Critical investigation #6 - Intro, paragraph 1+2

How does British television negatively represent Black people?

Has British television challenged or reinforced negative stereotypes of black people? Many would argue that British television is racist. Firstly, as recent and historical events such as the Notting Hill riots in 1958 and the London riots in 2011, British television exaggerated and reinforced the typical, negative representations of black people and other ethnic minorities, labelling them as 'criminals' and 'thugs'. An example of this is Top Boy (2011), where the representations of black people are mainly focused on the typical stereotypes which is portrayed on how they talk, dress and live. By contrast, for the case of Stephen Lawrence, the British nation was once again confronted with the memory of Black presence: that of Stephen Lawrence, the victim of an ugly and brutal form of British racism [1] this case challenged the negative stereotype of black people as Stephen was a victim of a racist attack. This was a very iconic moment in British history because it made people focus on the police force as it took 18 years to find only two of the five people that committed the murder. In British television, an example of a counter-type program is Luther (2010) which doesn't fulfil the typical stereotypes of black people. 

British television programs often use stereotypes because it gives audiences a quick, common understanding of a person or group of people [2], so the use of stereotypes can reinforce the negative representation of black people. Hall argues that ethnic minorities are labelled in three categories: troublemakers, entertainers and dependant, however, images of ‘blackness, do not represent the social reality of being black; rather they position us into a ‘way of thinking about blackness’ [3].  In the program 'Top Boy' (which is based in North London) it shows the gritty 'truth' and ‘give audiences an accurate portrayal of growing up in London’ [4]. However, in the opening scene of Top Boy, the first five minutes gives the audience a sense of what Top Boy will be about. Despite the few glimpses of London's iconic tourist attractions for example, The London Eye, the audience may focus mainly on the estates shown as it connotes crime and drug use. During this opening scene, the audience will see a few black actors so they will quickly assume that it will be a majority black cast and this can lead to the audience automatically relating them to drugs, or other typical stereotypes, because they are standing outside a shop. However, even though Top Boy predominately emphasises on the typical stereotypes, Ra’nell isn't shown as ‘dependant’ as he rejects money from a close family friend. But among British television, this doesn't happen regularly 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 [5]. By contrast, in recent British television there have been examples of black counter-type programs. Luther (2011) is a Detective Chief Inspector who works for a Serious Unit Crime which is set in London. Luther is a prime example of a counter-type program because 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 [6]. In Luther, the audience realises that Luther lives in a groggy, little council flat in London. The setting of the flat shows that Luther is still being represented negatively because despite his middle class job as DCI, he still lives a very working class lifestyle. Ignore the location of his flat and how he lives, Luther rejects Hall's theory of 'dependency' as Luther adapts a father role. A girl called Jenny has to stay at Luther's as she has nowhere else to go, she then compares herself to 'Spongebob' and Luther didn't know what that was, so it shows their age difference and highlights Luther to be more of the father figure which is unusual with black characters in British television. Furthermore, in this scene the way Luther presents him self is very significant. He has a very strong east London accent, this is significant as it connotes negative representations of black people and refers to black people as not very sophisticated, so even if Luther tries to steer away from the negative stereotypes it also refers back to them.

The negative representations of black people on British television can be explained by George Gerbner’s cultivation theory. Cultivation theorists argue that television has a long term effect on the audience which is small, gradual, indirect but cumulative and significant. So, if there are programs representing black people in a negative way constantly, the audience will eventually have certain ideas about black people. About one-third of those with an opinion say that the ethnic characters they see on televi­sion affect their attitudes toward ethnic groups in real life [7]. However, the focus with the cultivation theory is on ‘heavy viewers’ but black students were the heaviest TV watchers and were also the group most likely to use television as a learning tool [8]. The fact that black people watch are the heaviest TV watchers can suggest that they can be ‘learning’ attitudes from programs such as Top Boy as they believe that it’s something they can relate to. But the negative representations shown on television can link to the typical stereotypes and if the audience views certain ethnic and racial groups in a negative manner and televi­sion portrayals confirm those images [9]. So Top Boy is a prime example of a television show that portrays the cultivation theory, and the role of television is to reinforce and crystallizer of existing attitudes is significant, even if few people actually form their opinions of cultures or races based on what they see on TV [10]

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