Other Issues in Media and Society

Greetings everyone,

At last, I would like to introduce to you the works of my colleagues, who also took part in our project that is aimed to explore the dimensions of social media and its impact on society. You will find their blogs below:

FASHION IN THE MEDIA by Anastazija Cvetanoska:

In her blog, Anastazija uncovers the growing influence of social media on the way the fashion industry conducts its dealings. She considers the various ways that fashion exploits and commercialises the tools of social media, ultimately changing the medium itself, demonstrating not only how fashion industry permeates and changes the out-course for many other commercial industries, but also shows how blurred the lines become between all industries with the invention of social media.

Her blog: https://fashionnthemedia.blogspot.com/?m=1

PROFIT-DRIVEN STEREOTYPING IN MEDIA by Lisa Persheva:

Lisa draws attention to the issue of stereotyping of minorities in a huge retrospective of media, implying how large the problem actually is, despite the seeming progress in terms of representation that has been made, which leads many to believe that the problem is solved. She articulates particularly well the homogeneity of the approach that is usually used to represent a certain group of people, supporting it with relevant examples.

Her blog: https://moneyinmedia.blogspot.com/

MEDIA LITERACY PROJECT by Dariia Regan:

Dariia debunks probably the most relevant political issue to date - Russia's government and its manipulations with information. The way in which the said information is disfigured and distributed are explored. Each example in the blog is analysed very closely, relying on available evidence. This blog is a certain must read.

Her blog: https://draregan.wixsite.com/digitalpropaganda

PSYCHOLOGY OF MEDIA by Maria Polovinkina:

Marya considers the effects of social media on our mental health from a very factual viewpoint backed by credible evidence, spreading awareness of the dangers that the medium may present that often come unnoticed by us in our day-to-day existence. As nowadays the number of people who use social media is considerably high, it is very important to be mindful of it, staying vigilant of the content. 

Her blog: https://psychologyofmedia.blogspot.com

HOW DOES SOCIAL MEDIA AFFECT TEENAGE BEHAVIOR by Sarah Shabeeb:

Last, but not least, Sarah depicts the issue of mental health from a more niche perspective, looking directly at its influence on young impressionable minds. A great variety of different possible impacts are listed, making an unbiased argument, speaking to both sides of the social media phenomenon. The importance of assessing such a topic only grows everyday with progressive influence of social media over our lives. As social media is a relatively new occurrence, its effects are still not yet fully realised by our society, therefore Sarah makes a great job on her account of shedding some light on the topic.

Her blog: https://influenceofsocialmediaonteenagers.blogspot.com/

My View:

Throughout the duration of my short blog I made my attempt at discussing what I perceive as the most significant problems of ethnic diversity representation in Hollywood as of now. The pretentiousness and hypocrisy of the industry are evidently a large detriment to the aim, consequently ending up with a badly infused political and economic agenda with what should be a work of art. In this short essay, however I would like to discuss a certain example of what the writing of ‘diversity’ should be in my view.

 

In my blog, I mentioned a couple of times certain characteristics that are pertained by the token characters, which primarily include lack of dimension, further development and relevance to the plot. One of many such examples could be the character of Lukas Sinclair in Stranger Things, who was allegedly disliked by the fandom not only due to his particularly unlikable character traits, e.g. his aggressive dislike for Eleven, which ultimately festered some hate towards the actor himself, as people evidently have a hard time differentiating fiction from reality (Willis, 2017), but also the treatment of his character by the directors. As P. L. Thomas (2021) mentions in his article, that the cast of the show is predominantly white, with Lucas being the only black character who gets little to no development throughout the duration of four seasons of the show. While we dive deep into the most of the white characters’ background and motivations, we never really quite receive the same amount of detail about Lucas’ life. With the arrival of another white character in season two, he does receive his love interest arc, however that does not necessarily grant any more dimension to his persona.

 

The newly released animated series Arcane (2021) can be seen as piece of work that addresses all of the mentioned faults. Arcane’s narrative is highly multilayered, which may be seen both through the complexity of the plots and characters’ development (however I would have to write a whole new essay to unpack all of the intricacies) and received a substantial amount of praise with their diversity. However, the key point lies in the fact that the story is not centered around that political issue. What Arcane succeeded at is making the story very organic. We meet characters of many ethnical backgrounds, Jayce, who is according to the fans of Mexican-American origin, is one of the main characters within the series and in many ways a driving force of the plot together with Mel, a black lady who is immediately introduced to us from the position of power but was certainly further developed and shown to be a talented leader and an excellent diplomat, however some of her ambitions may also appear questionable, and this ambiguity helps to make her persona realistic. The list may go on however all of these characters are not well written because they are of a certain race, but they are well written because of their character itself. To my understanding, this is what should be promoted, because equality entails seeing one as everybody else.

