Omi’s article “In Living Color: Race and American Culture” analyzes the relationship between race and the media. He defines race and gives many examples of different usage of race and common theme of race in the media by using different examples. Race is defined in relation to white, who are superior and the others, who are inferior compare to the whites.
Omi points out how after “decades after the passage of civil rights legislation and the affirmation of the principle of “equal opportunity,” (626), race is still a huge factor of defining popular culture and is even evident in sports. The talk about race is not only confined to the production of media but also is a subject of critique by the public. Omi also makes a distinction between the overt and inferential racism. Stuart Hall defines overt racism as an “explicitly racist argument, policy or view,” while defining inferential racism as “those apparently naturalized representations of events and situations relating to race… which have racist premises and propositions inscribed in them as a set of unquestioned assumptions” (627). Omi, then talks about how race is used to relate to others and how that shapes our racial beliefs. These kind of ‘racial beliefs’ become “common sense” and therefore lead us to feel uncomfortable in the presence of individual who do not fit into our idea of ‘racial beliefs’ (627). He briefly mentions the history of race in United States as he refers to enslavements of blacks, colonization and invasion of Mexicans, exclusion of Asians, and the genocide of Native Americans.
Then, he analyzes the role of races in film and TV. He argues that the “power of the media only in their ability to reflect the dominant racial ideology, but in their capacity to shape that ideology in the first place” (629). He then explains how the film and TV has perpetuated the minority racial characters as racial stereotypes. Many of these racial stereotypes follows historic events. Early ethnic stereotypes of Jews, Italians and Irish immigrants persisted until 1940s due to heavy immigration from these ethnic groups. The ‘Western’ genre followed by the expansion of the west created the uncivilized views on the Natives. Every racial groups seems to have distinct characteristics assigned to them, “Latinos are portrayed as being prone toward violent out-bursts of anger; blacks as physically strong, but dim-witted; while Asians are seen as sneaky and cunningly evil” (630). The generalization of a racial groups does not enable each group to differentiate between each other, while whites are able to create distinction among themselves. It also creates the bad and the good paradigm in popular culture, as every bad ethnic character is countered by good white characters.
He also analyzes the relationship between race and gender in the popular culture. Mixed racial relationships were illegal up until 1967. Media was also not allowed to show mixed raced relationships. However, the relationship between white male and ethnic female were still portrayed, while the ethnic male couldn’t be seen in relationship with white female. Different racial groups also had different sexual stereotypes. Asian females are often seen as the “gracious “geisha girl” or the prostitute with a “heart of gold,” while the Asian males are seen as asexual with no interest in the other sex. (632). He also discuss the evolvement of sexuality of black characters. Historically, black males were seen as threat to white females, but now they are seen as the comic relief. Black females are seen differently based on the whiteness of their skin.
He also argues that the racial groups are now related to each social problems in the media. “Blacks are associated with drugs and urban crime, Latinos with “illegal” immigration, while Native Americans cope with alcoholism and tribal conflicts” (632). It is difficult to find racial characters that step out of these boundaries. There are some movements to fight against these one dimensional roles but they haven’t been too successful. Hollywood continues to create what it envisions each race to be like.
Finally, he briefly mentions the racialization of music. He argues that R & B” (Rhythm and Blues) and “soul” music are clearly references to black music, while Country & Western or heavy metal music are viewed, in the popular imagination, as white music” and that the black performers must cross over to appeal to the white audience (634). He also argues that even those who cross over successfully, racially integrated concert audiences are hard to find. He also points out that music by black artists are less likely to get air time in radio and less likely to be shown in main stream TV channel.
He concludes his article by saying that “particular racial meanings, stereotypes, and myths can change, but the presence of a system of racial meanings and stereotypes, of racial ideology, seems to be an enduring aspect of American popular culture” (635). The thought that presence of system of racial meaning and stereotypes will always exist in pop culture is scary but is also something that seems to be true.
Overall, I was surprised to find that much of Omi’s argument is relevant today because he made his arguments almost thirty years ago. However, even now it is very difficult to find racial characters that are different from their stereotypes. There also continues to be the issue of white washing in Hollywood. And although Omi briefly mentioned few success of the fight against these racial stereotypes, the success hasn’t been many. Also, even though he mentioned how the pressure of black community has changed the portrayal of blacks males, it has just moved the target to other ethnic groups. Today’s political climate also gives a new wave of social problems that are been stereotyped to different racial groups, such as the relationship between terror and Muslims and the travel ban. It definitely seems like it would be a long time before we see a representation in the media in which every racial group feels included.
“In Living Color: Race and American Culture” (Omi)
MICHAEL OMI.