Critical Investigation #5 - Essay Plan

How does British television negatively represent Black people?

1. Introduction - A brief description of my research and description of stereotypes and representations (discussion question) - 250

Critical investigation is going to focus on the representation of black people in British television. So I will be investigating whether British television reinforces or challenges stereotypes through television shows such as Top Boy and Luther (R). I will also be giving a brief description on my historical text Desmond's to support my discussion.

2. Stereotypes + counter-types + textual analysis -500

I will discuss how media reinforces stereotypes in British television with the text 'Top Boy', using evidence from my research and using relevant quotes (R) Whether the fault lies with commissioners or writers, the fact remains that the spectrum of blackness on TV is narrow, and has remained almost stagnant in the last decade or so.

Also in this paragraph, I will be discussing the opposite to the typical stereotypes that the media portrays. So I am going to use 'Luther' as the prime example “If a show does feature black folks, they are usually one-dimensional, sidekicks of the lead character or the rapist/murderer/gang-banger on Law & Order.” and use relevant evidence and quotes. (R)

3. Audience Influence - effects theory (cultivation theory) -250

4. Academic research on representation of black people in TV- 250
“when it comes to imagery surrounding black people; I’m used to relentlessly negative - knife crime, underachievement representations”
Fanon: http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/949036-peau-noire-masques-blancs quotes

5. Historical aspect - how things have changed/not changed - 500
I will be discussing the racism issues that black people had to face, 

"What positive Black imaging there is tends to be found in sports and entertainment - both of which point "naturally" to Blacks" 

this can relate to the type of genre they were restricted to. I will talk about Desmond's and other black television programs. Also the 1958 riots and protests. (H, R, G)

6. Black British dramas online rather than on TV -300
In this paragraph, it will be about black dramas going online rather than television.Online productions are able to bypass many of the restrictive production and media ownership issues affecting mainstream broadcast media 

"the fact remains that the spectrum of blackness on TV is narrow, and has remained almost stagnant in the last decade or so." (A, R, S)

"The big breakout successes with majority black casts have been in the genre of gritty "urban realism", usually focusing on inner-city London, crime and drug deals." 

This links to Hypodermic syringe model:  individual is passive receiver of media messages (A)

7. Conclusion - summarize points and relate back to the question - 250
In British television black people are normally portrayed negatively but there is change happening as they are taking more roles that are challenging stereotypes. **Relate to online, make comparisons to historical text etc