Most University courses move away from the AS/A2 topic of gender to look at one or a combination of Representations, Class, Race, Disability or Sexuality.
Race, like sex, is a set of genetically defined, biological characteristics. However, like gender, it is also a set of culturally defined characteristics. Representation of race in the media can consist of the same sort of rigid stereotypes that constitute gender portrayal. However, stereotyping of race is seen as more harmful than stereotyping of gender, as media representation may constitute the only experience of contact with a particular ethnic group that an audience (particularly an audience of children) may have.
Racial stereotypes are often based on social myth, perpetuated down the ages. Thus, the media depiction of, say, Native American Indians, might provide a child with their only experience of Native American Indian culture and characters, and may provide that child with a set of narrow prejudices which will not be challenged elsewhere within their experience.
The need for a more accurate portrayal of the diversity of different races has become a priority within the media industry, but it seems as though it will take a while to filter through to programme and film-making.
In recent years, the success of actors such as Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Whoopi Goldberg, Laurence Fishburne and Morgan Freeman in a diversity of roles has meant that black characters in movies and on TV are no longer 'stock' types. Some of the time, however, there are many negative representations of black people, portrayals which seem deliberately designed to inflame the fear and hatred of other cultures - how positive a representation is the archetypal African-American gangsta? Yet often these are representations are coming from within black culture itself?!
Attention is now being paid to the representation of other ethnic groups, notably from the Asian culture, which represent a much larger proportion of the UK population than their TV coverage would suggest and there is much anxiety expressed in the UK about the portrayal of these groups, particularly in soap operas.
Undoubtedly, there are more ethnic faces on TV; presenters such as June Sarpong are paving the way in light entertainment, and journalists such as George Alagiah, Sir Trevor Macdonald and Krishnan Guru-Murthy report on the news. But perhaps the presence is best felt in soapland. In 2001, Ethnic Minority characters accounted for 13% of the cast of Eastenders. Coronation Street and Five's Family Affairs has increased its representation of Ethnic Minorities,as has ITV1's Night and Day and Crossroads. Hospital dramas too, it seems, are safe ground for black actors. 25% of the cast of Casualty, Doctors, and Holby City are from an Ethnic Minority.
For further reading from a range of UK and US sources -
Whitewashing of Primetime TV- An overview of the different races (ie not many, not much) represented in prime US TV shows
A shorter overview - Of the proportions of Race Representation in the US Media.
