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Internet resource(s)
- The Dawn of Television Promised Diversity. Why we got ...Using original archival research and FBI blacklist documents, professor Carol A. Stabile pieces together the inter-sectional narratives that never made it on air. ...
- Hollywood Diversity Report from UCLAThe reports primarily examine the relationship between diversity and the bottom line in the entertainment industry.
New books in the collections
Find new items on minorities on television in the library's collections.
Defining representation
The image or idea of a thing. In film studies, representation is an overdetermined term with various meanings.
1. In a common use, representation is a synonym for film in general, inasmuch as all films constitute an image or idea of the thing they depict. In relation to this, it is necessary to note that what we actually see is a re-presentation (i.e. the screening) of a representation (the film).
2. In debates about film and realism, the specific qualities of photography have led to claims that the film image transcribes, or indexes, reality rather than represents it; in this formulation the film is the thing (see index). A counterclaim has it that all representation is governed by a framework of codes and conventions specific to a particular time and place (see poststructuralism; semiotics) and also that the thing represented is often just another representation (see intertextuality): in this formulation the once-removed nature, and perhaps even the untrustworthiness, of representation is emphasized.
3. Representation is also a key term for scholars who work on questions of identity and on the ways in which films may construct or deploy negative stereotypes of marginalized or oppressed groups (see disability; gender; race; religion; sexuality; social class). In this context, the term can also mean to advocate on behalf of an individual or a group, as with an elected politician or legal representation. Used thus, filmmakers from marginalized or oppressed groups are sometimes said to bear the burden of representation inasmuch as their work is asked to speak on behalf of, or represent, the group to which they belong or are presumed by others to belong (see cultural studies and film).
4. The use of the term to denote the process of mental representation is less common, though it is integral to some theories of perception and psychology that are occasionally addressed within film studies (see cognitivism; phenomenology and film).
Kuhn, A., & Westwell, G. (2020). Representation. In A Dictionary of Film Studies. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 3 Nov. 2022
In the Library's collections
Suggested subject headings for searching the online catalog include:
- minorities in mass mediaThis is a more general subject heading to use.
- minorities on televisionCall number range is PN 1992.8 .M54 on Baker Level 4.
- women on televisionCall number range is PN 1992.8 .W65 on Baker Level 4.
Introductory reading(s)
The encyclopedia of ethnic groups in Hollywood by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .M56 M85 2003ISBN: 9780816046041Alphabetically arranged biographical and topical entries cover the treatment and progress of African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, Jewish Americans, and Native Americans in motion pictures and television.- Ethnic and racial images in American film and television: historical essays and bibliography byCall Number: Baker-Berry Z 5784 .M9 W65 1987ISBN: 9780824087333
Filming difference: actors, directors, producers, and writers on gender, race, and sexuality in film by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .S62 F55 2009ISBN: 9780292719743Addressing representation and identity in a variety of production styles and genres, including experimental film and documentary, independent and mainstream film, and television drama, Filming Difference poses fundamental questions about the ways in which the art and craft of filmmaking force creative people to confront stereotypes and examine their own identities while representing the complexities of their subjects. ...
Race and media: critical approaches by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781479889310A foundational collection of essays that demonstrate how to study race and media From graphic footage of migrant children in cages to #BlackLivesMatter and #OscarsSoWhite, portrayals and discussions of race dominate the media landscape. Race and Media adopts a wide range of methods to make sense of specific occurrences, from the corporate portrayal of mixed-race identity by 23andMe to the cosmopolitan fetishization of Marie Kondo. ...
Race in American television: voices and visions that shaped a nation by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781440843051This encyclopedia explores representations of people of color in American television. It includes overview essays on early, classic, and contemporary television and the challenges, developments, and participation of minorities on and behind the screen. ...
Selected book title(s)
Media & minorities: the politics of race in news and entertainment by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .M56 L37 2006ISBN: 9780847694532Media & Minorities looks at the media's racial tendencies with an eye to identifying the system supportive messages conveyed and offering challenges to them. The book covers all major media--including television, film, newspapers, radio, magazines, and the Internet--and systematically analyzes their representation of the four largest minority groups in the U.S.: African Americans, Native Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans. Entertainment media are compared and contrasted with news media, and special attention is devoted to coverage of social movements for racial justice and politicians of color.
Media and the affective life of slavery by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781517910402Amid fervent conversations about anti-racism and police violence, Media and the Affective Life of Slavery delivers vital new ideas about how our feelings about race are governed and normalized by our media landscape. Allison Page examines U.S. media from the 1960s to today, analyzing how media culture instructs viewers to act and feel in accordance with new racial norms created for an era supposedly defined by an end to legal racism. ...
Something ain't kosher here: the rise of the "Jewish" sitcom by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1992.8 .J48 B76 2003ISBN: 9780813532110From 1989 through 2002 there was an unprecedented surge in American sitcoms featuring explicitly Jewish lead characters, thirty-two compared to seven in the previous forty years. Several of these--Mad About You, The Nanny, and Friends--were among the most popular and influential of all shows over this period; one program--Seinfeld--has been singled out as the "defining" series of the nineties. In addition, scriptwriters have increasingly created "Jewish" characters, although they may not be perceived to be by the show's audience, Rachel Green on Friends being only one example. In Something Ain't Kosher Here, Vincent Brook asks two key questions: Why has this trend appeared at this particular historical moment and what is the significance of this phenomenon for Jews and non-Jews alike? ...
Other library resource(s)
Pioneers of television. Season 4Call Number: Jones Media DVD #17746ISBN: 9781608830626The 'Breaking Barriers' episode traces the story of people of color on American television.
