Portrayal of Minorities in the Media (long rant)
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Portrayal of Minorities in the Media (long rant)
Following on from the digression in this thread:
http://www.s2000online.com/forums/showthre...14&pagenumber=1
When I was in London, I had a guy from Nigeria working for me and we were in the cafeteria eating lunch one day and a news story came on the TV about some civil strife in Nigeria. He complained that if one were to only watch the news, you would think that people in Nigeria swung from trees. He had a good point, of course.
My father, who is insanely pro-Chinese, also complains of the media's focus on China's human-rights record and how nothing good is ever said about his homeland. This is an exaggeration but he has a reasonable point too since there are clearly many good things about China which the media does not focus upon.
I remember being dumb-struck by a short news interview I saw when I was a child, of a US sailor in Sydney on shore-leave saying that he thought that there would be Kangaroos hopping around on the streets. I was also amazed when I went overseas of people's perception that Australia is only a land of natural wonders and dangers like poisonous spiders and snakes.
Anybody can bemoan the fact that stereotypes are perpetuated by the press, by the entertainment industry or anyone else and I'm not suggesting that it is futile to fight it or not a worthy point to raise but there are simple reasons for this situation coming about.
Firstly, people like to make things simple. It rare to find the person who doesn't generalise:
"I don't like French people, they're arrogant and rude"
"Americans are ignorant, uneducated, loud-mouth, right-wing imbeciles"
"Australians all drink too much beer and scratch their butts in public"
"Asians can't drive, are superficial and too motivated by money"
It is easy, simple and concise to encapsulate such a broad and complex thing as a culture, society or nation into a stereotype. It makes these subjects easy to discuss, easy to give an opinion on and in the case of the media, easy to depict.
Secondly, the media and entertainment industries are just that, industries. Their primary motivation is not to educate, not to inform and not dispel lies. It is to make a profit. News programmes that always give the cutesy animal or human interest story at the end do so because people want to watch them.
Most people don't want to know about the beautiful, vibrant culture of African nations. They don't want to know about the spirit of the Chinese people. They don't want to know that Australia is one of the world's most urbanised populations. They don't want to know about Asian-Americans who just go to work and get a mortgage and a nice car without joining a gang of triads or talking with a strong asian accent.
Film producers fund films on the basis that people will pay money to see them. Thus almost all American movies have happy endings. From this, we also get a string of first Native Americans then Germans then Russians then African-Americans, Asians and Arabs portraying villains in Hollywood movies.
These things however, are not written in stone. There have always been and always will be iconoclasts; those who will set the story straight or change the way the public perceives things. The world has come a long way towards understanding and acceptance of different cultures and societies in a short time.
Global media and communication is helping this process, not hindering it. Of course, not every step that is taken is a forward one but next time you see a stereotype in the media, take heart in the fact that you know it is a stereotype and remember that the onus of education is on you, for whom it should be a priority; not them for whom it is not.
http://www.s2000online.com/forums/showthre...14&pagenumber=1
When I was in London, I had a guy from Nigeria working for me and we were in the cafeteria eating lunch one day and a news story came on the TV about some civil strife in Nigeria. He complained that if one were to only watch the news, you would think that people in Nigeria swung from trees. He had a good point, of course.
My father, who is insanely pro-Chinese, also complains of the media's focus on China's human-rights record and how nothing good is ever said about his homeland. This is an exaggeration but he has a reasonable point too since there are clearly many good things about China which the media does not focus upon.
I remember being dumb-struck by a short news interview I saw when I was a child, of a US sailor in Sydney on shore-leave saying that he thought that there would be Kangaroos hopping around on the streets. I was also amazed when I went overseas of people's perception that Australia is only a land of natural wonders and dangers like poisonous spiders and snakes.
Anybody can bemoan the fact that stereotypes are perpetuated by the press, by the entertainment industry or anyone else and I'm not suggesting that it is futile to fight it or not a worthy point to raise but there are simple reasons for this situation coming about.
Firstly, people like to make things simple. It rare to find the person who doesn't generalise:
"I don't like French people, they're arrogant and rude"
"Americans are ignorant, uneducated, loud-mouth, right-wing imbeciles"
"Australians all drink too much beer and scratch their butts in public"
"Asians can't drive, are superficial and too motivated by money"
It is easy, simple and concise to encapsulate such a broad and complex thing as a culture, society or nation into a stereotype. It makes these subjects easy to discuss, easy to give an opinion on and in the case of the media, easy to depict.
Secondly, the media and entertainment industries are just that, industries. Their primary motivation is not to educate, not to inform and not dispel lies. It is to make a profit. News programmes that always give the cutesy animal or human interest story at the end do so because people want to watch them.
Most people don't want to know about the beautiful, vibrant culture of African nations. They don't want to know about the spirit of the Chinese people. They don't want to know that Australia is one of the world's most urbanised populations. They don't want to know about Asian-Americans who just go to work and get a mortgage and a nice car without joining a gang of triads or talking with a strong asian accent.
Film producers fund films on the basis that people will pay money to see them. Thus almost all American movies have happy endings. From this, we also get a string of first Native Americans then Germans then Russians then African-Americans, Asians and Arabs portraying villains in Hollywood movies.
These things however, are not written in stone. There have always been and always will be iconoclasts; those who will set the story straight or change the way the public perceives things. The world has come a long way towards understanding and acceptance of different cultures and societies in a short time.
Global media and communication is helping this process, not hindering it. Of course, not every step that is taken is a forward one but next time you see a stereotype in the media, take heart in the fact that you know it is a stereotype and remember that the onus of education is on you, for whom it should be a priority; not them for whom it is not.
