The Relentless Tide of Whiteness in the Media

We Must Be Critical About the Things We Watch

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Hollywood has a well-known addiction problem that continues to perpetuate itself in media. What’s the addiction of choice? Whiteness, of course. Year after year, Hollywood continues to bombard the public with a disproportionate vast sea of whiteness. A sea so perniciously unrelenting it continues to crash against the weathered shores of our minds.

Now, I admit, I am an avid fan of media in general, and I love film and television in particular. I am also a super geek when it comes to Marvel and D.C. movies. My favorite comic book character is Superman. He's my superhero of choice, and it has nothing to do with me being gay, nor his chiseled chest, thick biceps, and glutes for days. None whatsoever. *Wink* Though I try not to make it a habit to watch movies and shows that center whiteness, it’s honestly difficult. Like virtually all of our American institutions, whiteness is the media, and the media is whiteness.

Still, as antiracist viewers and viewers in general, we must be critical about our media diet and thoughtful about everything we consume.

What is Whiteness?

Whiteness is ubiquitous. If you watch film and television, you are likely watching content made by white people for white people. According to Racial Equity Tools, they define whiteness as the following:

“Whiteness itself refers to the specific dimensions of racism that serve to elevate white people over people of color…[its] conceptualized as a constellation of processes and practices rather than as a discrete entity (i.e., skin color alone). Whiteness is dynamic, relational, and operating at all times and on myriad levels. These processes and practices include basic rights, values, beliefs, perspectives, and experiences purported to be commonly shared by all but which are actually only consistently afforded to white people.”

I also think of whiteness in the media as a toxic, fearful, and narcissistic partner. It's harmful because it has a deep need to assert itself as a dominant frame at all times; it dreads the idea of loosening its grip for fear of losing power and is dangerously self-centered as though the world revolves around no one else. Whiteness justifies the disproportionate portrayal of white lives over Black, Indigenous, and People of color (B.I.P.O.C.) and does so by maintaining white people in front of and behind the camera.

I continually think of the late great Toni Morrison, who talked about whiteness in literature and articulated it as the white gaze. In an interview with Charlie Rose, she explained that it tries to eradicate the experiences and validity of voices of color and Black voices in particular. Morrison eloquently stated:

“As though our lives have no meaning and no depth without the white gaze. And I have spent my entire writing life trying to make sure that the white gaze was not the dominant one in any of my books.”

She was poetic throughout the interview, brilliant in her challenge of whiteness, and I believe she would agree that whiteness is broadly toxic, fearful, and narcissistic.

For more on this piece please visit medium.com/@joeypierre