Symbolic Annihilation in Mass Media

Mass media exposes us to a broader range of people that we might ever encounter throughout the p of our life time. Media, for some of us, might be the only source of information we receive on other ethnic groups. In this case, mass media plays a direly important role of representing nonwhites such as: Latinos, blacks, and Arabs, etc. Audiences may relate their viewing of constructed realities on television with their real life (Gerbner, Gross, Signorelli, & Morgan, 1980).

For example, high TV viewers, will tend to create a mainstreaming view of the world where entertainment becomes the reality of most viewers. Media has been known to not just provide negative and stereotyped portrayals of groups, but also absence them from media as a whole. Symbolic annihilation was first introduced by George Gerbner and Gross in 1976, to describe the concept of absence of non-dominant social groups in media. The term reveals where power comes from: representation. In other words, if there is an absence of racial groups in mass media, we can say there is a symbolic annihilation of race in the media because if they are not represented, they will not be heard. Power comes from representation, and this becomes problematic when minorities or nonwhites, are not represented.

For many of us, what the media portrays about minorities, is the perceived reality. This is also known as the cultivation theory, that social reality is gathered from much exposure to media messages. It says that people will develop a way of thinking and even expectations about real world. In the article “Under Representation and Symbolic Annihilation of Socially Disenfranchised Groups ('Out Groups') in Animated Cartoons, “for racial minority groups, under representation/ symbolic annihilation has worsened over time”. So if minorities are symbolically annihilated from mass media, what happens over time? Since power is in the representation of groups, where does the power lie? There are stages of minority portrayals that Clark created (1969): nonrecognition, ridicule, regulation, and respect.

Order custom essay Symbolic Annihilation in Mass Media with free plagiarism report

450+ experts on 30 subjects Starting from 3 hours delivery

Get Essay Help

Symbolic annihilation refers to the nonrecognition stage of minority portrayals in television. Research has shown that portrayals of ethnic minorities on television has however improved in the frequency of minority characters and stereotypes of minorities being displayed (e.g., Greenberg, Mastro, & Brand, 2002). For example, African Americans for a long time were symbolically annihilated from television. Over the years, the percentage of African Americans on television has increased. It is one thing to be unrecognized and another thing to be ridiculed. Villains in video games have been found to be darker skinned than the heroes (Carlson-Paige, 2008), making the assumption that darker skinned people are bad. When it comes to crime news, African Americans were disproportionately represented in stories about crime and were more likely to be presented as perpetrators than as victims. (Lundman, Douglass, & Hanson, 2004).

When high TV viewers see the news and the majority of the stories on crime are based on African Americans, it makes it seem as if African Americans are more likely to commit a crime, and overall they create this negative attitude towards them. Latinos are another ethnic group that have been symbolically annihilated. In a 2010 census, Latinos surpasses African Americans in number, yet they were found to make up for only 5% of characters on prime- TV (Mastro & Behm- Morawitz, 2005: Mastro & Greenberg, 2000). For example, many years, Disney did not have a Hipic princess, until recently when “Elena de Avalor” was created. Even then however, many argue that she is not Hipic enough, but only a fantasy version of Hipic that Disney created. This happens because it is the majority of Anglos in the broadcasting industry are the ones creating the ideal “Hipic” princess. Despite Latinos growing presence in media, however, they were portrayed as: lower class, inarticulate, and poor.

Latinos have also been misrepresented in mass media. Those who watch TV more often see Latinos as more criminal-like and less intelligent and hardworking than those who don’t watch TV as often. The effects of this is seen in Latino/a adolescents that have a lower self-esteem than lighter skinned people (Greenberg and Brand (1994). We tend to believe the images that are seen on televisionThis cultivation effect is attributed this to the low level of minority employment in the broadcast industry. What effect does the wrong portrayals of minority groups have on the audience? For example with African Americans, many were depicted on television as the villain or with a negative stigma. Studies has shown a link between Whites watching portrayals of African Americans performing crimes and their negative views towards African Americans (Fujioka, 2005).

In consistency with the cultivation theory, people who watch high amounts of television believed that African Americans were the worse off economically versus those who don’t watch television as much (Armstrong Neuendorf, & Brentar, 1992). Wrong portrayal of minority groups have a negative impact on the audience who are the out groups will hold these negative portrayals of them to be true of the whole group. People tend to seek positive images that support their group identity while avoiding messages that don’t support their in-group identities (Harwood, 1997). People identify with characters on television that remind them of themselves; this is also known as the identification theory.

However, why are minorities not being rightfully represented in television? This is due to the fact that because decision makers and those at management level are mostly white, it is their world that tends to appear on television. A group that is unrepresented will overall end up feeling unimportant and the idea of vitality will decrease. It’s important that a group is represented because people tend to seek positive images that support their group identity while avoiding messages that don’t support their in-group identities (Harwood, 1997). People identify with characters on television that remind them of themselves; this is also known as the identification theory.

Theorists say that the more vitality a group has, the more likely the group will survive as a whole. Studies find that portrayals of groups in mass media influence the vitality of a group. The strengths and weaknesses of each groups are correlated with the group having low, medium or high vitality and the more vitality that a group has, the more likely that it is to survive as a group. (Giles, et al, 1977). Vice versa, those with low vitality, are not expected to thrive and ultimately assimilate into the dominant group (Allard & Landry, 1986). Mass media has the potential to influence a group’s perceptions of its own as well as other groups’ vitality (Landry & Allard, 1992). “Vitality assessment in different groups will come to be based on different sources of information” (Harwood, Giles, and Bourhis, 1994).

In conclusion, portrayals of ethnic minorities has improved for African Americans and Asian Americans, in terms of the frequency of representation and the distribution of characters (Greenberg et al., 2002). Social media has been a vital part of this century and helping ethnic groups be heard. People use it as platforms to advertise political ads, evangelize, share news, etc. Social media is a platform that has empowered the voiceless, and in our case minorities. It’s the bridge that many are using to be heard without having to be a “big shot” in society.

Don't let plagiarism ruin your grade

Run a free check or have your essay done for you

Check my essay Hire Writer