Representation of Ethnic Minorities

Below is part of an essay written by Reena Mistry on the topic of Hegemony and representation.

http://www.theory.org.uk/ctr-rol6.htm

Can Gramsci's theory of hegemony help us to understand the representation of ethnic minorities in western television and cinema?

Antonio Gramsci's theory of hegemony is of particular salience to the exploration of racial representations in the media because of its focus on culture and ideology. Unlike Marxist theories of domination, Gramsci relegates economic determinants to the background and brings to the fore the role of intellectuals in the process. The fact that television and cinema are central to popular culture is crucial because Gramsci says particular attention should be given to 'everyday' routine structures and 'common sense' values in trying to locate mechanisms of domination

Many of the clearly racist images of past television and cinema that are now fading from western screens can, in hindsight, be easily explained in hegemonic terms - particularly in relation to colonialism and white supremacy

The use of Gramsci's notion of hegemony does not expire here, however; it can be used to identify both elements of the old racist stereotypes and new, but destructive, representations of racial minorities in the current media of a seemingly liberal society. Thus, it is unsurprising that racism, though perhaps more covertly, still pervades our society.

No one in TV shouts racist abuse at black people… No one in TV physically assaults black people, they simply feed us on a diet of "Blacks are the problem"[1]

A similar process of normalising black subjugation can be seen in more recent times in 'black' sitcoms; Gitlin argues the emergence of black comedies (as opposed to a serious black drama) reflect an acknowledgement of a rising black middle-class in a non-threatening way to white audiences. Using comedy perpetuates the myth of the black clown a recent example is Will Smith's character in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Second is the development of the 'blaxploitation' genre [2]; characters such as 'Shaft', 'Black Caesar' and the numerous accounts of the black revolutionist Angela Davis (such as Foxy Brown, 1974) showed black individuals as the central protagonists and in control, in contrast to the marginal roles they were accustomed to in other Hollywood movies. The genre has endured, spawning a 'neo-blaxploitation' in which we could include films such as Bad Boys, Pulp Fiction, and White Men Can't Jump.

Despite these apparent positive developments in Britain and America, the white hegemonic hold over the television and film industries appears to have merely created different, but equally harmful, racial representations and to have repackaged the old stereotypes into forms more acceptable in a 'liberalist' society. A prominent problem is that the media industry is still dominated by white practitioners (though more black people are starting to get behind the camera). Producers and directors may consider themselves to be liberal individuals in trying to bring 'race issues' to the screen, or for avoiding the traditional stereotypes, but largely they rely on the racial stereotypes that they have assimilated as white people living in a racist society

It appears that Gramsci's theory of hegemony not only helps us to understand the motivations behind racist images in the media, but it is also part of a crucial process of demonstrating the inadequacy of white 'liberal' attempts at reform. In spite of well-meant ventures to present racial minorities favourably, white hegemony over the means of media production means that television and cinema continue to subjugate these social groups.

[1] can link to hyperdermic needle model.'as they feed us on..' the producers/directors are wanting the audience to believe the statements which are made. However these statements may not neccesarily be true as they want the audience to think in this way so it fits in with the cultral ideologies.

[2]Blaxploitation is a film genre that emerged in the United States in the early 1970s when many exploitation films were made that targeted the urban black audience. Blaxploitation films starred primarily black actors, and were the first to feature soundtracks of funk and soul music.

Furthermore, blaxploitation films laid the foundation for future filmmakers to address racial controversies regarding inner city poverty. In the early 1990s, a new wave of acclaimed black filmmakers focused on black urban life in their films (particularly Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing and John Singleton’s Boyz N the Hood, among others).