| Abstract: | Race and media research in the United States emphasizes the representations of ethnic minorities in mainstream media. These sometimes-poor representations of minority groups have implications for social attitudes. However, social groups are defined in relation to one another, and race specifically is a hierarchical category with Whites positioned above. Some scholars suggest that whiteness has meaningful implications for Whites’ racial identity formation. Yet little empirical attention has been given to the portrayals of Whites in racially targeted or ethnic-oriented media, where whiteness is most conspicuous. This study uses social identity theory and critical race theories to examine the portrayals of Whites in Black films. We conduct a content analysis of 32 Black-oriented films spanning two decades. We argue that such investigations (a) position race-oriented films as necessary sites for understanding racial discourse and (b) shed insight into how ethnic media creators may use film as a platform to accept or resist dominant ideologies. |
