Week 5: Cultural Analysis

For this post I chose to focus on women, homosexuals, and african americans in the media and how they are represented and affected by stereotypes.

Women in the media:

Women are all over the media these days. From magazines, to films, to the Miss America pageant that’s just around the corner, women are strutting their stuff right into the main stream. However, are women really being represented the way they should be? We see the gorgeous faces, the rockin’ bods, and increasingly in television and film, the move of women from modern housewife to crime fighting super heroes. One could say that women in the media have made a substantial leap from the 90’s stay at home mom image to the new independent woman image. However, women are still being positioned as theses sexual; objects in the media. We see the trends in fitness magazines, Sports Illustrated, Maxim, and even television shows like CSI and Burn Notice. Women are put on this pedestal, where men idolize their bodies and spunk rather than their brain and brawn.

Not only are women still objects of sex in the media, they are also still succumbed by stereotypes. Even the most independent woman is still seeking a man, suggesting that a woman’s life is incomplete without companionship. A great example is Liz Lemon in 30 Rock. Liz is a hardworking, 40-something, woman who has her own hit show on NBC, but at the end of the day she is still searching for a man who has a passion for sandwiches and a desolate sex life.  Another stereotype that exists for women in the media is the strive for the perfect body. My favorite example of this is Elliot in Scrubs. There is an episode where Elliot takes in a patient suffering from AIDS but Dr. Reid mistakenly thinks she is suffering from anorexia. The episode revolves around body image and Elliot realizes she is also underweight. We also see this in magazines where women are Photoshopped to look super thin. A final stereotype that is becoming more prevalent in the media today revolving around women is their roles as business people. Women are finding themselves in more independent roles in film now rather than those of a housewife or gossip (like the ever traditional 7^th Heaven or the gossipy Sex in the City).  Now women head the top strong characters like the gun-slinging Fiona in Burn Notice or Dr. Watson in the American version of Sherlock.

Women are pretty prevalent in the media. It’s odd how far we’ve actually come if you think back to Shakespeare’s plays that only allowed men to participate and then to a time when women were thought of as servants of men and not of equals to now being lead characters in films and television and being portrayed as more independent. It nice to have female role models in the media, like Tina Fey, Sarah Chalke, and Gabrielle Anwar, and there are plenty of others that deserve to make the list of influential role modes. As media changes, I think we will see the role of women change as well.

Homosexuals in the media:

Homosexuality is a strong topic running news headlines. The debate of equality, freedom of marriage, and DOMA are taking over the news outlets, but how are homosexual men and women being portrayed in fictional media such as film and television? I believe it is safe to say that homosexual men and women are under-represented. It’s still almost taboo to speak about (which I find odd). I say that they are under represented because there are hardly any fictional homosexual characters that get the attention that straight characters receive. However, I say this lightly because there are some shows that are proving me wrong and I’m quite happy about it.

As newcomers to the mainstream scene, homosexuals in the media are stereotyped to no end. Gay men are always very feminine. In Modern Family both men are portrayed as feminine and flamboyant, when in a lot of homosexual couples this not the case.  In Will and Grace, their friend Jack is the epitome of homosexual stereotype in all of his flamboyant glory ( I love Jack by the way). I don’t necessarily feel that these stereotypes are negative, I think that a free spirit is wonderful, I just think lumping all homosexual men together as very feminine isn’t very fair. Another stereotype is adoption. In every sitcom involving gay couples their main strive is to adopt a child.  I can see why this is important material. For every straight couple that has a baby in a sitcom there is a homosexual couple looking to adopt a baby in a sitcom. It’s a writer’s way of balancing the baby fever. Another stereotype that homosexuals in the media face is acceptance. In every case we have the character that doesn’t agree with homosexuality and the character that tries to change their mind. In Chuck and Larry for instance, the men (Adam Sandler and Kevin James) are met with hostility from the fire department, however they overcome their differences after a reassuring intervention and change the minds of the entire department.

I do feel that homosexuals are under-represented in the media, however shows like Will and Grace, Modern Family, Family Guy, and films like I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry are proving to become more prevalent in the media. The LGBT community is breaking through into film and television with pretty positive stereotypes (being loving parents, standing up for what’s right, and being liberalists) while negating the negative (oppression, intolerance).

African Americans in the Media:

I feel as though when discussing African Americans in the media, you have to tread lightly due to the misrepresentation that the media feeds off of. African Americans are usually portrayed with heavy stereotypes rather than in actuality, as is the case with Hispanics. While the group is represented in the media frequently, I don’t feel as though it is done so without stereotyping.

Stereotypes that surround African Americans in the media include them being synonymous with drug dealers and other “bad guys,” them escaping some form of hardship (gang life or home life) and their struggle to overcome some form of oppression. While not all of the stereotypes are negative they do have negative connotation. When you turn on the television and you watch a show that is say based in Miami, like Burn Notice, 8 out of 10 “bad guys” are black, Hispanic, or some other foreign race. The drug dealers, the car thieves, and the gangsters are typically kids who grew up in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong skin color. If the person is not involved as a bad guy, then the story is about said person escaping hardship. Like in The Blind Side with Sandra Bullock, she takes in an African American boy that is homeless and she shows him unconditional love and he goes on to play football and be successful. We also see this in films like Freedom Writers. Where there is escape there is the oppression to escape from. In more humorous films like Undercover Brother and Friday, African American men over come the hardship of their home and family life to lead lives that are successful. Humor tends o be at the forefront of more oppressive situations for comedic release of high tensioned issues.

African Americans are very prevalent in the media, however like I said mostly misrepresented. If they are represented as intellectual or against the stereotypes we see this odd phenomena happen where the character is joked at about being “white” or not apart of the culture. The most obvious example of this is in 30 Rock when Toofer doesn’t fit the racial stereotype of a black man. Tracy Morgan’s character laughs at him and the rest of the writer crew make fun of his Harvard education.  It’s very odd to me.

Shows and films that represent the African American group include:

Friday, Undercover Brother, Freedom Writers, Burn Notice, Tyler Perry’s films, and many others.