Ethnicity

How is Ethnicity and Race represented in TV Drama?

Ethnicity is very often linked with stereotype and the dominant ideology of a society. In TV Drama these stereotypes reflect cultural ideas that persist because people identify with them as true and therefore make shows seem appealing or more realistic.

Think about why most of the main characters in movies and television shows are white and black character roles are often cast as the maid, the gangster, the ‘model minority, the supportive best friend, the terrorist. Why are certain races and ethnicities portrayed more often as lower class individuals in mainstream western media?

Media creates meaning about race and ethnicity, and plays an important role in shaping the way we understand race and ethnicity as part of our identity, our history, our social institutions, and our everyday lives. Often used interchangeably, race is a way of classifying individuals and groups on the basis of physical characteristics, particularly one’s skin color. Ethnicity delineates one’s place of origin or nationality, one’s cultural background or ancestry, one’s language and by extension, one’s belief system.

 

Despite the concrete physical and sometimes geographical roots tied to specific racial and ethnic identities, it is important to understand that race and ethnicity are also ideologies, or ways of seeing and understanding the world around us. Race and ethnicity, are therefore imbued with meaning. They not only get used as descriptors, but also as markers of broader concepts and relationships. Race and ethnicity can mark you as belonging to a group or as an outsider, as different. These markers not only designate one’s skin color or cultural background, but also function in a larger system and in relation to other racial and ethnic identities. In this system, certain groups have more power and privileges than others.

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