Racism In Twelve Years A Slave By Solomon Northup
This documentary is based on a true story based on the book, Twelve Years a Slave written by Solomon Northup. In this video, both racism and sexism is heavily implied.
Racism is defined as hostility towards people of a different race and it usually stems from the belief in the superiority of one’s race (Oxforddictionaries.com 2014). In this video, the concept of racism is represented in a way that the blacks are deemed powerless and are at the mercy of the white people. The slave market is targeted at the whites that owns cotton plantation and 90% of African Americans are slaves. Also, during the transaction, the black slaves are obliged to meet the demands of the whites. Furthermore, it is noted in the video that the slaves were inspected …show more content…
People are categorized inevitably by their ethnicity and race, which may render some races helpless as they are stereotyped and it would take a great effort for them to prove otherwise. For example, in today’s context, the media has influenced people to think that Jews are money-minded and that terrorism is related to the Islamic teachings. This is extremely detrimental to our society as it would lead to unwanted misunderstandings and thus, ineffective communication. To avoid such misunderstandings, we must veer towards non-essentialism and this means that we should not be too quick to judge people base on their ethnicity or race but rather, view them as individuals who belong to a certain ethnicity but they may or may not possess ‘traits’ of such …show more content…
This will be beneficial to society as extreme sexism may foster undesirable outcomes such as sexual violence and rapes, and this may render a dangerous society where there is no sense of security.
Hence, it is important for us to understand the concept of essentialism and to know when to deviate from the essentialist’s point of view. This is especially so in an increasingly globalized world as people from different entity come together and the social media is easily-accessible. Above all, we should learn how to be discerning and to differentiate what is portrayed in the media and the ultimate truth. Other than transmitting information and ideas, the media cast opinions on the plethora of truths (Gurevitch, et al, 1995).
“The media holds a central position in articulating particular discourses and defining frameworks within which we come to understand issues relating to minority groups.”
(Cottle, 2000)
This means that whatever the media portrays these minority groups as; audience would take it at phase meaning and would not think much about it and it would only aggravate the existing problem of
Racism is defined as hostility towards people of a different race and it usually stems from the belief in the superiority of one’s race (Oxforddictionaries.com 2014). In this video, the concept of racism is represented in a way that the blacks are deemed powerless and are at the mercy of the white people. The slave market is targeted at the whites that owns cotton plantation and 90% of African Americans are slaves. Also, during the transaction, the black slaves are obliged to meet the demands of the whites. Furthermore, it is noted in the video that the slaves were inspected …show more content…
People are categorized inevitably by their ethnicity and race, which may render some races helpless as they are stereotyped and it would take a great effort for them to prove otherwise. For example, in today’s context, the media has influenced people to think that Jews are money-minded and that terrorism is related to the Islamic teachings. This is extremely detrimental to our society as it would lead to unwanted misunderstandings and thus, ineffective communication. To avoid such misunderstandings, we must veer towards non-essentialism and this means that we should not be too quick to judge people base on their ethnicity or race but rather, view them as individuals who belong to a certain ethnicity but they may or may not possess ‘traits’ of such …show more content…
This will be beneficial to society as extreme sexism may foster undesirable outcomes such as sexual violence and rapes, and this may render a dangerous society where there is no sense of security.
Hence, it is important for us to understand the concept of essentialism and to know when to deviate from the essentialist’s point of view. This is especially so in an increasingly globalized world as people from different entity come together and the social media is easily-accessible. Above all, we should learn how to be discerning and to differentiate what is portrayed in the media and the ultimate truth. Other than transmitting information and ideas, the media cast opinions on the plethora of truths (Gurevitch, et al, 1995).
“The media holds a central position in articulating particular discourses and defining frameworks within which we come to understand issues relating to minority groups.”
(Cottle, 2000)
This means that whatever the media portrays these minority groups as; audience would take it at phase meaning and would not think much about it and it would only aggravate the existing problem of