Mary Beltran’s criteria for meaningful diversity, which by no means is all inclusive or overarching, is a very interesting and entertaining scholarly foray into media studies with a focus on equitable diversity and representation in media. Beltran’s criteria are as follows: “are the characters of color fully realized individuals, do the writers and producers appear knowledgeable about and interested in the worlds and perspectives of the non-white characters, does the diversity of the cast appear natural, and finally, do the series or film producers exploit the natural diversity of a story’s setting or subject matter?” I intend to apply each facet of Beltran’s criteria to Baz Luhrmann’s Netflix original “The Get Down,” to show that the show…
According to Jennifer Armstrong, author of “Diversity: Why is Tv so White,” roles of minorities in primetime television shows are secondary to non-existent. According to Vadin Rizov, author of “new study puts numbers into the lack of minority representation in film,” the 100 top grossing films of 2012 over 70% of the characters are white and the other percentage is the minority. Out of 100 out the best films in america during 2012, 70% of the people in the film were white. Minorities having secondary to non-existent roles in tv shows showcase exactly how much the minorities are thought about which is not much. Television shows and films shouldn’t be so racially specific when choosing role for a…
Firstly, Hollywood do have responsibility to avoid stereotyping ethnicity characters because it creates inequality. Although Hollywood produce great movies and have great actors let not forget that not always Hollywood gives equal opportunity to other ethnicity. For example in the YouTube video “Yellow Faces”, it is more than clear that Hollywood are not equal to different ethnicity. Avatar casting in Hollywood was producing Air bender casting it stated, “Caucasian or any other ethnicity” which it is clearly they are looking for whites not another ethnicity. If the Avatar script is written by Asians why Hollywood do not give an opportunity to Asians. It is not right to have all the actors white they should at least give the ethnicity a chance…
This documentary is about eight women that share their experiences of what they have faced in their careers. It opens by one of the actresses saying that this industry is male dominated, and all opportunities are given priority to males then females. Another actress discusses in the documentary that the pay is lower for females and higher for males. In certain cases, females have to live off that allowance until they get a new cast. Other females take even lower pay just to have that role in the “show or movie.” Further, another actress discuss that they have faced discrimination in certain point of their careers for instance; in order to participate in a new cast, they have to be a certain ethnicity, age, height, weight, and physical appearance. Also some of the older actresses mentions that the older an actress get the less and less job opportunities they have for job openings.…
Eschholz, S., Bufkin, J., and J.Long (2002) “Symbolic Reality Bites: Women and Racial/Ethnic Minorities in Modern Film” in Sociological Spectrum, Vol 22 (3): Pp 299-334.…
Movies like Avengers are typically directed by men. Female directors are only known to direct movies only if there is a lead female protagonist. There are some films with lead female protagonist such as Hunger Games, Divergent, Kill Bill, Dirty Dancing, and Pretty Woman. Just to name a few, nevertheless these films fall into the same genre. There is a particular film that was not directed by a woman, and that is Cat Woman, which is a superhero movie. Woman’s impact through film mostly occurs through independent films and or documentaries. Regardless, it takes a huge amount of self confidence to deliver a superhero movie with exhausting work behind it. Aside from this being a reason why a females resume will never make it on the desk of a producer, it is also a reason why women will rarely direct a superhero movie. A fear that we cannot deliver besides emotion, and drama, whereas more action and less love. I like to think of us as a missing factor in superhero films, yet alone in Hollywood. To say that we can bring any such movie to life better than a man could, is a battle cry. However, as a child boys would read comics like Batman, Avengers, or Superman, and they carry that childhood with them. How they read it, how they envisioned it, is Hollywoods answer when asking if a female should direct a superhero film. Stick to what you…
Disregarding the mass produced opinions, most media frequently portrays an image of white male supremacy, or in other words degrade and misrepresent people of color (POC) and those who simply are not male. A study in gender and racial makeup in major motion pictures through NPR tells the truth, showing that only 25% of the major leads in the top 100 films in 2015 were female. After this they move on to race, revealing an even greater surprise, “Ethnic minorities, who make up nearly 40% of the U.S population, received only 17 percent of the lead roles in theatrical films” (NPR staff). Women, who make up slightly over 50% of the US’s population should not be being represented half that amount, same goes for POC. Both these statistics disregard the manner in which they are portrayed-a whole other discussion all together. Perhaps if the greatest outlet available to all Americans was accurate this would prove Thomas Paine’s point, unfortunately it is the exact opposite. While equality within movies or television shows might not seem a fair measurement for how well the U.S handles its mass diversity, it most definitely is. Media sources, such as news stations, social networking sites, and more, take opinions and mold them like clay, creating charming and…
