Kendry Ortiz

Professor Ewan

FIQWS

April 26 2019

Critical Argument: Negative Representation is Out and Positive Representation is in for the Minorities

For decades minorities haven’t always been in the spotlight and if it was in a light it would be in negative light instead of a positive one. For example in many motion pictures African Americans are often portrayed as criminals, sidekicks or just for comedic purposes. Let’s take for example Donkey from the Shrek franchise he’s the sidekick of Shrek and always the butt of the joke or  makes everyone laugh with his crazy antics. There is also the lack of minority representation in marvel movies since there aren’t any movies having a minority as the main superhero and have the story revolve around them. I do have to admit that there are few movies like the controversial Black Panther and Captain Marvel have a excellent way of doing minorities justice. To support the gaining of positive representation the film industry should advocate for the increasing of positive representation of minorities because minorities aren’t always in positive light in cinema and are often portrayed as criminals or in minor parts of the film.

However It doesn’t matter if the production is big or small minorities should be able to get good representation after all it will benefit the film industry by helping the industry gain more following and the trust from the ethnic groups that have felt left out. The industry can even get involved with activist groups like the black lives matter group and antifa. In a article by Jaime Harn called “What Matters to Ken Jeong: Minority Representation in Film” which sums up the points renown actor, comedian and physician Ken Jeong has on how film portray big screen roles and how there have been changes in recent years in the attention that minorities are getting. “Overall, while Jeong said he thinks there are still not enough roles that accurately portray Asian Americans, he said that there has been a big change in the entertainment industry since his 2007 role in “Knocked Up.” He cited “Crazy Rich Asians,” a blockbuster studio movie with an all-Asian cast, as a good example of this progress.” Ken jeong says that recently there have been a shift in the type of portrayal minorities have been getting since his earlier roles in movies and TV shows and how this beneficial to not only the community of minorities but the film industry and will bring all races closer to each other in entertainment and give the industry more positive attention.

While minorities in the acting profession have increase there are still some inaccuracy when they are being portrayed in films and often then not writers don’t do minorities the best justice and put minorities in bad light. “It’s not like my wife would say, ‘Hey Ken. How’s your day?’ ‘Oh, it’s tough being an Asian American doctor in San Fernando Valley. How was your Asian American day?’ Some of the writing was getting to that level,” said Jeong.” Jeong gives a humorous way to show how the writing in some films can get when it’s based on a character who belongs to a minority group.

Additionally, women have suffered for bad representation in film and often are objectified in movies in a sexual way they have been pursued by men in those movies and can be a bad example of the worth of women. When women are portrayed in that way most of the women that’s watching the movie are often disgusted by what has been on the big screen. Women tend to be the weaker characters of films and are sometimes hated if there is a strong female character in the film or a character that seems to masculine. In a article by Crystal Kim called “Challenging Stereotypes That Confine Women in Film And Television” Kim says “Although women have become more prevalent in film and television, the backlash that women face for accepting roles considered to be too masculine or feminine still rings strong.” The public eye may not be interested in women who take a masculine role that may be the reverse of the stereotype that women are weak and can’t handle situations on their own. Female actors are often being pushed to take roles of damsels in distress or a weaker female role.

 Other people may claim that minorities have gotten representation in film and don’t even need any improvement on the types of roles that actors that are from those minority groups. They also think women aren’t objectified in film and female actors shouldn’t take the role of more masculine character because that defies the stereotypical tropes like being damsels in distress in societies norms. The film industry has also shown a distaste to showing minorities the spotlight compared to the dominant actors that have been successful in achieving great fame. This claim isn’t at all taking to account of how badly minorities are portrayed in film and how there should be more positive representation towards them. The film industry should advocate for more positive representation. The claim might be less progressive than the one that supports the belief that minorities should be positively represented in the film industry.

The argument is based on the fact that minorities aren’t represented in a good way and should be portrayed in a more positive light. The film industry if it does advocate for the increasing of positive representation in the film industry and when they are represented they are put in a bad light for example in a movie that is placed in the hood you can see african americans in acts of violence and being robbers. That example is a negative way to show what african americans act like and doesn’t a good message about their race and is often giving minorities who want to star in big cinema a discouraging message and make them afraid to try and act in movies.