 

As soon as race or gender becomes definitive in portrayal of one’s personality, that character’s fate is often severed. 

 

Resources: 

Willis, K. (2017, November 16). ‘Stranger Things’ Fans Defend Caleb McLaughlin from ‘Fantasy Land’ Fans. Atlanta Black Star. Retrieved from: https://atlantablackstar.com/2017/11/16/stranger-things-fans-defend-caleb-mclaughlin-fantasy-land-fans/

 

Thomas, P. L. (2021, August 11). Stranger Things: The Eternal Whiteness of the Pop Culture Mind. Radical Scholarship. Retrieved from: https://radicalscholarship.com/2021/08/11/stranger-things-the-eternal-whiteness-of-the-pop-culture-mind/

For Further Research:

The article makes some commentary on the ‘white washing’ phenomenon, saying that directors deliberately cast actors of a highly ambiguous descend, in order to sell the watered-down version of the representation to the public, while skilfully avoiding allegations of underrepresentation. It is also noted that “the black guy dies first” trope comes from the practice of tokenism, as because the entire personality of such as character is solely consistent of their race, they don’t have anything to offer to the plot, creating a need for them to die first.

 

https://rampages.us/hypermasculinityinfilms/racial-tropes-and-tokenism/

 

This article considers the point I have briefly addressed, the profit incentive. Through the theory of political economy of image production the study suggests that Hollywood is primarily set on making a profit rather than addressing global issues such as ethnic representation, therefore the goal is different in the first place, explaining the inadequacy of the said representation. The study assesses the effect of Hollywood’s globalization strategies on the domestic racial-ethic politics. I believe this study helps to gain a very crucial outlook, as in order to comprehend Hollywood’s actions their aims and methods need to be understood. 

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0160597619832045

 

The article notes on Hollywood’s difficulty at differentiating diversity from tokenism. She maintains that tokenism is entirely superficial, bringing up some examples. It is also being suggested that token characters are seen in a nearly satirical manner, lacking any sort of development or dimension. I think it is a very short and concise account that touches upon very crucial points of the theme, so people who are not avid readers of scholarly articles would certainly have a better time reading.

https://www.hercampus.com/school/hampton-u/hollywood-has-failed-diversity-and-succeeded-tokenism/

What the Experts Say II:

Once again, I would like to share some academic sources that speak of the points I have briefly discussed earlier. The linked article illustrates the perpetuating white supremacist mentality and the many ways in which it does so, specifically in terms of Asian representation. The text is reflective of the ‘white washing’ phenomenon, suggesting how depriving Asians of authentic and accurate representation silences their voices, depriving them of the ability to tell their own stories, as well as stipulating that the white race is superior. The growing importance of media representation is stressed as the author describes our contemporary world as “media obsessed”. The term ‘white washing’ is further explored through the notion of ‘model minority’, as in those who possess some features that traditionally belong to the western societies are seen as ‘model’ or superior to those who are devoid of such qualities. This is suggested to be another tool to claim superiority of the whites. 

Source:

Kates, D. (2017, December 5). Yellow tokens: From racist depictions to token minorities. Cultural Studies Capstone Papers. Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.colum.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1017&context=cultural_studies

What the Experts Say I:

In light of my first discussion post I would like to share some relevant sources. I feel this piece of writing perfectly articulates my point of view, stressing the importance of careful planning in the context of historically accurate representation in movies for the fear of unnecessary focus on one’s race and superficial tokenism. The author sets out two important questions that can be used to help to determine whether certain representation will be appropriate “what is this movie meant for, and what is it set in?”. The text also notes of the blatant ignorance towards the other races, that are neither white nor black, “Where are the Asians, Indians, or Middle-Eastern complexions?”. Several examples of recent, questioningly progressive tv series are being assessed in detail in terms of their representation strategies the author stresses the outrageous historical inaccuracy and fanatic representation that concludes in ‘over representation’ transitioning from alleged realism to borderline absurdism. The author stipulates that such treatment of the original narrative makes a movie or a series a race representation debate often in tandem with random LGBTQ+, effectively eradicating the initial message. Although occasionally in a very direct and crude manner, some important questions are being raised.

