MEST 4: Research+Production: February 2012

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

Ethnic minorities have ‘accused all broadcasters of tokenism and stereotyping, screening exaggerated [1]’ extreme representations and fail to reflect modern ethnic minorities. The mass media had already established ‘the link between ‘filth’ and ethnic minorities’ [2] since the 19^th century. Gramsci’s view on hegemony can be applied to both elements of old and new racist stereotypes in the current media, thus racism still pervades in our society due to the images shown. For example, TopBoy represent black youths’ daily lifestyle, in North London, which involves gang culture, poverty and lack of opportunity which shows why many people result to the brutality of the streets. From the representations being reinforced and challenged through TopBoy, the audience has highly critical as it ‘continually misrepresent’[3] ethnic minorities which may ‘strengthen the lines of division in a community’[4].

Stereotypes help industries to represent ‘codes that give audiences a quick, common understanding of a person or group of people’[5] which can be reinforcing stereotypes. According to Hall ethnic minorities are represented in three categories; troublemakers, entertainer and dependent, which is shown through a historic point of view before TopBoy: Babylon (1981), as the ethnic minorities are shown to be smoking, running around and dancing through many scenes. This reinforces Halls ideologies as it can be argued they are shown to be troublemakers by taking jobs and houses off the majority of the community. Also, by aggressively responding to racist remarks made throughout by the community, for example ‘go back to where you’re from’, shows them to be entertaining the white community and also reflected the ‘zeitgeist’[6]. From these events, the polices reaction towards ethnic minorities have changed as Dyer (1993) states that “how we are seen determines in part how we are treated; how we treat others is based on how we see them; such seeing comes from representations [7].

Bowling (1990) argues that “black people 'are 26 times more likely to be stopped and searched”[8] and they constitute less than 9% of the population in England. This connotes the media has been perpetuating the bourgeoisies view which has influenced their opinions on different social groups. This is also supported by statistics which shows that ‘ethnic minority defendants received longer sentences in almost every offence group’. Specifically, the black minority have ‘higher levels of criminality’[9] However, Hall describes the view of ethnic minorities as criminals to be ‘mythical’ due to the ‘result of distorted media attention’[10] and the police and criminal justice system acting on these racist stereotypes, victimising ethnic minorities.

However, minorities have ‘long attempted to convince industry decision-makers to seek better balance in news coverage of minorities’[11] to reduce negativism in societies because when ethnic communities become active in responding the mass media coverage victimises those who are being targeted, creating sympathy to the ‘others’ and “although black people are often portrayed as criminals to be feared, they 36 times more likely than white person to be a victim of a violent attack”[12]. As a result, Sampson and Phillips (1992) agrees and notes, racist victimisations is ongoing and are labelled as ‘minor’ instances of abuse and harassment; this shows that the media negatively enhances the stereotypes of ethnic minorities. However, within the media, Asian people are portrayed to be ‘unnaturally smart’[13], for example in Eastenders, Tamwar getting excellent A-levels and applying for Oxford University, even though this is a positive representation, this could lead to an unfair expectation and could lead being bullied and seen to be an ‘outcast’. By over-representing Asians, youths within the community may reject it and follow a different path which may lead to criminality; also they may help increase communities such as Islamic fundamentalism which is a threat to today’s society, with events such as 9/11.

In addition, the media may associate criminal behaviour with ethnic minorities is created by moral panics. “A moral panic refers to the reaction of a group of people based on the false belief that another sub-culture or a group poses danger to the society”[14] Cohen (1972) examined the media’s response to two groups of largely working-class teenagers, the mods and the rockers, where Cohen identified three central elements: ‘exaggeration, prediction and symbolisation’.[15] The media exaggerated the violence and the number of people involved in a minor confrontation between these two groups. The moral panic was central around ‘boundaries of crises [16], when society does not know the boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. Babylon (1981) shows black people finding their rights by attacking racism which created moral panic within society, because the audience’s authority was threatened, arguably creating self-fulfilling prophecy in today’s society. Functionalists believe moral panics occur when central values are being threaten but creates a collective consciousness and ‘reasserts the dominance of an established value’[17]. Hall et al (1979), neo-Marxist, argues moral panics arise ‘in relation to members of ethnic minorities, drug use, raves, single mothers and ‘out of control youths’[18] and also distracts the attention away from the crisis of capitalism and the exploitation within the two divisions: proletariats and the bourgeoisie. Cohen also argues that simple facts being reported is ‘enough to generate concern, anxiety or panic’[19] Therefore, Cohen argues the mass media create new and problematic social groups which are usually associated with ethnic minorities.

