Finally. Someone who really hit the jackpot in explaining the role
of stereotyping in entertainment... ingridxgarnica… created a short but
extremely significant blog about the racial stereotyping of minorities on
television! Though she hasn’t revealed a lot of personal information like her
age, occupation, whereabouts, etc., she seems to be interested in the exact
same thing that I am: how ethnic minorities are portrayed differently in
television than are white Americans. She describes how and where it exists,
what it means and what its consequences are. She is definitely an avid TV
watcher as her blog addresses three/four very different TV shows: The Big Bang
Theory, Flavor of Love (in comparison with The Bachelor), and Shark Tank… it’s
important to note here that she makes the point that they all fall under the
genre of "reality" TV when she examines the portrayal of ethnic
minorities in each… Well I overlooked that one as I’m sure many people overlook
that “reality” has many forms and dominates TV. She also shows that these shows
are statistically considered to be some of the most watched shows on PrimeTime
television, which makes her analysis of these particular shows more relevant
than any other show because many Americans are familiar with them and could
learn a lot about how stereotyping affects each and every one of them.
She begins every post with the notion that viewers are the ones to
decide whether minorities remain victims of racial stereotyping... but she then
asserts her own opinion on the matter by drawing single conclusions and
offering no possible counterpoints. She very much believes, like me, that in Hollywood's
decision to add or create diversity in Caucasian-based TV shows, minorities in
entertainment fall victim to being type-cast as either "comic relief"
or as people that possess an inherent character flaw that mainstream,
"normal" Caucasians don’t. She validates this point by referencing
Marxist thinker Antonio Gramsci's philosophy of cultural hegemonry, where
members of the lower class in society accept the position that they are given
by members of the upper class. In these perceived "reality shows,"
problems arise because audiences not only believe that what they see is a
reality because it’s a “reality show,” but because the minority characters
portrayed themselves believe and accept the roles given to them by the
"majority," or the "upper class," or Hollywood and its
writers and producers.
Her first post: 2012: Is Prime Time TV Ready to Stop Racial
Stereotyping, Part 1 discusses the role of the Indian character Rajesh
"Raj" Ramayan Koothrapalli on The Big Bang Theory. She begins
by describing the story of the series: a bunch of hyper-intelligent nerds who
work at Cal Tech, form a friend group because they are so similar in their
social awkwardness and gaming and comic interests. Originally a group of three,
Raj was added as a fourth because, according to Sheldon in an early episode in
Season 1 called The Irish Pub Forumulation, (according to the character
created by writer, Chuck Lorre) Raj provides "diversity" and is
needed to form an even numbered group of four needed to play the games that the
other three were interested in playing, she mentions. It’s implied that he is
an outsider from the beginning. She then discusses the discrepancies of each of
the other characters in the group with vivid detail, and then their relation to
Raj. For example, she says "Sheldon", the self-proclaimed ringleader
of the group and expert of knowledge in all things also happens to believe he
knows more about Indian culture than 'Raj' himself." She gives visual
examples of this through YouTube Links. Each of the characters she mentions are able to torment Raj based on his
cultural identity and background, but the reverse never happens, nor does Raj
stand up for himself. He accepts his place instead. She also doesn’t fail to
mention that he has an illness of being unable to speak with women or socialize
unless under the influence of alcohol, which makes him a social outsider even
though he is technically "part of the group." She provides evidence
of this with another YouTube link from another episode. She concludes with the
fact that because Raj accepts his place, and because he will never reach equal
status with his friends though he is of equal academic intelligence, Hollywood
is successful in perpetuating racial stereotypes and attacking minority groups.
Honestly I myself have forgotten that Raj is of equal intelligence because he
just accepts his place and doesn’t reassert his authority, and now that ingridxgarnica points it, I realize the
extent to which he is negatively stereotyped and the extent to which people can
easily overlook that.
Through her description of the negative racial stereotyping that
exists in Big Bang Theory, and
The Bachelor and A Flavor of Love in the other post she had written, it’s clear
that Hollywood seems to be racist in its ambition of creating
"diversity." However she offers a positive example of racial
representation on television in her analysis of the show, Shark Tank, which
tells me that she acknowledges the change that she advocates for. Shark Tank is
a show that centers around entrepreneurs showcasing their ideas and projects
for 5 self-made multi-millionaire and billionaire investors. The addition of
investor Daymond John, an African-American self-made millionaire who is
educated and well respected just like his fellow Caucasian investors beside him
is wholly beneficial. She provides evidence with yet another YouTube link of
how the other investors respect him and choose to collaborate with him for
future projects. This reflects the positive portrayal of minorities on
television as they are seen as being equal to the white “majority.” She
compares this to her post about Raj in The Big Bang Theory, who does not stand
on equal ground with his friends. Though these are two drastically different
shows, as the Big Bang Theory can be seen as more of a fictional comedy whose
intention is to provide comic relief whereas Shark Tank features real-time investors
that take their respected professions very seriously, the point she makes is
clear and valid – minorities must be considered equal to the majority group in
order to avoid unjust racial discrimination.
What is most remarkable about her is that she's very successful in
making her points concrete by providing footage from the clips she references.
We are not only able to read what she is referencing but we can see exactly how
it is manifested. The entire layout of her blog itself is in black and white. The
background is entirely black and the words are white, which is ironically the
opposite of what we are used to viewing: a plain white background with dark,
black writing such as Microsoft Word, for example, or this very template that I
am using to type this blog which actually makes what I’m seeing and doing more
legible and this brings me to the next point. It was almost difficult to read
the blog, it gave me a sense of a skewed reality, but this reflects exactly
what she is talking about... white words dominating a black background. I like
her a lot because she is not only very interested in understanding how
stereotyping exists and manifests itself on TV… something we can see through
her meticulous analysis of each of these shows, but because by providing her
own thoughts and opinions on the matter, she is clearly very passionate about
eliminating the negative impacts of stereotyping and supportive and promotive
of more positive, beneficial portrayals of diversity on TV.
