I have never really watched The Real World and the parts that I have seen did not really invite me to see more and after reading this essay it seems as though I did not miss much. I think America and our society has previous ideas and stereotypes about African American males and from what I have read it seems as though this show played right into the hands of those stereotypes. For eleven episodes the producers had three months of taping to choose from and this is what the producers decided (when boiled and edited down) what was “real” telling of how the cast member (and in particular male African American cast members) acted like. Does it seem strange to anyone else that somehow each African American male had the same persona as the last? But yet I find it somehow hard to believe that each European American woman or male had the same persona as their previous cast mates. The reason I think this is, is because American viewers did not have a stereotype of how those people were going to act.
I think it is also telling how the female woman responded to the African American cast members. They did not want to be alone with them in a room by themselves and one went as far to cry rape when no sexual misconducted even happen. Did the female cast mates respond like this to every cast mate member? Did they feel uncomfortable to be alone in room full of white males? The article does not say but I betting the answer to that question would be no. And I’m betting the reason for that was simply because other cast mates where white.
But I think the part of this show that makes me the most angry and sad is that the producers and the creators played their show and edited their show right into those stereotypes. My guess is if they hadn’t their ratings and the money that they made would not have been as great.
Discussion Questions:
1) Do you think female cast member would have responded in such fear to their white male cast mates?
2) Do you think producers played into the stereotypes of African American males to draw in more rating and to make more money?
I agree how it's interesting and a little funny that the show's producers and creators found this one depiction of a black male, and decided to reuse it season after season. And I'm sure the women on the show didn't react quite the same way when left alone with a white male cast mate as they did with the black male cast mates.
ReplyDeleteThe women probably have limited experience around African American men, and the majority of what they know is what is portrayed by the media. It would be interesting if they put someone like Carlton from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on the show.
ReplyDeleteIt did seem like they put a diverse group of black men in the cast however. From teachers to self-proposed "playas." Maybe Carlton wouldn't have made a difference.
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