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 are 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 himself
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 could have a
significant effect on racial prejudice in society according to 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[7].
So, if there are programs representing black people in a negative way
constantly, the audience will eventually have certain ideas about them. According
to research by Robert Lichter, 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[8]. This
constant negative representation can also have an impression on black people
themselves. The focus with 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”[9]. The
fact that black people 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. They can try and relate to Top Boy as it comes
across very 'real', also there aren't many black television shows that there
are limited alternative representations of young black men. 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”[10]. So
Top Boy is a prime example of a television show that supports 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[11]
As George
Gerbner explains the negative representations of black people on television,
Frantz Fanon uses
psychoanalysis and psychoanalytical theory to explain the feelings of
dependency and inadequacy that Black people experience in a White world[12]. “I am black; I am in
total fusion with the world, in sympathetic affinity with the earth, losing my
id in the heart of the cosmos -- and the white man, however intelligent he may
be, is incapable of understanding Louis Armstrong or songs from the Congo”[13]. Fanon
believes that black people don't have a chance in succeeding or doing well in
this world, due to their colour of their skin. Fanon identifies four ways in which
people can typically stereotype black people; he says that people can
'infantilize' for example the 'cute' children on charity adverts/posters.
'Primitivize' for example the 'exotic & virile' tribal warriors or
'bare-breasted maidens' with a 'natural sense of rhythm‘. 'Decivilize', for
example the 'gangsta', 'pimp' etc and finally 'essentialize' which means
undifferentiated mass, for example, 'they all look the same to me'. Top Boy (2011), decivilizes characters
as they are shown to be gangstas and drug orientated this adds to the negative
representations of black people. Also, in Top Boy they infantilize as they make
the audience sympathize with Ra’nell as he has to look after his mum. Similarly
to Fanon's theory, Top Boy adapts Alvarado (1987) theory where he says that
there are four themes in racial representation: exotic, dangerous, humorous and
pitied and Top Boy takes the dangerous and pitied category.
British
television a remarkable change happened, in 1976, ‘The Fosters’ was the first British sitcom to
contain a solely black cast. Sadly, this sitcom only lasted a year, only having
two seasons and 27 episodes which showed that it wasn’t a hit with the ‘white
audience’. The Foster’s was inspiration for many other
British black sitcoms, for example, ‘No Problem!’, Desmond’s and The Lenny Henry Show. However, other than sitcoms where positive Black imaging there is tends to be found in
sports and entertainment - both of which point "naturally" to Blacks,
Empire Road (1978) was
the first British Soap and was written, directed and predominately acted by
black people. This soap was similar to Coronation Street, but Empire Road depicted life for
African-Caribbean and other ethnic minorities on the streets of Birmingham. But
similar to The Foster’s,
Empire Road only lasted for
two seasons and having only 15 episodes over one year. So in the mid-70s, black
British television shows were not very successful until the late 1980s, where Desmond’s (1989-1994) became one of the most popular and
successful black sitcoms lasting for six seasons and having 71 episodes. Even
though, it was a full black cast, the roles of the characters were
stereotypical where the main character, Desmond Ambrose, owned a barbershop but
always desired to go back to Guyana for good and Sean Ambrose, who was
Desmond’s youngest son, inspired to be a rapper which is very stereotypical
with black people. But in this sitcom they included a countertype where Michael
Ambrose was an assistant bank manager, who later becomes the manager. Desmond’s appeared on Channel 4, where ethnic programming, and
particularly that offered by the 'minority' channel, Channel 4, had been
unable to fulfil original expectations[14]. In American television, the
second half of the 1960s, there were more than two dozen programs featuring
black actors as leading characters, or in prominent, regular supporting roles. The hit black sitcoms from America
were I Spy, Julia and The Cosby Show and later on in the 90s, the
popular sitcom The Fresh
Prince of Bel-Air. The fact
that America started broadcasting black programs before Britain connotes why
black British actors want to live in America to pursue an acting career as
there is more of a chance. But with The Cosby Show, Bill Cosby integrated the
show with blacks, whites, Asians, and Latinos to broaden the audience, Cosby told an interviewer that the series sought
to tell "an American story”[15]. This relates to Frantz’s
theory of ‘Black face, White mask’, as Cosby had to put on a ‘white face’ in
order to succeed. But why did it take so long for British television to invest
time into making black programs?
