Race and ethnicity
The media in all its shapes and forms influence, to a great extent, the way we perceive life around us. The issues of race, ethnicity and class are amongst the most debatable topics influencing the masses and their daily lives. The media in the form of movies and other forms are some of the ways that people prefer to get information. As inaccurate as the media is sometimes, it is common practice for people to believe in the things that they see. This is the case when it comes to people’s perceptions about race, ethnicity and class. The movies in an attempt to show historical facts bring to the fore the historical views on the same and impressionable minds, unfortunately, adopt what they see. However it is fortunate, that issues of race, ethnicity and class are better than they were in past years.
One such movie is “12 years a slave”. This movie depicts the hardships of slaves back in the day and the constant peril that even the free minorities had to endure to survive. In the age where most of the information is obtained from the media, social and otherwise, it is easy for impressionable minds to take up what they see. The reason for this is that, it is the people they look up to that star in the roles that they see. Celebrated actors play these roles so well that it is some suggestible viewers see it in a real life setting.
It is not all bad though; the characters that played the protagonist are also stars that are to be looked up to. If the roles they are cast in are positive in nature, they are likely to be adopted. In “12 years a slave” the protagonist is trying hard to gain his freedom and show that even if he belongs to a minority group, he has the same equal rights that the other majority groups belong to. This helps promote equality in the different classes in society and end racism to a certain degree. Another factor that helps the minority to forget past discriminations is the fact that some groups are assimilated into the major groups and they become larger them the dominant groups as is the case of Latin and Asian Americans.
News media like television broadcasts and radio presentations also help the societal view of race, ethnicity and class. Most news media broadcast any instances of ethnic, racial or social class injustice in a negative light. In so doing, such injustices are admonished and criticized by the society leading to their decline in the society. The media, therefore, is hugely responsible for either the escalation or demise of societal practices concerning race, ethnicity and class.
Traditionally, cases of racism and class discrimination were evident in almost every aspect of the society. One such practice was marriage; it was looked down upon for people of different ethnicities or social class to marry. Over the years, the practice had diminished greatly; the media have played a big role in this transformation. Hollywood movies like "Cinderella" and "Pocahontas" show it is all right for people who are only differentiated by either class or race to get married and be happy at long last.
In so doing, some minorities have become assimilated in other majority groups. It is common in today’s society for the minority groups to shed their traditional habits and acclimatize to the habits unique to the majority. One example is the case of Latina and Asian Americans. Over the course of the stay in the United States, the minority and majority groups have merged socially and as such they have come from their traditional minority status to be considered a majority group. Assimilation of the minority groups into larger groups is started by adoption of cultural practices that characterize the majority groups. One such practice is the adoption of the language spoken by the majority and abandoning their native tongue in social settings. This is greatly assisted by the media, who transmit their information in the language of the majority.
Bibliography
Yancy, George. Who is white. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005.
