I am interested in researching minority representation in the US media/film industry because I want to find out why there seems to be a lack of representative stories. This is important because if you only see a few dominant groups on screen, what happens to the other groups? This can lead to the marginalization and erasure of voices, which is harmful.
1. Is there a specific film or example of media you’d like to use?
2. Can you claim/support that there’s a lack of representative stories? Representatives stories about whom? Also, what do you mean about “representative stories”?
3. Is there a specific minority you’d like to/can focus on? Can you more be specific about groups (e.g., dominant groups, other groups)?
This person wishes to discover the background in major American media’s exclusion of certain cultures. Why does the media choose to exclude certain cultures, and what is the outcome?
Who is in charge of certain industry, what is their motive?
How has it changed in history?
What kind of influence have minorities had over the film industry?
Documentaries, research on social behaviors, history and records on major film producers.
I was planning on doing a case study about a film and what it says about how mainstream America’s media/film industry excludes certain groups/cultures, but I think it would also be interesting to investigate the background behind it. Well, I would probably have to research the background behind ‘cultural exclusion’ anyway, but you made a good point. (Note to self: case study about casting of the live-action adaption of Avatar: The Last Airbender.)
I think you put my idea into clearer phrasing, i.e., I want to know “why the media chooses to exclude certain cultures and what’s the outcome.” Or maybe I should start with “This is what we see today,” and go backwards to investigate the why behind it…
I think finding out who is the charge of a certain industry is an important question but hard to tackle? Maybe I could put it into groups of people, e.g., producers? Directors? (Are films mostly driven by producers?)
“Change in history”… I think it’s important to track the trends in cultures that have been shown in films, but I think I’d have to be careful to not just report the trends (repeat what I read/find in research). Also, I think I have to specify which minority I want to focus on and in what cultural context. E.g., do I want to know why the US doesn’t produce wuxia movies, stories based on Middle Eastern folk tales, etc. or do I want to know why the US doesn’t use more Asian actors or Indian actors as lead roles for ‘typical’/’normal’ American movies (what do I mean about ‘typical’ American movies? Or what does that mean in the film industry?). (Right now I think I’m more interested in the latter.) Also, I still need to focus on a certain minority group… I think it would be better to chose after I do some initial research. So, areas of focus: which minority group? what type of media (e.g., a TV show, people in journalism)? what area of film industry (e.g., actors, producers, directors)?
I’m interested in research minority representation in mainstream US media/film industry because I want to know why and how the media/film industry (chooses to) exclude certain cultures. This is important because the conscious exclusion of other cultures can lead to marginalization and erasure of voices and unconsciously shape how viewers see cultures different from their own.
Actually, I think I need to know more about the “they say” part. What do academics say about the mainstream American media/film industry? Do they think that there isn’t enough minority representation? Why isn’t there representation? Is it a matter of “There aren’t any minority actors”? Why not? Is it a matter of people thinking that audiences don’t want to see a minority lead? Why is that?
Also, am I focusing on race? Culture? Gender? What’s being said about those topics?