Racism In Hollywood: We Are All Affected, Media And Television

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Racism in Hollywood: We Are All Affected
Media and television are often crippled by discrimination and racism. So, how are cultural racism and cultural appropriation conferred and delineated in Hollywood? The concept of culture in Hollywood is often ignored, and there is usually misrepresentation in regards to race. Habell-Pallán (262) elucidates in Analysis of American reviews of controversial Hollywood movies that Hollywood is still crippled by high forms of racism. The actors and actresses go through these harsh realities of discrimination as they try to make it in the world’s most famous industry. People are conscious of cultural appropriateness and cultural racism. The minority groups are usually hard hit by these effects of racism and discrimination. There is usually racial bending, whitewashing, neo racism and many other forms of racism in Hollywood as will be discussed in this paper. These acts of racism have widespread adverse effects as will also be indicated in the paper. The effect of racism in Hollywood is extensive as it not only affects the people in the entertainment career but also their global audiences. Accordingly, the understudy will describe the extent of racism in Hollywood and its widespread inimical effects to many.
Outline of Approach
Recently an Asian American Hollywood actress, Chloe Bennett, spoke out on her Hollywood experience and the harsh racial discrimination she has gone through in her career. The actress is popular for her role in the Marvels Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. The actress who previously went by her Asian name Chloe Wang describes her decision to change her name was highly influenced by the fact that Hollywood was not comfortable casting her with a name that made them feel uncomfortable (Habell-Pallán 261). She further elucidates the hard decision to change her cultural name was to enable her to have and grow her career and survive in Hollywood. Asian actors and actresses have slow progress in Hollywood and are normally only cast for roles of nerds and ninjas. Her comments on racism were highly inspired by Ed Skrein’s decision to pull out of a major role that he felt he would be ‘whitewashing’ a cast of an Asian parentage.
So, what is whitewashing? This is a popular erroneous casting trend in the film industry whereby white casts play the role of historical non-white character roles. This is witnessed in many films in Hollywood. For example, Marvel’s Doctor Strange included clear whitewashing in the casting of Tilda Swinton for the role of a character of Asian descent. This stirred a debate that Marvel fails to cast Asian actors/actresses for major roles. Based on comic characters, Marvel usually entails many non-white character roles. However, they often avoid this through whitewashing and/or racial bending. The examples of whitewashing in Hollywood are way too many. This just goes to show the level of cultural racism, and cultural appropriateness are rampant in Hollywood. Race bending is also another longstanding practice in Hollywood whereby film makers change the race of a character. Practices like blackface and yellow face have been continued. These are forms of theatrical make up on whites so as to let them play on-white roles deserved for the other races.
Behind closed doors, there is also rampant racial discrimination in Hollywood. Hollywood has been continually accused of exploiting African American actors and actresses and racism behind closed doors. Racism in Hollywood is the glass ceiling for members of the minority groups. Many African American actors and actresses describe the election of the former President Barrack Obama as an inspiration to them. Hollywood films show the racial hierarchy in which they are made (Smith 780). There has been the evident maintenance of white privilege in Hollywood films. There is a structure of cinethetic racism which marries anti-African American stereotypes and White heteronormative storylines. This indicated the continued backward contemporary color-blind viewpoint on race.
Argument and Position
Racism is often explained as a process of hegemony. This implies that the perspectives people hold about race is indirectly imposed and practiced through altering affiliations between people and among groups. According to Smith (780), in Race and the American Cinema: The Two Cases of The Birth of a Nation, American cinema has cultivated a continued a highly cryptic relationship with the issue of race and racism. American cinema especially is usually an impression of cultural Zeitgeist. Cinema ought to echo and shed light on energies otherwise denied an outlet. The media humans consume and indulge in models the perception of mankind. Media possesses great political, aesthetic and social functions and roles.
Millions of people flock to theatres to catch a glimpse of favourite entertainment and cinema films. It is keen to note that film production is an expensive industry which can bring in huge profits in revenue. People pay to get the entertainment and often the costs are quite significant. Things might be better from the colonial days of slavery. However, there is still persistent implicit and expressive racism across the film-making industry. What humans see imposes their perceptions. This is especially for children and young adults as they are easily impressionable. One of the defying persistent misrepresentations in filmmaking is conscious and/or unconscious stereotyping.
Why do members of minority groups often cast for the roles of criminals? This is especially so for the African Americans and the Hispanics/Latin Americans. Most of the gang-related roles are played by these members of the minority groups. The Asian Americans, as mentioned, often play ninja, masseuse, china dolls, Geisha girls, Lotus Blossom babies and nerdy/ geek roles. The depiction of African and Latin American in most films as the usual robbers, gang members, criminals, drug lords, thieves and prison characters sends the wrong message to the minority children. In the recent past, notable, these members of minority groups are being casted for other important and respectable roles and positions of power. The trend might be slowly washing off, but the stereotyping is deeply ingrained in the film productions. Until this phenomenon change, film production will remain racist and discriminatory.
It is this kind of viewing that c...