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Less Diversity, More Alienation

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The media is one of the strongest branches of society in the modern day. Society is made up of different ethnicities, cultures, and races. So theoretically, the media should represent the diverse members of society. But in reality, it most definitely does not.

Not just American media, but global media tends to prefer the lighter-skinned or simply white people to be put in front of the camera. Even if the cast is diverse, the lighter-skinned lead the credits and dominate the screen. Minorities are either misrepresented, represented in a small scale or simply not represented at all, even if the minorities are present in large numbers in society.

For example, Parks and Recreation, a highly successful NBC show, features a “diverse” cast. There’s an Indian American, a dark skinned and a light skinned African American as well as a Hispanic character. It is as if the show is sampling from across different categories to satisfy the viewers. The rest, who are the majority, are white. The leads are also white, where the people of colour are merely supporting roles.

Another example is another USA Network show, Mr Robot. Rami Malek, a person of colour (Egyptian American), is simply portrayed as a white character. His identity is erased, and perhaps the producers thought it would appeal more to the audience that way.

Hollywood and other global media industries will be the first to hide behind a couple of diverse characters and claim that that is enough diversity. They justify their actions through “laissez-faire racism”, which is a form of racism that claims the market is open for all and minorities cannot make it due to their own short-comings and not due to the hierarchical and racialised market.

Even when they are represented, minorities are often stereotyped or misrepresented. According to Columbia University, Latino stereotypes in the media can be divided into “Cartel Gunman #2”, “Officer Martinez”, and “Latina With Hot Accent”, which is devastatingly but undoubtedly true. Meanwhile, misrepresentation, as opposed to stereotypes, is prominently evident in The Bill Cosby Show. The show did not give an accurate representation of a majority of Black families and experiences.

These stereotypes and misrepresentations are so disturbing especially to the people they are supposed to represent. They are one of the core reasons racism is still being reinforced today. How will the Latina mother living in Southern California relate to Sophia Vergara or the Hispanic gang member? And how will the Black high school sophomore in South Carolina see herself in Lisa from Saved by the Bell when an African American girl in her state was arrested in class? How will the teenage boy who works day and night shifts in Egypt to support his family see himself in a whitewashed Rami Malek?

We can joke about white traditions and about Taylor Swift’s white feminism. We can create trends like #OscarsSoWhite. Surely they are better than doing nothing about it. But what is the outcome? The Oscar promises a change by 2020, hoping the issue would die out by then (it won’t). Or CBS makes a funny comment in Supergirl pointing out how their cast is “safe and racially diverse” to remind their viewers that they are socially responsible for including a couple of people of colour characters on their show.

The change has to come from the media within itself. Profit has to be less blinding to institutions and people’s lives and experiences should be put as a priority and that will eventually even bring these institutions more profit as they will attract a wider audience. Surely diversity is starting to take place on our screens, but the media has a long way to fix its diversity issues.

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