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From: San Francisco
"My father, who is insanely pro-Chinese, also complains of the media's focus on China's human-rights record and how nothing good is ever said about his homeland. This is an exaggeration but he has a reasonable point too since there are clearly many good things about China which the media does not focus upon. "
Unfortunately, some of this falls under the same category as why folks ask if the s2000 is trouble prone- people post when they have problems, not when their car starts in the morning. "I had another trouble free day in my s2000 today " just isn't newsworthy. Nor is " China still invented gunpowder, had the best mariners when europe was in the dark ages, and built the great wall" If you read James Fallows in The Atlantic Monthly, he's always championing the ascendancy of China. Chinese culture and history are worthy of respect, but the Government of China is contemptable and vile. China's human rights record is among the world's worst. A great nation and people can do much better! I think that media focus on the abysmal values of China's rulers is deserved, and enough is NOT said about the fact that the Chinese government continues to systematically anhilate Tibetan culture- the chinese military invaded Tibet and got away with it. Taiwan was historically independent of the mainland (at least on the same time scale that say Ireland was independent of Britain) yet China's rulers threaten and saber rattle. They protect the Chinese domestic market from imports, do not protect intellectual property from elsewhere, yet whine that they are not treated with respect with regard to trade issues. Domestic freedom of expression is nonexistant. China arguably has the worst government of any great nation- not enough attention is paid in the media to this!
Forgive my rant Johnny- I understand your point, and generally agree. I just loathe the government of China, and feel that they literally get away with murder...
Unfortunately, some of this falls under the same category as why folks ask if the s2000 is trouble prone- people post when they have problems, not when their car starts in the morning. "I had another trouble free day in my s2000 today " just isn't newsworthy. Nor is " China still invented gunpowder, had the best mariners when europe was in the dark ages, and built the great wall" If you read James Fallows in The Atlantic Monthly, he's always championing the ascendancy of China. Chinese culture and history are worthy of respect, but the Government of China is contemptable and vile. China's human rights record is among the world's worst. A great nation and people can do much better! I think that media focus on the abysmal values of China's rulers is deserved, and enough is NOT said about the fact that the Chinese government continues to systematically anhilate Tibetan culture- the chinese military invaded Tibet and got away with it. Taiwan was historically independent of the mainland (at least on the same time scale that say Ireland was independent of Britain) yet China's rulers threaten and saber rattle. They protect the Chinese domestic market from imports, do not protect intellectual property from elsewhere, yet whine that they are not treated with respect with regard to trade issues. Domestic freedom of expression is nonexistant. China arguably has the worst government of any great nation- not enough attention is paid in the media to this!
Forgive my rant Johnny- I understand your point, and generally agree. I just loathe the government of China, and feel that they literally get away with murder...
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From: Sydney
[QUOTE]Originally posted by SFDukie
[B]"My father, who is insanely pro-Chinese, also complains of the media's focus on China's human-rights record and how nothing good is ever said about his homeland. This is an exaggeration but he has a reasonable point too since there are clearly many good things about China which the media does not focus upon. "
Unfortunately, some of this falls under the same category as why folks ask if the s2000 is trouble prone- people post when they have problems, not when their car starts in the morning.
[B]"My father, who is insanely pro-Chinese, also complains of the media's focus on China's human-rights record and how nothing good is ever said about his homeland. This is an exaggeration but he has a reasonable point too since there are clearly many good things about China which the media does not focus upon. "
Unfortunately, some of this falls under the same category as why folks ask if the s2000 is trouble prone- people post when they have problems, not when their car starts in the morning.
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From: San Francisco
Originally posted by Johnny B. Goode
Oh, and police never stop me to tell me that "I took that corner so well" either.
Oh, and police never stop me to tell me that "I took that corner so well" either.
On a more serious note, do you have any feeling that Chinese in Australia are subject to different stereotyping than in the US? I'm of European descent, but my feeling is that Chinese immigrants in the US are stereotyped as brainy, meek, and striving for professional (largely medical or scientific) degrees, or to a lesser extent than some minorities here, as gang members.
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I saw the movie "The Fast and the Furious" this weekend. I dont know about elsewhere, but the import car scene in California is predominantly asian. But who would go see a movie with a bunch of asian guys racing cars? No one wants to see that... the only role for asian guys that people are prepared to easily accept is that of the villan.
Oh.. but the schoolgirl/prostitute asian women can stay...
hollywood sucks ass...
Oh.. but the schoolgirl/prostitute asian women can stay...
hollywood sucks ass...
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From: Sydney
Originally posted by Bernie
Johnny
Not having a go at you but if you feel that Australia has a long way to go in the way Chinese are treated, go spend some time in Indonesia. You were born in Oz and have lived here almost all your life (as you wrote) and you are obviously writing from that perspective.
I've travelled to almost every corner of the globe in the past two decades and noone gets a fairer deal than in Oz. In this country, you only have to be good enough.
Johnny
Not having a go at you but if you feel that Australia has a long way to go in the way Chinese are treated, go spend some time in Indonesia. You were born in Oz and have lived here almost all your life (as you wrote) and you are obviously writing from that perspective.
I've travelled to almost every corner of the globe in the past two decades and noone gets a fairer deal than in Oz. In this country, you only have to be good enough.
I am not ignorant of how fortunate I am to be here. Otherwise I would be elsewhere.
Having said that, do you believe that we cannot do any better? Let's not get too complacent about things. I believe this is the greatest country in the world but it is progress that has made it so.
I did not specifically say that Australia has a long way to go in the way Chinese are treated. I simply said Australia has a long way to go.
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From: USR, NJ
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Johnny B. Goode
[B]
My father, who is insanely pro-Chinese, also complains of the media's focus on China's human-rights record and how nothing good is ever said about his homeland.
[B]
My father, who is insanely pro-Chinese, also complains of the media's focus on China's human-rights record and how nothing good is ever said about his homeland.