Paper 4: Literature Review You are essentially going to merge papers 1 through 3 in order to compose an analysis and literature review on media representations of family through gender, race, and clas

Running head: MEDIA REPRESENTATION OF RACE AND FAMILY

MEDIA REPRESENTATION OF RACE AND FAMILY

Alyssa Wichern

Professor Salerno

SYO 3100-007

13 October 2019

Media representation of race and family

Introduction

The mass media, as one of the four agents of socialization, have been at the center of a protracted scholastic conversation focusing on its stereotypical tendencies. Of special importance has been the way the media has portrayed race within the context of the family. Evidence from practice reveals that the media have been the primary vehicle through which racial stereotypes have been embedded in society. It is a profound concern that exposes the value systems behind racial issues, family, and gender. This essay examines the way African-women have been misrepresented within the traditional conceptualization of sapphire, video vixen, and mammy, and increasingly as queer individuals in three reality television shows.

Literature review

Race is an emotive issue that has roots in the foundation of the American world. It is in the province of slavery that all racial problems are rooted. African women have been the subject of misrepresentation for eons, in equal measure to their male counterparts (Gerstl, & Liang, 2010). First, women have been characterized as queer individuals in the media. These includes taking up roles such as lesbians. In the show, Shameless, Monica, the wife of the leading character, is presented as a lesbian who abandons her family in the care of a careless drunkard man.

Women have also been misrepresented as video vixens and sapphires. These are women who go out of their way to satisfy the viewer’s discretion for sexual fantasy (Capodilupo, & Kim, 2014). Video vixens are wild women who live exceedingly overambitious life at the expense of their men. Black women have taken up the role of the sapphire women in numerous shows, with an example of the Bad Girls Club. In reality show, black women are misrepresented as vixens living above their means, expensive careless party lives full of sexual escapades.

The next queer behavior that women of color have been associated with includes being aggressive, rude, and overly aggressive, or even inconsequential (Coltrane, & Messineo, 2000). If therefore, they are not being presented as sapphires, they take up a mammy role where they arrogantly confront their husbands. In the ‘Shameless’ show, women are typically given as aggressive and arrogant. The mammy figure is rooted in history where women were presented as nursing the family’s children. It merely places women in their traditional roles as caregivers, relegating their place to the kitchen (Weaver ,2016). It is only a reflection of the vestiges of a patriarchal society that ruthlessly denies any meaningful role in society other than nursing children. It is the case of the show real housewives of Atlanta, were women of color who struggle with their husbands, especially, Parks over parenting concerns.

Conclusion

Misrepresentation of women of color in the media is a protracted concern in sociological pedagogy. Reality televisions have been at the forefront of long-held embedding traditions regarding race and the American family. African American women have been misrepresented increasingly as queer individuals. They have taken up roles as vixens, mammy, sapphires, and even arrogant and aggressive individuals. The province of mass media misrepresentation for African American women, however, reveals and exposes the value system behind more significant concerns related to gender, rooted in patriarchal repression of women.

References

Capodilupo, C. M., & Kim, S. (2014). Gender and race matter: The importance of considering intersections in Black women’s body image. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 61(1), 37-49.http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0034597

Coltrane, S., & Messineo, M. (2000). The perpetuation of subtle prejudice: Race and gender imagery in 1990s television advertising. Sex roles, 42(5-6), 363-389.

Gerstl-Pepin, C., & Liang, G. (2010). Media misrepresentations of a mascot controversy: Contested constructions of race and gender. Journal of School Public Relations, 31(3), 251-269.

Weaver Jr, T. (2016). Analysis of representations of African Americans in non-linear streaming media content. ELON JOURNAL, 57.

Appendix

Shameless

The series depicts the dysfunctional family of Frank Gallagher, who had sired around eight children with his ex-wife Monica Gallagher. The big family of the two is a suspect misrepresentation. However, of particular importance is the lesbian role taken over by his ex-wife Monica. She abandons her family role as a mammy to become a lesbian. In season five, upon returning, she leaves home by telling one of her children she was going to buy a loaf of bread. In season seven, she set up a hoax and claims the death of her daughter, in an utter attempt to disrupt the family. At the level, she had also become a lesbian besides even cohabiting with Norman, a driver.

Real Housewives of Atlanta

In the third episode of the show, Parks is involved in a conflict with her husband over parenting issues and a pregnancy. Zolciak, on the other hand, begins a lesbian relationship. The inability by Whitfield to take care of her child and to falls into financial difficulties after the husband refuses to provide financial support is also another misrepresentation in episode four.

Bad Girls club

The overall theme of the reality show is representing the life of a carefree, aggressive, and arrogant party girl life. The girls live very undignified, yet famous lives together; and exceedingly live overambitious lives in a hired mansion. They also spend most of their time in parties and sexual escapades. In season seven, Tasha Malek is engaged in a furious conflict with Nastasia Townsend, which also allegedly includes a fight.