Interracial Romantic Relationships: A Study of Racial Bias in the United States Media
Bryan Steagall
Senior Capstone
Young Harris College
Interracial Romantic Relationships: A Study of Racial Bias in the United States Media
Abstract
This study was conducted in order to discover why interracial marriage has been such a controversial topic in the United States. There has been a racial prejudice towards Blacks from Whites that increased significantly after the end of the civil war (Fuller, 2011). This animosity towards interracial couples is evident in American Cinema (Diawarda, 1993). Racism is a rather delicate subject, and many are prone to deny …show more content…
This was evident when his children in the show would associate with children who were White (Stanley, 2012). The Cosby Show presents a healthy model for how people of different races should interact. However, despite these positive attributes given to Blacks by the Cosby show, there was still no mention of interracial marriage. All of the Black character’s mates were of the same race. This is most likely due to the time that this television show was aired, (1984-1992). During this time interracial marriage on television was not prominent (Stanley, 2012; Galician, 2004). Over the decades, there has been definite progress in incorporation of ethnically diverse characters (House of Payne, The Cleveland Show, Black Dynamite etc.) However, there is still very little media that promotes interracial marriage. Recently, Cheerios sponsored an advertisement that featured a White woman who is married to a Black man and they have a mixed race daughter (Goyett, 2013). The reactions from both White and Black individuals was negative. This provides evidence that the United States is still perturbed by the sight of interracial marriage. Television as well as advertisement is somewhat limited to what they can display. Film however, generally is given more leeway to portray controversial subject …show more content…
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