Portrayals of Race and Ethnicity on Screen: Overview

Introduction

For better or worse, onscreen media shapes the way that individuals view the world. Films, television programs, news media, and social media have a significant impact on society, helping to create a narrative of history and a collective sense of identity. The social impact of onscreen media has been widely documented and has far-reaching implications for many different aspects of society and culture. When television programs, movies, videos, or news media outlets consistently portray members of underrepresented or marginalized racial and ethnic groups in a certain manner on screen, these portrayals can contribute to or alter the formation of racial and ethnic stereotypes. While these portrayals may not originate within the media, the media's promulgation of stereotypes can have a pervasive effect on the public view of race and ethnicity.

Understanding the Discussion

Minority group or underrepresented group: A group seen as differing from the majority of a population in a substantive way, including but not limited to race, ethnicity, and/or national origin; ability; gender; sexual orientation; or religious affiliation, and that often experiences reduced political and social representation in comparison to the majority group.

Prime time: The block of programming on television during the middle of the evening, generally from 8 to 11 p.m., in which viewership is at the highest average levels.

Stereotype: A simplified or standardized image or concept of a social group held by members of another social group.

Race: A group of people with shared physical traits and common ancestry that groups and cultures deem socially significant.

Ethnicity: A social identity based on the shared culture one belongs to; culture includes ancestry, language, geography, practices, values, history, and/or beliefs.

History

The portrayal of underrepresented characters in popular media tends to shift along with prevailing social mores and other cultural patterns. In the 1950s, television programs like Leave It to Beaver focused largely on white professional families living in idealized suburban environments, whereas in the 1980s, taboo-breaking television programs aimed at promoting "social realism," with a more inclusive depiction of racial and ethnic characters.

Situation comedies, or "sitcoms," for example, typically attempt to reflect and satirize the social norms of everyday life. Prior to the 1970s, sitcoms were primarily focused on domestic situations involving white nuclear families and their neighbors. Following the vast societal shifts during and after the Vietnam War, Watergate, and the Civil Rights Movement, sitcoms began increasingly to address emerging facets of American consciousness regarding racial, ethnic, and gender issues in society. Political criticism, gender and racial equality, the war, and the idea of what constituted a family became nightly themes on prime-time television.

Prior to the 1970s, members of underrepresented racial and ethnic communities were featured primarily in bit parts or cast stereotypically as servants on television. Beginning in the 1970s, an increasing number of sitcoms included representatives of underrepresented racial and ethnic groups among their starring casts, and covered topics never discussed before, such as poverty and racial inequalities in education and in the workplace. Good Times, a spin-off from Maude, depicted life for an African American family in a Chicago housing project. The father (John Amos) faces layoffs, the eldest son (Jimmie Walker) cannot find a job, and the youngest son (Ralph Carter) has difficulty in the community because he is a good student, while the mother (Esther Rolle) faces the difficulty of holding her family together through trying economic and social times. Other examples of sitcoms presenting new views of underrepresented communities in America were Sanford and Son—featuring African American actors Redd Foxx and Demond Wilson portraying characters in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles—and Chico and the Man—featuring Freddie Prinze as Chico, a Latino car mechanic in East Los Angeles.

The Jeffersons, a spin-off from All in the Family, depicted an African American family's assimilation into life in New York's Upper East Side and the discrimination they encounter during their social climb. All in the Family, though focused on the life and family of an older white couple, was itself a groundbreaking sitcom, often tackling racial issues as family members and friends challenged the conservative racial and political views of family patriarch Archie Bunker (Carroll O'Connor). In The Jeffersons, George Jefferson (Sherman Helmsley) is portrayed as the African American version of Archie Bunker, an outspoken bigot who believes in hard work and racial segregation. George's belief system is challenged, especially by neighbors Tom and Helen Willis (Franklin Cover and Roxie Roker), the first mixed-race couple to appear in a sitcom.

Sitcoms and other television programming in the 1980s saw further drastic changes in the portrayal of minorities. Many shows continued to feature minorities in lead roles, but depictions of lifestyle showed some noted differences. In Diff'rent Strokes, for example, a wealthy white man adopts the two young sons of his recently deceased African American housekeeper and takes them home to live in his opulent Manhattan townhouse. The Cosby Show (1984-1992) was one of the most successful and influential sitcoms of the decade, portraying an upper-middle-class African American family with two professional parents and five generally well-behaved, intelligent, and respectful children (ranging in grade level from kindergarten to college). The Cosby Show was one of the longest running and most popular sitcoms of the decade, and many television critics and sociologists have noted that the series was the first to depict African American life in a way that was identifiable to middle-class Americans across racial and social lines. In addition, the producers and writers responsible for the series often tackled issues of racism and made efforts to promote the history of African American culture through the experiences of the characters.

In the 1990s and 2000s, Black and Latino actors became more and more prominent, with Black and Latino characters in leading roles in everything from children's programming to prime-time drama. Some shows deliberately focused on the lifestyle and struggles of minority families, while others featured characters who defy stereotypes. Notably, while portrayals of Latinos and African Americans were relatively common by 2012, other underrepresented groups, including Asian Americans, American Indians, and Middle Eastern Americans, were still a relative rarity on television.

In general, Asian characters, particularly those portrayed in a realistic, non-stereotypical way, have been scarce on television. In 1994, All American Girl premiered on ABC starring Margaret Cho and was groundbreaking for being the first sitcom to feature a predominantly Asian American cast. The show only lasted one season, and another show did not appear for twenty years. In 2015, ABC produced Fresh Off the Boat, a sitcom based on the memoir of the same title by Eddie Huang. In the show, Eddie’s immigrant parents run a steak house as the family navigates life in suburban Florida. While the show received mixed reviews, it was hailed for its frank portrayal of the immigrant and Asian American experience.

In 2012, The Mindy Project, created by and starring South Asian American actor Mindy Kaling, became the first television sitcom to feature an actress of South Asian descent in the leading role; Kaling had previously written for and acted in the hit sitcom The Office. Along with Stephanie Sengupta (Law and Order), Vali Chandrasekaran (30 Rock, My Name Is Earl), Sanjay Shah (King of the Hill), and Naren Shankar (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation), Kaling was a part of a group of South Asian screenwriters making significant contributions to a mainstream television industry that long included few people of color in prominent roles. Kelly Kapoor, Kaling's character on The Office, notably defied the stereotypes typically associated with South Asian characters in American culture. Similarly, comedian, actor, and writer Aziz Ansari’s portrayals of Tom Haverford on Parks and Recreation and Dev on Master of None (which Ansari also created and wrote) both challenged stereotypes in daily life and combatted the secondary roles that minorities are often forced to play in mainstream television.

Portrayals of Race and Ethnicity on Screen Today

These essays and any opinions, information, or representations contained therein are the creation of the particular author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of EBSCO Publishing.

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