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Filled under: Other | Tuesday, October 12th, 2010 |
Tags: African American, America's Next Top Model, Angry Asian Man, Asian American, Bachelor, beauty, body image, Center for Media Justice, class, ColorLines, ColorLines Magazine, Davey D, embedded advertising, Flavor of Love, HIV-positive, Isis King, Jennifer L. Pozner, Jennifer Pozner, Kristal Brent Zook, Latina, Latino, Malkia Cyril, model, MTV, Neela Banerjee, Neelanjana Banerjee, Pedro Zamora, Phil Yu, pop culture, race, racism, Reality Bites Back, reality television, sexism, Snooki, television, The Bachelor, The CW, The Root, transgender, unscripted programming, VH1, women of color
Today at ColorLines Magazine, Neelanjana Banerjee looks at race, representation and reality TV and asks, as per the story’s headline: “Is Reality TV a Revolution for Race or the New Minstrel?”
A smart, nuanced and well-reported piece, Banerjee notes that:
“A series of NAACP reports have tracked the dismal representation of African Americans and other people of color on network television for the past decade. In 2000, the NAACP called for a boycott of the four major networks because none of their 26 new shows featured an actor of color in a lead or starring role. In 2006, the NAACP reported the number of minority actors of any sort in prime-time had declined to barely 300. In its most recent report, however, the NAACP declared reality TV ‘the only bright spot’ in the industry.”
The NAACP could arrive at such a conclusion because, as Banerjee writes, “Today, the mainstream dating shows, such as ‘The Bachelor,’ primarily ignore people of color. But on competition shows and on cable networks, characters of color are much more likely to show up.”
Which
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