Racism, Prejudice And Discrimination In Hollywood Film

Discrimination in Hollywood films is an ongoing problem that needs to be addressed. This year’s announcement of the 88th annual Academy Awards nominees has received an abundance of heated criticism from viewers. For a second year in a row, not one of the Award nominees in any category was an actor of color. Hollywood has a history of whitewashing roles and have gotten away scott free. This trend of influence in media contributes to stereotypes, creating negative and an inaccurate representation of ethnic groups . The number of shows featuring racial balance fails to match America’s demographics and the viewer demographics. As time advances, necessary change needs to be implemented towards the imbalance in casting people of color in mass media.
Colorism exists in all races, and in all cultures. This is a type of discrimination against skin tone. Where the people with fairer skin are treated with a higher regard. It is common to hear the terms “ light skin” or “ dark skin” thrown around in daily conversations. The famous doll study conducted in the 1950s by Kenneth and Mamie Clark showed that from an early age, the young would associate the dark with negative connotation. The Drs. used four identical dolls except for color , to test children’s racial perceptions ( NAACP ). Research shows, America is indeed a color-conscious society of implicit bias, which admires people with light skin. This correlates to how association can influence prejudice attitudes since “the U.S. film industry controls the world’s greatest PR machine and can effectively deceive...people most of the time” (Cones). Ironically, comedian Chris Rock was hired as the host on the Oscars to announce ”white” nominees and make a fool of a bunch of muted Asian kids in his monologue. There should not be a safe minority to make jokes out
The content that is released into social platforms is important because of the wide exposure it gets across the nation. Accurate representation is crucial because the audience influenced , help shapes the kind of society people dwell in from the ideals they grew up watching . USC Annenberg school for Communication and Journalism recently released a study called “Diversity in Entertainment”. The study shows “at least half or more of all cinematic, television, or streaming stories fail to portray one speaking or named Asian or Asian American on screen “ (Smith, Choueiti, Pieper). Some may argue entertainment films are pure fantasy, just another way for people to escape reality, for satire purposes and sure it can be. According to the 2013 Motion Picture Association of America’s Theatrical Market Statistics Report, people of color made half of the frequent movie going audience (MPAA). People’s recognition in existence is crucial. it is no wonder teenagers who are still figuring out who and what they are to subscribe to color-conscience conversations! All behavior is learned, and a good chunk of that source is the media