Media Journal

The development of multiculturalism and the elimination of interracial barriers, biases and prejudices can have multiple forms and presentations. In this respect, it is possible to refer to the film “The Crews”, which focuses on the life of the African American family. In fact, the main point of the film is to show the African American family and to uncover its major values. In this regard, the film is family-oriented because the film focuses on the family life and family values. In this respect, it is important to place emphasis on the fact that the African American family depicted in the film has values, which are common for an average American family. The family members want to have a solid, united family. They want to have positive interpersonal relationships and they want each other to be happy and they attempt to do their best to make each other happy. Therefore, the film shows that the African American family has the similar set of values as other American families, including both white and non-white families. As a result, the film conveys the clear message that families living in the US share the similar values and the family is the primary value of all Americans, regardless of their racial background.

Along with films, programs and shows racial issues can be traced in advertising conveyed to the audience through the contemporary mass media. In fact, advertising also raises a number of racial issues, which mirror the actual interracial relationships in the contemporary society. At this point, it is possible to refer to the Volkswagen Pinata ad, which is the representation of children and racial tolerance, although certain racial disparities are still present in this ad. To put it more precisely, the ad presents a group of children, where a white boy plays the main part, whereas, on the background, it is possible to see a number of children, including a white African American child.

However, this child looks lonely among the white children he is standing with that implies that the ad depicts the predominantly white community, where African Americans comprise the minority. On the other hand, the children stay together that means that African American children still have an opportunity to integrate into the white community. In such a way, the ad attempts to eliminates frontier between whites and blacks and present the contemporary community as diverse and multicultural.

In this regard, the e-trade ad is more advanced in terms of the racial tolerance and multiculturalism. To put it more precisely, the ad depicts two babies sitting at the desktop. One baby is white and another is black and both babies are looking attentively on the screen of the monitor as if they are taking part in an e-trade. In such a way, the ad shows that representatives of different racial groups have access to the high technologies and they take an active part in the social life. Moreover, they stay together in one and the same community that proves that the contemporary society is multicultural. At the same time, the young age of babies implies that the future generation will be even more advanced in terms of multiculturalism and racial tolerance. Therefore, this ad is more advanced and tolerant in relation to representatives of different racial groups. On the other hand, this ad implies that the development of information technologies and modern telecommunication systems can change the society and close interracial gaps which may persist in the contemporary society.

Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is important to place emphasis on the fact that the contemporary society is still vulnerable to certain racial prejudices and biases but it tends to become more and more tolerant. Moreover, the development of multiculturalism is one of the mainstream trends that can be traced in the contemporary society. In this regard, mass media and series and advertisements discussed above reveal the full extent to which the transformation from the homogeneous society to diverse, multicultural one has already been advanced. At any rate, contemporary mass media mirror currents socio-cultural trends and convey the audience the message of tolerance.
REFERENCES
Bagdikian, B. H. (2000). The Media Monopoly, Sixth Edition, Beacon Press.
Klein, S. N. (2000). Advertising and Popular Culture, London: Routeledge.

 



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