Humor Me

While there are many African Americans who are upset at the racial stereotypes in the media, there are others who find laughter in it. James Davis is a comedian, writer, and actor who has taken the negative stereotypes in the African American race and made them into a comedy. Crossroads High School was the beginning of his non-stop comedy .The school was a predominantly white, upper-class private high school. Being a financially aided black student, Davis would create humor for himself in order to find an atmosphere that was comfortable for him. He saw the way his classmates had looked at him, and instead of being hurt, he made jokes. He has performed his comedy for BET, MTV, and “Russell Simmons Presents” on Comedy Central. He also creates videos, which include commercial spoofs that target racial stereotypes people make.

In the Brinks spoof commercial, it shows a young African American male trying to return a wallet that has been dropped by the white female. Already, there is irony because a stereotypical African American would not have tried to return the wallet, but instead take it. As the woman scurries into her house screaming, the black man starts to run after her trying to return the wallet. As the woman is on the phone, she makes another stereotype about the African American by saying that he is trying to break in and rape her. When the police came and took care of the situation, it shows the woman is now relaxed and ironically has turned on the TV show “Friends”. The humor that comes into play is that this is how racist people feel about African Americans. They think that all black people are criminals and thugs. When the woman screams, “I don’t speak Ebonics” it shows that stereotypically black people speak another language. Davis’s way of portraying stereotypes has brought much laughter to many people. His comedy pieces and videos have continued to bring smiles to all.


"James Davis." Comedy Central Stand-Up. Comedy Central, 2012. Web. 17 Feb. 2012.
      <http://comedians.jokes.com/james-davis/bio>.


Un-aired Racist Brinks Commercial. Dir. Martin Usher. Perf. James Davis and Vita Lusty.
     YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 13 June 2011. Web. 17 Feb. 2012.
     <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hJ0lvQSgPw>.

Overreacting

There is much controversy over commercials and advertisements of how some of them may portray racial stereotypes. Recently, DirecTV had made a decision to take down its commercial from its YouTube channel due to the supposedly “stereotypes” that were in it. You might have seen the ad, where there is a boxer explaining all the benefits of subscribing to DirecTV while his entourage chimes in, reassuring him that he is correct. If you have not seen it here it is:   

     The commercial was pulled off of Direct TV’s channel because of the reactions viewers had. Even though there were a few viewers that understand that this commercial is nothing more than a comedy piece, many believed there was a reinforcing racial and violent vibe coming from the advertiser.
     Due to society today there is no argument that this type of accusation has grown a bit touchy to the public. However there is a limit of being too sensitive with the subject, especially if there is nothing to be concerned about. If just one person out of a million is able to see a stereotype in an ad or any other form of mass media, then it’s there. If it wasn’t, no one would be able to recognize it. The people at Direct TV wouldn’t have intentionally put out racist commercial because in the end it would hurt their business.
     The stereotypes argued in the commercial were about how the black man was shown as a boxer, and how the child punched the butler for no reason. To make the black man a boxer, one of the most brutal professions out there, reinforces stereotypes of black men as violent people. To have the child in the ad punch the butler encourages this belief by saying, “They are violent from birth and are only fit to participate in activities advocating such behavior.”
     People are overreacting over nothing. They always find a way to see how something could be depicted as racial. People always complain of how the African American race is not shown in the media, and this is why. They’ve made something so small into something so big. In the end they are only hurting themselves because now Direct TV and other companies might not want to put African Americans in there commercials seeing the reactions of people.


Gianatasio, David. "DirecTV Pulls New Ad From YouTube After Debate Turns 'R- Rated'"      Adweek. 07 July 2011. Web. 16 Feb. 2012. <http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/directv-           pulls-new-ad-youtube-after-debate-turns-r-rated-133241>.

He's done it again?:!

Most TV shows that claim to be reality shows are in fact staged and fake "...reality producers and editors have a lot of control over what happens on the show, just by the sheer fact that they've put the people together in certain situations, and they're controlling what footage gets aired and what doesn't". Bait Car a "Reality" TV show questions many viewers if the show is fake or not. Bait Car is about a vehicle that is left unattended for a suspect to get in the car and believe they have taken away the car without any punishments. The vehicle has hidden cameras equipped inside that helps officers track down the car and capture the suspect.

After watching a few episodes of Bait Car, a pattern was brought upon these episoded. The people getting into the vehicle were almost all African American. In these shows, you rarely see any well dressed people getting into these vehicles. You see thugs using slang words, that could be referred as "ghetto-talk", and a large use of profanity. You don’t see the vehicles being left in a higher class neighborhood.

