Title: How Racial Stereotypes in Popular Media Affect People — and What Hollywood Can Do to Become More Inclusive | Scholars Strategy Network
Headings: How Racial Stereotypes in Popular Media Affect People — and What Hollywood Can Do to Become More Inclusive
How Racial Stereotypes in Popular Media Affect People — and What Hollywood Can Do to Become More Inclusive
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Nancy Wang Yuen
Harms from Portrayals of Racial and Ethnic Minorities in the Media
How Hollywood Can Take Strong Corrective Actions

Content: When there is a lack of contact between racial groups, people tend to rely on media stereotypes to formulate ideas about people outside of their own race. For instance, stereotyped depictions of Latinx people in the media can lead audiences to associate immigration with increased unemployment and crime. Furthermore, the media’s tendency to fuel racial misperceptions can contribute to public support for harsher punishments for people of color. How Hollywood Can Take Strong Corrective Actions
Diversity may be a buzzword in Hollywood, but full participation by people of color continues to lag behind that of white males. Hollywood requires better strategies. Studios can work to diversify Hollywood’s employment and content by establishing responsibility structures, including specific committees, staff positions, and hiring plans dedicated to increasing representation of people of color. Doing that, research shows, could help boost racial diversity in workplaces, particularly at the managerial level. Hollywood should hire staff members who demonstrate a track record of creating content for people of color and casting them in varied and complex roles. Most companies use professional recruiters, and Hollywood should do the same across all ranks. Each studio and network should have at least one designated recruiter for diverse talent behind the scenes and a designated casting director who is trained to find actors of color and in anti-racist practices.