Ethnic minorities in television series, and also music genre usually addressed to grime and rap music, are criticised for encouraging violence and criminality. There are numerous ways in which the media might possibly cause their audience to become criminals, for example imitation may occur by providing deviant role models, resulting to copycat behaviour as “black students are the heaviest TV watchers’[20], they are being transmitted knowledge of criminal techniques. However, the negative labels on their audience has been studied and shown the exposure of media violence has at ‘most a small and limited negative effects on the audiences’[21]. For example in TopBoy not all of the ethnic minority characters are shown to be involved in crime as the protagonist, Ra’Nell, who tries to avoid a lifestyle full of drugs and criminal activity. His actions cause the narrative disequilibrium as he subverts against expected actions, which shows the directors are trying to portray an alternative view, excluding criminal activity. However, Lea and Young (1996) say ‘the mass media help to increase the sense of relative deprivation’[22] which encourages violence and criminality as the media represent everyone having a ‘good life’ and they feel marginalised as they cannot afford these materialistic lifestyles.

On the other hand, TopBoy do not glamorise In the first five minutes of the first series, you see the London eye but what mainly catches they audiences’ eye is the estates around it which we automatically assume crime and drug use occurs, this view is an example of a typification (Schutz 1899-1959), which is a view that everyone knows without thinking about. The clothing used from this extract and the rest of the series is mainly tracksuits and hoodies which connote the day-to-day clothing for those on the streets which also connote how people look if they are involved in criminal activity. This creates a typification as society are becoming aware of ethnic minorities wearing these clothing which becomes a threat as they believe they are all involved in criminal activity. The setting is not glamorised either as there is no green screen, all the shots are in real places in Hackney which suggest the realism being perpetuating through TopBoy. This shows ‘an accurate portrayal’[23] of an ordinary lifestyle in North London which consist of both negative and positive representations within ethnic minorities.

The representations of the youths in TopBoy are shown negatively as they are seen as drug users and involved in criminal activities and aggressive behaviour, but could also reflect accuracy in Hackney society and around London. However it can argue that the representations are somewhat positive as when Dris calls his friends when the group rob them, they run to them which connotes unity within the society, supported by Functionalist. Also it is multi-narrative as it goes back to a young boy, Ra'Nell, in an estate watching over all this violence, but he has a depressed lone-parent after having an abusive husband, to Ra’nell the violence outside is no different to what he saw when he was younger. Therefore, because he was brought up around violence he is not surprised to see it happening. He is taking care of his mother which shows positive representations of black youths, which also relates back to Marxism and how the media controls us by having the media represent the reality in life, through stereotypes of a certain group. By representing black people addressed the stereotypes of them being criminals and may cause a moral panic as it shows what is happening around London and the audience may link back recent events with situations raised in TopBoy.

Ethnic minority males are usually shown to be criminals within the media which is supported by official statistics. The British Crime Survey had shown ‘historically, the consistent pattern has been that women are less likely to offend than men’[24]. However, it has been argued that official statistics underestimate the amount of females involved in criminal activity, for example it is less likely for woman to be reported for shoplifting and prostitution. The Criminal Justice System has been argued to be more lenient towards woman as Pollak (1950) argues men have a protective attitude towards woman, so they are unwilling to arrest or charge them, which suggest women are positively labelled. Therefore these crimes would not be noted in the official statistics, giving an invalid picture that under-represents women and crime. Feminist say ‘the criminal justice system is patriarchal’[25] as Smart (1989) quotes Judge Wild as saying ‘if she doesn’t want it she only has to keep her legs shut’[26].This shows judges make sexist, victim-blaming remarks, and they make their decision mainly regarding the lack of respectability for example being a lone-parent or peace protestors and claim male crimes are ‘more serious’[27]. This shows that because the society imposes greater control over woman it reduces their opportunity to offend.

