Racism in the Media

Yesterday in class we talked about the issue of racism. It started with the NFL Monday night football commercials that were clearly targeted at Latinos. But really racism and "integration" in the media goes beyond commercials. In movies and television shows, it is ever present. But sometimes I feel that integeration is forced. It seems that people in the media want a diversivied cast so they put one or two minorities in the show. But sometimes the integration just looks forced. But on the other hand I wonder if they are just trying to portray accuracy in the shows. I went to Jamaica recently, and all the billboards there had blacks in the ads. Obviously Jamaicans are dark-skinned, but I would be surpised if a billboard there had a white person in it. Some examples I've experienced:

• Nickelodean - When I was younger, I religiously watched shows like the Rugrats, All That, Blues Clues and Doug. There were really no shows that included people of different races besides the Rugrats which offered one black family that were somewhat distant neighbors, and visited maybe every five episodes or so. You might argue that Doug was not so bad because characters were blue and yellow and green.



• Disney Channel - The Disney channel really does do a better job than Nick at 'integrating' more races into their shows. The Famous Jett Jackson, Kenan and Kel, and the Proud Family all have mostly black characters. Still Asian or Latino characters were few and far between.



• Desperate Housewives - Desperate Housewives probably made a smart move by making one of the housewives Latino. She is still the shallowest of the bunch, but there is some representation. For a short bit, there was a black family. But one of the sons was a murderer, and he was eventually killed and the family moved.



• Grey's Anatomy - Grey's Anatomy has done a very good job at representing all walks of life. The Chief of Medicine is an African-American man, and same with the intern's boss, Bailey. Also, one of the best interns and Meredith's best friend is an asian woman. For a prime time TV show, they do a good job.

• An Ikea Commercial - An Ikea commercial I watched in the past year or so portrayed different types of families in their homes. Obviously they were not real families, but they did a great job at including all walks of life. One 'family' in particular that I remember was two men and a young daughter. My dad was astonished by the forwardness of this ad, but I applaud Ikea for accepting all people and not being afraid to air the commercial.