Misrepresented or Unrepresented

Recently in class we've been discussing the portrayal of African Americans in the media which coincidentally comes at the same time as the oscar nominations consisting of not one African American this year. Interestingly while I was looking into this topic I came upon an article talking about the increase of African Americans in commercials but how the portrayals are stereotyping black women. (Click here) The author writes that the stereotypical overweight black woman "typically finds herself in an exchange that is either confrontational or embarrassing. And her best line is often little more than a sassy “Mmmm hmmm.” The article also says that, "over the last 15 years the number of blacks appearing in commercials has been roughly proportional to their share of the American population, about 14 percent." It's good that blacks are no longer underrepresented in terms of population but is it still ok if they are being misrepresented?

What is interesting is that even though African Americans are prevalent in commercials, this year they are extremely underrepresented in the film industry. According to this article (also from NY Times), the Oscar nominated movies are " more racially homogenous — more white — than the 10 films that were up for best picture in 1940". I find this very sad in the fact that we elected a African American president but don't even have ONE African American up for an Oscar.  If we take both commercials and movies together, we are getting a misrepresented and an underrepresented portrayal of African Americans. Of course there are exceptions in both cases and I know I am being very general but have we really progressed in our portrayal of African Americans throughout US history? The latest movies that are in theaters:  I am Number Four- blond actors; Gnomeo and Juliet -white gnomes; and Big Mammas: Like Father, Like Son- African American actors. But interestingly it seems like in Big Mamma: Like Father, Like Son they are only fueling stereotypes.