Stuart Hall: The Godfather of Multiculturalism

Stuart Hall was a cultural theorist, who was very influential in the influencing of racial thinking in the UK. Hall argued that black subject has been through two main phases: firstly the challenging of the racist stereotype and the asserting of a positive black identity and secondly the black subject being considered to be produced within regimes of representation.  
Hall strongly believed and preached about how the media power propagates social values and mass media plays a vital role in defining public concerning issues and matters.  He referred to the mass media as ‘channels of public discourse’ within our segregated society. As a Jamaican born intellectual spoke about how he had migrated to the UK as an escape and how it had turned out to be a huge failure.

In 1971 Hall appeared on BBC TV and criticized the media for its portrayal of black people. ‘There is something radically wrong with the way black immigrants; West Indians, Asians and Africans are handled by and presented on the mass media’.
Stuart Halls found that black people often appeared on TV as racially stereotyped positions, despite liberal assumptions and broadcaster’s discussion outcomes. When appearing in documentaries or current affairs there were patterns of black people being connected to immigrant issues. Hall concluded that in order for black people to be visible to the media they had to be involved in crisis or drama.

The graph is evidence of hall’s findings still being true in a what is considered by many as a modern and multi-ethnic, diverse nation. Not only about racial stereotyping but concerning gender and age also.

There is also various evidence of the word ‘black’ as a descriptive word for race being used unnecessarily when linked to crime. Which furthermore enforces that Hall’s research brings to light a racist truth about modern day mass media.

This is appropriate to our urban drama genre, so we need to heavily consider how we are presenting people ethnically through our piece before putting our piece together to insure that our characters are not ignorantly interpreted and presented in a negative way due to their race.