In the scene above, the African American male gets in the unattended car. This car is left in a low-class neighborhood. The male drives away with the car. The announcer of the TV program says “this person knows a thing or two about stealing cars”, as if he were accusing him for something he has done before because he stole the car. The cops, having control of the car, lock it, and the male gets away.

It is known that black people commit crimes and steal. These shows are only making black people look worse. The TV show conveys to the audience that they are criminals. A letter was sent to the producers of Bait Car saying, “We are concerned with the stereotypes that are perpetuated by continually portraying these episodes” Many other people even noticed it and think it affects the public. 

Roberts, Chris. "'Bait Car' Jurors Blast On-Camera Sting In Letter." The SF Weekly
      Blogs. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.

"HowStuffWorks "Reality Show Structure"" HowStuffWorks "Electronics" Web.
    16 Feb. 2012.

Sony has taken it too far

A white PlayStation Portable (PSP) was expected to come out. For the upcoming arrival of the PSP, advertisements of white and black women were created in 2006 to inform people of the new game system. The advertisement was initially for Europe but soon spread throughout the United States due to it's controversial racist opinions.

One of the pictures below illustrates the white woman better than the black person. In the other picture, the white woman is scared of the black person. In society, African American people are seen as low-class, whereas whites are in a higher class. Generally, the black person ends up looking like the "bad guy" in society, even in these photographs.

The picture above shows the white female fiercely grabbing the black female's face. By their facial expressions the white female has a demanding face as if she has control and power over her. This photograph is a reminder of the slavery era, where most African American people were slaves. They were under the demand of whites in the English colonies. The black woman is in a still position, she seems like she can’t do anything about the white woman holding on to her. Many people had something to say about this. In a gaming blog, Joystiq, a comment was posted about the picture, "I can't believe Sony would print such an ad.... This ad looks as though it's saying white is superior to black (even as people). by "Killer_Twinkie". The whole point of the advertisement was for a new game system, if people weren’t included, it wouldn’t have set off a racist impression.

In this picture the black woman seems more threatening towards the white woman. Her hands are holding on to the white woman's shirt by her neck as if she was choking her. The white female looks frightened of the black female. Even though, these pictures don’t depict any type of thug evidence, it can relate to the black woman as the “criminal” or the bad guy. By the way she tightly grips on to the white woman.

"African Americans in Slavery - Lower Mississippi Delta Region - National Park Service."
     National Park Service Cultural Resources Discover History. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.

Grant, By Christopher. "Ad Critic: Sony's Racially Charged PSP Ad [update 1]." Joystiq.

     Web. 16 Feb. 2012.

Totilo, Stephen. "Sony Pulls Dutch PSP Ad Deemed Racist By American Critics."

      New Music Videos, Reality TV Shows, Celebrity News, Top Stories | MTV. Web.

     16 Feb. 2012.

Thug Life

In the game Grand Theft Auto: San Andres the world itself is neither real, nor fiction, but hyperreal. The game starts in what is supposed to be the depiction of the 1990s in California, containing a mixture of authentic and fictitious state landmarks and neighborhoods. The controversy surrounding Grand Theft Autos: San Andreas was not only directed at the game’s violent content, but also the game’s depiction of race.

This criticism of GTA: San Andreas focused on its portrayal of African-American males as hyper-violent and criminal. The main character, Carl Johnson, is a black man who has left his home to escape the violence that is in his life and community. He returns to San Andreas to attend his mother’s funeral, and immediately upon returning to San Andreas, Carl is approached by the police, framed for a crime he did not commit, and warned that he had better stay out of trouble. The game’s storyline is based on Carl taking a trip to become a criminal kingpin. As he goes on his quest all of his mission require him to buy drugs, and to kill members in gangs by running over or shooting them. The entire videogame is based on violence and shows discriminatory stereotypes about African Americans.

The videogame depicts Carl to not only start as a black man who has escaped a crime, but also as one that when he returns he be put back into more trouble. African Americans are always depicted to having committing violent crimes, and even when it is not there fault they are the first ones to be blamed. African Americans are always the ones who are told to be drug dealers and are the cause of killings in gangs and streets, and yet again here they are. Even though it could be white Americans selling drugs, the creators of the game felt it would attract more people if African Americans were the ones being shot and being put in jail. The game shows that as Carl is doing his missions the hostages are the rich white people who have not done anything wrong and are innocent bystanders.

Violence Influences Children

 Racism and discrimination continue to be a problem within our society. Media has played and will continue to play a crucial role in the way Americans perceive African-Americans. Images seen in the media keep negative stereotypes about African Americans and impact majority of society’s views of Blacks. Negative stereotypes may be harmful to African American children and adolescents as they attempt to build their way through identity development.

