Media Representation in show Friends

In the episode that I watched of “Friends”, I was very surprised to see that there weren’t any instances where a person of color was displayed on the screen by themselves. Also, there was no dialogue with any people of color in the episode. There were 3 instances where colored people were showed in the background. The first was an older black lady wearing glasses and drinking coffee seen through the window sitting in the coffee shop having a conversation. The second display showed a young Asian girl in the background doing homework alone. This representation is an example of the stereotype of Asians being viewed as very studious and smart. Another display was when 2 of the characters were sitting in a Chinese restaurant and the Chinese server a wearing traditional Chinese satin robe serving them. Even though there was no dialogue made, there was a clear representation of not only how colored people are viewed but, also the roles that they are given in some shows. When counting how many times white people were shown, it was about 50 and I lost count because it was almost every scene. The white people were having a conversation about relationship issues and gossiping. The main character shows up in a wedding dress and realizes she does not want to marry her husband and dramatically freaks out. She then calls her dad for comfort and affirmation, but it does not work in her favor. This a representation of her being portrayed as a spoiled brat making poor decisions and looking towards friends and family to help her feel better. The episode continues on to show the friends joking and having a great time. I do not think that this is an accurate of colored people be it shows them doing activities that are common for all different races to do. The portrayal of colored people could diminish their status because it could cause people to have the assumption that people of color only hold low paying jobs and that Asian people are only interested in studying. By having these assumptions in society, it causes people to make judgments based on their knowledge of stereotypes before knowing who the person really is. Peoples’ opinions change based on the different labels that are put on different races which causes people to be more divided and to be more interested and comfortable being around people of the same race. The portrayals could also affect people of color being able to have equal opportunity because they hold a bias opinion on a race as a whole.