it’s way onto television. There are two key factors that the general public would have to have to make a television show like “Mantan” possible and the first of these two is ignorance; ignorance to the history and struggle of African Americans in American society throughout time and ignorance to how serious the issue of racism is and continues to be.
When people are not educated on the devastating struggles in which African Americans faced throughout history, they will not be able to fully understand how hurtful and serious racism is. They may instead be ignorant enough to believe that racism is no longer an issue of today and can be made light of without offending
others. The second key to a television show similar to “Mantan” becoming popular in today’s society would be: people’s need to fit in with a group and not stand up for what they believe in. As seen in the movie Bamboozled, all people want in today’s society is to be part of a group and go along with what the majority is doing. In the movie, when the studio audience is first introduced to the television show “Mantan”, it was obvious to them that what they were watching was wrong. They knew it was racist and they desperately searched the faces of others so they could mimic their response to the television show. Once they noticed people laughing and clapping at the racist actions on stage, they saw it as a signal that they should laugh and clap along also. The power of the “want to fit in and do what everyone else is doing”, is so incredibly strong in today’s society, that a show as racist and discriminatory as “Mantan” would have a chance of surviving if people saw that others were enjoying it.