Thursday, 3 October 2013

The representation of race and ethnicity in the Olympic Open Ceremony and the Daily Mail article

In the 2012 London Olympics Opening Ceremony, London is represented as a diverse and multi-cultural area, in the opening we see a white female mother getting out of the patriotic coloured and designed mini with her mixed raced child, they enter the family home which then reveals the rest of the family. They are portrayed as a happy and ordinary family who are genuinely happy and genuinely love each other and not putting on a mask as Fanon's theory would suggest. Fanon believes that in society people would need to wear a mask to fit in and be a part of society, they aren't able to be themselves within society as that would lead to conflict. In the Daily Mail article about the Olympics the journalist is suggesting a similar thing to Fanon, he supports Fanon's theory and doesn't believe that if the actors of the Olympic Ceremony were an actual family in London then it wouldn't be a genuine family. He states that he would be sure that in the whole of London that you cannot find any household with a black father and a white mother, as shown in the Olympic opening, if they were found together then it wouldn't be genuine and would be an unhappy family, he believes it's an alternative representation of London and the race and ethnicity within London. It doesn't even show a stereotypical family within London according to the journalist. 

Also to support the journalist, Alvarado's theory states that black people are generally stereotyped in the media as either exotic, humorous, dangerous or pitied, so linking this to the journalist it could suggest that the media aren't portraying the short hand stereotype (Medhurt theory) which may have some elements of truth (Perkin's theory) and allow quick identification (Blumber and Katz uses and gratifications theory). It suggest that the journalist may be quite racist in believing a stereotype that white women wouldn't be married to a black man and be happy at the same time which could suggest that he believes that if a black person were to fit into one of the categories of Alvarado's theory then it'll be pitied or dangerous. 

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