the relations/politics of representation on television

The Relations/Politics of Representation on Television

Date: February 13, 2009Time: 9am – 12 noonCost: $10 – pick up your tickets from Cmns Co-op early to reserve seat with specific speakersVenue: Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre Attire: Business Casual (Formal if attending Business Expo)

Door prizes, gift bags, and food will be provided along with the invaluable careers insights you will gain from attending this annual event!

Tickets go on sale January 26 for $10 each and will be available at the Communication Co-op office. Register early to ensure a spot with the speakers you want the most!

**Tickets also allow attendees entry to the Business Career Expo, the largest Business Career Fair in BC with over 70 companies, 350 representatives and hundreds of careers options!

CAREERS IN COMMUNICATION:

Try the view from the top

You have until February 23 to turn in your video on DVD to the Communication Co-op office, across from the School of Communication main office at SFU Bby. Good luck. We can't wait to see your creations!

The Relations/Politics of Representation on Television

Presenters: Maria Power & Brianna Bergeron----------------------------------------------------------

First half of the class: Race on Television - A Historical Context and Review

(1950s – 1990s)– Amos ‘n’ Andy to The Cosby Show

----------------------------------------------------------Second half of the class: Race on Television – Current Issues

– AZN Television, Television Network Grades, Little Mosque on the Prairie

Race on Television - A Historical Context and Review (1950s – 1990s)

• Sociohistorical Context: – U.S. racially stratified and highly segregated – (1955) Approximately half of all U.S. households have

television sets– The discourse of whiteness is so ingrained in society that

the majority of white viewers are incapable of perceiving the offensive nature of television representation of blacks and black culture

– (1960s) Civil Rights Movement – (1970s) Social protests and petitions by blacks against their

lack of representation/quality of representation in the mass media


• The Production and Consumption of TV – Producers

• White males decided how Blacks should be represented on TV

• When pressured tried to incorporate traditions and identities of Blacks

– Audiences • Cultural Subjects: recognized by their traditions,

practices, identities, and representations• Economic Subjects: recognized as consumers that

television advertisers could target • Political Subjects: recognized as groups that worked to

have representation on television


• Racism’s Manifestation in Television – 1950s– Blacks in subservient

roles – ‘Mammies’, servants,

criminals, deadbeats – Legitimized racial

inequality– Amos ‘n’ Andy, Beulah,

The Jack Benny Show


• Racism’s Manifestation in Television – 1960s– Stereotypical

representations of Blacks less overt

– Legitimized cultural superiority of white middle class

– Black as culturally white or invisible

– The Nat “King” Cole Show, I Spy, Julia


• Racism’s Manifestation in Television – 1970s– Strove to capture the

‘authentic’ black experience within poor, urban communities

– Reinforced a normative white, middle class construction of family, love and happiness

– Good times, Sanford & Son, What’s Happening!!


• Roots– 1977 American

television miniseries – One of the most

watched tv shows in history

– A significant development in the history of the representation of Black Americans


• Racism’s Manifestation in Television – 1980s

– Black upward social mobility and middle class affluence replaced Black urban poverty on TV

– Relied on unusual situations for thematic structure and comedic payoff

– The Jeffersons, Benson Webster, Diff’rent Strokes


• The Cosby Show– A significant

development in the history of representation of Black Americans

– The Huxtables were a middle-class family who just happened to be Black

– Black culture still functioned as a comedic device


Terse conclusions• The Politics of Representation in Network Television, Gray argues that

contemporary representations of race were shaped by the formative years of television and the evolution of discursive practices from assimilationist to pluralist to multicultural. He stresses the importance of The Cosby Show in television representation of race, even though it straddles all three practices. (Lauren E)

• “Television and the Politics of Difference” - GrayGray believes that television acts as a communicative tool that constructs a national identity. However, he points out that the identity it constructs is one that underepresents the diversity of North American society and that it helps to uphold longstanding and outdated racial beliefs. (Carly Z)