Entertainment media says a lot to their viewers about who counts in society. The portrayals of minority characters in entertainment media affect the ways children see themselves and others. The video game industry seems to have contained a high rate of racism according to the article, “Violence, Gender and Race in Video Games”. It found that 79 percent of African-American males were shown as verbally and physically aggressive compared to only 37 percent who were white males. While most protagonists were white males nearly nine out of ten African-American females were victims of violence, which was twice the rate of white females. With children playing so many video games their minds have been taught to prejudge people based on their skin color.

According to “A Different World: Children’s Perceptions of Race and Class in Media” research found that children associate white characters with having lots of money, being well educated, and being a leader. On the contrary they associate African American characters with breaking the law, having a hard time financially, and being lazy.

African American youth are bombarded with negative images of their race. It may have an impact on their development and their overall sense of who they are or who they can become. This can prove to be difficult because they find that the world around them has already defined them by the color of their skin. They African American youth struggle to define what it means to be black in spite of the stereotypes which are seen around them.

Glaubke, Christina R. "Media Impacts Children's Self-Image & How They See Others."Children Now.  
      2011. Web. 15 Feb. 2012.  
      <http://www.childrennow.org/index.php/learn/media_messages_about_race_class_gender>.

Lake Sosin Snell Perry and Associates. "A Different World: Children's Perceptions of Race and Class in 

     Media | Report." Media Awareness Network. 2010. Web. 15 Feb. 2012. <http://www.media-  

     awareness.ca/english/resources/research_documents/reports/diversity/different_world.cfm>.

Even in Disney Movies!

Disney movies have been known to have several racist subliminal messages. The movie, The Princess and the Frog was highly anticipated for people to watch before it was released in theaters because of the first African American Disney Princess. After watching the movie many people were upset due to the massive racism they included. The excitement of the movie was because she was the first African American princess. Instead of being the black princess, she was a frog most of the time throughout the movie, when the other Disney princesses were themselves the whole time. It’s ironic having an African American villain because African Americans ended up looking worse than what the movie was expected to bring to the audience.

The way Dr. Facilier is designed is racist towards African Americans. They added a gap in his teeth. African Americans are highly known to have diastema in their teeth

Paula D. Woods critiques the movie and makes a good point in her article, "black males are either dead like Tiana’s father (a throw-away role voiced by Terrence Howard) or evil charlatans in the person of Dr. Facilier." The father is only seen at the beginning of the movie. Dr. Facilier is the villain in themovie. Besides being an African American villain, he is involved with voodoo. Voodoo is considered witchcraft and symbolizes evil. He wants to take over New Orleans and give the people's souls to the “friends on the other side” which are evil shadows. The villain can be the “criminal” of the movie.

Even though the fairy godmother, Mama Odie, is not the enemy of the movie, she is also involved with Voodoo. She is African American as well, making them look like cruel people. Disney movies are mainly targeted to kids. At those ages, the kids don’t know what racism mean. They enjoy those movies because they are teaching them good morals through friendship, dreams, love, and life. At an older age you get a different meaning of the movies. Regardless of the lessons they are trying to teach to the audience, you notice they have hidden messages. Through this movie, people will get the idea that African Americans are evil.



"The Princess and The Frog: What's Wrong with This Picture."
      www.thedefendersonline.com. Ed. Paula L. Woods. 18 Dec. 2009. Web. 15 Feb. 2010.

A Never-Ending Issue

Portraying African Americans as the criminals has always been a problem and occurrence in many movies.

Starting from 1967, in the movie In the Heat of the Night African American actor Sidney Poitier takes the role of Virgil Tibbs who is a Homicide Detector. He goes to Philadelphia to visit his mother. During his time in Philadelphia, a rich person is found dead. The police accused him for being the suspect, even though he wasn’t, but simply because he was black.

Menace to Society is a film from 1993 is about the life of hoodlums which involves the use of drugs and violence. The start of the movie sets off the criminal issues in the movie. Watching the video, which starts off with two African American men , Caine (Tyrin Turner) and O-Dog (Larenz Tate) walking in a liquor store. The Korean woman who works there stares at them as if they were suspicious about stealing. Moments after, O-Dog shoots the Korean man behind the counter he then takes the Korean woman to the back and kills her as well. These two characters are already seen with a gun which predicts the rest of the movie will deal with a lot of violence and gang related situations. The way they are dressed gives them the “thug look“. The thug look can be described as guys wearing baggy clothes that are usually one solid color, large loose chains, and acting tough. Thugs tend to use a lot of profanity.

In the 2010 movie Twelve, most of the characters in the movie, are white except for the drug dealer, Leonel. The role of the drug dealer is played by Curtis Jackson also known as 50 Cent (Rap/Hip-Hop Artist). He is an underground drug dealer, selling an addictive drug cocktail "Twelve." His character plays the role of a thug-look-alike drug dealer. He kills one of the other characters for not having money for the drug "Twelve."

