Media Changing

According to class it is not so much numbers that may put a minority into the background of media, rather it is the pure issue of power.  Minority groups in the media are inferred to be gender, race, age, disability, religion, and sexuality.  With the ever-growing diversity of America, terms have been developed to understand the changes.  The first term created to define the culture and diversity of America was “the melting pot”.  This reflected the people who traveled to America for a home and the act of melting or assimilating their own cultures’ values, beliefs, traditions, and norms to be ideal for an American.  These people strived to lose their cultural identity in order to achieve the American lifestyle and acceptance of others.  As time moved on a new term for the diversity of America came about in part because of the 1960's Civil Rights movement.  The melting pot became the salad bowl meaning each culture has their beliefs, values, traditions, and norms that should be accepted, embraced, and practiced in a diverse America.  This is easily said but not always done especially in the media; a money making machine. 

One minority portrayed in the media is women.  Women in the past and currently are presented as the typical gender portrayal of a cooking, cleaning, well kept mother as well as wife.  A few examples of this would be shows such as; Father Knows Best, All in the Family, Family Days, The Wonder Years, The Brady Bunch, Everybody Loves Raymond, That 70's Show, and Brothers and Sisters.  As the typical gender portrayal of women is more prominent some others series displayed women in other lights such as; single, working, divorced, and independant.  Some of these shows are; The Partridge Family, Three's Company, Charlie's Angels, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Sex and the City, Friends, and Dexter.  More than in the past women are portrayed as single moms, or just single independant successful women. For example in Dexter the character Deb is a female cop who is single and independent yet weak because she seeks love and acceptance.  In sex and the City the women are successful, single, and flirty.  The women play dominant women in sexual contexts yet they contiue to question their liefstyle without love, marriage, and children.  Although the lifestyles of the depicted women in T.V. changes one thing is always prominent with the relation of women: The want to be in love.  Women are always searching, desiring love unlike men.  This portrayal in my opinion displays women as less powerful and weak therefore a minority.

Furthermore a minority may be vast in population yet the media may still choose not to display this because in the end money influences the media.  I feel that ideologies in society are created as well as reinforced through depictions of the media.  For example a second minority displayed through the media is homosexual couples.  As media changes programs are displaying not only heterosexual couples but also homosexual couples as well.  I feel the media and ideologies are occurring hand in hand.  Society is becoming more accepting of homosexual couples therefore the media is presenting the images more often.  Gay couples still do not have the same rights as heterosexual couples creating less power towards homosexuality and therefore less portrayed in the media. Also the ideaologies reflects the power struggle of the minority to fight stereoypes reinforced by the media.  Most of the couples are displayed as caricatures, or as playing heterosexual roles in a homosexual relationship.  The flamboyant gay man who is fashion and design savvy, loves diva singers, and knows anyone who is someone are ideologies or stereotypes in my opinion created by the media.  An example of these would be from the television series Sex and the City with Stanford who is Carries gay best friend. Modern Family displays the charcteristics of a homosexual couple displaying stereotypical heterosexual roles. The media chooses what aspects of a minority are scene or on the other hand, seen at all.  

In addition to the media changing in context of minority depictions, African American portrayals have improved but still have much more change to go. In the past African Americans were shown through a black mask on white actors.  This was referenced as the black face and usually utilized through vod-a-vil movies or acts by comedians through music and dance performances. In the past African Americans were presented as ignorant, lazy, musically inclined, and purely for entertainment purposes in an extremely condescending light. After the Civil Rights movement the minority began being portrayed in another light but still not true to all realms of reality.  For example The Adams Family, a television series of the sixties has a butler who is African American.  Once again the srtuggle of minority and power is examplified in the media. 

 More recently a performance show in Australia presented an act with the blackface acts being brought back into the light.  After the performance an American guest judge expressed his opinion in claiming that in the United States the performance would not have been aired.  The judge was disgusted with the performance and was not afraid to express this opinion.  In the past, some may have accepted the blackface, but in todays media this portrayal does not receive positive recognition.  All in the Family was another television series were derogatory terms towards minorities was accepted.  As the media changed All in the Family displayed an episode of Archie Bunker shocked to find his doctor is an African American.  In this episode the Black American doctor confronts Archie by mocking the stereotypes of his minority leaving Archie with nothing to say.  This episode reveals media changing although Archie Bunker is not at all a role model for diversity acceptance in society.  As time passed on actors as well as actresses such as Denzel Washington, Bill Cosby, Halle Berry, Will Smith, Whoopi Goldberg, Queen Latifah, Morgan Freeman and Samuel Jackson have made way in the changing media growth of their minority.  Furthermore the minority has a channel entitled Black Entertainment Television as well as sitcomes.  The Cosby Show gained attention by viewers because the show portrayed an affluent African American family living in Brooklyn New York.  This show revealed realities of the minority outside of the typical stereotypes traditional media creates.  In fact according to ABC, the Cosby Show was one of their highest rated show in the 1980's and ran for eight consecutive seasons with syndications still on air today.  In the late 80's and early 90's two more African American sitcomes hit big with viewers.  Family Matters and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air are each examples of how media changed for this minority.  As for today African American are displayed in the media more than other minorities yet still have a battle to   gain the respect and true to life portrayed images they deserve. 

Examples:

Blackface

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ns0jmBaecU

Australian Entertainment Show

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh90w-hbqhI


All in the Family
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW31qCkb-DE

Sex and the City

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTOEp7WQm40

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyuCwCN78lA&feature=related

Modern Family

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI7cjw5JPpg&feature=autoplay&list=SL&index=8&playnext=14

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4wg1Dwsz2k&feature=BF&list=SL&index=35

The Cosby Show
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFY0HBkUm8o