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Stereotype is a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a person or thing. Stereotype is also any thought that is widely adopted about specific types of individuals or behaviors. These thoughts or beliefs may or may not accurately reflect reality. Even though it’s not often times true, it is targeting black Americans immensely because these persons are of African descent or called black Americans. There are various stereotypes such as men being regarded as stereotypical brute criminals, and black women in movies viewed as sex symbols. The root cause behind these stereotypes is racism, and this will not change until racism is abolished. Roxanne Gay confirmed this in one of her reading materials, ‘The Oscars and Hollywood’s Race Problem’: “Hollywood has always had a race problem, the movie industry continues to ignore audiences of color, to its own detriment”. There are various stereotypes about African Americans. In this essay, I’m going to look at how it is influenced by television media.
Stereotypes can be seen in popular TV shows such as ‘Love & Hip Hop’. The popularity of reality TV shows subconsciously supports the prejudiced or self-fulfilling prophecy consumers may have toward African Americans. Reality TV has been guilty of this as they have had an extensive run demeaning African Americans while disseminating stereotypes. This TV show, ‘Love & Hip-Hop: Atlanta’ has drawn millions in amazement weekly. To be more specific, black men are portrayed as stereotypical brute individuals on the reality TV show ‘Love & Hip-Hop: Atlanta’. The brute stereotype portrays black males as dangerous criminals. The media keeps describing this false image that all black males are violent and dangerous criminals, and nowadays there are even video games supporting this showing black males going around killing and robbing people. This stereotype has a major impact on how black men view themselves and, more importantly, how the rest of society views and treats them.
There are also popular culture songs for European American audiences that created and spread negative stereotypes of African Americans. One of the key symbols was the use of ‘blackface’, other stereotypes include the fat, dark-skinned ‘mammy’. This is however geared towards uncovering the complicated reasoning and attitudinal processes that fundaments stereotyping. While some people frankly embody the traits of their stereotypes, they are not necessarily representative of everyone. Stereotypes are not always accurate, and even if positively demonstrated, they can still be harmful. Negative stereotypes unfurled by the media can hinder one’s ability to relate to others.
Take for example Vh1’s ‘Love & Hip-Hop’. So spectacular and has bridged eight years since its initial track in 2011. They often find themselves in dramatic situations regarding their relationships and gender roles. This is often due to infidelity, lack of respect, and unwillingness to commit, just to name a few of the things that both males and females handle inappropriately. The negative stigma of relationships and adulthood is a staple in the TV show, enticing the audience of young men and women. Now shows like ‘Love & Hip-Hop’ thrive because the men are often expressed as incompetent and selfish whereas the females are painted to be confrontational and oversexualized. These depictions express a negative culture towards gender roles and the relationship that comes with them for the purpose of entertainment. The male actors actually set the tone of the series, while the women bring the drama to life.
Primarily the men in the series are foolish and self-centered regarding their relationships. Often the male characters have relationship issues that are the result of cheating or past infidelities, which causes a lack of trust in their female partners. Take, for example, Stevie J, one of the main characters of the original ‘Love & Hip-Hop’, who has a history of infidelity. In the TV show, Stevie J has a child with Mimi, an ex, who was constantly arguing with his new girlfriend Joseline, who is a former stripper and currently living with him. Stevie knew that the women in his life were always in conflict, but never tried to resolve the situation. Instead, he outlines to Josephine that she needs to respect the mother of his child, and to Mimi that she needs to respect Josephine as his current fiancé. He was also dismissive at times even to the point of ignoring both women’s issues. For example, Mimi in one instance asked Stevie if he was going to marry in her words “that hoe” and his response was “it is, what it is”. This showed there was no attempt to defend his current fiancé from his ex. These are just some of the actions that show a selfish man who doesn’t depict a clear understanding of how to respect women. In his interactions with them both he often yells or raises his voice. Now, this show creates an image he is a man who only has his eyes on working and making money to be a provider. His actions portray less intention to be a better man for his family, but rather further his own goals. This level of selfishness and incompetence is the backbone of the series, which helps fuel the conflict that gives the females their opportunity to shine.
It is also quite evident that ‘Love & Hip-Hop’ adorns the entertainment industry lifestyle with women being highly regarded as sex symbols which creates an attraction for chaos. This is seen amongst the females in ‘Love & Hip-Hop’. Sexuality and confrontation are two themes that are rampant in the majority of the women who participate in the show. Physical fighting, throwing drinks, and derogatory names are expected from most episodes because the women are painted as confrontational and irrational. They are often disrespectful, arrogant, and naïve. In some cases, they are made to look like burdens to their male counterparts rather than equals in the relationship or workplace. The reality is that these TV shows give fans something to talk about every week, despite the lengths to entertain regardless of devaluing females in the process.
The driving force behind one of VH1’s most popular franchises is chaos and conflict, and at the center of it, all are the cultural images of the extreme negativities of gender roles. ‘Love and Hip-Hop’ and its various series have a weekly audience in American homes. The TV show provides unrealistic expectations of modern-day relationships and is also insulting to the stars of the show in the process.
It is evident that stereotypes of African American males as a criminal element in society continue to be a major obstacle to greater racial harmony and the elimination of discrimination and racism on all levels in the United States. Now if we look closely, this criminal stereotype is internalized by African American youths. These youths are made to feel as though delinquent behavior is expected from them, and many fall into this trap. There’s been a struggle to surmount stereotypes as much of the blame for their perpetuation comes from US mass media’s negative depictions of African Americans, by examining the origins of criminal stereotype, how it has been used historically and how it is presented. The African American male criminal stereotype continues to justify concealed and unconcealed racism in contemporary US societies. This is often demonstrated from television to cinema, from music to news coverage. Mass media clearly shows African American males running from the law, they’ve committed crimes, victimized women, and engaged in illegal behaviors. With all this being said. The concept could be considered that there is an underlying weakness in African American families that can be traced back to their experiences as slaves. Both the news media and entertainment outlets must discontinue their practice of equating young African males with aggressiveness, lawlessness, and violence if racism is ever to be truly abolished in the United States.
Television does affect the way viewers think about African Americans in general. Television viewers perceived the occupational roles and personality characteristics that are portrayed on television as real and true to life. Now the media is arguing that for years they’ve been criticized for their representations of African Americans on television. This however has been proven. Literature suggests that although the quantity of African American images on television has increased, the quality of the images has not. There are also strong suggestions that the mass media is an important source of information about African Americans and media portrayals, which is a strong contribution to public perceptions. Davis & Gandy (1999), Gray (1989), Metabane (1988) and the list continues; these persons have argued that black images on television may cause viewers to conceive, alter or even reinforce their beliefs and opinions about blacks.
Stereotypes are mostly bad, they make people judge and fear what they don’t understand. They condition one’s mind not allowing them to think freely on their own. Innocent people are given a hard time because they must see the stereotype of their people being displayed. It affects the ability of people to get a job and also and also their relationships.
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