In these different movies, African American are not all seen as thugs, they are seen as the "bad guys". It has always been that way in society and through the movie industry, even if they’re not, people assume they are for the simple reason of being black. They are known to be that way because they are from a “poor low class life-style” in which they are mainly considered to be ghetto.

Crowther, Bosley. "Movie Review - In the Heat of the Night - NYTimes.com."
     Movie Reviews, Showtimes and Trailers - Movies - New York Times - The New
     York Times. 19 Feb. 2012. Web. 14 Feb. 2012.

Holden, Stephen. "Movie Review - Menace II Society - NYTimes.com."
     Movie Reviews, Showtimes and Trailers - Movies - New York Times -
     The New York Times. 19 Feb. 2012. Web. 14 Feb. 2012.

Crash

We have all heard of the stereotypical comments towards African Americans; "They are all involved in gangs, they are uneducated, loud, aggressive, lazy". The list can continue negatively upon African Americans. These comments are not true because anyone can perform foolish acts. There are many people who are not African American and are involved in crimes, murders, and robbery that will not benefit them. Criminals can come in any color or shape. The media has claimed to be unfair towards African Americans. Through the use of movies, African Americans are seen as criminals, thugs, and the enemy.

In the Oscar winning movie for best picture, Crash, the director creates a downfall towards African Americans in a particular scene, while the white characters are being displayed as "greater people". In this scene, whitw people are scared of African Americans because they assume they ‘re involved in gangs or they‘re harmful.



In the scene above, two African American men, Ludacris and Lorenz Tate, are walking out of a restaurant when Ludacris says, "You see any white people in there waiting an hour and thirty two minutes for a plate of spaghetti? Huh?" White people didn’t have to wait for their food, as opposed to them. They should have received the same service as the rest of the people. Lorenz Tate mentions how their waiter was African American. The fact that she served the white people first implies to the way they have to treat white people to avoid problems with them. 

Seconds later into that scene, they are walking towards the white couple, Sandra Bullock and Brendon Fraser. Sandra Bullock moves closer to Brendon Fraser and grabs him by the arm, as if the black people were going to harm them. Ludacris makes it seem like he is upset with the way they are being viewed in that scene, as gang bangers and threatening because he says that’s not who they are. But when Lorenz says “Because we got guns?” Ludacris says “You could be right” they pull out a gun. The two young men point a gun to the couple and carjack them. Ludacris contradicts himself he says they’re not threatening but in the end they commit a crime. Under less then 5 minutes in the movie, many discriminations are aimed towards African Americans.

Why do we stereotype?

What are the average stereotypes Americans think when he or she sees an African- American? What usually comes to mind is that the person is dishonest, dumb, lazy, and ignorant.These stereotypes have evolved within American culture dating back to our original settlement, particularly after slavery,and,ever since then have not stopped. Although these are just stereotypes a person may use to describe an African American, these stereotypes are consistently used in films to portray African-Americans. Even though these stereotypes sometimes may or may not be accurate, many people like to judge a whole race based on one action,and because of this African-Americans are unfairly and unjustly treated. Many films and other types of media have been showing African Americans as second-class citizens. As a result, many Americans have forgotten who African-Americans really are.

Both professors and writers, Robert Entman and Andrew Rojecki's talk about the statistics of race in the media in their book The Black Image in the White Mind. According to the Entman-Rojecki Index of Race and Media, 89% of Black female movie characters are shown using vulgar language, while only 17% of White woman are. Black women are shown as being violent in movies 56% of the time compared to the 11% of white women. It is not fair that African Americans be treated so unjustly. All types of people use vulgar language, but because they are African American and have been picked on in our American culture they are portrayed as an inferior race. The Entman-Rojecki Index of Race and Media also shows that the most serious crimes including rape, homicide, robbery, and assault are only committed by a small percentage of African-Americans in inner cities, but despite statistics people still have their natural tendencies to characterize all African-American males as thugs.

People portray African Americans in these roles because it is present in our news.Even though there may be crimes that white people have committed somehow the ones involving black people is always higher in demand. What has society taught us to become? By showing television and movie viewers these images, it seems as if the media is trying to keep America racist. 


Hill, Robert. "Black Men in the Media." Post-Gazette.com. 23 Nov. 2011. Web. 15 Feb. 2012.  
     <http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11327/1191907-109-0.stm>.
McCalla, Casey. "Black People Receive 60% Longer Sentences For Same Crimes."News ONE For  
     Black America. 08 Feb. 2012. Web. 15 Feb. 2012. <http://newsone.com/nation/casey-gane-                     
    mccalla/black-people-receive-60-longer-sentences-for-same-crimes/>.