TV Imagery: The Hollywood Shuffle
TV Imagery:The Hollywood Shuffle is the first section within the topic of TV Imagery. This issue focuses on the stereotypical roles Black people tend to occupy in media such as news and entertainment such as TV and movies and how it impacts the Black Community.
The 3 Questions
1.Do you believe the news, entertainment, and social media coverage of the Black community is overly critical in your eyes? Why or why not?
2. Does a black actor/actress choice in a role diminish/uplift them in your eyes yes or no and why?
3. Is the impact and influence of TV imagery over stated in terms of its effect on the Black community?
FRONT STREET
When we first created Black Advancement Inc. approximately six years ago, many of the groundbreaking and free spirited shows with Black leads and themes did not exist. Think about that sentences, no less than six years ago there was no Atlanta, Insecure, Luke Cage, Blackish, or Get Out, Black Panther, or Girls Trip etc. Only recently have the executives of major studios believed in what We as a people already knew, We are an ingenious people with a wide breath and depth of experiences and stories that, while relatable to all, are uniquely Black. Be that as it may, media overall continues to focus on all of the negative stereotypes applied to Black people as often as ever. Turning tragic situations like the murder rate of a predominantly Black city into an indictment of Our humanity and using it to support the policies that helped create such situations in the first place….but I digress. We are here to talk about the continued negative imagery We are subjected to in the hollywood shuffle and the news cycle and to see if this TV Imagery truly contributes to the destruction of Our community?
Please write in and response to our 3 poll questions or post some questions that you would like to see asked. These question and more were addressed on 11/01/2020 in our Roundtable which is also available on YouTube.
1.Do you believe the news, entertainment, and social media coverage of the Black community is overly critical in your eyes? Why or why not?
Don’t shoot the messenger. The media portrays blacks as society sees them. Black people pay to see black drug dealers and gangster movies, we worship the convicts and hate the educated. All of us? No. But enough to make it worthwhile to the media to perpetuate these stereotypical stories. If people wanted to see movies about Jesus and love they would show up and buy tickets, but they don’t. The only issue to me is if the representation is factual. If a person actually did what was said. Anything above that is simply the ratio of reporting, are black peoples’ crimes and misbehaviors and stereotypes more likely to be shown. On the news, I’m not even sure it’s the ratio it’s word choice and production. Blacks are “thugs” and whites are “misguided”. Many times blacks are represented as having “committed a crime” and those of other colors “made mistakes.” A black criminal “molest a child” another color will “have sex with an underaged woman.” These things matter. Anyone who thinks these things don’t matter, why did u buy a Pepsi or Starbucks or dial soap. It’s marketing and it works.
2. Does a black actor/actress choice in a role diminish/uplift them in your eyes yes or no and why? I only care if they did a good job or sucked. They have bills to pay and I don’t always want to do my job either. Happy for any role they should get.
3. Is the impact and influence of TV imagery over stated in terms of its effect on the Black community?
I don’t think so. See my answer to 1. That marketing works against us in the eyes of others. It hurts us a people because we idolize shiny things and people like El Chapo or John Gotti. Some see that as the ultimate success, sadly myself included. But who wouldn’t want to be worth billions with no limits by the law, able to right any wrong, move any obstacle with the snap of a finger. But what they don’t show is the millions of others gangsters shot dead in the street to get that spot. It’s one thing not to make the NFL and have to bag groceries for the rest of your life, it’s quite another to get stabbed to death at 20 doing loan shark collections trying to work your way up from the bottom. Everybody wants to be Michael Jordan of ‘84 to now, nobody wanted to be him in ‘79. They want all the rewards without putting in the work. So these get rich quick schemes of drugs and crime seem attractive because times were hard but they just make times worse. The imagery of blacks is transitioning but if we truly want to see black doctors and black business people in movies then we have to spend out money going to support those movies when they do come out. Movies like red tails, was not the best movie ever. It was good, great story. I went to see it because of what it was, just that alone. It didn’t matter if it was even good, I knew I wanted to support that type of representation of us. I don’t know how it did, but if I was a betting man….
1. I am more or less typical white guy and ive thought about these questions all week. Honestly the past year i think there has been an overwhelming display of white idiocracy. Hell – in six months we claim to understand what its like to be black in amercia (smh). I do agree with Rob though. People pay to see what entertains them. They buy the merch, clothing, toys etc. that appeals to them and what is glorified by their peers and media. Long answer for a simple one – I just don’t know!!
2. Actors are people with jobs who have the ability to reach a wide audience. Some choose to do good things with that, some choose to act negatively, some shun the spotlight. Personally I believe any actor is way down on my list of people to look up to regardless of any other factors.
3. TV imagery is powerful all over the world. Its all consuming right now. There are certain channels that will focus in on negative black imagery somewhat subtly (lookin at you fox news) and ok maybe not so subtle. I also think that Rob has it spot on. I guess I have more questions than answers. Is the Fresh Prince of Bel Air considered negative imagery? It certainly was “whitewashed” for prime time consumption right? At least the character will smith portrayed – it didnt highlight enough that Uncle Phil was a highly educated judge, just that he was rich. Id love to know others thoughts
1: No, I don’t believe it’s over critical, but I do feel it is limited in the many facets of black life and culture. Most shows, movies, and news reports portray the black community in a particular way, leading people to believe that is how all black people are and live. This is simply untrue, black people are gangster and nerds, rich and poor, city and suburban. We are like any other race of people but the only difference of what’s reported and filmed.
2: Their choice of role doesn’t impact how I view them. They are actresses and actors. They are paid the pretend to be someone they aren’t. I expect them to have a range of work. I would only feel they diminish themselves if they only play a buffoon or some other character who misrepresents black people.
3: No, it is has a huge impact on the back community. People will often only become what they see or feel is attainable to them. If they only ever see someone who looks like them as a criminal and all around them praise those criminals they have a higher likelihood of following that path. The black community should have a plethora of examples of black life and stories to paint an accurate picture of black life in America or wherever.