User:Icruz5/Atlanta (TV series)

“Atlanta” is a television series that is a milestone for the new generation. Throughout the series, in each episode, there have been subtle messages that are relevant in today’s society. The set itself has a crucial and robust meaning since it is an all-black casting crew, and it is depicting real-life events that are familiar to some. For example, in one episode, “The Jacket,” an unarmed man is shot in the back by police, which is a massive issue in today’s society. Cassandra Chaney and Ray Roberts stated, “Since members of law enforcement play a pivotal role in maintaining White Supremacy, it should not come as a surprise that Whites are generally desensitized to police use of excessive force against African Americans in general, and African American men, in particular. In a recent poll administered by the 2014 General Social Survey conducted by the independent research center the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago, seven of ten White Americans polled posited they could envision a condition in which they would endorse an officer striking an adult male citizen. On the contrary, slightly more than four of ten African Americans (42%) and slightly less than four of ten Latinos (38%) would approve of such an action (Holland, 2015).” Another issue in the TV series is gun violence. According to the Office of Policy Development and Research, studies show that neighborhoods with higher poverty rates tend to have higher rates of violent crime, as shown in some of the episodes of Atlanta.

Plot: The series depicts Earn, Donald glover, and Alfred, Brian Henry, as two cousins that are working to make a name for themselves. Throughout this journey, they come face-to-face with many hardships that have to do with social and economic issues (race, poverty, status, parenthood). Although Earn is new to managing a rapper, he is quickly trying to learn the ropes of the music industry and getting Alfred to the next level. When they are not working, Earn spends his free time with Van, his ex-girlfriend and mother of his child, and his daughter. As a rising rap star, Alfred is struggling to balance being a known rapper and his personal life, which leaves him in a couple of sticky situations.

Cultural Misrepresentation: There is a cultural misrepresentation that affects how audiences may react to specific television shows. According to Communication & Mass Media Complete, “Findings revealed that Blacks were actually “invisible” on network news, being underrepresented as both violent perpetrators and victims of crime.” They also mentioned how Whites dominated the network news coverage as sources or experts. Glover takes action to change the perception that is critical to the representation of black people. At the beginning of the first season, he sets the scene in strip clubs, and trap houses to show how the city of Atlanta became famous. Progressing more into the season, it focuses on the individuals and the character’s hardships living in Atlanta and being black. Because of the nominations and awards from “Atlanta,” some individuals stated that there is hope for better representation of black people in America instead of being depicted as criminals or drug dealers. For instance, an article in PMC said, “...these Black males who are killed by law enforcement are turned into a “thug” (the modern-day “brute”), which seemingly tries to justify their death or personal contribution to their demise.” In addition to how law enforcement perceives black people, EDGE stated that “Minorities, more specifically African-Americans and Latino-Americans, are the casualty of a media that perpetuates social stereotypes and ethnic homogeneity.” They also said that during the early years of film and television, blacks struggled to be able to tell their own stories because whites controlled the entertainment industry and chose what images of blacks to portray. Atlanta is an essential and unique series since Glover can show and tell black people stories as a whole with no filter.


 * 1) Chaney, Cassandra, and Ray V. Robertson. “Armed and Dangerous? An Examination of Fatal Shootings of Unarmed Black People by Police.” Journal of Pan African Studies, no. 4, 2015, p. 45. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=edsglr&AN=edsgcl.441911998&site=eds-live&scope=site.
 * 2) “Neighborhoods and Violent Crime: HUD USER.” Neighborhoods and Violent Crime | HUD USER, 2016, www.huduser.gov/portal/periodicals/em/summer16/highlight2.html.
 * 3) Dixon, Travis L., and Charlotte L. Williams. “The Changing Misrepresentation of Race and Crime on Network and Cable News.” Journal of Communication, vol. 65, no. 1, Feb. 2015, pp. 24–39. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=mzh&AN=2015871817&site=eds-live&scope=site.
 * 4) Smiley, CalvinJohn, and David Fakunle. “From "brute" to "thug:" the demonization and criminalization of unarmed Black male victims in America.” Journal Of Human Behavior In The Social Environment vol. 26,3-4 (2016): 350-366. doi:10.1080/10911359.2015.1129256
 * 5) horton, Yurii, et al. “Portrayal of Minorities in the Film, Media, and Entertainment Industries .” PORTRAYAL OF MINORITIES IN THE FILM, MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRIES, 1999, web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/mediarace/portrayal.htm.