betty." The show airs on ABC Thursday nights, and is one of the most popular television shows today. Because most of the characters on the show aside from Vanessa Williams are white, some worry that because the main character Betty is well, ugly, there is a message being sent that beauty and success is greatly associated with being white, and that because Betty is Latino, she could not achieve the same greatness that they supposedly have.(8) There are upsides of the sitcom, showing some positive aspects of being Hispanic, as well as "normal" scenarios that white characters often go through on television. Betty is also made out to be very intelligent and witty, in contrast to previous shows that portray minority characters to be dimwitted and slow. Some television critics are worried that white television is becoming dominant and that America should begin voicing their concern in order to help get more shows like "Ugly Betty" on the air. As found in an article titled; "Media Effects: advances in Theory and Research," there was an uproar in 1999 because of the lack of Hispanic programming on television. The National Council of LaRaza [NCLR] "responded with a 'brownout' during the week of September 12-19, 1999, encouraging Latino viewers to boycott the four major broadcast networks." Because of many similar protests from Hispanics, as well as other different racial minority groups, major network executives increased the amount of shows that depicted minority characters. There was found to be an increase of 11% diversity from 1999 to 2000. Although these numbers are still not great, these studies prove that there is a way to get the message across that people want more racial diversity in their television shows,
Asians Sitcoms featuring Asian American characters have always been extremely scarce. One of the reasons that Asians were not shown much on earlier television shows (aside from roles as "soldiers" or "submissive laborers,") was because of the general inference at the time that "Asians were a threat to Western civilization, and U.S. Economic stability."(4) The first sitcom centered around a person of Asian descent was "Mr. T and Tina" in 1976. It aired for 5 short episodes and was canceled suddenly by ABC producers. The next real Asian American sitcom came almost 20 years later. "All American Girl" starring Margaret Cho in 1998 was a semi-successful series but lasted only one season. It was canned because ABC executives’ constant changes to Cho's original material for the show in effort to boost ratings. Margaret Cho also stated that the producers told her that she was not acting "Asian enough," and they had to hire an Asian consultant. Eventually, all of the Asian characters besides Cho were let go, being replaced with mostly white actors. As a result of this, Margaret Cho was accused of acting "too Asian." Many Asian American women are cast in roles for shows such as "Ally McBeal," in which they generally only portray "'the peasant,' 'the prostitute/geisha,' or 'the dragon lady.'"cite! Some of the few shows that featured Asian Americans in a prominent and respectable manner were; "Star Trek," "Barney Miller," and "Quincy." Today, there are no sitcoms on television in America featuring an all or mostly Asian cast. However, there are a few shows ("Lost," "Heroes," "Grey's Anatomy,") that do feature an Asian American character as a big part of the show.
Natives Of all the American shows that under represent racial minority groups, Native Americans are the least shown race on American sitcoms. Typically if there are Native American characters, it is usually a western themed show, which were more popular in the early to mid 1900's. Some western sitcoms that welcomed Native American characters, but still did not put the main focus on them include; "Wanted Dead or Alive," "Rawhide," "Daniel Boon," "Wagon Train," and "The Virginian." "The Lone Ranger" was the first television show to feature a Native American actor. Jay Silverheels played Tonto, the sidekick of the main character in this western show. Tonto was typically just a cultural stereotype of a Native American. He always served the main character (the lone ranger,) and barely spoke proper English. The article; "Media Effects, Advances in Theory and Research," states that "Images of Native Americans are nearly non existent." From 1996 to 1997 there were no Native Americans on prime time television. The author also said; "The common TV characterizations of Native Americans identified by researchers include images as lazy, pensive simpletons who are tied to ancient mystical religions." As western television shows began to decrease in popularity Native Americans in television disappeared. After 1990's "Northern Exposure," a show representing Natives in a positive manner, there have been no major sitcoms featuring characters of Native American decent.(9) There is not a single American television sitcom on today that features an all Native or mostly Native cast. If this continues, people will continue to believe in some of the common stereotypes associated with Native Americans. This then causes many people to become ignorant to what the Native American culture is like in actuality.After our group realized how much of an impact this issue of racial diversity in sitcoms was to the public, we wanted to know if anyone out there was actively trying to stop it all. We found our answer from J. Zamgba Browne, of New York Amsterdam News. Browne described a group of individuals trying to expand on the racial diversity media was the NAACP, also known as the National Association for the advancement of Colored People. The NAACP is one of the oldest and most influential organizations when it comes to issues with the rights of minorities. This organization was founded in the early 1900's and has continued to grow in number and strength in the past century.
