Possible Solution to Racialized Issues in Pop Culture

I believe one solution to this problem is through the diversity of various programs that create and develop careers in pop culture. For example, I think performing arts institutions or acting academies need to diversify their student population in order for minority groups to have the same opportunity to grow. Schools or programs that teach students about directing and producing should be a mix of races, not all white students. It is important that institutions change the way they are admitting students to be fair in all races. If minorities do not have the same directing education as white students, then they will not be able to get the job. By including all races in the developmental stages of a career in pop culture, then I think its best they allow a more diverse group to begin and basing talent off of their abilities not their skin color.

History of Racial Inequalities in Pop Culture

It's hard to pen point an exact time throughout history to show when pop culture began its issues on racial inequalities. In my opinion, the most appropriate and significant place to start this discussion is in the invention of television its ability to broadcast all across the country. Although other pop culture events occurred through the circus, plays and musicals, and of the sort. I believe the development of television truly catapulted the issue of racial inequality in the United States into popular culture. As entire families sat together to watch various tv programs, they became conditioned to seeing white actors and actresses. The end of African American segregation and the introduction of color tv correlate in time and viewers began seeing the lack of diversity tv programs had.

Through the development of tv, minorities especially African Americans, were devalued and not given the same opportunity as whites. Stemming from traces of segregation, powerful white tv channel owners, began integrating stereotypes, racial humor, and racial satire into their broadcasts. The white directors would stereotype almost all black actors on tv and those racial views began to spread like wildfire throughout the United States. The popularity of African Americans being depicted as characters from the age of slavery solidified these issues of stereotyping and inequality. The tv programs allowed viewers to view African Americans in that same light despite legislation to ensure they were treated equal.

Although we have come a long way from the racial messages and hurtful stereotypes in the history of pop culture, there is still an undeniable continuance of racial undertones in the industry today. Fortunately, there are some actors from minority cultures breaking down barriers and gaining slow success. However, those actors do struggle to find the same opportunities as white actors, directors, singers, and producers. Modern pop culture has made significant gains in the blatantly racist comments, remarks, and roles it once presented in history, but activists are trying to fight the racial inequalities still present in pop culture.

Family in Pop Culture

On my mom's side of the family (Japanese side), my grandparents, mom, and uncle were all in the entertainment industry. My mom is born and raised in Manhattan, just down the street from Columbia University, and did a lot of child acting and singing when she was younger. My grandparents got into acting and modeling to earn more money to send their two kids to a private school in the city. 

My late grandparents would often be casted as the token old and innocent Asian couple, such as their roles in Crocodile Dundee. They always experienced racial inequality because there were not the same amount of roles for Asians, let alone minorities, in comparison to white actor roles. Most of the roles they auditioned for were for small, minor characters with little to no dialogue. To the directors or auditioning managers, it was a matter of filling the minor character or background people with the right type of people. I remember my grandparents doing a magazine ad for an insurance company. They posed in front a nice suburban house pretending to be watering the garden. It wasn't until I got older to realize they were strategically chosen for that shoot. The company wanted to give off the impression that the insurance company is a safe choice through their protection of an old, innocent Asian couple. 

The greatest role my grandfather played was the Prime Minister of Malaysia in Zoolander. He had quality time in the movie and his role required him to have a decent amount of dialogue. My grandfather was thrilled at the opportunity even though he is not Malaysian, he is Japanese, but that did not matter to the casting directors, as they were only looking for someone to “look the part” or “look Asian”. They had to endure this inequality and continue to take the minor roles because that was one of their main sources of income. 

My uncle is used to his agent calling him for specific auditions needing a middle aged, Asian male, such as the time he was a powerful Asian business man on an SNL skit, or one of the technology assistants in a Verizon Wireless commercial. My uncle even did a photo shoot for a company and had to pretend to be Alaskan, so he was dressed in fur coats and posed with a very large dog. 

From hearing their personal stories of acting and auditioning, it is easy for me to fully support the claims of issues in pop culture and the major racial inequalities in the entertainment industry.  

Asian Privilege

While reading through multiple articles on the idea of Asian privilege, I came across this one CNN article called, "The truth about Asian Americans' success (it's not what you think)," written by Jennifer Lee. The article title automatically intrigued me because as a half-Asian female, I thought I had a good understanding of the origins of Asian privilege. Based off of a study conducted by Lee and her fellow sociologist coworker, Min Zhou, they found that the main contributor to Asian success in the United States are the immigration laws. These laws "favor highly educated, highly skilled immigrant applicants from Asian countries." As a result of fierce controversy over immigration laws during Presidential debates and other events, I did not realize Asian privilege was so deeply rooted in the laws, which exemplifies what Golash- Boza would consider institutional racism. 