Source:

Hortensius, P. (2021, May 28). Diversity vs Tokenism in historical dramas – a rant about representation and accuracy. Crude Mirror Media. Retrieved from: https://crude-mirror.com/diversity-vs-tokenism-in-historical-dramas/

Current Events II:

I would like to unpack another problem that dwells within the realm of Hollywood, and probably society in general. Despite the loud claims of ‘tolerance’ and inclusivity it is evident that persons of Asian ethnic belonging are largely underrepresented within the Hollywood rhetoric, and if they are then those characters are often poorly executed. As taboo as the topic of black racism appears to be throughout media, Asian people do not get as much coverage. The article by Amy Yee on Bloomberg stipulates the following: more than 90 percent of the participants of the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment survey considered both the on and off screen representation as deficient, as 35 percent of the characters that are representative of their ethnic background, fall victim to the stereotypical portrayals such as the “martial artist”, which frankly should be a vestige of the past. However, the problem remains at the data analyzed by Geena Davis institute is fairly recent, essentially dating from 2010 to 2020. Although one of the most recent marvel movies Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is largely celebrated as the breakthrough of the Asian representation narrative, its real effect on the society is debated by Walter Chaw, the “Chinese American born in the United States”. He raises a valid point on how largely this celebration misses the question of quality of this representation, only focusing on the representation itself. 

The misrepresentation could be seen as one of the contributors to the large hate towards Asians sparked by the pandemic. While not being the definitive answer to the blatant racism towards Asian people, decent representation would surely help to tackle the problem. According to the parasocial relationships theory, frequent consumption of the content that represents a certain group of people is essentially synonymous to having a diverse social circle, therefore frequent representation via film could accommodate the cognitive social acceptance of Asian minorities and truly integrate them into the said society. 

Another major mistake in my opinion is the hyperfixation on the concept of race in the first place, which is my primary criticism of tokenism. Because this phenomenon is arguably of superficial nature, the characters that are of that fall into this trope tend to be flat. Having little to no character development as well as any dimension to their narrative, they fail to charm the audience, being made solely for the purpose of ‘representing’. That leaves them devoid of any individuality, potentially dehumanizing the character altogether. How can there be equality if the characters are not treated as human beings?

Current Events I:

One of the most recent phenomena that I feel needs to be addressed is the echoing effect of the Black Lives Matter movement on the movie industry. I am in full support of equality for all, however as noble as the movement’s goals are, it is certainly a possibility that the concept became a cite of commercial exploitation for many companies allegedly in the name of those pure intentions. 

Although a highly controversial topic for some, tokenism is arguably quite prevalent in historical drama as of late. Such may be present in many not only fictional works that claim to portray reality, such as Bridgeton, but also stories that are based on real history, such as Mary, Queen of Scots. One of my all-time favourite shows – The Last Kingdom – seems to have fallen into the same category. The story is set in 9^th century not quite yet England, that essentially tells a tale of a protagonist Uhtred of Bebbanburg, who indeed was based off a real individual, and his place in the historical events and battles, such as the Battle of Edington, that formed the history of slowly emerging England as a single country. What became a subject of debate in this series is the new member of the cast that was introduced in the latest season. The character is a 9^th century priest, namely Father Benedict, who was portrayed by Patrick Robinson, who is in fact black. The character is apparently absent from the original story, however, for those who called the historical accuracy into question, claimed by Netflix to be loosely based on a North African real life figure – St. Adrian of Canterbury, to prove the validity of their casting choice. However, it appears that although this individual was ‘African by birth’ he was not of black race, ethnically belonging to Berbers. According to blackpost.org the very first black people recorded arrived as a part of the Roman army in 2^nd and 3^rd centuries AD, however the likelihood of black priests emerging in Anglo-Saxon kingdoms remains miniscule. 

Such disfigurement of obvious facts may serve as an aggressive attempt to put a ‘check’ next to the word ‘diversity’ in film productions, becoming in fact counterproductive to the alleged goal. I believe a change in human perception asks for subtler strategies as those particularly resistant to change will take such brute attempts as an attack, cultivating even more resistance, if it is indeed diversity that the film industry is striving for. 

Any discussion is welcome!

The name of your issue

Although the movie industry has made some great progress in its representation of people of color, in my blog, I would like to debunk the ways in which they are doing so. Whether or not they are truly trying to make the industry more inclusive, democratising the access to it for potential future talents, or are they purely incentivised by the prospect of a higher profit prompted by the tokenism?

Having been a consumer of western media basically since birth, I witnessed a curious change in the narrativization of ethnically diverse characters. Being largely marginalised and underrepresented in film industry’s initial scope, nowadays diversity seems to from an important societal paradigm.

I think it is really important to shed some light on this topic, as Hollywood's movies are arguably one of the most widespread forms of entertainment for many people around the globe, thereby many derive their understanding of other races and cultures from this medium.