More
recently, young black writers and actors take to the internet to upload videos
of their own dramas/sitcoms. With British television, there really aren't that many roles
for authoritative, strong, black characters in this country[16] so black people take to the
internet, on sites like YouTube because they can’t get television networks
interested in the shows they have created. The last full black cast sitcom in
Britain was The Crouches (2003) and ended on 2005, only lasting 12 episodes
because it received moderate reviews, the other full black cast before The
Crouches was The Desmond's (1989-1994). This connotes that British television
is mainly racist as commissioners
say: 'Can you make white people laugh?'[17]
Television networks don't want to have a full black cast unless it's gritty
'urban realism' for example Top
Boy (2011) where it portrays
the obvious, typical negative stereotypes of black people and directors and
television networks believe is relatable. Having these typical genres
associated with black people constantly makes the audience unwilling to watch
anything different because the
media are responsible for
influencing, sensationalising and creating stories that play on violence and
conflict[18] which links to the hypodermic
needle where individuals are the passive receivers of media messages. Brothers With No Game is a prime example of a popular
British web series which follows four men's London life, relationships and
jobs. Other web series such as Venus
VS Mars and All About The McKenzie's are also popular on the web. Will
British television show more realistic and positive representations regarding
black people? How many times
have we seen in our daily newspapers and televisions Black people associated with
crime; people from the third world presented as poor and starving victims of
famine and drought, refugees and asylum seekers as ‘sponging off the state’?[19]
Above
all, ethnic minorities are significantly
under-represented across the whole range of entertainment media[20] as it seems as they are restricted
to particular genres, either comedy or crime, anything besides that audiences
would not be interested as it's something they are not used to seeing, Karen Ross (1992) on white
perceptions of ethnic minorities on television demonstrates that attitudes of
whites towards non-whites are influenced by media representation[21].
There have been changes over the years regarding black people on British
television but there is still more room for improvement as there can be more
programs that counter-type the typical stereotypes of black people because Ethnic minorities, in particular,
are marginalised by a white ideology that naturalises itself as ‘common sense’
and the norm.[22]
Word count: 2,197
Work Cited:
Books/Journals
1.
Fanon, Frantz. Black
skin, white masks. New York: Grove Press, 1967. Print.
2.
Awan. F. (2007). Young People, Identity and the Media - Representation
3.
Kwartey Titus-Glover, A. (2004).
An Educational Guide to The History of Black People Past and Present
Moving Text:
1.
Top Boy (UK – 2011 to Present – Channel 4)
2.
Luther (UK – 2010 to Present – BBC1)
3.
Desmond’s (UK – 1989 to 1994 – Channel 4)
Internet:
1.
Black people only online - http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/02/black-british-tv-drama-online
2.
Black people going to America - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/9051992/Young-black-actors-should-go-to-America.html
3.
Not having strong black actors
- http://madamenoire.com/104363/the-persistent-issue-of-black-representation-on-television-and-why-more-roles-wont-fix-a-thing/#j3H1eGwYAga1s1Wl.99
5.
Top Boy gives
an accurate portrayal of London - http://www.metro.co.uk/tv/880078-yann-demange-being-a-teenage-boy-in-london-now-is-scary
9.
Black actors as supporting roles, leading roles - http://www.jfredmacdonald.com/bawtv/bawtv10.htm
10.
Channel 4 unable to fulfil original expectations - http://web.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/CRER_RC/publications/pdfs/Research%20Papers%20in%20Ethnic%20Relations/RP%20No.19.pdf
Work Consulted:
Internet:
1.
Programs only include ethnic minorities because they should - http://revisionworld.co.uk/a2-level-level-revision/sociology/mass-media-0/media-representations-age-social-class-ethnicity-gender-sexuality-and-disability
2.
Stuart Hall - http://beyondproject.wordpress.com/tag/representation-of-black-people-in-television/
4.
Stop whining about the media! - http://www.salon.com/2000/04/19/images/
5.
Representation - http://media.edusites.co.uk/article/understanding-representation-stereotyping/
7.
Failing to reflect modern ethnic minority cultures - http://blogs.coventrytelegraph.net/passtheremote/2008/07/top-soaps-accused-of-stereotyp.html
8.
Media teaches the public about ethnic minorities - http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/long-way-go-minorities-and-media
Newspapers:
1.
Stop and search - http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jun/12/police-stop-and-search-black-people
2.
Underachievement representations of black people -http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/oct/05/london-black-children-awards
[1]
Representation, history and ‘black Britain’ [Internet]. Available from: http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/9459_011200ch1.pdf
[Accessed 12 December 2012]
[9] Ibid
[10] ibid
[11] ibid
[14]
Ross, K. (1992) p.31
[18] Kwartey
Titus-Glover, A. (2004) p.5
[19] ibid
[21] Awan,
K. (2008) p.13
[22] Ibid. p.14
