Stereotypes In Media

More than three hours and four episodes later I asked myself a compelling question. Would the world be a better place if media didn’t exist? Would there be no beauty standards, no prejudice of how people are different races are thought out to be? That is a difficult question to answer seeing how influential media is in many people’s lives. One might think that because of the all of the improvements society is making within its people, the stereotypes that are reflected in the media might be challenged now more than ever. However, that is not the case media still helps promote old and new stereotypes. It is quite obvious that the media is still a big influence on how ethnic groups, genders, and social classes are portrayed.
In the show
Sure each person in the show was going through hard times, but why was it only those who were black that had it more difficult? The television programs help reinforce the racial and ethnic stereotypes because it still portrays the people from the show as the stereotypes labeled for their race. For instance, on 90210 Dixon the only black lead actor was adopted by white adults, and it turns out that his biological mother was battling a mental disorder leading Dixon to be taken into foster homes. The controlling images, which are “raced, gendered, and classed, depictions in the media that shape people’s ideas of what African Americans are and are not,” are often described that black people are troubled, criminal, thugs, drug addicts, athletic, and angry (Pg. 115). I was so intrigued by my observations that I kept watching more episodes, and as I watched I noticed that the show actually made Dixon out to be a few of the traits described. In the beginning of the series, he tries out for a sport and he is very good at it but a few of his teammates, which are white, become threaten with his athleticism. Moreover, in further episodes Dixon struggles with a drug addiction problem something that no other male struggled with. Next, Vanessa was the only leading black women in the show. Although she was intelligent, she had a very rocky relationship with her parents because they didn’t think
The event was that a successful businessman from Chicago was arrested and taken to jail for accidentally killing someone, but Serena the rich white girl was made seem to be the victim of helping a man overdose. In addition, Chuck, another rich white person, killed his father and got away with it. This comes to show that there is people who have it easier than other races whether they know it or