After the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite began trending, the idea of representation and misrepresentation in media has been brought to the forefront of conversation; specifically, the talk is about the visibility — or lack thereof — of certain marginalized groups on screen and at award shows. However, I am urging that we need to have a different conversation, about stereotypes. 

The misrepresentation that I am talking about is when producers and directors cast people of certain races to play stereotypical roles. The act of intentional misrepresentation of groups is more harmful than the altogether lack of their presence in media. Repeated misrepresentation in fictitious scenes have very real life consequences that affect us all. 

On a macro level, media misrepresentations of entire countries work to not only undermine people but entire regions of the world. On a micro level, however, the stereotypes borne out of these misrepresentations influence public thought, policy and very important interactions. The process of ingraining stereotypes based on misrepresentation starts as early as we can comprehend our entertainment.

Media misrepresentation is something that is indoctrinated in our society from childhood. I know that some would argue images that reinforce stereotypes are a thing of a distant past, but that argument would be flatly untrue. I’m only 21, and yet I vividly remember cartoons of the 2000s displaying marginalized groups through hyperbolic stereotypes, such as Mammy Two Shoes of Tom and Jerry or with “Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba’s Forty Thieves.” The practice is still prevalent in today’s popular media. 

As a black man, I see what black men are depicted as, and I used to be ashamed of it. Moments like Butch Hartman creating the black child prodigy AJ as a supporting character in “The Fairly Odd Parents” gave me hope. But then, we’re faced with characters like Sam-moo-rai from Samarai Jack and Po Po from Dragon Ball Z, and I so often feel like I have to be the opposite of what people who look like me are constantly depicted as.

Black men are often typecast as thugs, brutes, drug dealers, overly virile womanizers and much worse in today’s popular TV shows and movies. This may be the reason that there is clearly proven discrimination and targeting of black people in America. The Department of Justice released statements from multiple major cities that state there is racial bias in policing. This pressure to blend in and conform adds to what is an already stressful life as a college student. 

There are other groups who also catch the repercussions of misrepresentation, but in slightly different ways. Muslim people are by far the most targeted for this phenomenon — more than any other group. So often, Muslim people only get roles as terrorists, evil masterminds or strict intolerant followers of their religion. They are rarely, if ever, casted as loving, every day, compassionate people. 

In a recent article in the Independent, actor Amrou Al-Kadhi spoke about his experiences in Hollywood and how he’s commonly typecast. In the article he says, “I’ve been sent nearing 30 scripts for which I’ve been asked to play terrorists on screen. Roles have varied from ones as meaty as ‘Suspicious Bearded Man on Tube’ to ‘Muslim man who hides his bombs in a deceptive burka.’” To make matters worse, in the same article he says he was told that he should be happy, because stereotyping will keep him in work. Any directors who told him that must not realize that these roles carry consequences that reach much further than Al-Kadhi’s bank account. 

I sat down with Hamza Ahmed, a junior majoring in physics and math, to get the Muslim perspective of misrepresentation in the media. 

“I think it’s just awful how [the makers of these shows] don’t care about the authenticity of a place or race that they’re trying to represent.” Ahmed said. “To be honest, ever since coming [to NC State] it’s been a struggle to present myself as not what people see on TV. I have a daily thing of managing how I present myself to new people just because of how they’ve shown this singular picture of Middle Eastern people. So, I often find myself having to do more than I can to be accepted.”

I’m tired of having to walk the other way when I see police out of fear. I’m tired of having to make an intentional effort to be kind and friendly as to not seem threatening. And I am pretty sure people like Hamza are tired of being randomly selected to be searched at the airport.

I say we refuse to watch shows that pump out season after season of all the black characters being drug addicts or absent fathers, and do the same for shows that give Middle Eastern people only roles as terrorists. At the end of the day, lack of viewership gets shows cancelled, so why give power to shows that work to further marginalize entire races of people?