Stereotypes on Television

Perhaps since its inception, TV contents have perpetuated negative racial and or ethnic stereotypes, which for most part actively create or reinforce audiences' existing perceptions. This media platform steadily legitimizes the status quo by providing explanations for why subordinating groups such as African-Americans, Native Americans, Latinos, Asians, just to mention a few deserve to be in their 'assigned positions.' This racial groups have seemingly been marginalized, and are often under-represented, and sometimes demeaned on TV (one of the mainstream media) in stereotypical ways. 
For instance, most ABC family shows, such as 'Black-ish,  Fresh Off The Boat, the Golbergs, among others, have been intentionally designed to portray stereotypes of black, Asian, and white family sub-cultures.
One would say, oh, it is just a family entertainment. But, the question is, wouldn't such racial stereotypes shows create systematic racism, thereby cultivating and inflaming what actually exist in the real world? Especially, when there are already racially assigned stigma out there. For example, some shows and even news stories portray African-Americans as the mammy (big, mean, loud mother figure), the coon (lazy, unreliable buffoon), the buck (savage, ruthless brute), and the tom (submissive, loyal slave). Similarly, Latinos-Americans have been known in popular media as the comic (unintelligent, lazy buffoons), the Latin lover (oversexed, promiscuous seducers), and the crook (violent, law-breaking criminals).
One would think that TV content, as it is supposed to be a dominant socio-cultural agent that influence racial attitudes and racial targeted policy preference, should be fairly presented, void of any negative stereotypes. Although, TV contents have improve a little bit from this direction, media stakeholders should totally desist from using stereotypical approach in carrying any type of message (be it news, entertainment, and what have you). TV is a visual media that is a powerful source of information that helps everyone understand himself and others. It also defines what is normal and acceptable behavior in the society. Therefore, it should portray contents that are fairly represented among all racial and or ethnic group, especially the minority, who are vulnerable.
           http://abc.go.com/shows/blackish/episode-guide/season-02/14-sink-or-swim  

Ideology and science fiction

Last week I discussed about the genre conventions in Sci-Fi movies. this week I am discussing about how science fiction has historically depicted various ideological issues in across different generational times. There is a historical trend of how science fiction has depicted several social, political, economic, and other problems facing humanity and the world around us. Sci-fi movies or novels can be set to center around past, present, as well as the future.
For instance,  science fiction novels was written by H.G. Well's Time Machine which centered around class structure and the extreme form of Social Darwinism in United Kingdom - the idea that human beings have evolved into two social class system. Old ideological issues which have attracted movies and an other science fiction stories include, Utopian societies, and Dystopian societies.
In the modern times there are a host of ideological issue being showcase as sub-genres in science fiction movies and novels. A typical example is the Star war prequel trilogy, which showcase political issues such as corruption, exploitation, and decay - the good versus evil. Another ideological movie called The Minority Report features the current criminal justice system, introduces the idea of perfectly predicting a crime of violence so the offender can be arrested even before the crime is committed, and the political and legal ramifications of actually using such a system.
Finally, there is a sub-genre of science fiction stories, documentaries and movies that centered on climate change also called global warming. As this social issue has turned into hot political debate between the left and right and ideological lines, the media has given attention on the issue. Movies like Aluna, Merchants of Doubt, An Inconvenient, and The Day after tomorrow have showcased the global worming issue.

http://www.starwars.com/news/corruption-exploitation-and-decay-the-politics-of-star-wars

     

Genres and Conventions

Media conventions of genre are not always conform to standards earmarked. Atimes, obvious conventions such as character, plot, setting, costumed and props, music, lighting, dialogue, and visual style do conform to standards. But looking at more technical conventions, such as themes of movies are in a state of constant adaptation. The fact is, themes in general are not static, but rather dynamic to reflect the beliefs and values of a particular generation or era of the society. Science fiction movies are great examples of movie themes are fall into this category. For instance, Star Wars, Terminator 2, and Alien have Sci-Fi themes that have strong ideological messages and representation that reflect the concerns of the society at the time of their production.
The Sci-Fi genres mostly have conventions that center around some perception of conflict between human race and the other things or forces (usually termed, 'us and 'them'). The standards set by movies like, fantastic worlds, invasion, and visitation often portray ideas that enable audience to construct more modern and futuristic views of the world. A typical example is the Terminator 2, which central theme is the battle for survival between the human race and the self-aware artificial intelligence that is Skynet.  http://www.jamescamerononline.com/T2Complexity.htm
Typically, most Sci-Fi movies the like the above mentioned have disaster and wars, and often times depict the notion of science out of control, implying that taking science too far will lead to consequences that might be in some cases very bad.
But in my opinion, some of these Sci-Fi themes are too exaggerated, and therefore might not be reflective of real conventional Sci-Fi genres, although they are designed to be complex, full of suspense, and provide tricky definitions. More so, certain sub-genres like friendship, romance, comedy, and war do not conventionally conform to the genre's standards. But they are featured to give the edge and life to the films, making them seem more realistic.   

Media and Politics: Media User Empowerment

New technological advancement has created the 'new media.' The sweeping change brought about by the new media is empowerment of media user, especially on political front. Users now have more control over incoming and outgoing messages, and their ability to contact literally millions of other users across the globe.These changes have sharply increased the need for new communications policies. But, at the same time of information expansion, the argument is that the political information diet of average American will remain meager.
One factor leading to user empowerment is the changing media landscape. The closing decades of twentieth century saw over-the-air networks and cable television systems multiplied, adding hundreds of broadcasting channels of radio and television programs to customers. For example, senders of political messages now have available scores of inexpensive channels for sending customized political messages to diverse audiences. This is likely to improve the electoral chances of minority candidates and minority parties who can readily tailor their messages to the concerns of the selected audiences. The effect is the widening of the political landscape. President Barack Obama election can attest to this fact.
Customizing also makes information transmission more effective than when depersonalized news is directed to heterogeneous mass audiences. For example, computers equipped with modems allow information seekers to gain access to the internet system, which now carries a huge array of politically relevant messages. Unfortunately,l while a great deal deal of effort has been developed to create new channels for carrying information, attention to the quality and diversity of the political content has lagged. Often times, choices offered by various channels, for most part, amount to surface rather than substance. Impartial analytical information about public figures and political issues that would improve citizens' ability to make informed decisions is all too scarce. Another argument is that, despite an explosion of of politically oriented home pages on the World Wide Web, little has been genuinely added to new media that enriches the information supply beyond the offerings of the far smaller circle of 'old media,'

   

https://www.google.com/search?q=media+and+politics&biw=1366&bih=614&tbm=isch&imgil=L58l8JwB7hd5eM%253A%253Bn2n

But ultimately, the new media have freed users from the tyranny of the the time-clock, Twenty-four-hour news channels and computer news sources now make news available around the clock, rather than at times dictated by media delivery schedules. Computers has increase the size of audiences who can reach computerized data at times of their choice.
     http://www.business2community.com/social-media/impact-social-media-truly-society-0974685#QyZyRF1XmxsOILIg.97