Hollywood is amongst the top in power of the media empire in the United States, the productions that come out, become believed representations of the audiences that watch them, bringing down many that are shown in those productions. With audiences that are more than majority a darker color, than what are represented in Hollywood films, it brings to attention just how much of a problem it comes be. Minorities should be just part of the Hollywood creation, holding a social responsibility to derail from creating unrealistic stereotypes of ethnic characters that pigeonhole them, due to reasons of not having enough diversity in films and TV shows, create unwelcome clichés, and whitewashing over others cultures.…
Whom do I most relate to in Crash? The question has the same prejudice as the movie. The movie implies that everyone is racist (or at least have some stereotypical pictures of other cultures), which creates problems in dealing with those from these other cultures. Therefore, since if everyone is racist, I must also be racist and be able to identify with one of the characters. Crash kills diversity since without diversity, there would be nothing to be prejudiced against. It’s hard for me to pick a character with whom I relate. I understand Tommy in his disgust with his police partner and his unwillingness or inability to confront his partner’s racist behavior. However, Tommy enters a different world than I when he overreacts to the comments of the black hitchhiker.…
A recent example of this diversity can be cultivated from this year’s Primetime Emmy Awards, where Viola Davis became the first African American to win “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series” for the television series How to Get Away with Murder. However, the diversity of the entertainment industry is not as subjective as a critic’s opinion. This year will also serve as a surrogate for diversity with the deliverance of what is predicted to be the largest box office earner of all time: Star Wars Episode VII. When the force awakens on December 18th, it will bring with it a cast that ranges from black actor John Boyega, English actress Daisy Ridley, to Guatemalan actor Oscar Isaacs. Furthermore, the supporting cast features Kenyan-raised actress Lupita Nyong’o, following an Academy Award win for her role in 12 Years a Slave. Such diversity promenaded on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is a prodigious testament to the erosion of racial discrimination in our society.…
Stereotyping females creates a domino effect that leads to maintaining gender inequality. The film industry's long standing portrayals of female stereotypes have socially normalized these ideas. Normalizing females stereotypes pose an issue for women because it implies inferiority in the community. Socially accepted ideas seem to be normal and become strange to contradict. Thus, causing the continuation of gender inequality. Gwyn Kirk and Margo Okazawa-Rey's book, "Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives" explains why circumstances that cause inequality are effective. "Maintaining systems of inequality requires ongoing objectification and dehumanization of subordinate peoples. Appropriating their identities is a particularly effective method of doing this, for it defines who the subordinated group/ person is or ought to be" (Kirk & Okazawa-Rey, 2013, p. 106). The passage explains that a method that maintain inequality need to portray the oppressed as either objects and less than human because it effectively labels the oppressed. The film industry's use of stereotypes for storytelling has become a method of inequality that labels females as inferior. As the film industry continues to use female stereotypes the more normal the idea of female inferiority in the social community will become. Ultimately continuing gender…
Equal wages isn't the only problem in hollywood, in films women are barely represented. Reese Witherspoon brought this up at the American Cinematheque Awards she says “Women make up 50% of the population, and we should be playing 50% of the roles on the screen.”…
Age inequality and gender inequality are linked together in the film industry. The woman on screen tends to be younger than the man. Men over 40 accounted for 53% of characters…
All in all, everyone knows that media and tech industries need to diversify. People of color have so much to offer local TV news, local print newsrooms, advertising and public relations workforce. African Americans and Latino have the intelligence, creativity, and assertiveness to positions as the television and film executive management and to hold positions at Google, Facebook and Twitter. We offer so much to the world and instead of our ideas being taken or going unnoticed, we should be hired to execute all of our wonderful ideas ourselves. Representation…
Although Black women are finally being recognized as lead characters in primetime television shows and movies their representations are not met without stereotypes. "Societal stereotypes about a wide…