The article also explains the saying "ethnic capital," which is what highly educated immigrant groups build in the US economy. This idea made me think of institutional racism again as the article pointed out various ethnic institutions the ethnic capital produces such as after school tutoring programs or academic clubs. It was interesting for Lee to explore the path in which the information from Asian neighborhoods spreads to other immigrant groups. As a result of the information, or ethnic capital knowledge, circulated throughout Asian groups and beyond, children of immigrant parents have the ability to break educational expectations and be successful. 

In comparison to Asian privilege, Mexican immigrants have had a much harder time becoming successful. As a less educated immigrant group than Asians, they do not receive or generate the same amount of income or have the same resources as other Asian immigrant groups. Although Mexican immigrants do not have same level of ethnic capital, the children of immigrant parents are becoming increasingly successful in education. 

I thought this article was interesting and very informational. I hope everyone takes the time to read it because many new issues on privilege have been introduced to me.

 http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/03/opinions/lee-immigration-ethnic-capital/

 Lee, J. (2015, August 4). The secret to Asian Americans' success. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/03/opinions/lee-immigration-ethnic-capital/ 

White Audiences and Movies with Slavery

            Despite the unequal amount of blockbuster movies with African Americans as the leading character, the few that are popular are usually based off a brutal historical depiction of racism, slavery, and inequality. Since the release of various films starring African Americans such as 12 Years a Slave, The Help, and The Butler, sociologists have questioned why those movies are so popular in comparison to other movie genres with African American actors. It seems as though movies about the struggles of African Americans overcoming slavery and cruelty are seen to be the most successful. White audiences flood to see those films and feel a sense of relief knowing they have progressed past the slavery era. These mainstream films have a significant effect on white audiences because their ideas of racism are of the past and have a sense of comfort knowing they have moved passed slavery. However, there is a cognitive disconnect between what white audiences see and how society acts towards African Americans and even other minority races. The historic acts of racism presented in the mainstream films have transformed into different forms of modern racism that are still just as cruel as the past.



 Cole, O. (2013, December 26). Hollywood and the Shaping of Perceptions of Racism. Retrieved        from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/olivia-cole/hollywood-and-the-shaping_b_4499060.html

When Whites Get a Free Pass

           Ian Ayres, an experienced writer on the topic of racial and ethnic inequalities, explores the idea of privilege and the deeper unconscious actions of discretionary benefits towards certain races. Based off of an Eddie Murphy skit on SNL called “White Like Me,” the author makes the connection of people giving things to each other for free, to a field experiment in Australia. Despite the geographic distance between Australia and the United States, the same issues and conclusions backed by research, can be seen in our country. This field study demonstrated another way researchers can exemplify racial privilege in today's society. The experiment included 29 young adults from various ethnic groups and both genders where they got on a bus and inserted a fare card that was empty. The point of the study was to see how many times the bus driver let that person go on for free. The results varied by driver, but all indicated some form of relative favoritism toward the tester that shares their race. Despite that result, black drivers still favored white testers. The study also tested different dress attires, such as army uniforms and business wear, which found that those variables also contribute to the favoritism. This field experiment shows that there are still racial biases and unconscious actions people do to solidify those preconceived notions. This experiment simply illustrated that discretionary benefits can be as commonplace as letting a person go on the bus for free.

Ayres, I. (2015, February 24). When Whites Get a Free Pass. Retrieved from                     http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/24/opinion/research-shows-white-privilege-is-real.html

Race and Beyond: The Intersection of Pop Culture and Race

            
 In an article written by Sam Fulfood III, he discusses the way popular culture is manifested through different races. The author uses a personal anecdote to illustrate the way pop culture flows into our everyday conversation and language. As described in the article, the author's friend, Ernie, is an African American that enjoyed listening to classical music at the Atlanta Symphony. Ernie has not gone to the symphony in many years and he received a call from a man trying to sell him a subscription to the Atlanta Symphony. The author points out various assumptions of the situation such as Ernie's last name being Holsendolph, which one may not recognize as being African American. Ernie assumed the man calling was white and was very surprised to hear him use the phrase, "in a minute." Ernie has heard that phrase from his younger son who is very involved in pop culture, especially the hip-hop industry. The author described how surprised Ernie was to hear a phrase known to be from the black culture used in a non-calculating manner. Through this example the author explored the notion of performers using work from black or white cultures. Phrases are created by an influential figure in pop culture and flow into the mainstream where kids from various races start adapting and changing them into their own vernacular.

            This article made me realize that pop culture can bring races together as well as put boundaries between them. In this particular article on the creation of phrases circulating into the mainstream, it is difficult to decipher where the phrase truly originated from, therefore making it hard for a certain race to claim its creation. Although those origins can be blurred at times, races may argue or fight over who created it and who was copying it. I thought this article brought up an interesting point in that phrases in the mainstream can be changed by people in different races to be used in things such as songs and social media posts.

Fulwood, S. (2012, May 1). The Intersection of Pop Culture and Race. Retrieved from https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/news/2012/05/01/11510/race-and-beyond-the-intersection-of-pop-culture-and-race/