Cultural Minorities in the Media: A Historic View of Television's Underserved

Acknowledgments

Objectives

Introduction

PART I THE MEDIUM AND THE MESSAGE

Chapter 1 Television: The Newest Member of the Family

Television: The Newest Guest Turned Family Member

Development of the Medium of Television

Social Role of Television in U.S. Culture

Why Television Matters

Television’s Impact: Real or Perceived?

Representation versus Reality

Who is Doing the Representing?

Chapter 2 The Early Impact of Television Portrayals on Minorities

Numbers: Sometimes They Count, and Sometimes They Don’t

Minorities: How Do They Count?

The Obvious Ones: Race and Ethnicity as Minority Categories

“Red and Yellow, Black and White We’re All Precious . . .?”

Chapter 3 So Who Are Television’s Minorities?: A Quick Look Through the Decades

First, Color Comes to Black and White: 1950s

Things Go from Bad to Worse?: 1960s

Off Again, On Again: 1970

The More Things Change the More They Remain the Same: 1980s

Somewhere over the Rainbow . . .: 1990s

When Being a Famous Soprano Did Not Land You at the Metropolitan: 2000s

The decade when men in robes and headscarves got more attention that chicks in miniskirts: 2010’s

Part II GUESS WHO IS COMING TO DINNER: COLOR COMES TO BLACK & WHITE

Chapter 4 Blacks on Television: “From Black Face to Just Plain Black”

Decade of the 1950s: Finding a Voice

Decade of the 1960s: Coming Through the Front Door

Decade of the 1970s: The “Roots” Run Dee

Decade of the 1980s: Truly Moving on Up?

Decade of the 1990s: Then Down Again

Decade of the 2000s–2010s: Then Up Again. It’s Enough to Make One Dizzy!

The Traditional Alphabet Soup: Still Good for You?

For Better or for Worse: Out on a Limb on Cable TV

When Can’t You Trust Your Lying Eyes?: The New Meaning of the Word Real in “Reality TV”

Chapter 5: Native Americans: “From Overlooked to Just Plain Invisible”

If “Native” does not mean Floridians, exactly who are they?

Clearly present but almost invisible

How did we get it so wrong?

The Bloodthirsty Savage versus the Noble Savage: One man, two faces

First Impressions Are Lasting: Decades of the 1950s and 1960s

Decade of the 1970s–1980s: Fading Images

Decade of the 1990s: Vanishing Natives

Decades from 2000–2010: From Noble Savages to cartoon characters

Decade 2010–Present: From Cartoon Characters to Virtually

Invisible or to A Hopeful Resurgence

Reflection—Red Man’s America

Chapter 6: Asian-Americans: “Trading in the Washboard for a Hard Drive”

It’s all in the name: Yellow Peril stalks the helpless lady and the Dragon Lady consumes the helpless man

Decade of the 1950s: Fu Manchu meets Charlie Chan

Decade of the 1960s: The Japanese become our new BF

Decade of the 1970s: We’re gonna be Kung Fu fighting

Decade of the 1980s: The samurai duke it out

Decade of the 1990s: Enter the Dragon Lady. Lucy Lu plays Ling Woo

Decade of the 2000s and 2010s: Smart and nerdy and still the model minority

Decade of 2010 to Present: A New Sun Rises?

Fade to Black and White

Chapter 7: Hispanics: “From Frito Bandito to Just Good ol’ Salsa and Doritos”

Decade of the 1950s: Every good hero needs a sidekick

Decade of the 1960s: Hide the chips, the bandits are coming!

Decade of the 1970s—Men of the Beautiful Variety

Decade of the 1980s: From the silk sheets to the mean streets

Decade of the 1990s: The strange case of growing exponentially while rapidly diminishing

Decade of the 2000s and 2010s: A ray of sunshine

2010–Present: No Real Silver Lining

Telenovelas: By Hispanics for Hispanics

Taking care of business

Here today, gone tomorrow

Chapter 8: Gays and Lesbians: “Stepping Out of the Closet and on to Prime Time”

Basis of homosexual portrayals: Moral, legal, and scientific

Why we got it wrong: Early media portrayals

There are scary things in the closet: Gays and Lesbians on the small screen

Decade of the 1950s: One step closer to daylight

Decades of the 1960s–1970s: A Light Begins to Shine

Decades of the 1980s and 1990s: Things Get Even Clearer

Decades of the 2000s and 2010s: A Rainbow Shines out from the Darkness

Decades of the 2010s–Present: Gays, Gays Everywhere, and who could ever tell?

From prime time to wedding bells and strollers?

Chapter 9: Italian-Americans: “After All These Years, Columbus ends up on the Jersey Shore”

Columbus and Snooki, both lose their way

Art imitates life: The film industry takes note of Italians

It’s all in the money

Decade of the 1990–1999: Missing in Action

Decade of 2000–2010: When Whiskey, Cigarettes, and Escalades

All Fell off the Back of a Truck

Decade of 2010–present

Chapter 10: Arab-Americans: “Muhammad or Osama, what’s the difference?”

Foreign born? Stranger forever

First impressions are lasting

Terrorists arrive in a blaze

Arabs in film and on television: Yesterday

Arabs on television: Today

Arabs on television: Yesterday, today, and tomorrow

Chapter 11: “From “Mammy” to “Madam President”: Women on Television It

Decade of 1950–1960: White Ladies Use the Clothes Dryer, While Black Women Pin the Wash on the Line

Decade of 1960–1970: A White Woman Transforms into a Witch, While a Black Woman Transforms into a Nurse

Decade of 1970–1980 A Different Kind of “BWitch” Comes to Television

Decade of 1980’s–1990: “Rich Bitches” both Black and White

Decade of 1990–2000: Television Dips its Toes into Strange Waters

Decade of 2000–2010: Reality as Art, or Art as Reality?

Decade of 2010–present: Women Women Everywhere, but is anyone in charge?

Women who own television: Oprah Winfrey and Shonda Rhimes

Chapter 12: Black and White Television: The Wave of the Future?

The Face of Television: Yesterday

Television’s Impact on Society

The Face of Television: Today

The Face of Television: Tomorrow

Media Convergence: Good or Bad for the Underserved?

Final Words

Index