In the realm of TV, regular non-white individuals are by and large perpetrators, not casualties. Minorities are commonly steady of the framework and endorsers of the norm, not fomenters for evolving it. Those charged by the police are the ones who cleverly control the framework, instead of being controlled and forced by it. Junk science examination, and other exposed criminology, reliably distinguishes the blameworthy as opposed to supporting bodies of evidence against the guiltless. None of that is valid in reality, yet in the realm of scripted TV these are establishing standards.
In the Normalizing Injustice: The Dangerous Misrepresentations that Define Television’s Scripted Crime Genre by The Color of Change states “Because many viewers experience these depictions as realistic representations of the criminal justice system, they have the potential to influence viewers’ understanding of the criminal justice system and turn the public against critically overdue reform efforts.” This relates to the “The Story of My Body” By Ortiz Cofer where she is trying to delineate the struggles that females, and all the more explicitly female in minorities group, manage on daily bases. She discusses how the confidence of females is significantly lower than it ought to be in the present day and age, and this can be credited to the way that they are singled out for each and everything. In fact, mainstream society, which is basically judgmental culture, expects young ladies to fit certain rules so as to be welcome to places, get friendship and have an equivalent possibility of prevailing throughout everyday life. Ortiz Cofer encountered this herself as a young adult when she moved from Puerto Rico to the United States. Ortiz Cofer passed on how cruelly she was dealt with and how she was always unable to fit in or acclimatize to society due to her skin color and her Puerto Rican legacies. There are absolutely numerous individuals all through Hollywood who care about estimations of equity, value and opportunity, finding each way they can to pursue them and frequently causing individual penances to do as such. Yet, there are similarly the same number of individuals, if not undeniably more, particularly at the leader level, who basically follow the benefit trail to any place it leads. They are prepared to bargain any standard, track on any gathering of individuals and oppose any external weight in administration of their measurements of budgetary achievement, regardless of what esteems they uphold openly. In spite of the apparent multitude of proclamations about incorporation and value, and all the duties to guarantee valid and mindful portrayal, the scripted wrongdoing kind gives day by day evidence of how far we need to go with regards to modifying the standards of the business to guarantee bona fide, exact and non-dehumanizing depictions of Black individuals and the issues that influence Black individuals. Hollywood must partake in the obligation regarding the effect these depictions have on society as mentioned by Joaquin Phoenix and others in the video.
Reference:
Obenson, T. (2020, January 22). New Study Reveals How Crime TV Series Distort Understanding of Race and Criminal Justice System. Retrieved October 17, 2020, from https://www.indiewire.com/2020/01/color-of-change-normalizing-injustice-1202204758/
I am glad that you wrote about this. I’ve been thinking a lot about the idea of representation this year. With the death of Chadwick Boseman a few months ago, the topic was brought more front and center than usual. Scrolling through Instagram and seeing the tributes posted to him, with so many young Black boys and girls clinging to Black Panther because he was a rarity: a hero who looked like them, who was a good guy, intelligent, strong, fighting for justice. I was thinking about the other side of that coin, beyond just the lack of sufficient representation of “heroes” of color, but the horrific misrepresentation perpetrated in crime dramas and other entertainment. As many others have mentioned in their showcase pieces, the criminal justice system in reality is rife with systemic racism, which perpetuates a cycle of dangerous stereotypes like “the dangerous black man.” The frequency that this stereotype is presented does harm to Black men and boys, both in their perception of their worth and character, and how they are perceived by others. As we have seen time and time again, being misperceived as a threat too frequently turns deadly for Black men and boys.