Racism In The Television Show 'The Convict'

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April 24, 2012 English 101 Final Draft “The Convict” Even though we see ourselves as a united nation, we continue to fight racial issues every day. Television is extremely influential in this day in age because of its ability to reach viewers almost everywhere. The television show “The Office” is known for being one of the funniest shows on T.V., and episode after episode, the show continues to keep the viewer wanting more. The show is always full of jokes, but during the episode “The Convict”, they take the jokes a little too far, and it can be argued that the episode is racist toward African Americans. The episode starts off with Angela and Kevin trying to figure out where extra money in the budget came from. They eventually find out it…show more content…
In this particular episode of “The Office” their attempt at using African American stereotypes falls short of the comedic side they were looking for and is more racist than funny. During the episode there are several key moments to back up this claim. First is when they were trying to figure out who was the convict, Dwight immediately accuses Martin. With no proof of this, his only reason to accuse Martin is the fact that he is African American. On television today it can be argued that convicts are portrayed as African Americans too often. In a recent article for the Journal of Communication Travis L. Dixon conducted a survey of Los Angeles County adults to determine whether exposure to the overrepresentation of blacks as criminals on local news programs, attention to crime news, and news trust predicted perceptions of blacks and crime. His study found out that, “Heavier consumption of Blacks’ overrepresentation as criminals on local television news was positively related to the perception of Blacks as violent. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed in light of chronic activation and accessibility of stereotypical constructs,”

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