How ethnicity is portrayed in the media

Introduced, I am going to research how ethnicity is portrayed in the media, positive, negative or stereotypes for example. I chose this topic as south Asian are not represented much and I'm interested how different ethnicity's are shown, finding similarities and differences.

TV:
In the Big Bang Theory one of the main characters is Raj, an Indian doctor who isn't proud of culture and enjoys his life in America greatly. He is shown as very shy and is a stereotype "nerd", just like the rest of the cast. He has an even further problem as he cannot speak to women if he isn't drunk. He has an accent and a lot the things he says are funny because they are negative about it him. I like the way he is portrayed because many times in Media, Indian's are very religious and flamboyant, whilst here he is a proud american.


Everybody Hates Chris

This program is loosely based of a young Chris Rock's life, with him narrating. It follows Chris' teenage life in Brooklyn, he attends an all white school, with a racist but naive teacher who is attracted to African-american people so she sympathizes with Chris but often in a stereotypical way. His family is often struggling with money as his father works 2 jobs and Chris himself has to have an after school job. A lot of the humor comes from how Chris is treated being an only black kid in his school or how his parents are very strict, stereotypical african-american parents.




Skins

The character Thomas has a heavy African accent and his mother is very strict and he finds trouble adjusting to life in Britain, in the second season he becomes a drug dealer, which is stereotypical.



Movies:

Harold and Kumar is a film series about two asian-american "stoners" who embark on a simple journey which ends up going horribly wrong. Kumar is very different from the indian stereotype, he is very lazy and a free spirir, not afraid to do anything he wants. Harold is very much as you would expect him to be, he is a hard working investment banker, he is very uptight and the opposite of his roommate. It shows that asian-american's can also be easy going at the same time as being very smart.

Of Mice and Men is set in the 1920's during the Great Depression, one of the characters is an african-american stable-hand who is isolated from the others because of his skin color. He is frequently referenced in a racist manner, but the writer wasn't racist himself, this character was introduced to show racism at the time.

Although the film is about a white rapper, the film has racism in it as his african-american peers do not respect him in the rapping scene. They believe that because he isn't black he will bad a bad rapper.

News:

Riots in Tottenham after Mark Duggan shooting protest

There were riots in Tottenham erupted after Mark Duggan was reportedly shot and killed because of his race, soon the riots spread over the country, for no specific reason.

Hideously diverse Britain: why so few black football managers?

Kelis upset by 'slave' insult in London