Chp. 23 Different Children, Different Dreams- Tylor Robinson

This article brings up a few key points that may not be so obvious. In the reading it says, “It is very difficult for whites to see how whiteness as a norm informs all media representation, ‘as if it is the natural, inevitable, ordinary way of being human,’ Richard Dyer explains (Dyer, 1988, p. 44).” I guess this is true because without thinking about it I don’t notice that every commercial that has a colored kid in also has two white kids or that a colored person rarely speaks in a commercial.

            I can’t decide if the oppression of minorities in the media is not obvious to me because of my whiteness or if it is because this is the way it has always been. According to the article commercials exemplify many of the rules which seem to govern the representation of children of color in the media. It says, “Children of color are pictured singly on commercials, if at all. The minority child is seen left screen – the least dynamic potion of the frame according to design theory. The Black child is not given a speaking part and is seen mainly in group shots with white children, only once alone and never in facial close up. Like most black models, the boy has been directed to smile broadly and act clownish, manic. (Sadness, frustration, or complaints are the prerogatives of whites.) These rules govern the representation of children in commercials across a broad range of advertising styles and narratives.”

            This article shows us that advertisements express a hierarchy of race relations. White children are always the stars, African-American children play the bit characters. The superiority of white children is reinforced through visual composition and through gestural codes. This may be true for most advertisements but the article does provide one exception to this hierarchy. In commercials that relate to sports or music black children are routinely granted the authority. For example in shoe and athletic wear commercials black males are usually pictured playing the sport the gear is made for. The article explains this by saying that this emphasizes their presumably “inborn” athletic ability.

            This article provided many examples of the problem with the dominant media construction of minorities, and thanks to this reading my eyes have now been opened.  While watching tv today I saw two commercials that stuck into my mind as oppressive. One of these commercials was a kellog’s cornflakes commercial. It showed three boys eating cornflakes at a picnic table. The two boys at the end of the table were both white. The black kid in the commercial sat between the two white kids, and did not have a line.

Discussion Questions:

1)      1) Why do you think it is hard for a white person to see this oppression of minorities?

2)     2) Do you think the stereotype of blacks being athletic affects the way people see them as           being smart?