Ethnicity

Ethnicity

• Now that we all have a good understanding on what ethnicity is and about yours and your peers ethnicities, we are going to examine ethnicity in the media

Media

• How many of you…– Watch TV?– Watch all the new movies that come out?– Read magazines?– Play online?– Listen to the radio?– Watch the news with your parents?

Media Influence

• The media has a huge influence on our society• You may or may not realize it, but all of you

guys are sucked in by the media.• Did you know that?

Media Influence

• The media has a huge influence on the way different ethnicities are viewed by society.

• The media consists of communication devices and some media outlets include television, newspapers, film, radio and magazines.

Media Influence

• Canada is a very diverse county.• It is often described as a melting pot– a metaphor for a diverse society becoming the

same, the different groups "melting together" into the same culture. It is used to describe the assimilation of immigrants to the United States.

Media

Today’s lesson

• In today’s lesson we will look at the topic of ethnicity

• We look at examples from the media that deal with ethnicity.

Why?

• Why is this important to learn you ask?– Our classroom is culturally diverse, therefore, it is

important for us as a community to examine the misrepresentations of ethnicities and for us to reduce stereotyping, prejudice, racism, discrimination, ignorance, myths, and misconceptions that we may have.

• Have you seen your ethnicity portrayed in the media?

• Have you seen any of your classmates’ ethnicities portrayed in the media?

• If so, how were they portrayed?

A blast from your past

• Who remembers this TV show?

The Magic School Bus

• The magic school bus is an example of a television school where almost every student is of a different ethnicity.– Jewish– Irish– African– Chinese– Mexican– European/White– Italian

Examples of some movies that portray cultural differences

• FREEDOM WRITERS:

Trailer

Freedom Writers

• Freedom Writers is a very powerful movie that displays a mix of a diverse range of ethnicities in a classroom.

• We see the struggle of the students seeing eye-to-eye• The class segregates themselves into their ethnic

groups, they feel that they are so different from one another and that they cannot relate to the other groups.

• With the help of their teacher, they learn that they are not so different after all.

Other examples

• Other examples include:• CRASH:– extremely diverse cast– Relationships between different cultures in Los

Angeles• REMEMBER THE TITANS:– Beginning of integration in schools– The team struggles to find a balance between

Blacks and Whites

Media Influence

• Our society is made up of so many ethnicities• Despite this diversity, the media misrepresents

different ethnicities in many ways.

Misrepresentation

• To give a false or misleading representation with an intent to deceive or be unfair.

• We will look be looking at different ways that the media misrepresents different ethnicities.

Aladdin

• Example of a cartoon that depicts Arabs in a negative manner is the Disney film, Aladdin.

• What is often overlooked is the obvious negative depiction of Arabs seen in the illustrations of the characters, the statues into which they are placed and the lyrics of the opening song.

Aladdin

• With the movie coming across as if it was a wholesome and innocent film, children are exposed to these stereotypes at a young age.

• The stereotypes include…the evil villain of the film, Jafar, was the only character with exaggerated Arab features.– This portrayal of the evil, and wicked Jafar, is an example of

the Western view toward Arabs.– Princess Jasmine's clothing was not that of a Princess, but the

clothing of a belly dancer• A belly dancer is viewed to be someone who is of lower class. This

gave Jasmine a vibe of sexuality rather then of royalty.

Jafar & Jasmin

Lyrics to opening song

• [Original (1992-93):]Oh I come from a land, from a faraway placeWhere the caravan camels roamWhere they cut off your earIf they don't like your faceIt's barbaric, but hey, it's home

• However, this is very prejudice, therefore, they changed the lyrics to…

Lyrics

• Oh I come from a land, from a faraway placeWhere the caravan camels roamWhere it's flat and immenseAnd the heat is intenseIt's barbaric, but hey, it's home

Next class

• Next class we will look more at race