Independent case study

Magazine:

My magazine article 'Is it cos I is black?' shows the common representations of black people through media institutions and how their stereotype has been exploited. In the deconstruction and further research I have proved the theory correct.

·         The magazine talks about the common representation of black people and highlights the inequalities of media ownership. Here it speaks about how the media has exploited black stereotypes. It says on page 51 “dependence upon American popular culture as a model for critiquing representational issues”. This links to the oriental theory of stereotypes as the generic views of black people have been exploited.

·         On the following page, it talks about how the common depiction of black people is spread across the nation, giving all blacks the same reputation. It says “We often assume that the complexity of cultures and nationalities is commonplace across these isles”. This shows that the image of black people has remained the same across the nation, causing nationwide stereotypes. However, we also see with additional theories that black people have more than one common image. For example, they are comedic as well as being related to crime. Religion also plays a large part, showing that the black culture is more diverse.

·         The ‘Black British Texts’ article also shows how black people are becoming more diverse by starring in a wider range of genres. Noel Clarke has been used as a case study to show his diverse range in films, first starring in ‘Kidulthood’ and moving to roles in ‘Dr Who’ and ‘Star Trek’ as it says “media industries’ lead more to training provider, hand-picked to recruit a more diverse range of young people into UK creative jobs.” This shows that the image of black people is starting to subvert to it’s common depiction, suggesting that the media is becoming more politically correct. This is known as Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis for cultures to be more accepted and equal.

·         Page 54 quotes “The Problem with much black representation is that it is continually anchored in ‘race’ or ‘issues’.” This quote comes from the article that talks about problems and prejudices as writers feel that there is a sense of “otherness” as the writers have endured suffering from “struggle for identity” as they were discriminated based on the colour of their skin. This shows that the media is that the black representation still must be a concept of race and being different, rather than being all accepting.  

Deconstruction of black stereotypes:

To show the common representation of black people I used the Mail Online as a source. The article mentions how black people are to blame for crime as well as being victims in society. From a police report the source quotes “Police hold black men responsible for more than two-thirds of shootings and more than half of robberies and street crimes”. This would exploit the stereotype of black people being criminals as a common representation of blacks is that they are affiliated crime more than other races.

The statistics shown in the article highlights black people’s relations to crime as “67 per cent of those caught by police for gun crimes were black”. This tells us that an extortionate amount of crime is caused by black people compared to any other race. The source also mentions for “robberies that figure was 52 per cent” which further emphasizes that fact that black people are responsible for over half the amount of crime given the population of black people in London and the ratio of urban crimes where “Just over 12 per cent of London’s 12.5 million population is black” (ONS)

On the other hand, the source also mentions how black people are not only criminals but also victims according to police figures. The stats show that “with 832 out of 2,882 of male victims of shootings in 2009-10 being black.” This shows that black people are involved in crime in some way however, they are not necessarily always the criminal. The article also mentions how “black people are at least six times more likely to be stopped and searched than their white counterparts” according to annual figures. This highlights how black people are victims due to racial discrimination.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1290047/Metropolitan-Police-crime-statistics-reveal-violent-criminals-black--victims.html

Deconstruction of Black and Asian Stereotypes: Rush Hour

Stereotypes of blacks and Asians

In the film trailer ‘Rush Hour’ we see many representations of Asians and blacks which both conform and subvert to common depictions.

Asian Stereotypes

·         In the opening scene of the trailer we hear and non diegetic Chinese accent and an Asian man affiliating himself with crime. This subverts to common representations of Chinese people being criminals as it is uncommon for Chinese people to be gangsters in this case.

·         Looking at how the Chinese agent is portrayed in the trailer he conforms more to Asian prejudice through the use of his accent and that this Hollywood film has used orientalism to add to the Asian common representation to exploit the stereotype. They have done this through the use of action scenes in the trailer, for example where the Asian agent is doing Kung Fu in the first minute and a half.

Black stereotypes

·         The black agent, he also conforms to common representations of black people as his character in ‘Rush Hour’ is comedic. We see in the opening scene that the Asian gangster has a very serious/threatening tone but detective Carter has a more humorous response by shouting “50 million dollars?! Who do you think you kidnapped? Chelsea Clinton?” His joking character conforms to the stereotype that black people are the comedic character. He also gives the impression that he is irresponsible. We see this in the trailer where he blows up a city block, destroys evidence, and says “I got it under control” when he is clearly failing at his job.