Document Type
Thesis
Degree
Master of Arts
Major
Communication
Date of Defense
4-21-2021
Graduate Advisor
Dr. Stephanie Van Stee
Committee
Dr. Stephanie Van Stee
Dr. Yan TIan
Dr. Alice Hall
Abstract
In a society like today’s, racial misrepresentation can be found across a vast number of different forms of media. Racial misrepresentation has been found in television portrayals of characters within series and programs during primetime television. This sort of misrepresentation creates obstacles for certain minorities to overcome prejudice, racism, and bigotry that oppresses their ingroup. A content analysis of 20 Netflix Original films which were chosen through random purposive sampling, to include comedy and drama genres, was conducted for the research. The analysis produced results that helped explain that Netflix’s representation of minorities through inclusion has improved for Blacks, yet still needed improvement for Hispanics, Asians, and Middle Eastern. The analysis also suggested that Netflix was not misrepresenting minorities through portrayal or the demographics of the Original’s character. An important takeaway from the analysis was that although Netflix’s representation of Blacks has improved, there is a lack in equal representation across Black and Whites together within the same film, meaning one of the race’s was represented more throughout the film, rather than being equal.
Recommended Citation
Osseck, Jacob, "Who Do They Think We Are? Analyzing misrepresentation of races in Netflix Original films using Critical Race Theory and Social Identity Theory" (2021). Theses. 410.
https://irl.umsl.edu/thesis/410
Included in
Communication Technology and New Media Commons, Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons, Mass Communication Commons