Gender and Race in the Media
The issue of race and gender representation is a very touchy subject when it comes to mass media. People feel that they must include all races into the picture when they are creating an advertisement or movie. The other side of this argument is that there should be no special efforts made to fill “quotas” for race and that it is all subjective. I agree with Kittross when saying that I think that races represented in a commercial ad or movie should be representational of the location.
Kitross believes that we should focus more on the individual, rather than the “big” picture. I feel that special efforts to be representational of the all genders and races is itself a form of racism and sexism. With that said, I feel that any special treatment of any sort to any race or gender is racism. The advertisement of the Wisconsin College that doctored in an African-American among a bunch of Caucasian kids is a perfect example. I believe that this type of thing is absurd.
Another issue that Kittross deals with is that of political correctness. I think that there is no possible way to have a language that offends no one. One old controversy that I feel is appropriate here is the issue of shopping store greeters greeting with “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays.” Yes, some people don’t follow Christianity and aren’t apart of our customs but if you change one thing, you are going to upset more people. I’m not saying that I prefer greeters to say “Merry Christmas” but merely that I don’t approve of them changing their slogan for the mere attempt to include everyone. That is impossible.
One final argument that I would like to make is how is it even possible to represent all races and genders in something without completely skewing the whole concept of “equal” representation. The more a commercial attempts to include everyone, the more likely they are to skewing what the actual representation of that certain situation would be.
