Racism in the Media:

In our group discussion on Monday we discussed racism and where it is most prevalent in todays culture.  We argued that racism is not prevalent as it was 10, 20, or 30 years ago; but it is still seen everyday in our media culture.  Television is the most utilized medium where racism is presented, but it is not presented as overt racism, rather it is hidden and fragmented into shows like The Cosby Show and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.  Many of the stereotypes presented in these shows are attempting to hide black stereotypes by over-emphasizing "whiteness".  As discussed in the Jhally reading for this week, this over-emphasis on whiteness is meant to make the black families in these shows seem similar to the white audience.  These shows, I would also argue that these shows attempt to cater to the white demographic over the African American demographic.  Although these shows emphasize the whiteness in their black characters, some black stereotypes still exist in these shows.  For example, the character Jazz in The Fresh Prince of Bel air wears colorful clothes, uses slang when he interacts with the Banks', and is always hitting on Will Smiths cousin.  In our group discussion we made reference to this and also discussed that even though the characters whiteness is over emphasized, black stereotypes are still prevalent in the show.  This creates this double entendre in relation to the stereotypes in these shows, specifically The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.  On the one hand there is an emphasis on the black characters whiteness and on the other hand, some characters prescribe to the typical black stereotype.