I chose Lost, Glee, and Ghost Whisperer as my three TV shows. The average age of the viewers of Lost is 43.3 years old which by comparison is 10 years lower than Ghost Whisperer's average viewer age of 53.0 years . Glee has the youngest average viewer age of 37.0 years old. Now look at data that I have analyzed:
Diversity
I looked at the racial breakdown of the characters on each show. In the United States the major ethnic groups percentage of the overall population is:
· White 65%
· Hispanic 15%
· Asian 5%
· Black 13%
Here’s how representative each show was of the total population.
Of the 9 major characters in Lost (actors who were in at least 96/144 episodes) 7 were white and 2 were Asian. In some of the episodes I watched there was an African American man and his son, but they did not appear in enough episodes for me to consider them major characters.
Of the 14 main characters (present in 43/44 episodes) in Glee, there are 11 whites and 1 each of Black, Hispanic and Asian ethnicities.
Conclusion
I watched the shows Lost, Glee and Ghost Whisperer to see what stereotypes I could identify. The casts are whiter and thinner than the U.S population. The only homosexual was an object of ridicule and was portrayed as weird. These imbalances have the potential to reinforce many different stereotypes that were discussed in my blog post. Before I had started this project, my opinion of media in general was that it was benign entertainment (including those annoying ads on TV for shampoo or the SHAM-WOW). What I think about media after the project is how the shows project many different stereotypes that do not reflect reality. I will never be able to watch a TV show now without looking at it more critically.
· White 65%
· Hispanic 15%
· Asian 5%
· Black 13%
Here’s how representative each show was of the total population.
Of the 9 major characters in Lost (actors who were in at least 96/144 episodes) 7 were white and 2 were Asian. In some of the episodes I watched there was an African American man and his son, but they did not appear in enough episodes for me to consider them major characters.
Of the 14 main characters (present in 43/44 episodes) in Glee, there are 11 whites and 1 each of Black, Hispanic and Asian ethnicities.
In Ghost Whisperer, the 6 characters that have appeared in at least 33/107 episodes are 100% white. These data are summarized in the following table:
Ethnicity | U.S. | Glee | Lost | Ghost Whisperer |
White | 65% | 78% | 67% | 100% |
Hispanic | 15% | 7% | 0% | 0% |
Black | 13% | 7% | 0% | 0% |
Asian | 5% | 7% | 22% | 0% |
Other | 2% | 0% | 11% | 0% |
In all of the shows, Whites are over represented (the proportion of whites were greater than the U.S. average). People who watch these shows could conclude that the U.S is less diverse than it actually is. In addition, at least one of the minority characters (Lost, Other) was a torturer. This could lead people to form negative stereotypes of minorities, but it was difficult for me to measure this.
Homosexuality:
Wikipedia states that 2-13% of the population in the United States are homosexual. Only 1 character in the shows I surveyed (1/29 or 3%) was homosexual. Based on my research, homosexuality appears to be under represented in these shows, and could lead viewers to conclude that it is less frequent than it actually is.
In the show Glee, the homosexual character Kurt is considered weird and insulted by the other characters and is bullied frequently. There are many different stereotypes that may be reinforced by the portrayal of this character: 1) that Homosexuals are “weird” (not normal), 2) it is acceptable to bully them. Also, the people who bully Kurt are the popular jocks and cheerleaders. So to be popular, they can just bully the homosexual, because that's what their role models do. In one episode, the homosexual teen is called “faggy” and his dad stands up for him. This provides a more accepting/positive message rather than the mixed messages about Kurt typically portrayed.
Body Image
The only overweight character in all of these TV shows was Hurley on Lost. There is nothing special about him, but he was in enough shows for me to consider him a major character. All of the leaders on all of these shows are thin and in-shape. Is this suggesting that leaders are not overweight? Stereotypes like this may contribute to people developing eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia, because they are trying to look like their role models. In contrast in 2005-06, 67% of non-institutionalized adults were overweight or obese.
Conclusion
I watched the shows Lost, Glee and Ghost Whisperer to see what stereotypes I could identify. The casts are whiter and thinner than the U.S population. The only homosexual was an object of ridicule and was portrayed as weird. These imbalances have the potential to reinforce many different stereotypes that were discussed in my blog post. Before I had started this project, my opinion of media in general was that it was benign entertainment (including those annoying ads on TV for shampoo or the SHAM-WOW). What I think about media after the project is how the shows project many different stereotypes that do not reflect reality. I will never be able to watch a TV show now without looking at it more critically.
sorry about the font problems. They showed up after I posted it.
ReplyDeleteYou have many interesting details and observations in this post. I did wonder about how you think this media (and the shows you usually watch) have affected your attitudes and wanted to know more about what you are looking at more critically now. (A small note--where is your information, especially statistics, from? And be sure to use quotations around phrases that are not yours!)
ReplyDelete