• Does Obama’s Victory Signal the Dawn of Post-Race Politics?Hunt relates the 1980’s sitcom the Cosby Show, which showcased an articulate, welll-educated black family, to the similar middle-class, professional of Barack and Michelle Obama. Both the Cosby Show, and to much greater extent the election of Obama as president, serve as a source of cultural and racial pride. Obama’s election also acts as means for the perpetuation of many white viewers’ opinion that black families who failed to achieve economic success have only themselves to blame. (Carlie T)


• Color Adjustment (1992) Directed by Marlon Riggs – Color Adjustment traces 40 years of race

relations through the lens of prime time entertainment, scrutinizing television's racial myths and stereotypes.

– The story shows how African Americans were allowed into America's primetime family only insofar as their presence didn't challenge the mythology of the American Dream central to television's merchandising function.

– It demonstrates how the networks managed to absorb divisive racial conflict into the familiar non-threatening formats of prime-time television.


• Questions on Color Adjustment • Do you agree with the film’s argument that

positive images of race can be equally damaging as negative images of race?

• Do you feel that television as a communication medium is capable of providing the quality of representation necessary to depict the complexity of race?

Race on Television – Current Issues

• Youtube video: The New Racism on Television • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mipKP3FKAqo• Bradinn French offers comparisons to how old

stereotypes persist in new forms on television


• Sociohistorical Context– Severe inequalities between racial groups persists

within North America and abroad – Images on television hold extreme ideological

power and reach mass audiences– Television plays a large role in national imaginary– Debate over diversity in American network

television is a debate over the production of America’s national imaginary


• Production and Consumption of Television– Producers

• Industrial television system is organized by a few monopolies

• Shows that do represent Blacks are mostly produced by White studio and network executives

• Racial groups approached as niche markets

– MTV Desi, MTV Chi, AZN Television


• Production and Consumption of Television– Audiences

• Majority of Americans/Canadians have access to television sets, regardless of race

• Middle class ideal of American national identity and belonging still prevails through television programming choices and advertising


Report Card in TV Diversity – for the 2006/2007 Season


• Discussion on TV Ratings Chart– Would you give these television networks the

same ratings as above? Do you think that these ratings are accurate?

– What grade would you give Canadian television networks (CBC & CTV) and why?

– Do you feel shows featuring actors of traditionally underrepresented ethnicities such as Ugly Betty or Grey’s Anatomy offer quality representations of race or do they simply play to establish stereotypes and white dominant cultural values?


• Discursive Practices and Contemporary Television Representation of Blackness

– Assimilation and the discourse of invisibility: racism occurs because of individual prejudice

– Pluralist or Separate-but-equal Discourses: Cultural difference and diversity is represented but in a way that confirms and authorizes dominant (white) social, political, cultural, and economic positions and readings

– Multiculturalism/Diversity: Does not adjust to the gaze of the idealized white middle class audience


– CBC hit situation comedy

– No matter our difference we are surprisingly similar

– Created by Zarqa Nawaz, a Muslim British-Canadian of Pakistani origin

• The Canadian Context: Little Mosque on the Prairie


– How is the show achieving humor? What is being used as comedic devices?

– Gray’s three discursive practices (Assimilation, Pluralist/Separate but equal, and Multiculturalism)

– What cultural values are being catered to?

• The Canadian Context: Little Mosque on the Prairie


• The Canadian Context: Little Mosque on the Prairie– Do you see any similarities to

any past/present television shows we have discussed today in terms of comedic devices/stereotypical representations?

– Which of Gray’s 3 discursive practices do you think Little Mosque would fit under?

– Do you feel Little Mosque serves as a quality representation of South Asian Muslims? Why or why not?

the relations/politics of representation on television

Documents

television slide

s blacks

television presenters

television advertisers

s sociohistorical context

s racisms manifestation

television network grades

s social protests