Also, because in the early stages of life men and woman are socialised differently, as men are taught to be tough and aggressive where woman are shown to be more nurturing hence why woman are less likely to commit crimes, supported by Parsons (1955). New right believe children brought up in lone-parent households subvert to crime as they have a ‘lack of role models’[28] and ‘responsible for crime’[29], usually within ethnic minority families. In TopBoy, many of the characters came from a nuclear family which contradicts New Rights theory however, the protagonist, who is from a lone-parent family, subverts his attention away from criminal activity, even though he did and still does not have a strong role model. This connotes that TopBoy does not reinforce ethnic minorities being criminals and challenges these stereotypes.

Channel 4 is a commercial broadcaster which ‘distinctive education content for young people, often tackling subjects’[30], for example TopBoy educates us about stereotypes and how life is in different parts on London, which includes ‘peak time programmes and online services’, TopBoy, which was shown three months after the London riots (2011), reinforced yet challenged negative stereotypes on ethnic minorities. By challenging stereotypes of ethnic minorities they are ‘reflecting the diversity of Britain; culturally and geographically’[31] and are trying to show Britain through the ‘voices of a new generation’[32]. Channel 4 have been highly criticised TopBoy, as it ‘lacked realism’ [33] however as the director took two years interviewing East London and reinventing his life which he believes for it to be highly realistic. The producer and director portrayed an alternative view within TopBoy which is you can live on an estate and not be involved in crime; therefore they challenged the audiences view on those who live on estates.

Over half of ethnic minorities have said ‘they learn a lot from TV’[34] which is beneficial when TopBoy are reinforcing yet challenging negative stereotypes because television is a ‘primarily a vehicle for entertainment but also as a learning tool and a point of entry into the wider world’[35] . On the other hand, racism on television programmes in the UK exploded in 2007 as Shilpa Shetty was subjected to ‘vicious racial slurs’ in the Big Brother house, in 2007. She was a well-loved Bollywood star which created an outcry in India as there were a large number of objections to both her treatment and Channel 4’s decision to broadcast these scenes. This lead to a national debate reaching the House of Commons, as it did not show UK’s multi-cultural society. From this incident Channel 4 became sensitive due to the number of allegations of their programmes, which suggests that because Channel 4 has already been highly criticised about racism they wanted to a contrasted view that does not reinforce stereotypical behaviour through ethnic minorities.

According to the hypodermic needle, information from the media is being shot like a ‘magic bullet’[36], which suggest ethnic minorities are most vulnerable, as they are easily influenced by what they see from television programmes, as they are ‘most likely to see television as a reflection of real life’[37]. They are reliant on what is shown and gather information from programmes of different social groups and not from personal experience. However, they reinforced the dominant ideologies such as teenage pregnancy and drug using within ethnic minorities which connotes the audience are able to change these representations by not copying them but because they are resistant to social change they blame the media for injecting this information into them, which is the ruling class creating a false class consciousness where lower classes adopt and accept the values that the ruling class perpetuate.

Above all, ethnic minorities are ‘significantly under-represented across the whole range of entertainment media [38] which is evident through historical and recent events. Messerschmidt (1993) argues that masculinity is socially constructed or ‘accomplished’ and men have to constantly work to construct that label by others, there are two types of masculinity ‘hegemonic’ and ‘subordination’ where ethnic minorities in the lower-class have an expectation of a reasonable job and may use gang membership and violence to express their masculinity. For example, in TopBoy a black male is holding a gun towards another and he is wearing black which signifies authority and power. Also, if he felt his authority being challenged he had the weapon to regain his status. Therefore, ‘whether intentionally or unintentionally, both the news and the entertainment media ‘teach’ the public about minorities’[39] and these views are social constructed due to self-fulfilling prophecy and historical reconstruction. To conclude, the stereotypes of ethnic minorities in today’s society being criminals is due to the maintaining the control of the bourgeoisie and allowing them to control the value and ideologies of individuals in today’s society, maintaining the status quo in society.

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[1] http://blogs.coventrytelegraph.net/passtheremote/2008/07/top-soaps-accused-of-stereotyp.html

[2] Alia, V., & Bull, S., Media and Ethnic Minorities (2005). p.15

[3] Laughey, D. (2009). p. 78

[4] Alia, V., & Bull, S. Media and Ethnic Minorities (2005) P.12

[5] http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/index.cfm

[6] Collins, W. (1989). p. 1388.

[7] Dyer, R. (1993). p. 1

[8] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/race-in-britain-2012-has-life-changed-for-ethnic-minorities-6286786.html

[9] http://fpwphibiscus.org.uk/?p=291x3

[10] ibid

[11] http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/long-way-go-minorities-and-media