Racialism and the Media. Venise T. Berry
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us to, “pay attention to the relationships between the attitudes, images, and impressions of self and others as they are shaped through direct and mediated experience” (p. 51). He suggests that priming also helps to normalize racial stereotypes because stereotypes are primed by a certain trait or exemplar which is easily accessible and made applicable to societal perceptions.
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Humor and Black Americans
Numerous studies have been conducted to examine how an African American audience relates to humor. Some researchers focus on how humor is used to create joy and understanding, while others examine how it may help to cope with oppression and self-deprecation. For example, black participants reported a more positive attitude and identification when viewing racially charged comedy with black in-group members rather than with white out-group members while white viewers displayed no differences in a 2015 study by Banjo, Appiah, Wang, and others.
Social identity and racial socialization display a direct relationship between the negative stereotypical images received from media, especially when it comes to being black and understanding how blacks identify with their racial group (Adams-Bass, Stevenson, & Kotzin, 2014). Sanders and Ramasubramanian (2012) detailed through their research how most black film and television characters are considered favorable by black audiences despite the fact that many of those images are stereotypical.
A number of studies have explored how to eliminate or counter problematic stereotypes. For example, Holt (2013) found that the fear of crime is becoming more about the human dyad and less about racial stereotypes. Fojioka (1999) studied Japanese students and the negative stereotypes they recognized about African Americans. This research reported that negative stereotypes could be reduced by seeing positive portrayals of African Americans on television.
Tan et al. (2001) studied the social environment and popular roles in order to assess the influence of normative peer groups on changing stereotypes. They reported that peer groups could change the impact of specific stereotypes and they also confirmed that it does not extend to more general racial beliefs. Plus, a combination of critical media consumption and counter message control may reduce some racial stereotypes that are perpetuated by news stories according to a 2007 study by Ramasubramanian. Finally, targeted training against stereotypes can reduce the activation of those stereotypes among audiences based on the research of Kawakami, Dovidio, Hermsen, and others (2000). This means, sometimes people can be motivated to avoid stereotypes when they experience alternative processing.
A few studies have examined the connection between ethnic humor, stereotypes, and media. Reifsteck (2017) discovered that there is a strong correlation between black racial identity and humor specifically when it comes to enjoyment, expression and perception. She reported that exposure to culturally specific humor might also aid in racial identity development. Apte (1987) defined ethnic humor primarily as a type of humor where fun is made of the perceived behavior, customs, ←13 | 14→personality, or any other traits of a group or its members based on sociocultural identity. Gandy (1998) believes that ethnic humor works because it relies upon readily available stereotypes that make up the core of the joke.
Telling a joke that depends upon such stereotypes reinforces the symbolic structures in which stereotypes exist and do their cultural work. The joke works because it is understood and we understand or ‘get’ the joke because we possess knowledge of the stereotype. And, unless our response to the joke is hostile and resistive; getting the joke is likely to increase the structural importance of the stereotype by establishing yet another link for it to the somewhat unique circumstance in the joke. (p. 90)
According to Gillota (2013) there are three broad theories about humor. The first theory, was created by Thomas Hobbes and called “superiority theory.” This involves the use of ethnic humor as a way to feel superior to the group that is joked about. The second, is “aggression theory” developed by Sigmund Freud. Aggression theory connects humor to a kind of release valve enabling the discussion of socially unacceptable content. Third, “self-deprecating” humor which is used as a defense among some comedians where they make fun of their own racial group.
Blacks have been the butt of American ethnic humor for a long time argues Cooper (2007). This includes both denigratory and self-denigratory humor. Cooper writes on the comedy of Richard Pryor, “If a humorist makes fun of stereotypes, the implication is that stereotyping is not such a serious issue to the groups so represented (p. 244).” Also, in his study, participants easily recognized Pryor’s comedy through the lens of dominant black stereotypes such as cool, tough, ghetto, inferior, poor, lazy, and violent.
According to Bostick (2010), black comedians who speak critically, publicly, and extensively about controversial issues involving the black community claim to be well intentioned, but unfortunately, they may be validating explicit stereotypes. She believes that when stereotypes are validated by these well-known black voices it allows white people (the in-group) to justify those stereotypes about blacks (the out-group).
A Textual/Historical Approach
History can be used to effectively interpret the evolution of a topic or theme. The systematic analysis of stereotypes as they have historically evolved through media programming provides a path toward interpreting primary and secondary texts. Bryant, Black, Land & Porra (2013) believe that history is like a collective ←14 | 15→memory, “Having a history is important because what happened in the past profoundly affects all aspects of our lives and will affect what happens in the future” (p. 4).
Porra, Hirschelm, and Parks (2014) propose a concept called “cyclical history” which means that the past as reality is unchanging and repeating. They suggest that historical analysis offers a unique potential through scope and duration in which to understand complex phenomena. It is through history that researchers can analyze particular episodes, empirical cases, and patterns of activity according to Smith and Lux (1993).
This chapter analyzes one black stereotype that has evolved throughout history in film and television. It is the examination of specific words, ideas, images, and characteristics that make up particular patterns and themes connected to the Zip Coon stereotype. McKee (2003) argues that this kind of historical analysis can help us understand the way that various cultures and subcultures make sense of who they are.
This analysis examines intertextuality as described by Fairclough (2003), explicitly as it relates to the consistency of the Zip Coon stereotype. It is understood that different cultures may experience different things in different ways, specifically because of intertextuality. And, the interaction of certain images and messages are negotiated within specific historical timeframes.
The Zip Coon Stereotype
The Zip Coon stereotype evolved from minstrel shows in the early nineteenth century (Turner, 1994). Turner explains that the Zip Coon caricature is often presented in colorful, ill-fitting clothing, and he is usually staged as destructive,