Xmas; Task #6 - Introduction + First/Second paragraphs

What does a TV series like TopBoy do to reinforce/challenge stereotypical representation of ethnic minorities as criminals?

From recent and historical events, such as the London riots 2011 and the Notting Hill race riots 1958, representations on broadcast reinforce the criminality within ethnic minorities. Britain had a large scale of ethnic immigration which challenged positions in society as their jobs were being taken by ethnic minorities, this lead to an increase of fascist groups such as Union for British Freedom set up by Sir Oswald Mosley to ‘Keep Britain White’ [1]. Since the migration, in the 19^th century, Asians and Afro-Caribbean’s were stereotyped and labelled as being ‘filthy’ [2] which can be interrupted by the colour of the skin in comparison to the majority in Britain. As a result, ethnic minorities have been negatively addressed in television series such as ‘TopBoy’.

TopBoy address stereotypical views of ethnic minorities by showing youths in North London to have daily lifestyles which include drug use, criminal activities and teenage pregnancy. Yann Demange and Ronan Bennett, the producers, wanted ‘to give the audience an accurate portrayal of growing up in London’ [3] By showing ‘accurate’ representations may create self-fulfilling prophecy as youths are vulnerable and have ‘realised –supported by research- that the media influence not only how others view them, but even how they view themselves” [4]. Also TopBoy was broadcasted two months after the London riots 2011, suggests the accuracy of the stereotypes being addressed