We read and listen to news that tell us what to think, we see movies that tell us how other people are and we believe we are creating our own views about them. However, these are some of the mechanisms through which mass media are creating stereotypes. We know, based on what TV shows and other media teach us, that Italians are loquacious, that Latin Americans are U.S. immigrants, that Muslims are dangerous and pose terrorist threat, or that Asians are stoic (Lewis, “When Cultures Collide”). Moreover, mass media also teache us that African Americans are low achievers, blue - collars, violent, dishonest, immoral, close minded, not intelligent or greedy (Punyantunt – Carter 242; Tan, Zhang, Zhang & Dalisay 268). Being exposed to multiple media messages that transmitted these messages regarding the African – American cultural group, I tended to assimilate some of these stereotypes and preconceived information about this group. However, after seeing the movie “Selma”, I experienced a change in my perception about this cultural group.
“Selma”, a 2014 movie directed by Ava DuVernay is still a media product, which, like other media programs reflects a constructed reality (Stocchetti & Kukkonen 122). However, the truth about reality does not come from a single source, or a single type of media, but multiple sources should be investigated in order to build a more accurate interpretation of the reality, as I learned after seeing “Selma”. This movie tells the story of the Civil Rights Movement conducted by Doctor Martin Luther King Jr., describing the life of African Americans in the sixties, when they faced segregation, abuses, violation of their right to vote, to respectable jobs and to decent living conditions. From the first scenes, when I saw a middle aged African American lady trying to register to vote in Selma and facing yet another rejection of a white clerk, I immediately sympathized with her. Moreover, I found the white man’s treatment cruel and disrespectful, considering that he dealt with a very neat and well – mannered lady.
The movie presented a side of the African Americans that I did not understand before. I knew that in the past they experienced inhuman treatment, facing a long period of slavery and being considered second – class citizens even centuries after their liberation (Finkelman 9). However, under the influence of mass media served materials, I was under the biased opinion that African Americans revenged their long period of slavery after they became independent citizens. Moreover, I strongly believed that many of the wrongdoings in United States and in other parts of the world where Africans live were often instigated by them. I believed that there were few exceptions from this general situation, formed mostly from submissive individuals, who want to conform with the social context in which they live, in order to have access to more opportunities in life.
Seeing the movie “Selma”, I confronted these preconceptions. I understood what the African Americans have struggled with for decades, even after they were officially declared free and independent people. I understood how media mechanisms work, focusing on Black riots and even generating violence that they further associate with a Black fury. I asked myself whether all that I believed about African Americans were not just objects of manipulation that media and other influential groups mindfully and deliberately created and supported for generations.
As the movie kept on deploying the life and events if Martin Luther King Jr. and the African American communities in the southern states of U.S., I saw hard-working humans who could not advance because of their skin color. I saw them remaining in low paid jobs, such as janitor, where they were disrespected, abused and barely making a living. This confirmed my stereotype about the African Americans being poor, but I could find a socio – cultural explanation for their poverty, which is the racism. Being poor in United States is not an option for most African Americans, but an outcome of the racist system that prevails through people such as Jim Clark, the sheriff of Dallas county back in the sixties, who violently stopped the Blacks’ smallest demand for rights (DuVernay “Selma”).
My stereotyped feeling that African Americans were dangerous, always looking for fight or trouble was shifted during this movie. Seeing the peaceful resistance of this group of people, who were demanding their right to vote or to earn decent salaries and respect, I realized how much terror and abuses they endured across time in silence. I believe that these abuses still occur, each time an African American is publically the victim of a hate crime or hate speech, or of the institutionalized racism that keeps the Blacks in the low organizational positions (Perry 3).
Just like in the past, where African Americans kept quiet about these abuses in order to avoid confrontation that could have been detrimental for their well – being, many continue to keep their silence about such behaviors. I think that the scandals that show Black attackers that respond violently to hate crimes are overrated and over inflated, in order to raise other cultural groups’ hatred against this group. Therefore, after seeing “Selma” I still believe that there are submissive African American, but this is an expression of their choice to live in United States, becoming friends with the population of this country instead of fighting over the abuses that they experience.
I did not expect feeling so much pity for African Americans and so much contempt for the racist white people who abused and marginalized them. I watched the movie with an intense suspense, in tension and a high degree of emotional charge. I felt sorry for every hit the African Americans received while they were peacefully protested. Aware of my deep consternation, I looked for more information on the segregation in U.S., on the civil rights movement and on the Selma related events, discovering that the film presented real facts. I was very vexed at my own biases and stereotypes.
This experience showed me that I allowed myself to be manipulated by the media for years, at the point that I assimilated stereotypes about African Americans, and possibly about other cultural groups. “Selma” offered me the opportunity to ask questions, to see the opposite of what I thought it was true and most of all, to see all the sides of a story before making a judgment. In this sense, this experience showed me the importance of documentation, of analyzing more sources and seeing a story or a news from different angles, in order to reduce bias. Moreover, “Selma” also revealed to me that I am a compassionate person and I can sympathize with other people’s sufferings. The most important thing that I learn about myself is the capacity to see people beyond the media projections that promote cultural stereotypes.
Analyzing the value of this experience from a cross cultural experience, I found it an informative and educational approach for better understanding another culture through indirect interaction it (Neyer & Harzing 2). While the stereotypes and preconceived attitudes about African Americans were formed as a result of an inactive assimilation of media manipulated content, the more accurate awareness on the reality of African Americans (their struggles, challenges and silent abuses) is the result of my valuable cross cultural experience.
Works Cited
DuVernay, Ava. Selma. California: Paramount. 2014. Film.
Finkelman, Paul. Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619 – 1895. From the Collonial Period to the Age of Frederick Douglass. New York: Oxford University Press. 2006. Print.
Lewis, Richard, D. Critical Media Analysis: An Introduction for Media Professional. Boston and London: Nicholas Brealey International. 2011. Print.
Neyer, Anne – Katrin and Harzing, Anne – Wil. An Examination of the Impact of Culture on Interactions: Six Lessons Learned from the European Commission. European Management Journal. May version, pp. 1 – 28. 2008. Print.
Perry, Barbara. Where Do We Go From Here? Researching Hate Crime. Internet Journal of Criminology (IJC). pp. 1 – 52. 2003. Print.
Punyanunt – Carter, Narissa M. The Perceived Realism of African American Portrayals on Television. The Howard Journal of Communications. Vol. 19, pp. 241 – 257. 2008. Print.
Stocchetti, Matteo & Kukkonen, Karin. Critical Media Analysis: An Introduction for Media Professionals. Frankfurt: Peter Lang. 2011. Print.
Tan, Alexis, Zhang, Yunyng, Zhang, Lingling & Dalisay, Francis. Stereotypes of African Americans and Media Use among Chinese High School Students. The Howard Journal of Communications. Vol. 20, pp. 260 – 275. 2009. Print.
