Ideology Project: Implicit Biases

Ideology Project A
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Implicit Biases
Entertainment industry is one area that influences implicit bias against African Americans. During the early stages of film and media, black people struggled to represent their own beliefs, stories, identities and opinions because white people controlled the entertainment industry and chose how to portray African Americans in those films (Kulaszewicz, 2015, p. 2). Recent studies show that exposure Television shows and movies for a long time influences racial bias especially if these television shows and movies portray black people negatively. In particular, the entertainment industry has overrepresented African Americans in criminal cases. This overrepresentation has led to negative implicit attitudes towards black people in various white communities. Viewers who watch more local television shows often demonstrate more unconscious negative attitudes toward African Americans.
According to Kulaszewicz (2015), various television news and Hollywood movies often portray African Americans as criminals. For instance, in very early films like Birth of a Nation (1915) and the Tarzan (1932), black people were represented as thieves, imposters, ignorant beings, and potential rapists (Luther et al., 2012, p. 59). In some of these early films, the White people wore a black image that sent strong symbolic messages. The painting of the black image by the white characters meant that African Americans were not good enough to represent themselves (Kulaszewicz, 2015, p. 8). They were also seen lacking talent to fill a role. By taking over these roles, the white people sent a subconscious message to viewers that the white race was the preferred and the only group with the ability to contribute to the mainstream media. These actions and messages influenced institutional racism.
Researchers have also found that long-term television exposure predicts a low self-esteem for African Americans, but an increase in self-esteem for the whites (Yuen, 2019, p.2 ). These differences are in line with the gender and racial practices in Hollywood, which mostly cast whites as heroes, while depicting blacks as villains, sexual objects and sidekicks. These images of blacks portrayed in the Hollywood movies skew how viewers understand and categorize African Americans (Kulaszewicz, 2015, p. 8). Popular media can have a negative effect on whites’ perceptions of black people. Equally, stereotypes in film and television can strengthen preexisting racist fears. Therefore, it is safe to note that depictions of the African Americans by popular media influence implicit racial bias for white viewers.
Hollywood movies and television shows are the most watched in the world. As noted, the more a person becomes attached to these movies and shows, the more they are influenced by the content. Today, most of the people who play criminal characters such as robbers and drug dealers are black people, giving the audience an impression that African Americans are criminals. Since Hollywood movies are mostly watched, they change the perception of viewers that African Americans are bad people. This raises implicit bia...