ORGANIZATIONS
The NAACP and other civil rights groups got together and decided to address this issue more thoroughly and deeply and be able to start creating the change they had all been dreaming of. Kweisi Mfume is the president of NAACP and thought it would be better if all the civil rights groups came together as a whole just as they planned because their voices would be better heard. We feel that this idea of coming together to address the issue of racial diversity in the media a strong strategy to being heard and believe Mfume has the right idea. Apparently many of these civil rights groups have tried and are currently talking to high executives in the television world. However none of these executives are taking serious time to change this issue that is obviously large and alive in the sitcoms on television today. As stated in the article Coalition formed to end ethnic and racial bias on TV, "Sonny Skyhawk, executive director of American Indians in Film and Television, said that the American Indian is uniquely aware, by past experience, of the rhetoric and broken promises which the four major networks have now taken to a new level. 'We will accept nothing less than full inclusion and genuine opportunity for positions both in front of and behind the camera,' he added." We found this shocking, how could any major producer claim they will fix the problem and never do? One major event that the NAACP put on to show the executives the major issue at hand was in July when this organization threatened all sitcom producers they would take legal action if more diversity was not put into there sitcoms. Around this time major producers such as ABC and NBC were about to broadcast brand new shows that featured a mostly white cast. The NAACP decided to fight back at these producers by boycotting there brand new shows being broadcast. No one in this organization watched the new shows and told others not to watch them as well. We find this strategy a great way to get a point across. Due to the large number of members in the NAACP the word was spread quicker and the number of people boycotting the new shows really did make an impact on the ratings of those new shows. You would imagine that most sitcom executives would see all these minorities boycotting and take a hint that something is severely wrong in what is being displayed in the sitcoms they are creating. (1) Fighting back
We asked the same questions over and over again. Do these executives realize they are being prejudiced in their sitcoms? Do these major producers purposely cast only white colored individuals? We found our answers in the article, "What's Missing from this Picture?"(2) "'Back in May, before the NAACP issued its statement, we recognized that our network was not as diverse as it should be," says Stu Bloomberg, co-chairman of ABC Entertainment Television Group. "This is a large societal issue, and clearly we have an obligation to reflect society as it exists....'" This co-chairman understood that the sitcoms created on his channel (ABC) did not accurately reflect at all what diversity is truly like in America today. However, our group believes that due to white people being the dominant culture here in America people feel they have to conform more to them and their standards. This then results in the media seeing that people are conforming and find that it is "normal" to put white people on television because it seems that is what people are aspiring to. So in a sense our group doesn't believe all executives are prejudice and are out to promote only the white culture, however executives are just trying to give the public what they want and enjoy.
FUTURE OF SITCOMS
Overall, this issue of misrepresentation of different races in television sitcoms is still an issue being faced today. However it isn’t as bad as it was in the first few years of television. There has been vast improvement since the first sitcoms were aired. Due to the NAACP and other organizations fighting for civil rights, there has been a great deal of work and progress made on this issue; making sure the public sees what is truly the issue at hand. These organizations are also helping television sitcoms become more diverse so that the public can see the reality of the diversity of those around us in our day to day lives. Throughout our groups’ research we discovered and were educated on how little many racial groups are correctly represented on television sitcoms today. The Whites, Blacks, Natives, Hispanics, and Asians have not been treated equally when it comes to television sitcoms and who is cast. Some are represented more then others and some races are even misrepresented. One sitcom that really created an impact on this issue of diversity on television was “The Cosby Show,” which shed a whole new light on black stereotypes and who stared in television sitcoms. Some of these non diverse sitcoms have changed individuals who have felt they had to conform to the dominant culture in the sitcoms shown. There is still much work and progress to be made on this issue of racial diversity in television sitcoms but many steps have been taken into this change already. Many voices have been heard while others are completely ignored. Yet each step is leading us to a more diverse and cultural entertainment system, known as television sitcoms.